Kahr Pistols - Poetry in Motion

[muggsy]

Kahr pistols remind me of this poem.

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very very good
But when she was bad she was horrid.

It seems to me that we are spending far too much time trying to straighten
out someone's misbehaving Kahr Pistol instead of having fun shooting them. The same problems keep reoccurring with regularity. Every new gun has teething problems, but generally those problems are resolved within a few months of the start of production. Kahr's problems seem to go on forever. No one has been a bigger supporter of the brand than I've been, but even I am beginning to lose faith. The basic design of the gun is solid, but quality control seems to go wanting and customer service could also use improvement as well. Would someone please try to restore my faith.

[SGT5711]

My gunsmith said when Kahr first began producing pistols, you could hardly find a better one, but he thinks the company grew too big too fast, and the quality has suffered some.

[hardluk1]

I have never owned a bad firearm. I did buy KT p-11 then went back before round one was fired but came back ready to run and some years later its still fine and been carried buy a son-in-law for a couple years.


The only kahr issue I see that should not happen at all is the feed ramp hitting the followers. Just should not happen.


I have 3 poly kahrs I have bought over almost 4 years and have had no issues with mine at all. No Racking issues, no ammo falling from mags , no problems using longer mags being used in pistols than its designed for no broken followers. Just 3 pistols when bought and cleaned up and lubed that go's bang ever time . My first kahr was a problem pistol for another owner but not for me. Even during the break-in time I run around 500 rounds thru any and ever pistol I buy and these did all 500 rounds with out any extra cleaning or lubing and no racking problems !! Now maybe if I was to buy one more I may find that problem pistol but at this point they have worked like they should.


But that one more pistol is going to be a R51 remmy not a kahr , so time well tell if that's my problem pistol or not . But my kahrs , I trust completely like ever other handgun I have ever bought.

[muggsy]

Magazine springs installed backwards, failures to feed, failures to go into battery, nose dive jambs, failure to lock back, premature lock back, cracked magazines, broken followers, magazines that won't drop free, magazines that drop free before they are empty, light strikes, triggers that fail to reset, strikers that won't release, triggers that bottom out against the frame, brass to face, recoil spring nuts that take flight, triggers with a hitch. Somehow I think that Kahr can do better than that.

[berettabone]

I agree, but we need to bark to the right crowd. I personally have had NO issues.

[Barth]

My MK40 Elite is truly a work of art.
I really believe that as any/all manufacturers try to meet low price points
then quality suffers.
That's just the way it is.

IMHO - the high end Kahr guns remain some of the best available.

[muggsy]

There is nothing low about the price point of a PM9 or a P380. When you try to capture a share of the lower price point market the gun had better perform or the only thing that's accomplished is ruining your good reputation. The basic locked breech magazine fed design dates back to 1911.

[berettabone]

If you pay attention to other manufacturers, they all seem to be having quality/performance issues. Springfield, S&W, Kimber....cheap to expensive. With so many people clammering to purchase firearms, quality has taken a step back. ALL of the manufacturers should take a look at what goes out the door. Currently, they don't seem to care. Some people just don't read their manual, or follow break in procedures, which I think causes some of these so called problems. When I hear someone say, it should shoot right out of the box, I am a bit wary. Should at least clean the thing first?

[RevRay]

I think it's probably combination of things that are creating the perfect storm in your mind. Some of it is probably lots of people like me who never knew anything about guns coming into the market in the last year or so. In my case I took the time to learn stuff on here and my 3 Kahrs (all used) have all been great. But I've noticed a lot of people on here who seem to aren't willing to take the time to learn first. In addition, I think trying to appeal to the lower end market is always going to run a risk. It's hard to please people who want to eat steak but only pay for peanutbutter. And lastly, I really do think that the old adage about mostly hearing from people with problems on the forum is true ... and after a while the drip, drip, drip, can get to you. Could Kahr improve customer service, etc. ... probably. But in the end, the real question is ... Muggsy, how do you like your Kahrs?

[chrish]

With 3 completely perfect 100% functioning Kahr's under my belt...no complaints. Bit I agree muggsy, something is going on that doesn't historically track with Kahr. At this point, I've not really been able to decide whether its A) more gun buyers therefore more Kahrs have flooded out there and you always seem complaints vs praise, so we get an influx of issues at places like this forum or B) more gun buyers therefore more Kahr production and getting stuff out the door faster and less QC as a result.


But either way, I think a lot of what's been showing up here lately has been LESS of the 'user error' or 'user training' issues and more of real gun issues. What's causing it, the jury is still out.