DLC is POS

[srice425]

just got my pm9 and as soon as i put it in my done hume holster, it scratched the hell out of it in several places revealing the silver inderneath.

holster 1 - dlc 0

[pm9fan]

Love the PM9 but had a bad DLC and stainless showed in a couple of months. Sent in and got a new slide but the tech dinged the front Big Dot. Coating on this slide was marginal. Second sent back and replaced by Kahr. Turn around is two to three weeks. Just call and get an RMA.

[srice425]

hmm, i may do that. is all of the black finishes not DLC or are there some black finishes and some black dlc finishes?

[kramm]

I'd see about sending it back. I've had my pm45 for over a year now and carry it every day,can't find any bad spots on the finish.

[srice425]

i hate to send it back for 3 weeks, i just got back from the range and put a little over 100 rds through it. flawless.

[eastenn]

actually you already got the hard part over, it has its first scratches now you don't have to worry about it anymore

[srice425]

i just dont want the actual finish to be faulty. i dont mind the scratches.

[kramm]

Have you talked to any one at Kahr about it? I would think that they might want to know about a problem with the finish . I' not sure if the finish is done at Kahr or parts are sent out to be applied.

[srice425]

yes, he thinks there was something in the holster that was sharp, but it was brand new, out of the bag and was free of obstructions. he said i could mail it back and they could touch it up.

[jocko]

wow

just got my pm9 and as soon as i put it in my done hume holster, it scratched the hell out of it in several places revealing the silver inderneath.

holster 1 - dlc 0

what the hell was in that holster to do that. Leather sure won't cause it. If yo have a bad dlc finish that is one thing but leather scratching the dlc finish. , wow. have you tried taking a regular pencil eraser and rubbing it over that scratch. Many times one can rub away that scratch. Personaly I don't think kahr can touch up scratchs. I don't think they put the dlc finish on their guns. I think it is a vendor process and to my knowledge there is no dlc touch up .

You can send just the slide back for about $5 through regular mail but just not sure kahr can do alot for it, nor even sure if they will replace it as they didn't do it. Can't hurt to call and ask either. He just outta get some of that flat balck touch up pens in gun stores and touch up the scratch and forget about it...

From KAHR SOURCE: A couple of years back Kahr decided to discontinue carbon steel guns and manufacture all slides and steel frames from stainless steel. Most consumers liked the corrosion resistance of stainless.
However, Kahr quickly discovered that not all consumers wanted bright and shiny guns. In dim light, the glint of a stainless slide being withdrawn by an undercover operative could lead to fatal complications.
To solve this problem and darken the stainless slide, Kahr flirted briefly with baked-on Teflon used by many manufacturers but found the results less than satisfactory. The economy of the finish was appealing to Kahr, but is soon discovered that the cosmetics were short-lived. Kahr tried another process that required substantial heat. This actually changed the metal's molecular structure and made it more brittle. Finally, Kahr developed its proprietary Tungsten Diamond-Like-Coating (Tungsten DLC), which uses a process called Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition to coat the parts.
Tungsten DLC is applied in a vacuum chamber where cathodes transform the tungsten into a gas that plates the parts. The process increases the surface hardness to a whopping 90 on the Rockwell C scale. Just for comparison, your average 1911 frame will register about 28 to 30 on the same scale.
One of the best selling points of the Diamond-Like Coating in that the parts are never heated over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so there's no need to worry about the parts losing their temper, softening, or becoming brittle. Also, only about two microns of the material is deposited on the slide. In case you're wondering, that amounts to about 80 millionths of an inch-far too little to affect the parts' function or fit.
Kahr's Tungsten DLC thoroughly impresses me. Not only does it perform its intended task of coloring the bright stainless steel to a matte, non-reflective black, it also provides a tough, corrosion-proof covering that is virtually scratch proof. And it will not wear even when subjected to extensive holster carry. For a gun that will be used exclusively for concealed carry, the Tungsten DLC finish makes a lot of sense.



all finishs for the last 8 years are dlc , Yours is certanly dlc finish.

A shame as dlc when properly applied is tougher than the stainless under it. It has a rockwell of around 90, where your slide in stainless is around 30+.

[WMD]

I agree with Jocko. DLC is pretty hard stuff and is hard to scratch. Just send the slide to Kahr, I am sure they will take care of it. I think their standard response to turnaround is 2 to 3 weeks but actually, I have experienced it being a lot quicker then that. I got my PM9 back in a week. Considering shipping time, that means they turned it around almost same day.

[srice425]

well, in my case, i think the coating was a dud. lol. the leather holster was clean, bc i looked right after it scratched. what a shame. i figured the finish would be fairly touch. from the way the describe it, you should be able to pocket carry the thing with a bunch of change in ur pocket and it wont scratch. with the finish i had, if i did this to it, id have a 2tone pistol in half a day.

i sent it off this morning. it should get there by tues. i didnt have to rma since it was just a field stripped slide.

i love the gun tho. took it to the range yesterday and put the first 100 flawless rounds through it. shoots awesome, but i have to get adjusted to the trigger pulling so far back.

[hsart]

I bought a black P380 when they first came out with that finish and there were a lot of thin spots where the stainless showed. Kahr took it back and replaced it without any hesitation. If you get a new slide means that you need to still break it in and mate to the lower, so the 100 rounds you put through it is your loss. I would let Kahr decide the best option and I too do not think it can be retouched without showing.

[crazymailman]

I have had a p9 for less than a month and the finish is so thin that I scratched it with my wedding ring while installing a slip on grip. There were also some small spots where it looked like stainless shows through, but I wasn't going to worry about it till it scratched so easy. I just got off the phone with tech at Kahr and was told that they do not warranty finishes. It kinda ticks me off that the finish is so easy to screw up.

[wyntrout]

I bought a black P380 when they first came out with that finish and there were a lot of thin spots where the stainless showed. Kahr took it back and replaced it without any hesitation. If you get a new slide means that you need to still break it in and mate to the lower, so the 100 rounds you put through it is your loss. I would let Kahr decide the best option and I too do not think it can be retouched without showing.

I was wondering what ever happened with that spotty finished gun. I told Bob Holmes about it and gave him the link to your posts.

I've come to find out that the DLC finish is not as tough as I thought it would be, for all the high-tech process and all. I suspect some pistols are better finished than others.

Wynn