New CW380 range report and review
I've been lurking here for a little while now. I've been a Kahr owner for about 8 years. Started with an MK9, traded to a PM9 to save some weight, and just recently bought a CW380 to add a pocket summer gun to my line up. Below is my experience with the firearm up to today's range experience. I've had the gun for a wk. I field stripped and cleaned it (not a complete break down of smaller components) and inspected for burrs and rough spots. There were a few where the slide is cut to accommodate the slide lock, but nothing that I thought would hinder function. The spring was stout! I'm used to service sized and compact guns where you can sling shot the weapon from a grip close to the barrel. I like the technique as you can sweep and clear stove pipes while racking the slide to chamber a fresh round. Well, take note... this is not a preferred technique with this small of a firearm! The strong spring and narrow slide caused me to slip and I literally flayed a chunk of my thumb off when the 90 degree edge of the chamber (which is razor sharp!) ran down my thumb. Holly jimminey cricket! Any of you who work with your hands know that when you scrape a layer of skin off, you're going to be hurting for awhile from that exposed area. Ouch! I took some advice on the forums and locked the gun back over night to help break the spring in. I'm not sure if that was a great idea (more on that later). On to the range today... The first 50 rounds out of this thing was literally the worst shooting experience I have EVER had with a firearm. I have put hundreds of thousands of rounds (that's not an exaggeration, my particular profession has allotted lots of range and ammo time) down several types of firearms over the years, let alone the rounds I put down range on my personal time and guns. I've never ever been as frustrated with a weapon as I was for this first 50 rounds. Failure to go into battery, failure to extract, double feeds, nose dives, nose ups (never seen this one before, I think the extractor was so tight that instead of allowing the rim to slide under it, it was pushing the round down into the magazine and causing a stove pipe with a live round) and stove pipes. 2-3 failures per magazine. In frustration, I field stripped her again, wiped her down, and applied a copious amount of lube. The next 50 rounds got better. One, MAYBE two issues per magazine. The last few magazines ran without issue. A light at the end of the tunnel? The last 50 rounds I had ran without a single issue. I started firing at combat speeds, 2-4 round strings of fire, and still not one failure. I even ran some one handed speed strings and still no issue. I bought 100 more rounds today at my LGS, and will await the results of those rounds before trusting this gun with my life. (ammo was 100 rounds of WWB, 50 rounds PMC bronze. Failures from both out the gate. In the second 50 rounds the PMC bronze seemed to be giving me more issue than the WWB) Some observations: The trigger is all Kahr. Super smooth and a nice break. The recoil was more than manageable. The dimensions of the firearm are a little difficult to master. I'm used to an aggressive thumb forward grip, and this caused a failure to lock the slide back on the last round almost every time. I won't knock the weapon for that, it's my positioning. When I slide my firing hand thumb above or to the outside of the support hand thumb, the issue stopped. Some concerns: It seems you can over travel the trigger. When I hold the trigger back as hard/far as possible and rack the slide after squeezing and firing on an empty chamber, the slide meets ALOT of resistance. There is an audible *click* as the slide (I assume) finally slides past the raised trigger sear and then it finishes the manual cycle. I was curious if this resistance could have been causing any of my misfires? When I hold the trigger in place immediately after the firing pin releases, racking the slide is not difficult at all. The resistance only occurs when I forcefully squeeze the trigger all the way back and try to rack the slide. Any thoughts? The last concern is that this thing is ridiculously easy to take out of battery. All of my semi's are easy to slide out of battery with a little bit of pressure to the front of the slide/barrel shroud area, but this thing is worn out springs type of easy. Also, it will even remain a few mm's out of battery if slide back and hold it in place for a second, then when I release my pressure it wont always return to battery. I'm worried leaving it slide locked over night may have messed the springs up. When a few mm's out of battery, when I squeeze the trigger the slide will return forward and the gun will fire during the trigger stroke. Do I ask Kahr for new springs? Is this even an issue since the last 50 rounds were flawless? Like I said. 100 more rounds and I will begin to look for a defensive round I like. I hope this was informative. I love this site and will keep my eye out for any of your suggestions regarding the resistance to a squeezed trigger and the ease of which this gun can be taken out of battery.
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The P9 became one of my favorites and I like the Gen 4 that replaced the Gen 3 G19 that was "too big".
