Kahr Arms Kahr PM9:

Specifications:
Weight:	14 oz (397g). 15.9 oz. loaded
Length:	5.3in (134.62 mm).
Barrel Length:	3 in (76.19 mm).
Cartridge:	9mm
Action:	Double Action Only
Muzzle Velocity:	845 ft/s (XX m/s).[measured at 7 yds]
Feed System:	6 or 7 round magazine
Sights:	Drift adjustable white bar-dot combat sights. (tritium sights optional)

The Kahr PM9 is a modern version of the "Saturday Night Special". A more reliable and functional model "junk gun", notorious in the 1990's yet machined with precision tolerances. Mostly compared to the Glock, and Walther sub-compact firearms, due to it's ease of concealment and compact size. Kahr offers this pistol in several different chamberings, 9mm, .40 s&w, and most recently .380. Although I am a large fan of the .40 s&w round, even with the sub-compact Glock 27, I am not a fan of that round in this manufacturers firearms.

The Kahr PM9 has a polymer frame with a matte stainless steel slide, and polygonal right hand twist barrel, all deliberately designed to give this pistol the utmost reliability, which many other

subcompact firearm manufacturers are lacking. You can either find ease of concealment or reliability, but to combine the two? Very few firearms on the market can brag both.

At first glance my general overview found this pistol, light and portable, which makes it close to perfect by legal carry conceal laws. 9mm is a respectable round, and widely used by a majority of local LEA's as well as military personnel, making access to ammunition easy under many conditions. The grip is comfortable with a two finger grip which is common on many compact pistols but for those with larger hands, Kahr Arms is a widely enough known make that grip extensions are easily purchased by several different makers from several different distributors. The gun is sold with a single 6 round (supposedly) flush mag, and a single (annoyingly) extended 7 round magazine. I found some serious problems at first with the supposedly flush magazine, as it didn't sit flush and pinched my ring finger when the gun fired. Magazine extraction was also a little difficult with the flush magazine because of the size. The factory extended mag looks silly as hell, and doesn't fit the handle well, it's design creates a snag factor which this gun already has too much of. I chose to purchase some Pearce grip extensions.

At 7yds. which is standard for gun play encounters, the Kahr fires on target with deadly accuracy. But it's holster draw snagged so many times, and the recoil snap made repeating shots, and close groupings a pain in the ass. The further I got away from the target, say 30-40ft. the more inaccurate this gun became. if you're going to buy this gun I recommend you either machine soften, or pay to have the sharp edges softened to reduce snag and help re-holstering if you plan on having this as a concealed piece.

The Main problem that I have with this gun is that it is manufactured so tight that the feed ramp gives almist no room for anything less than a perfect bullet, or a properly seated FMJ. Many times you buy a box of 100 target ammo and you'll find that the bullet seatings are different, some lead sticks out further from the brass than other rounds, the PM9 has a problem feeding these bullets. Even though they are not a defective bullet by any means. For the most part when the gun was loaded with perfectly loaded factory ammunition, and properly seated reloads, the PM9 had no failures or feed jams of any kind.

A 9mm may not stop a threat effectively with one shot especially at close ranges, unless you can fire brain stem seeking rounds (which depending on the bullet seating the PM9 might not feed), you're going to want to use Hollow Point rounds for general defense. Don't worry the PM9 can fire them, if you can get them to feed. I prefer Remington Golden Sabre for smaller calibre guns such as 9mm, and this pistol jams at least 2 out of every six shots with them. Since most hostile combatants like to attack in larger numbers, you want all 6 rounds to feed and fire on point every time. Honestly every shooter who has handled this gun has encountered the same issues. Every other gun has required some "breaking in", I consider this period anywhere from 500-1000 rounds. This gun has only had 150 through it at the time of writing, and that is why I am not giving it harsher review at this point. Once I know it acts once it's had it's share of range time I will update.

A Kahr PM9 has an msrp of $786.00 usd, but most can be purchased new for about $659 usd. That's a lot of money for a somewhat reliable gun. And even though this gun is perfectly concealable by today's standards, is that really going to matter when it's you against the brain hungry undead? Who will you need to hide a piece from then? Zombie LEO's don't exactly enforce laws, and you won't be tried if you end up in a courtroom full of your peers who've become zombies. Zombies don't want you to follow the rules. they want to pop you open like a can of soda and eat your organs. When you put it into perspective, a Kahr Arms PM9 doesn't seem like much of a useful gun. It's small though; especially compared with a full size Kimber 1911 right, this means you can give it to your girlfriend, or vertically challenged friend, right? The recoil alone prompts me to inform you that this is a bad idea. The PM9 snaps up harshly, and can cause an inexperienced shooter to have problem regaining for fast next shots, let alone trying a combat shot like a "Mozambique drill" . The recoil on this gun only gets more harsh if you try the larger calibre offerings. To enable yourself to fire this gun properly even as a hideout piece, prepare for some serious range time and frustration.

It's an effective carry piece in some real world scenarios, and it's concealability factor really does put it in a class all by itself, and I mean you can conceal this thing if you're wearing swim trunks and a tank top, hell an indie kid in his sisters pants could hide this piece out almost undetected; however if you're willing to wear your shirt untucked, and pants that aren't going to render your most secret of curves on display, there are other, and in this reviewer's opinion better options. hopefully it performs better once it's broken in, as I am to this point not thrilled about this gun. Once again I end a review with this thought, if you have to pound a nail in you use a hammer, and if a bolt needs turning you grab a wrench, get it?

Guns are tools too, and there are certain guns for certain jobs. The Kahr PM9 is a handy tool for the most concealed of carry situations, and is handy enough to be a good hideout piece. You wouldn't carry this on your hip though unless you had to. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS AS YOUR FIRST OR ONLY GUN. If you have a sidearm already and you want a last resort piece, this is a good gun depending on your needs. Before purchasing this gun consider this: This is just the best manufactured gun in this size,not the best all around conceal carry, useful firearm.




The gun works, it's accurate for the most part, and serves a function, but for the purposes of survival from an zombie onslaught I have to rate this with:


Any questions?








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