PM9 or POS9?

[TRESCOCOS]

Well I finally broke down and ordered a PM9 as a backup to my Glock and for summer dress cc. As I live overseas I had not had the opportunity to inspect one beforehand. The size intrigued me.

I am very disappointed to say the least. I am used to glock, sig, beretta workmanship and functionality.

When I removed the slide the frame looked like some sort of kid's toy gun. There are big notches taken out of the plastic on side of where rail meets..sort of tooling defect. one of the front metal rails had a notch out of it.

I went to my range and methodically shot 250 rds of good quality ball ammmo thu it. I had 6 FTB's.

I then loaded in a clip of corbon hp's and the gun wouldnt feed the first round no matter how i positioned it in the clip. It just hung up on the feed ramp ( which has a small casting crack in it from new).

Anyhow - This little boy is going back in his box and i'll dump it on someoneone else at the next gun show i go to.

too bad..nice size and great trigger...however i cant imagine pulling out this weapon in a life threatening situation with this kind of performance probs out of the box. I have a .38 s&w snubnose that holds 5 hot rounds and is nearly the same size. The diff is 101% reliability. Pull the trigger and it will shoot..

If any of the top manu's come out with a kahr size weapon....

[warmrain]

Not that I disagree... but:

The notch in the front rail has been on every one of about a dozen PM9s that I have seen. It was not on my PM40.

When you say the first round won't feed. Do you mean the initially chambered round or the round the pistol chambers after the first shot. The round that you chamber after inserting a magazine is very difficult to do by racking the slide, though it can be done with practice. This is why Kahr recommends dropping the slide with the slide stop, though I prefer the rack method and so polished the feed ramp kept practicing until I could do it with enough authority to acheive reliable results. Try and see if it will chamber by dropping the slide with the slide lock.

Agreed that the machining and general visual quality are insufficient for most tastes (mine included). I have an MK9 Elite 98 (circa 1998) which is perfect and beatifully made. It has over 3000+ rounds through and I have not had a single failure of any kind.

I can only hope that the current quality shortcomings are limited to the polymer framed Kahrs as I would hate to see this particular slim profile 9mm and .40 "go away".

Kahr could never make my NIB PM40 feed off the top of the magazine (after the chambered round was fired) and so replaced it. I asked for a PM9 that took three barrels to make run. It still looks like a POS, but at least it runs. If Glock made a pistol this size my current PM9 would be on the block...!

[SearTripper]

I have a PM-40 and have had it back for a few things but now after Kar worked on it I have polished the heck out of my entire outside of the barrel including the little feed ramp. All of the polishing I mention herein is to the point of "bright." Also the outside of the chamber and the slide stop pin and the inside of the chamber - polished. I reshaped the outside of the slide stop lever and polished it so it is rounded quite a bit and polished bright. I polished the outside of the magazines and worked the magazine well over at the mouth with a file and emory cloth to get the magazines to eject as smoothly as possible.

This gun now feeds with perfect reliability after 200 rounds. At first I really didn't like the little sucker very much. But after all that work and its demonstrating that it is now very reliable added to the fact that it's a joy to carry in my Kramer ankle rig, how can I help ut love this little sucker - especially having the authority of the .40 S&W ctg. ? ? ? ?

[TRESCOCOS]

EITHER WAY THE HP'S WOULDNT FEED. I TOOK OUT THE OLE DREMEL AND A CAN OF VALVE GRINDING FINISHING COMPOUND AND THAT DID THE TRICK. AMAZING HOW A MANU CAN SELL YOU A WEAPON THAT DOSENT HAVE FINAL FITTING....

I FOUND THE BEST WAY TO FEED THE HOLLOW POINTS IS TO INSERT CLIP AND HOLD DOWN THE SLIDE RELEASE LEVER AND RACK IT FAST AS IF IT WERE RACKING FROM RECOIL.

ANYHOW I AM GOING TO GIVE THIS PIECE ONE MORE CHANCE BEFORE I SEND IT TO THE POUND. IF IT SHOOTS 200 RDS THIS WEEKEND WITHOUT ANY FTF THEN I KEEP IT. IT IS LUBED AND READY TO GO. THE ONLY THING I WILL DO IN FAIRNESS IS CLEAN IT AND LUBE IT EVERY 6 CLIPS.

