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looking for a CCW for friend. her first gun. she is experienced shooter though.
she wants .40 cal. after shooting mine. but its too heavy, thick, and large for her daily carry.

not many subcompact, single stack .40's to choose from. but we agreed that its a good medium of convenience vs.effectiveness.

but i dont hear alot about kahr's, good or bad. how does this subcompact .40cal shoot?

Glock 23 wrote:looking for a CCW for friend. her first gun. she is experienced shooter though.
she wants .40 cal. after shooting mine. but its too heavy, thick, and large for her daily carry.

not many subcompact, single stack .40's to choose from. but we agreed that its a good medium of convenience vs.effectiveness.

but i dont hear alot about kahr's, good or bad. how does this subcompact .40cal shoot?

I've had one for several years. It's light, easy to conceal, and it shoots very well. However:

The .40S&W is a high pressure cartridge with distinctly "snappy" recoil in a light gun like this. Many people find this combination unpleasant to shoot. A strong grip is mandatory to keep it from punishing the hand. I would highly recommend renting before buying (as I would for any gun, but especially for this one) to make sure she is OK with this characteristic. If not, I'd suggest looking at the 9mm version of the same gun. It has all the good traits and is much "friendlier" to shoot.

Like any small gun, the controls are close together and can easily be interfered with if one's grip technique is not just right for that gun. It may take some experimenting to find what "just right" is for any individual.

Some folks have had poor experiences with this particular model and have had to send theirs back to the manufacturer multiple times. You can find accounts of these incidents easily on line. I haven't heard anything lately, but you should be aware of this, especially if she is considering a gun that may have been manufactured a while back.

I'm one of those who had multiple problems with a PM40. I don't recommend it.

Also agree that .40-cal in such a small gun is a handful to shoot well - considerably more felt recoil than a Glock 23 (which was my other gun at the time - used to shoot them side-by-side at the range). I'd say the PM40 has every bit the recoil and then some of .38 +P from an Airweight snubnose revolver and about the same trigger pull weight too - I actually dumped my PM40 and picked up a S&W J-rame to replace it - only one less round, still good ballistics with +P, and much more reliable.

If she's stuck on single-stack .40-cal, try the steel-frame Kahrs preferably with longer grip (K40 instead of MK40), a Walther PPS .40 (though they have some reliability complaints too - more than the 9mm it seems), Taurus PT740? Or try a double-stack .40 with a thinner grip than a Glock ... maybe an XD? or Walther P99? S&W M&P? .... also, it's not .40, but a Ruger SR9C has a very thin double-stack grip. Also try a Sig P239 in .40.

thx for the replys. i have and airweight s & w and even with bigger grips, its not a good shooter. she also like the LCR but i told her it'd be worse to shoot than my airweight and she didnt like that idea.

im pushing her towards 9mm since theres more options, but shes concerned about stopping power. on that note i said the LCR will do the trick, IF you can hit the target.

i think after test firing the pm40, she wouldnt like it...but who would. like all f us, she must decide between comfort and shooting quality.

the m & p is another like of hers. but if she gets one, i might fall in love with it and trade my glock. :)

I have a PM9 and it has become my " go everywhere " gun. It has less recoil than a .40 and will do what it needs to do.

Maybe your friend could check one out.

thanks,
George

Glock 23 wrote:thx for the replys. i have and airweight s & w and even with bigger grips, its not a good shooter. she also like the LCR but i told her it'd be worse to shoot than my airweight and she didnt like that idea.

im pushing her towards 9mm since theres more options, but shes concerned about stopping power. on that note i said the LCR will do the trick, IF you can hit the target.

i think after test firing the pm40, she wouldnt like it...but who would. like all f us, she must decide between comfort and shooting quality.

the m & p is another like of hers. but if she gets one, i might fall in love with it and trade my glock. :)

I have a PM40 and it's my main carry. I haven't had any reliability issues and have fed it a several hundred rounds with a variety of brands without any problems. I have never used aluminim or steel cased ammo, though. If you go with a Kahr think she'd be better off with a 9mm because the 40 is quite a handful to shoot. I have Apex wrap grips and have modified the extended magazine which has a flared bottom added and a leather strip to get the dimension closer to the grip. It improved it a lot, but I still wouldn't care to put more than 40 -50 rounds through it at one setting.

PS I forgot to mention that my PM40 is quite accurate, which I contribute to consistent lock-up. It also has night sights. Good Luck

With modified extended mag inserted.

+1 on what others said about maybe a 9 instead of 40. Also, fwiw, several of my lady students have settled on the "econo" version of the Kahrs, the CW-9.

Kahr has a great website and some serious upgrading available too.

The site has side by side specification charts comparing their model and the competitions.

By the way Kahr is selling a micro .380 that appeared to be even smaller than the LCP.(If your into that sort of thing)

I own two and carry one. (the other's for sale here in the classifieds)

Best trigger of any compact I've ever shot.

Cycles dependably.

VERY accurate

Recoil isn't as bad as I expected and my wife can shoot it.

.40 S&W is a show stopper

I highly recommend it.

I've got an all steel K40 and I would not recommend it for a first gun, much less a smaller PM 40. If I could find a good bargain on a K9 I would trade for it in a heartbeat.

If your friend needs subcompact size I would recommend 9mm. Ammo is cheaper, the guns are easier to shoot and good 9mm ammo performs just as well as 40 in penetration tests. I would rather see my friends put 5 9mm rounds in a 6" circle at 10 yards, and shoot 100 plus rounds every practice than fight with a loud snappy muzzle blasting 40 that they can't stand to shoot more than 50 rounds at a time.

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19887

Gringop

CW40 has become my main carry ... affordable, and not a holster queen. Rides very well with me on my Wing. (Motorcycle, main transportation.)
Prefer the DAO, shoots every time.
True, the .40 S&W 180 gr. IS snappy... but... IN A FIRE-FIGHT who's gonna' notice ?!
((Take your .45 ACP... to the range.)) I'm just sayin'
Mac

.45mac.40 wrote:
CW40 has become my main carry ... affordable, and not a holster queen. Rides (only means of transportation) very well with me on my Wing. (Motorcycle)
Prefer the DAO, shoots every time.
True, the .40 S&W rd. is snappy... but... IN A FIRE-FIGHT who's gonna' notice ?!
((Take your .45 ACP... to the range.)) I'm just sayin'
Mac

I've got the PM45 too. It's not for the faint of wrist either, but a good shooter in a light, easy to carry package that I use for situations where a 1911 just isn't a good fit. It allows me to adjust to a lot of circumstances without compromising on caliber.