New Member, New K9 Owner, Comments

[Walter Rego]

New member here. I have wanted a Kahr K9 since I first read the reviews back in 1995. I finally bought a slightly used K9 standard model in stainless. The previous owner claimed to have fired about 200 rounds through it to break it in, and judging by the marks on the breech face that seems reasonable. I field stripped it for cleaning and it was very clean inside. Nice to buy a used gun that somebody cleaned before selling it.
A few comments and questions:

• I emailed Kahr with the serial number and they said the date of manufacture was in August of 2017. I also inquired when the stainless K9 was first introduced and they replied 1995. I don't remember seeing them in anything except blued carbon steel that early. Does anyone know when the stainless guns were available ? I'm thinking it was more like the turn of the century.
• The trigger pull had a slight "hitch" that could be felt and heard as a little click sound. I searched past posts and sure enough found it wasn't uncommon. I removed the right grip panel and could see where the trigger bar spring was catching on a tiny burr on the bottom edge surface of the trigger bar. I glued pieces of 600, 800 and 1500 wet/dry automotive sandpaper to some popsicle sticks, removed the spring and then polished the segment of the trigger bar that was rough, finishing up with a drop of oil on the 1500 grit. It took maybe 5 minutes, checking my progress a couple of times. I didn't want to try to remove the trigger bar and the sandpaper on the popsicle sticks worked perfectly to access the section that needed smoothing. Problem solved, the hitch is no longer felt and the trigger is very smooth. That part should never have passed Kahr's inspection.
• The magazines are the hardest to load of any gun I have ever owned and that includes guns like P08 Lugers and M40 Swedish Lahti's. I assume they need strong springs to keep up with the slide velocity, but jeeze ! I have a loading tool on order, but will leaving the magazines loaded for a while help "break them in" ?
• I have read the threads concerning slide rattle. My gun has very minor play in the slide to frame fit but seems within acceptable tolerances. It certainly isn't as tight as my SIG P210 (which has about no perceptible play) but is as tight as a couple of CZ-75's I own for example. For the member who sent his K9 back, Kahr's answer that it was within their tolerances makes it seem like the upper end of those tolerances must be pretty wide and unfortunately some guns are better than others but they all pass inspection. I guess if it is 100% reliable, that's what matters. But still, it's not a Hi-Point.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions

[Bawanna]

Welcome Walter, your off to a great start and figured out your new K9 right from the get go. I have a few guns and none compare tightness to my Sig P210 Target. Would love to get a 210 carry if I ever manage to save up enough rubbles.
Glad you found us.

[dao]

Welcome to the Board!

If there have only been 200 rounds thru it you could also manually rack the slide with the magazine out and chamber empty another 100 or so times to ready it. In addition if the mags have sat empty for most of it's life you could also load them up the night before and let them sit that way. Final thing would be to pull the slide back and let the stop hold it open overnight before your first range trip. Other than checking the striker channel for manufacturing debris that's about all you we typically do to "prep" them for use (aside from lubrication of course).

[Walter Rego]

Thanks guys. I did detail strip the slide with the help of a YouTube video. It too was pretty clean but I rinsed it out and put a light coating of oil on the moving parts. I'll try leaving the mags loaded for a few days and the slide locked back to see if that helps with the spring tension. The slide isn't too bad but the fighting the mag springs was a real chore.

Not sure why I can't post an attachment, I went to the Advanced setting but my Permissions at the bottom of the screen says I may not post attachments. Maybe because as a new member I don't have enough posts yet ?

[dao]

New member woes Sir. It shall pass.

Maglula loaders are very nice.

Arachna-grips can help in racking the slide.

Both terms can be fed to a search engine to show you places to purchase.

[Bawanna]

Need 30 post to attach a picture. You can post from like tinypic or postimage etc.

[kenemoore]

Just bought a new K40 myself, same Church, different pew. I have not tried the mags yet, but the slide racks like I expected it to. Not much different than my well worn K9. I can feel the difference in the triggers. My K9 has several thousand rounds down range and has worn to about a 4.5 pound pull, while the new K40 is around 6.0 pounds, I expect it to drop to around 5.5 real quick.
Brake cleaner through the access hole on the slide is a lot easier than complete tear downs, for future reference.

[Bawanna]

Brake cleaner works well for routine cleaning. In the past there were cases of machining debri left behind in manufacturing. I've not heard of this at all in recent times. I took mine down when new to make sure and all were pristine. The brake cleaner might not work on the larger stuff.

[Old No7]

The trigger pull had a slight "hitch" that could be felt and heard as a little click sound. I searched past posts and sure enough found it wasn't uncommon. I removed the right grip panel and could see where the trigger bar spring was catching on a tiny burr on the bottom edge surface of the trigger bar. I glued pieces of 600, 800 and 1500 wet/dry automotive sandpaper to some popsicle sticks, removed the spring and then polished the segment of the trigger bar that was rough, finishing up with a drop of oil on the 1500 grit. It took maybe 5 minutes, checking my progress a couple of times. I didn't want to try to remove the trigger bar and the sandpaper on the popsicle sticks worked perfectly to access the section that needed smoothing. Problem solved, the hitch is no longer felt and the trigger is very smooth. That part should never have passed Kahr's inspection.

Great job! That info should help others who have the same issue too.

The magazines are the hardest to load of any gun I have ever owned and that includes guns like P08 Lugers and M40 Swedish Lahti's. I assume they need strong springs to keep up with the slide velocity, but jeeze ! I have a loading tool on order, but will leaving the magazines loaded for a while help "break them in" ?

I do that too; that -- and shooting it -- will help.

Good luck!

Old No7

[troyboy50]

Welcome and enjoy. Lot of good info here.