Auf weidersehen, adios, sayonara Kahr CW45

[2APatriot]

I'm not going into a rant, but my experience with the CW45 that I bought new has been, at best, troubling. I bought it with the intent to use it as an EDC gun, but since it doesn't function reliably EVERY time, it's merely an attractive paper weight. If you care to read some of its history, see my post in this section on 7/15/20. That will bring you up to today when I went to the range to give it a go after two years of choosing other guns from my safe to have fun with. Keep in mind the gun and the two Kahr mags are factory stock, no mods, no reloads, and all the ammo has been various brands of 230 gr ball GI round nose type jacketed. In today's test I alternated between the two mags and there was no slingshotting. 6 shots, then 6 shots. Flawless. 3 shots then 2 shots (I ran them thru my chrony). Flawless. I was feeling pretty good, so I loaded 6, chambered one, then dropped the mag, added a round, and shot all 7. Flawless. BUT when I attempted to repeat that with the other mag, it took three tries to chamber the first round. Tomorrow it is getting traded in on something else. In my experience Kahr ought to consider packing with the gun a sign that reads "please be patient, return fire might take a while, I'm shooting a Kahr!" BTW, the reply to my previous post in 2020, by Canine Dave, which read "wanna bet on when your next FTF will happen?" was all to true. I'm a slow learner, but I finally got it!

[BirdsThaWord]

Sorry to hear it. If I wasn’t loaded up with too many projects and not enough time, I’d offer to buy it from you. My used CW45, bought from a fellow forum member here, has been everything I’d hoped it would be, with just a good deep cleaning. I do understand your frustration and have gotten rid of guns just because I did not want to fool with them anymore. Best wishes on your trade in and hope you can get something that makes you happy!

[BurkeyNE]

Nobody likes to fool with a stock gun to make it work right and you shouldn’t have to. I’ve gotten rid of guns that didn’t behave correctly too. Currently have a .22 revolver that is in danger of being set free because at the range I wanna shoot, not fix.

[Bawanna]

I've had pretty good luck with guns, very few problems and hardly ever with a new gun. Sometimes it does pay to play with the troublesome ones at least a little bit. Case in point, over a year ago I bought a tupperware 1911. EAA Witness. Figured the light weight would be a plus. It's full size 5'' with a light rail. I took it out and shot it and just didn't feel right, cheap, lousy trigger and rough slide. I put it in the toy box and basically wrote it off.
Earlier this year I decided to revisit and see if I could make it better. Basically racked it a bunch, trigger was pretty lousy so I put a trigger I had laying around in it and made a world of difference. It was a short trigger I didn't much care for but it felt way better. I ordered a long trigger from Wilson, not expensive and dropped it in. Thing felt 100 percent better, very accurate and while I generally don't carry a full size to well, that lousy extra 1/2'' makes a difference this one carry's just fine. Must have found just the right cant or something in my Garrett Silent Thunder.
Long story not too short, I carry it everyday now, quite comfortably.
So sometimes a simple little bit of attention and tweaking can turn things around.

[O'Dell]

I'm not going into a rant, but my experience with the CW45 that I bought new has been, at best, troubling. I bought it with the intent to use it as an EDC gun, but since it doesn't function reliably EVERY time, it's merely an attractive paper weight. If you care to read some of its history, see my post in this section on 7/15/20. That will bring you up to today when I went to the range to give it a go after two years of choosing other guns from my safe to have fun with. Keep in mind the gun and the two Kahr mags are factory stock, no mods, no reloads, and all the ammo has been various brands of 230 gr ball GI round nose type jacketed. In today's test I alternated between the two mags and there was no slingshotting. 6 shots, then 6 shots. Flawless. 3 shots then 2 shots (I ran them thru my chrony). Flawless. I was feeling pretty good, so I loaded 6, chambered one, then dropped the mag, added a round, and shot all 7. Flawless. BUT when I attempted to repeat that with the other mag, it took three tries to chamber the first round. Tomorrow it is getting traded in on something else. In my experience Kahr ought to consider packing with the gun a sign that reads "please be patient, return fire might take a while, I'm shooting a Kahr!" BTW, the reply to my previous post in 2020, by Canine Dave, which read "wanna bet on when your next FTF will happen?" was all to true. I'm a slow learner, but I finally got it!

I'm sorry you have the problems. Maybe I'm just lucky, but out of the eight Kahr's I've owned, none have ever given me a problem - other than the three that were stolen of course. I still have a CW45, CM45, PM9, and my favorite pistol, a MK40N.

[2APatriot]

Thanks to you four guys who replied. I have been shooting for over 65 years. In all that time, and with all those various types and calibers of guns, this is pistol that gets my seal of disapproval. Only one other gun that I have owned, a cheap Mossberg .22 semi-auto rifle, has ever not worked reliably following its initial teardown and C&L. I'm happy for the shooters who have had great experiences with their CW45's, but I'm bailing.

[Scarpia]

Thanks to you four guys who replied. I have been shooting for over 65 years. In all that time, and with all those various types and calibers of guns, this is pistol that gets my seal of disapproval. Only one other gun that I have owned, a cheap Mossberg .22 semi-auto rifle, has ever not worked reliably following its initial teardown and C&L. I'm happy for the shooters who have had great experiences with their CW45's, but I'm bailing.

A few months have passed, I assume you have "unloaded" the CW45. I had similar issues with my CW45: (1) It failed to go into battery as the extractor's claw did not grab onto the brass's rim. My solution was to take a little (about 0.020") off the internal extractor rod plus polish all contact surfaces in the extractor assembly. This reduced the force that must be overcome by the recoil spring to allow the claw to grab the rim...OR...use a recoil spring with such a high spring constant that it rams home the extractor using brute force. (2) I was using a Kimber 7 round magazine (#1000173A), but the lip was just touching the slide's extractor as it tried to go into battery. In other slides, the extractor sits high whereas in the CW45, the extractor sits low allowing it to touch the magazine's lip, preventing battery. I very lightly sanded (200 grit paper) the lip of the Kimber magazine so it would clear the extractor yet still capture the 45's brass; problem solved. Kahr magazines did not have this issue. Kahr 45's accept 1911 magazines but watch for their lips touching the extractor.

I also found the CW45 is fussy as to bullet shape. Although I prefer 185 grain JHP's, it works best with round nose bullets. I only use 200 grain round nose bullets in the CW45. I don't carry it often, but it is reliable when fine-tuned as described.

My first Kahr was a PM9 which was quickly followed by the CW45. I have since added a K9 Elite '98 and MK9 and I'm currently searching for a K40. All three 9's operate flawlessly and are in my EDC rotation.

CW45; K9 Elite '98
PM9; MK9

[BirdsThaWord]

Nice collection Scarpia! Good job getting the Kahr tuned up as well!