Kahr T9 review

[Ruprect]

            I recently purchased a Kahr T9 to use as a concealed carry pistol after several years of flawless service provided by the MK9 my wife purchased for herself.  

I’ve been a fan of the look and feel of single stack metal framed pistols for some time, but never got around to purchasing one because I was carrying a Glock 22 for the last several years due to convenience.  The Glock has never failed me and is an excellent firearm, but I don’t care for the feel, the trigger and the width.  I hoped the T9 would give me the reliability of the Glock with the feel, trigger and width I desired. 

             Buds Gun Shop was the only place I could find a T9 in stock below the ~$900.00 MSRP and most gun shops I spoke to couldn’t even order one.  The T9 on Bud’s ranged from $630 (non night sights / white bar-dot) to $740 (night sights) and once one came in stock, from order to arrival at my FFL was approximately 10 days.

            The T9 is a 9mm with 8+1 capacity (2 mags with pistol), 4” barrel and all steel construction.  It also comes in a .40 S&W version (T40), but I prefer 9mm and .45 ACP to .40 S&W.  To me the T9 feels like a scaled down version of my Browning Hi Power.  The fit and finish is excellent with no tool marks or stains.  The magazine release is extremely stiff.  Field stripping is no problem and consists of lining up the line on the slide with that on the frame and removing the slide stop.  The trigger is then pulled and the slide comes off the frame leaving the barrel and recoil spring to be removed.  Out of the box the trigger is very similar to that of my S&W model 66, which has been worked over by a gun smith, though not as smooth as the M66 or the MK9 as both have many thousands of rounds through them.  If you’re not familiar with revolvers this translates into a long, even pull with a similar long reset.  One of the things I like about these triggers is it forces you to develop a consistent trigger pull.

            To smooth out the trigger I prepared some polishing compound;

 

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and brought along some elbow grease (The Wife).  We headed to the range with 775 rounds which consisted of the following;

500 reloads 115gr plated Berry’s Bullet over 5.2gr Unique

200 124gr NATO fmj Winchester

50 147gr Federal Hydrashock

25 124gr +P Speer Gold Dot

 

          I’d consider myself and average shooter on my best day and this pistol is far more accurate than I am. The T9 points naturally and the white bar-dot sights are effective and easy to pickup (this is my first pistol that with that set up).  The length of the reset definitely feels like it slows down the speed of very rapid fire, but I don’t consider that to be an option when actually trying to hit the target.  Recoil from my perspective is nearly non-existent with the 124gr+P and the wife reports that recoil was a non-issue for her with the same load.  The magazine release lightened up some, but I’ll likely recess the grips around that area to ease operation.  The wood grips (which I really like the look of) have texture on the palm area, but the back strap is smooth wood and the front strap is smooth steel. 

          At around round 400 one of the three magazines began to bind up when loading rounds into it.  On closer inspection I found the follower had broken and was catching on the magazine body.  For the hell of it we continued to use that magazine to see if it would function.  For 40 more rounds it continued to feed rounds as fast as we could fire them, but would not lock the slide back and was a pain to reload so we took it out of the rotation.

 

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          At approximately 600 rounds one of the two magazines still in rotation began to fail to lock the slide back when empty.  It continued to function as normal, but would not lock the slide.

          After the 700 rounds of fmj were expended we moved to the hollow points without cleaning or maintenance of any kind.  The 50 Hydrashocks were up first and on round number 3 the pistol jammed.  It appeared as though the round had nose-dived on the feed ramp and the “tap” of a tap and rack drill caused the slide to run closed and chamber the round.  The rest of the HP rounds both Hydrashock and Gold Dot ran without issue.

 

Two eight round magazines fired at this pace, the wife doing her job and inflating my ego:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ZAvmVifvw

 

I’m not sure of the distance as I usually shoot at the Guns and Leather Greenbriar location and this was at the shorter Hendersonville location (maybe 12 yards?).

 

Then the wife showing me how it’s done:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3JPf2Qpn4

 

          Due to the magazine issues I contacted Kahr customer service on 11-28-12 at 1106 AM requesting two new followers be sent.  At 11:13 AM Kahr customer service replied that they would send two new followers.  I sat back, waited and time flew by with Christmas and then New Years, a very busy time of year for me, and had still not received my replacement parts.  I re-contacted Kahr customer service on 1-3-13 1:26 PM and they replied at 1:40 PM that they had requested the parts be sent, but would re-send.  On 1-10-13 I received three new followers.

          The emails from Kahr (all the same customer service rep) were polite, straight forward and business like.

In less than a week I received three new followers and replaced the broken follower as well as the follower of the magazine that would not lock back when empty.

