I have a little time, before I head to the range. I intend to give my new CM9 a real workout today - to try and finish the "break-in" process. I have put 80 rounds through it to date and I expect to pass 200 today.

I have had the 6th round feeding issue (nose-diving) from the beginning. So, I have been trying some things to remedy the situation. Using the slide release, as recommended by Kahr, helps, but does not produce complete reliability.

The feed ramp in these little pistols is VERY steep, as it no doubt MUST be.....there is no room for a more relaxed angle. The feed ramp is the entire "secret" of Glock feed reliability - an undercut chamber (which allows for a longer feed ramp) with a feed ramp angle as flat as possible. No room for such a thing in the little CM9/ PM9. So, I polished the feed ramp on my CM9. That changed nothing.

Early on, I realized that the mag spring was very tight when loading to the maximum (6 rounds, in this case). The mag spring was obviously closing completely, making it much more difficult to get the 6th round in. So, I took 1 full coil off the mag springs. This helped, though two coils might be better (but, I will see how things go as the gun is fully broken in, first).

Of course, I de-burred the magazine catch slot in the magazines, as well as going over the edges of the mag lips lightly with a file. I also worked over the magazine followers with fine sandpaper, to eliminate any binding. No help there.

I found, in testing my CM9, that holding my little finger under the magazine and applying upward pressure when racking the slide or sling-shoting it (with 6th rounds in the mag) solves the feeding issue. So, that will now be SOP for me, from now on. The mags have about 1/8" of play in the mag well, with the slide OPEN....and the mag sitting too low seems to contribute to the problem.

As for the recoil spring, I noticed that the spec'd (and provided) spring for this little pistol is an 18 lb. one - quite strong for such as small pistol, even with 9mm. Of course, Kahr specifies a strong spring because most people with these pistols just buy off-the shelf defense loads for them....and such rounds tend to be loaded hot (as well as +P and +P+ ammo, which some insist on using). But, for general use (I NEVER load that hot, myself)....I wonder if a slightly lighter spring might work OK. These small pistols are more susceptible to the effects of "limp-wristing" (than heavier ones) - and a moderately loaded cartridge has a lot to overcome with an 18 lb. recoil spring. I found that a spare 15 lb. S&W spring, that I had on hand, would fit just fine, if shortened. So, I will test BOTH today.

To sum up: the real, overriding issue with feeding problems in the Kahr CM9/PM9 pistols is obviously the very steep feed ramp angle. If this could be changed to a lesser angle, the problem would probably disappear altogether. The feed ramp angle is a compromise, to be sure. No room in these little pistols for a long, soft slope - and there's the rub. I do NOT believe that the problem lies with engineering or production quality of these pistols, but rather, only the compromise that had to be made with the feed ramp. After all, this sort of thing is not unknown - 3" "officer" sized 1911s are infamous for feed issues, because the necessary operations have to be accomplished in such a short length. The same applies here. As of yet, I have not come up with a complete solution. But, I am not worried. The pistol IS a quality piece, of that I have no doubts. It just needs a wee bit of "tweaking", as well as some common sense applied to the operation of it.

I'll report back, especially if I find anything that might be useful to the group.