Are you sick of seeing the bottom of the stainless magazine in a PM9?

[mjsdas]

If you are like me you probably don't like to see the bottom of the stainless steele magazine when it is installed into the KAHR PM9. For such an expensive semi-auto pistol, you would think that KAHR would have at least made it black to match the frame of the pistol. The first thing that I did was to purchase the Pearce Grip Extension for all of my magazines. The grip extension allows you to get your full hand onto the pistol for a much better purchase. In order to install the grip extension, you'll need to take the magazines apart. This is very easy to do by depressing the small button on the bottom on the magazine and slowly sliding the existing magazine bottom off being carefull not to let the spring fly out. Once you have the magazines broken down, use painters tape and wrap it around 1/4" up from the bottom of each magazine. Make sure that the tape is stuck down very well. Then use a gun "blue" pen to blacken the area below where the tape is. You will need to coat the area a few times and let it dry for a few minutes. After it is dry, wipe it with a dry paper towel and the stainless steel will now be dark black at the bottom of the magazines. Replace the magazine followers, springs and install the Pearce Grip Extensions. Your done. Now when you insert the magazine into the PM9, the bottom of the magazine will be black and not stand out. The black area will also not rub off because the steel has been blued. I really like the way my gun looks now. No longer do I see the cheesy stainless steel protruding from the bottom of the pistol. This fix is in expensive and easy to do.

[CPO15]

Got rid of the Pierce on my other guns as they sorta defeated the whole concealed concept. Another member turned me on to these:

http://www.kahr.com/Magazines/Kahr-P...d-40-SandW.asp

These do add a little to the mag, but not as much as the "pinky-rest" Pierce adapters.

[wyntrout]

The "blue" version won't stay on stainless. They make gloss and flat black for other metals that might work better. The blue is for ferrous metal... non-stainless or not aluminum. It reacts with ferrous metal to create the "blue" or black finish by chemical reaction. It's not paint.

I looked a bit and Birchwood Casey makes three, if not more, different pens... the Blue for ferrous metals, and Gloss Black and Flat Black for aluminum and other metals. One of the latter two would be better for stainless, but still require touch up from normal wear, though not as often as a Sharpie.

Wynn

[wyntrout]

If you use the polymer bases on the PM9 mags, you will probably have to sand down the top of the base... invert the base on a sheet of sandpaper and remove a bit at a time until you get enough clearance to seat the magazine for proper retention... as needed.
Guys have done this here and posted the results.

A lot of us with the Kahr .45's would like there to be flush-fitting metal bases for them, as well as the PM9's.

Wynn

[camsdaddy]

Wondering if the plastic mag bases available from Kahr come seperate or if they come in pairs.

[jmk1138]

Wondering if the plastic mag bases available from Kahr come seperate or if they come in pairs.

Yeah, about $8 for the plastic base and $8 for the base lock (otherwise you'll get a shiny silver dot through the bottom).

FWIW, I didn't have to shave anything off the top of the plastic base to make it fit and work.

[wyntrout]

As long as the magazine will lock in place reliably, you're good then. I know some had a problem with that and had to sand down the top a bit.

The Kahr site is a good place to explore. There is a lot of information there... on everything to do with Kahrs... parts, accessories, reviews, videos, downloads of manuals and diagrams, brochures... etc. It can take some exploring, though, to find some things, but it's all there.

Wynn

[wayneo1]

I usually dont worry about such things but you know mjsdas is sorta right. These do cost a little more the an lcp and should look the part. Take a H&K you look at that gun and you know its high quality same with sig for that matter. I look at the mags that came with my H&K and they really makes the Khar mags kinda smell. But that said as long as its reliable and accurate you have 99% which in todays world seems like 100%

[Bill K]

I wouldn't say I'm sick of seeing it but it does bother me a bit. I'd like to hear the reasoning of not having the grip polymer come all the way down to meet flush with the mag base plate or why Kahr can't/won't offer a base plate that matches up with the grip.

[wyntrout]

I bought this yesterday at the gun show:





I'll use this on a few mags when I get a chance, and post the results. The vendor had the Blue (for ferrous metal), Glossy Black, and this, the flat black. I didn't see anything specifically for stainless steel there, but I didn't look that closely.

Wynn

[wyntrout]

On opening the pen, the tip fell out... was dry, looked like a piece of porous wood. I stuck it back into the body and up and down a few times to get the "juices flowing". I shook it a bunch, too, trying to mix up the liquid.

Initial results suck... doesn't seem to like stainless. I'm using a P380 magazine that I trashed the back of the feed lips trying to make a "detent' to hold the cartridges in place. I cleaned the parts with lighter fluid and then acetone for a start.

Very light and streaky to begin with, and then I started daubing it on to increase the flow... looking crappy now... very uneven. I'll have to wait for it to dry and see what happens with re-touching it up. It will probably soften the older "paint" and resume the blotchy streaking, though.

All I can say for now, is don't run out and buy some for stainless steel! I have nothing aluminum to try it on, but that wasn't my interest, anyhow.

Oh, well.... It was only $7 and I may find a use for it later.

Wynn

[CJB]

I wouldn't say I'm sick of seeing it but it does bother me a bit. I'd like to hear the reasoning of not having the grip polymer come all the way down to meet flush with the mag base plate or why Kahr can't/won't offer a base plate that matches up with the grip.

Justin's own design mandate for himself was to create a defensive pistol that was well thought out for someone who would actually defend themselves with it. That being the case - a magazine that hangs slightly below flush allows the magazine to be forcefully withdrawn should that be needed in cases of malfunction of the magazine, or the ammunition/feeding cycle (which would jam or wedge the magazine), during defensive scenarios. The PM9 is not a duty weapon, and its not a target pistol. Think "defense" in all ponderings of design matters.

[wyntrout]

TucsonMTB, I guess I'll invest in that stuff soon. I have a LOT of stainless magazines that would look better if they matched the grip/frame.

I've been talking about the BC stuff, but it just doesn't work for stainless. I DID try the blue pen on the stainless and it was yucky, too... worse than the flat black stuff. I'm glad that I had the ruined P380 tube to experiment on and not a good one!

Wynn

[Bill K]

Justin's own design mandate for himself was to create a defensive pistol that was well thought out for someone who would actually defend themselves with it. That being the case - a magazine that hangs slightly below flush allows the magazine to be forcefully withdrawn should that be needed in cases of malfunction of the magazine, or the ammunition/feeding cycle (which would jam or wedge the magazine), during defensive scenarios. The PM9 is not a duty weapon, and its not a target pistol. Think "defense" in all ponderings of design matters.

Thanks for the explanation. What you say makes a lot of sense. Now that gap doesn't bother me even the little bit it did before.

Man, I sure hope I'm never in a SD situation where I'd need to make a mag change. [I do carry a spare mag for my Kahr and my P3AT but not my Glock]

[wyntrout]

Ditto!

Wynn