I HOPE IT PASSES THE TEST!

[SearTripper]

TRESCOCOS

Keep us posted and GOOD LUCK ! ! ! :supergrin:

[UrbanCowboy]

Originally posted by TRESCOCOS
I FOUND THE BEST WAY TO FEED THE HOLLOW POINTS IS TO INSERT CLIP AND HOLD DOWN THE SLIDE RELEASE LEVER AND RACK IT FAST AS IF IT WERE RACKING FROM RECOIL. You mean like it says to in the manual? If you dont like doing it that way the slingshot manual is the way to go. I take it you didnt get the DLC model. For some reason it seems that the DLC dont have issues with the tool marks. Also as it has already been stated the notch in the rail is normal.(edit: Spelling)

[TRESCOCOS]

i have the dlc. i was referring to the plastic abnormailities. the steel on slide dosent have any noticeable tool marks.

well the pistol passed the test! i am keeping it. i did 250 rounds of wwb typ ammo and only had 2 ftb which could have easily been attributed to limp wristing. either way all it took was a tap on the back of the slide to resolve. i cleaned it after the 8th and 20th clip.

so the gun has had a little over 500 rds with no stovepipes or jambs or deformed casings. i did notice that sometimes the casings were getting shaved in one spot on the lip when ejecting. whatever. the pm9 sure dosent eject evenly if you watch someone else shoot.

it might be overly expensive and rough but the size is incredible. My main pistol is a 19 glock which i always considered compact after giving up my 92 beretta. after shooting my kahr for 250 consecutive rounds i picked up my glock and dumped a clip. amazing - the glock felt like a giant mod 92 and the recoil felt like the slide was tied into a shock absorber!

i figured out how to get used to the manufacturing blemishes..i am gonna rough mine up a bit..drop it on the concrete floor a few times and carry it in my pocket with a bunch of loose change for a week. that way the owner abuse and the manu sloppiness with all blend in !

[pstmstr]

I had problems with my first one but bought a used 100% gun from a friend of mine and carry it all the time. I can't seem to make it not shoot and it is very accurate. Until Glock makes something as small and easy to carry, this is it for me.

[TRESCOCOS]

MEE TOO

i doubt glock bereta sig will make a mini. the market is very small worldwide. usa is prob about the only place where citiziens carry mini guns. in most of the rest of the world the idea is to let everyone know how big a gun you are packing!

[flyandscuba]

Guess I'm a lucky buyer. My PM40 has been flawless out of the box. The 250 rounds of break-in went downrange in one session with zero difficulties.

An additional 400 rounds of WWB and UMC passed through with no problems. My carry ammo, DPX & Pow'Rball, have both functioned flawlessly. With nearly 700 rounds through the pistol, I have complete confidence in carrying it for self defense. It rides in my front pocket nearly daily in an RJ Hedley holster.

With that said, I do prefer the fit and finish of my T40 over the PM40, but then -- it isn't the pocket gun I wanted for daily carry in my normal mode of business casual dress. The T40 has also been near flawless, with the exception of the followers not holding the slide back on empty near the end of the break-in process. New followers came in the mail for free and it has been trouble free since then.

[SearTripper]

Flyandscuba . . .

How do you like that RJ Hedley holster? Can you post a pic of it? I'm in need of a good holster for my PM-40 ! ! !

[flyandscuba]

Absolutely. All of my pocket pistols ride in Hedley leather. I've had the wonderful opportunity to sit and visit with RJ in his home-office-factory on a few occasions. He is full of knowledge and experience -- and a perfectionist when it comes to quality. If RJ wouldn't carry it in his own pocket, it never gets shipped.

Here are my pocket pistols arranged by size:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/flyandscuba/DSCF0184.jpg

Another view:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/flyandscuba/DSCF0183.jpg

What I carry on a daily basis is dependant upon the cut of the pants/trousers I may be wearing that day. Usually, the PM40, R9, or LWS380 are the pistols of choice. Other options include the AMT45, and P-3AT (blue in .380 and HC in .32NAA).