I picked up a new Kahr CM45 from Cherokee Gun and Pawn for a great price earlier today and just got back from the range, so he are my first impresions of this pocket sized 45 ACP.
The Good:
1) OK, it might be a little big for a pocket pistol for some folks, but I'm a big guy and wear tactical style cargo pants all the time. It fits in my pocket with no problem and does not print. You can see something is there, but it doesn't look like a gun. In an IWB holster is just disappears. It does not print with just a loose untucked T-Shirt and is light enough to forget it's there.
2) It is surprisingly accurate. I had no problem putting rounds in the same hole at 25ft if I took my time.
3) I'm an old 1911 guy and am completely spoiled by the high quality 1911 triggers I've been shooting for decades. The trigger on this gun is very different, but is no problem at all for me to shoot. It's DAO and has a very long pull, but it is the best trigger I have ever shot on a DAO pistol. It's VERY smooth and has consistent pressure all the way back. There is ZERO stack. You just press that slippery sucker and it goes BOOM. Very nice! The trigger pull is also long enough that I feel confident that it will be safe to pocket carry without a pocket holster.
4) It is very controllable. You would think that a small, lightweight 45 ACP would be a bit rude when firing it, but this is not the case. It is very well designed and I had no problem with rapped fire shooting. Unlike the CM9 and CM40, the grip is long enough for all three of your fingers to be on it. This is made possible because the grip is a tiny bit longer than the other CM pistols and the mag supplied with the gun has a small finger rest on the bottom. It's not very big, just big enough. Good thinking, Kahr. The grip texture is also aggressive enough that there is no slippage during rapid fire.
5) The ergonomics are extremely good. I was surprised to find that the very first time I drew the weapon quickly, the sights lined up perfectly and on target. This was very consistent and effortless. It also fell right back onto target after recoil. That's good news in any weapon, but especially for an EDC.
6) Though Kahr recommends a 200 round break-in, I had no classic FTF or FTE after more than 100 rounds. I shot a couple of different brands of FMJ, Fed Hydro Shock, Gold Dot, Hornady TAP and Pow "R" Ball ammo.
The VERY BAD:
1) The spring on the slide stop is much too weak. Regardless of how I gripped the pistol the slide stop would lock the slide back about 20% of the time during firing. It happened at least once on almost every 5 round mag. NOT acceptable!
2) The firing pin is off center to much. It only failed to fire twice, but you can see in the pic below that when it does fire the pin has to slide across the primer face to hit the anvil within the primer. Even if it never failed to fire this will cause stress on the firing pin and it's going to fail long before it should.
As is, this pistol is not suitable for SD, but it has potential to be a great EDC IF Kahr can fix these two problems. I'll be contacting them on Monday. I guess the rest of this review will be on how good their customer service is.
The E-Cig is there for scale.
The two on top are the ones that did not fire. The three on the bottom are to show how the firing pin must slide to fire the round. It's possible they are marks from the pin during ejection, but that would mean the two that failed to fire are from a light primer strike. We'll see what Kahr has to say about it..
The Good:
1) OK, it might be a little big for a pocket pistol for some folks, but I'm a big guy and wear tactical style cargo pants all the time. It fits in my pocket with no problem and does not print. You can see something is there, but it doesn't look like a gun. In an IWB holster is just disappears. It does not print with just a loose untucked T-Shirt and is light enough to forget it's there.
2) It is surprisingly accurate. I had no problem putting rounds in the same hole at 25ft if I took my time.
3) I'm an old 1911 guy and am completely spoiled by the high quality 1911 triggers I've been shooting for decades. The trigger on this gun is very different, but is no problem at all for me to shoot. It's DAO and has a very long pull, but it is the best trigger I have ever shot on a DAO pistol. It's VERY smooth and has consistent pressure all the way back. There is ZERO stack. You just press that slippery sucker and it goes BOOM. Very nice! The trigger pull is also long enough that I feel confident that it will be safe to pocket carry without a pocket holster.
4) It is very controllable. You would think that a small, lightweight 45 ACP would be a bit rude when firing it, but this is not the case. It is very well designed and I had no problem with rapped fire shooting. Unlike the CM9 and CM40, the grip is long enough for all three of your fingers to be on it. This is made possible because the grip is a tiny bit longer than the other CM pistols and the mag supplied with the gun has a small finger rest on the bottom. It's not very big, just big enough. Good thinking, Kahr. The grip texture is also aggressive enough that there is no slippage during rapid fire.
5) The ergonomics are extremely good. I was surprised to find that the very first time I drew the weapon quickly, the sights lined up perfectly and on target. This was very consistent and effortless. It also fell right back onto target after recoil. That's good news in any weapon, but especially for an EDC.
6) Though Kahr recommends a 200 round break-in, I had no classic FTF or FTE after more than 100 rounds. I shot a couple of different brands of FMJ, Fed Hydro Shock, Gold Dot, Hornady TAP and Pow "R" Ball ammo.
The VERY BAD:
1) The spring on the slide stop is much too weak. Regardless of how I gripped the pistol the slide stop would lock the slide back about 20% of the time during firing. It happened at least once on almost every 5 round mag. NOT acceptable!
2) The firing pin is off center to much. It only failed to fire twice, but you can see in the pic below that when it does fire the pin has to slide across the primer face to hit the anvil within the primer. Even if it never failed to fire this will cause stress on the firing pin and it's going to fail long before it should.
As is, this pistol is not suitable for SD, but it has potential to be a great EDC IF Kahr can fix these two problems. I'll be contacting them on Monday. I guess the rest of this review will be on how good their customer service is.
The E-Cig is there for scale.
The two on top are the ones that did not fire. The three on the bottom are to show how the firing pin must slide to fire the round. It's possible they are marks from the pin during ejection, but that would mean the two that failed to fire are from a light primer strike. We'll see what Kahr has to say about it..
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