Kahr PM 9 Night Sights

[Tough Guy Levi]

Howdy All:

At my age, sights are difficult for me to see in low light situations. When I purchased my Kahr PM 9mm (VA59XX) June 05, my barrel was in the recall range serial number range thus while my barrel was returned to Kahr, I sent my Kahr slide to PT-IWI (1-800-334-3573 - Las Vegas) for night sight inserts. Fast foward to May 2006, I noticed my front sight green dot insert was very dim compared to my rear yellow dot inserts. The front sight insert has always been brighter than my rear inserts and I also noticed a portion of the white ring around the front sight insert was almost AWOL.

After I called PT-IWI telling them of my "problem", I was asked to send my slide to them. I received a call today informing me after cleaning all three sights with a Q-Tip and acetone (nail polish remover), the inserts were a bright as new but PT-IWI would use another method to determine their illumination and if necessary would replace them.

Jerrie Ling informed me PT-IWI night sight warranty is now lifetime even though the company knows their inserts usually last more than 12 years. Jerrie also informed me the company has sights now with/without inserts to fit Kahr's new slide sight dovetails.

I've never used chemicals near my sight inserts because a friend of my dunked his Kahr into a popular gun cleaning solution and ruined his night sight inserts. He returned his slide and had to pay to replace his ruined inserts. Using chemicals voided his warranty. It was a very expensive mistake!!

If your night sight inserts seem to be dimmer, gingerly clean them with nail polish remover and a Q-Tip. If they still are dim, the insert product probably needs to be replaced! I would have saved time/money had I known my inserts were dirty but I would probably have used an incorrect method to clean them. Maybe ruined them thus I'm not too upset for not thinking my inserts were dirty. Remember I have 5800+ rounds digested by my Kahr PM 9mm and debris was probably the cause of my dirty sights. And now you know the rest of the story!!

Tough Guy Levi
SASS@ 61430L
NRA Certified Pistol Instructor
NRA Life (1967)

[jp233]

roger that -- good gouge

[mtbikebj]

thanks for the tip. I have a 40 with night sights that seem to be weak. After cleaning them they seem as good as new.

[jthuang]

Good tip. My PM9 (same SN range as yours) has factory night sights. So far the brightness is pretty decent.

[Tough Guy Levi]

Howdy JT:

Since your Kahr is in the same serial number range as mine, I was wondering when you purchased yours and have you had any problems with it? Mine has digested 5800+ rounds and has operated flawlessly from the get go!! I've replaced my recoil and spring assembly 1300 rounds ago.

Tough Guy Levi

[jthuang]

I'll have to check my invoice but I think it was February 2004.

No problems yet but I am ashamed to say that I only have 200 rounds through the gun since I bought it. Reason was that in August 2004 I bought my first home so all my time and money went to fixing up the home instead of shooting. I bought my PM9 to replace my S&W M342 as my carry gun but because I had not built up extensive experience with the PM9, I continue to carry the M342.

I'm getting back into the game though ... bought a few spare mags from Onpoint and a Fobus holster so I will resume using my PM9 in IDPA. Once I am comfortable with it (I use a Kramer pocket holster for carry) I expect to be using the PM9 a lot more.

[Tough Guy Levi]

Howdy Justin:

Thanks for the information. To me it seems earlier manufactured Kahrs don't have the QC issues of recent manufactured models.

Again, thanks for info

Tough Guy Levi