New CW9 & PMC Ammo

[prkguy]

Hi all I just purchased a new CW9 in 9mm and I am very pleased with it. Im still going through the break-in period and have about 160 rounds through it at this point.

I purchased Winchester, Remington, and PMC ammo to test during the break-in period.

The only issue I have encountered is when I use the PMC ammo. On my first trip to the range the slide would not hold open after firing the last round with the PMC. I had absolutely no ptroblems of any kind when using the Winchester and Remington ammo.

I thought maybe the PMC ammo did not quite have the power to push the slide back all the way so I took the gun apart and gave it a good cleaning.

Yesterday at the range the slide did hold open on the last round with the PMC but when I put the magazine in I had to actually push the slid stop lever "up" to chamber the first round. I had to do this each time I used the PMC. The Winchester and Remington once again worked flawlessly.

I took the CW9 home and checked to make sure I had the slide stop inserted properly with the spring lying on top of the landing on the slide stop. It appears that I have inserted it correctly as it is lying in what appears to be a groove in the metal on the slide stop. For sure I can say the spring is not underneath.

Like I said the Win & Rem ammo had worked perfectly so I will probably just buy those brands in the future but if anyone has any ideas on why the PMC is not working properly please let me know.

Im glad I found this website. I check it each morning now before going to work. Great stuff. : )

[MW surveyor]

prkguy - WELCOME TO THE ZOO!

Stick around and we'll try to help solve your problem.

I have a CW9 but after its first 100 rounds of store bought Federals, its had nothing else through it but my reloads and a few rounds of SD ammo. If you have any of the PMC rounds left, compare them with the Win and Rem rounds. There may be a visible difference in the rounds. If not and you have access to a caliper, take some measurements.

[tconroy]

Hi all I just purchased a new CW9 in 9mm and I am very pleased with it. Im still going through the break-in period and have about 160 rounds through it at this point.

I purchased Winchester, Remington, and PMC ammo to test during the break-in period.

The only issue I have encountered is when I use the PMC ammo. On my first trip to the range the slide would not hold open after firing the last round with the PMC. I had absolutely no ptroblems of any kind when using the Winchester and Remington ammo.

I thought maybe the PMC ammo did not quite have the power to push the slide back all the way so I took the gun apart and gave it a good cleaning.

Yesterday at the range the slide did hold open on the last round with the PMC but when I put the magazine in I had to actually push the slid stop lever "up" to chamber the first round. I had to do this each time I used the PMC. The Winchester and Remington once again worked flawlessly.

I took the CW9 home and checked to make sure I had the slide stop inserted properly with the spring lying on top of the landing on the slide stop. It appears that I have inserted it correctly as it is lying in what appears to be a groove in the metal on the slide stop. For sure I can say the spring is not underneath.

Like I said the Win & Rem ammo had worked perfectly so I will probably just buy those brands in the future but if anyone has any ideas on why the PMC is not working properly please let me know.

Im glad I found this website. I check it each morning now before going to work. Great stuff. : )

Make sure you have the slide stop lever inserted correctly.With the magazine in it should lock open. Without it in you will have to push up on it. Also take your magazine apart and clean it. That might be your problem. Make sure the spring is in the magazine correctly.

[Bill K]

Welcome to Kahrtalk!

There are a lot of knowledgeable folks here to help you get your gun up and running. I see you've already gotten some advice.

Bill K.

[cudaKAHR]

Took my cw9 to the range yesterday and shot 150 WWB, 100 federal and 100 pmc bronze flawlessly. Not much help from me other than I did not encounter the same problems. Chambering the first rounds of the pmc did feel & sound a little more rough than the federal and winchester though, could very well be the ammo fit and not your gun..

[jlottmc]

If I recall, PMC is supposed to load towards the hotter side of things. Maybe that is the issue at hand, with an overly tight slide stop spring. Check to see how that works, and search the archives for a thread or two that would tell you the proper relationship between that spring and your slide stop.

[jocko]

heh guys, all guns have their own personality. all PM9's look alike but they can be diffrerent and in ammo , certainly they can be different. Kahrs are really not ammo sensitive but occassionally one will not do well with certain brand sfor some reason or other. My feeligs is, just move on to another good round and forget about it. My P380 would not do well with 102 golden sabre ammo, some have no issues. I just didnb't trust that round and it was not my first choice but I thought it should work and it did not. I shoot corbon and gold dots for defense and all work fine, so it bothers me nadda. Gun makers and ammo makers are two different complete mfgering process. Steel cases, aluminum, nickel, brass, they all can do things diffrerently in some guns. I don't shoot steel because I don't see steel ammo around at any great price over walmart WWB for range ammo, some swear by steel some swear at steel. Just because ur gun might be ammo sensitive with one brand or another does not IMO make it a bad gun. Today there are just so so many good defense rounds out there to choose from, esepcially in 9mm .. I believe it is Rohrbaugh in the R9, that they tell u in the manual what ammo to shoot for reliability purposes. they don's say not to shoot so and so but they do name brands that they feel is right for the gun...

[Paladin]

The only thing I can think of is that PMCs tend be be lighter loads than the others. Winchester white box are known to be a little on the hot side. The lighter PMC loads might cause more issues until the gun is fully broken in.

Just my thoughts, for what its worth.

[prkguy]

With an empty magazine the slide locks open just fine. Im not going to get too worried about it unless I start seeing problems with other brands of ammo as well. Gander Mtn has Americal Eagle ammo on sale so I think I will pick up a box to test that brand. I will take the gun apart and give it a good cleaning as recommended in the kahr tech section. I have been carrying it a little bit around the house testing an IWB holster but I will save that for another discussion thread. Thanks all for the advice. If things get worse I will let you know but I dont think it will. I love this gone and Im already thinking about how I can convince my boss to allow another Kahr purchase. Mike

[yqtszhj]

I've shot hundreds of rounds of PMC through my CW9 with no issue. I got it on sale at cabelas and then used a coupon and ended up only paying about 9.50 a box shipped for like 800 rounds I think. All of mine is one lot though so maybe it's something with your lot. But like jocko said if you have a brand that works use that one. I've used a lot of different stuff and have never had a problem.

Good luck

[prkguy]

I took the CW9 out again today to finish up the break-in process. I tested a box of American Eagle and that brand worked just great. Pretty accurate too. Im impressed with about 265 rounds through it and not a single jam or FTE.
I see a CM9 in my future to go along with the CW9. Mike

[jocko]

kahrs on the whole are not ammo sensitive. Kinda hard to beat the reliabilioty of the cw9 IMO.

[MW surveyor]

if they were real ammo sensitive, mine would have choked to death by now.

[entoptics]

The only thing I can think of is that PMCs tend be be lighter loads than the others. Winchester white box are known to be a little on the hot side.

I have chronoed WWB to the tune of about 100 rounds through a 16" SUB2K barrel and a 4.5 Glock barrel. They are anything but hot in terms of velocity.

They invariably average lower velocity than any other "ball" ammo I've fired through those two guns. Federal Champion is the next slowest. Unless they are very inefficient I suspect they are actually light loads in terms of recoil impulse.

I have no experience with PMC. I have a box in my "stash" waiting for the chrono, just haven't gotten around to it.

I'll run a side by side comparison with it and all my other 115 FMJ stuff in a couple weeks, using my G17, SUB2K, and brand new CW9.

[jocko]

kahrs are not ammo sensitive. no doubt if you take 10 different brands of 115 fmj ammo and chrono them one will the hottest and one will be the lowest, but that tells one alot of nothing. as the lowest should funcition in any good semi. The ammo makers certainly are not going to make a round that will not function. the would not be here very long, My opinion