All issues were resolved with new followers and after 300 more rounds of 124gr NATO fmj Winchester everything is functioning as it should.

 

          I’ve never been accused of being small framed and at 6’ tall and 240 lbs I have little to no issue concealing a pistol of this size outside the waist band in a t-shirt let alone my normal carry wear of a button down shirt (even with my Glock 22).  With a good belt and holster the T9 disappears, stays put and is unnoticeable after being worn for 10+ hours.  With the t-shirt, on occasion if you look hard, you can see the top outside of the slide against the shirt.  I can’t find my inside the waistband holster (as I never use it) to compare, but I imagine the pistol would completely disappear.

 

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          I’ve read of people having issues with the Kahr magazines letting rounds come loose or nosing down in the magazine causing feeding issues when loaded into the pistol.  I’ve experienced neither of these issues with both the T9 magazines and the MK9 magazines.  I carried the T9 spare magazine in both my pocket and leather magazine holder and did not experience any issues during normal daily wear.

***UPDATE***  I recently hiked the Walls of Jericho outside Winchester, TN which involves approximately seven miles roundtrip with nearly 1000’ in elevation change.  During the hike I kept a spare magazine in my front pocket and once at the end of the trail found that the magazine had let loose two rounds and was working on a third.

 

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Edited March 1, 2013 by Ruprect

[Guest drv2fst]

As I understand it pictures can be uploaded here ONLY in the Traders Post area.  To show photos in any other forum, you have to have the pictures hosted elsewhere and just link to them from here.

[Ruprect]

As I understand it pictures can be uploaded here ONLY in the Traders Post area.  To show photos in any other forum, you have to have the pictures hosted elsewhere and just link to them from here.

 

Much appreciated, that did the trick.

[Guest drv2fst]

Great Review.

 

I'm a fan of Kahr's as well.  I just traded with another TGO member for a TP45.  It was not reliable when I got it so I called Kahr.  They sent a shipping label and I got it back in about 10 days.  It's perfectly reliable now.  They replaced the slide stop lever and spring and polished the barrel feed ramp to a mirror like finish.  I've put about 500 rounds through it since I got it back and it works perfectly.  It's becoming my favorite carry piece as it is thinner and lighter than any 1911 I've owned.  It's as simple to operate as a Glock and is much easier to carry. 

 

They have some issues with break-in periods and magazines but they are great pistols when you get them right.  I think they are worth the extra effort.

[JR2ATN]

I got a new K9 last November.  I really like the size and the trigger is fantastic, just buttery smooth.  I actually just shot it for the first time this past weekend.  I had a problem with the magazines dropping prematurely, and I was NOT hitting the mag release.  Kahr is sending me replacement parts for the mag release assembly.  I had read of a few others having the same problem and they put in a stronger spring (one for a Colt 1911 mag release).  

 

It came with soft acrylic grips which aren't bad, but I like these Pau Ferro replacements, not just good looking but thicker too, which I prefer.

 

I have not carried it so I don't know if the mags will lose rounds.  Some folks replace the mag springs with Wolff +5% springs to try to fix the issue.

 

Edited March 2, 2013 by JMR1138

[Ruprect]

@ drv2fst: How's the felt recoil on the TP45? I played with A used one at G&L sometime ago, really liked the way it felt and the price was right, but I generally lean towards metal frames and was saving for a Blackhawk at the time.

@ JMR1138: Fine looking pistol! I keep telling the wife we might as well get the K9 to have a complete set, though she still isn't entirely convinced. The Wolf springs are a great idea, they worked wonders on a couple older 1911 magazines I had.

[Guest drv2fst]

I don't have a problem with the recoil on the TP45 at all.  Others have shot it as well and thought the recoil was better than they had expected it to be for such a light 45.  I think it's easier to handle than a Aluminum 1911.

[Guest bbtie72]

Could you please tell me what type of holster you have in the picture. I have this same pistol but have had trouble finding a holster. I have on for a p226 that I modified with some stitching but it's a small of the back and not what I really want. Great report I really love mine.

[Ruprect]

Could you please tell me what type of holster you have in the picture. I have this same pistol but have had trouble finding a holster. I have on for a p226 that I modified with some stitching but it's a small of the back and not what I really want. Great report I really love mine.

 

To save money and because I have a constant need to tinker, I learned to make basic IWB and OWB pancake holsters which is what that is (as well as the mag holder).

 

Before I learned to make holsters I bought my wife a Bianchi Black Widow for her MK9 and although it doesn't say, it will fit the T9.  It does have a thumb break though. 

[cch2a]

Really like Kahrs. I think they just look classy. I really need an MK9, as the smallest gun I have is my Glock 19, but I really have the 1911 itch. Too many guns and not enough money!