Kahr P-9 Range Report
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:07 pm
Some of you may remember the Kahr that I bought for my fiance last week, well I finally got to the range to test it out before I fork it over to her. A point I would like to make is that I've never been a polymer gun guy even after shooting just about every other plastic gun out there, but I just fell in love with this little gun at the range. 
Overall outcome of my range trial is that I'm completely confident in giving it to my fiance for her protection when I'm not around. 
The manual recommends 200 rounds for the break-in period, so I picked up 2 boxes of WWB FMJ from wally and headed to the Arms Room in league city. The gun functioned flawlessly, from the first shot to the last, alternating between both 7 and 8 round magazines, firing fast, slow, and one handed strong/weak. Also, the gun would load either by releasing the slide stop or working the slide with your hand. Basically I would rely on this gun to go bang every time, anywhere. Here's the gun again that was posted last week.
Accuracy- all I can say is wow. The accuracy of this gun is way beyond my capabilites, as can be seen in the difference of grouping from 7 to 15 yards (one magazine each). My lack of experience with DAO triggers may have played negatively into the results since I am only familiar with single action triggers, but that's for another discussion.
I collected some sample casings that were ejected from the Kahr to examine the integrity of it's striker system which as can seen below leaves a nice, deep dent in each of the primers. Also to be noted is that the casings didn't show any major signs of deformation or gouging, as with some other firearms that I've seen. To me, this means that the design allows the gun to function more smoothly and not "forced" per say. The ejection pattern was very consistent, back and to the right at about 4-5 o-clock.
Another thing I noted while shooting the Kahr, besides it being super thin, was that the front and backstrap stippling really made the gun "stick" in my hands while firing. I think it is important that small, compact guns have a good grip texture because, well there's just less to hold on to.
Just to show the amount of residue build-up in the chamber after 200 rounds with no cleaning.
Last but also important for full caliber guns is that you can get a three finger grip on them. This was easily accomplished with the pinky extension on the 7 round magazine supplied by Kahr, even with my bear paws.
Overall outcome of my range trial is that I'm completely confident in giving it to my fiance for her protection when I'm not around. 
The manual recommends 200 rounds for the break-in period, so I picked up 2 boxes of WWB FMJ from wally and headed to the Arms Room in league city. The gun functioned flawlessly, from the first shot to the last, alternating between both 7 and 8 round magazines, firing fast, slow, and one handed strong/weak. Also, the gun would load either by releasing the slide stop or working the slide with your hand. Basically I would rely on this gun to go bang every time, anywhere. Here's the gun again that was posted last week.
Accuracy- all I can say is wow. The accuracy of this gun is way beyond my capabilites, as can be seen in the difference of grouping from 7 to 15 yards (one magazine each). My lack of experience with DAO triggers may have played negatively into the results since I am only familiar with single action triggers, but that's for another discussion.
I collected some sample casings that were ejected from the Kahr to examine the integrity of it's striker system which as can seen below leaves a nice, deep dent in each of the primers. Also to be noted is that the casings didn't show any major signs of deformation or gouging, as with some other firearms that I've seen. To me, this means that the design allows the gun to function more smoothly and not "forced" per say. The ejection pattern was very consistent, back and to the right at about 4-5 o-clock.
Another thing I noted while shooting the Kahr, besides it being super thin, was that the front and backstrap stippling really made the gun "stick" in my hands while firing. I think it is important that small, compact guns have a good grip texture because, well there's just less to hold on to.
Just to show the amount of residue build-up in the chamber after 200 rounds with no cleaning.
Last but also important for full caliber guns is that you can get a three finger grip on them. This was easily accomplished with the pinky extension on the 7 round magazine supplied by Kahr, even with my bear paws.
