DLC is POS

[Goffman]

i dont have any new pics. it looked brand new, but, after a day of holstering/reholstering, i can already see some small silver scratches.

i dont think that the dlc finish is as strong as what they advertise. maybe i just had too high of expectations. i dont know. if i were you, i wouldnt send it back unless it was really bothering me. you would prob get it back and have the same experience with time.

I wonder if it has something to do with variation in the composition of the steel. I'm not a metalurgist (in any sense of the word), but I can't help but wonder if minor variation in composition (maybe a hair too much chromium or something of that sort) could influence the deposition or adherence of the DLC coating. The influence might be very small and may show itself only in places that already have difficulty with respect to deposition/adherence (e.g., pointy spots and corners where the surface area is small). Anyway, it's just a theory, and from a layman to boot, but maybe it's food for thought.

[srice425]

i will try the eraser trick. unless they gave me a slide w/ the exact wear on the bottom as my old one, then its my old slide.

not sure what they did to fix it or maybe they detail stripped it and put all parts but the slide of mine in a new one.

[srice425]

well, after getting my newly coated slide back from kahr for several weeks, i am already seeing some pretty significant scratches from the holster. maybe i just had too high of expectations for this coating. in my opinion, its not that tough. just hoping it doesnt start to rust.

[Goffman]

Thanks, Jocko. I'm kind of leaning toward leaving well enough alone. My only real concern is that the finish may continue to wear off, and that, down the road, I won't be able to make a truthful claim of minimal carry. In other words, I've had the pistol for only two months, so everyone would agree that it shouldn't be showing finish wear at this point. It would be a different story a year from now, and Kahr may be less likely to want to "help a brother out" at that point. If the finish doesn't wear any further, no problems. But, if the wear continues or accelerates, I'm going to need to do something about it.

Regardless of the minor issues with the finish, this PM9 is a sweet pistol. I wish I had bought one sooner.

Quick update on the situation with my PM9:

It does NOT appear that the "shiny spot" on the left front corner of the slide is growing, nor does it appear that the "shiny-spot-to-be" on the right front corner of the slide has made any progress in developing into a full fledged "shiny spot". So, I'm guessing that these are just a couple of very small places where the black coating didn't fully "take". They are "corners", so one would anticipate the greatest challenges with the coating in just these spots. Truthfully, though, you'd have to look pretty closely to see the "imperfections". If you look at the slide straight down from the top, or square from the side, you can't see them. You have to slowly rotate the slide on its center line to catch the light in just the right spot. So, what appeared to be a problem in the making appears now to not be a problem, which is good.

Just thought I'd bring the question full circle to at least a tenative conclusion.

[CarlCyrus]

Bright spots you say...you should see the 1911 Commander upper I carried on my issue frame in Iraq. The blowing sand was so thick that everything...including your eyeballs got scratched.

Every time I take it to the range someone makes a comment about how hard I am on guns...if they only knew where it had been they wouldn't open their mouth. She looks like a spotted puppy dog, but she will do "Jingle Bells" with steel targets all day long.

I'll take a good shooting piece over a good looking one any day.

Time for engraving and refinishing...but that is another story I'll carry on the 1911Forum.

Carl

[Catshooter]

Carl,

It may surprise you but a lot of people on the web really enjoy pics of real working guns, guns with history to them.


Cat

[getsome]

Thank you CarlCyrus for searving your country....God Bless each and every one of you for keeping the rest of us here at home free and safe....How about posting a picture of that fine shooting 1911 and do you have any tips on what ya'll did to keep things running over there in the sand box...I'm glad you are back and shooting at targets that don't shoot back and hope you will stick around here for a while too...Thank you again for what you did for us...

[Bawanna]

What they said in spades. I'd love to see a picture and hear more about it. We even got a 1911 thread just for that sort of thing but you get a pass. You can post where ever strikes your fancy.

[Goffman]

Seems like this thread has been hijacked. Perhaps the 1911 folks could think about posting 1911-related information in a thread that actually has something to do with 1911s.

Carlcyrus, if you go back to the beginning of the thread, you can see that both the original poster and I were seeking information about the black finish on *new* guns (Kahr PM9s in particular) that barely had been put into service. Unfortunately, a hijacked thread is unlikely to garner any relevant information, now or in the future.

[kpm9]

My P380, K9 and P9 all have the DLC finish and are rock solid and seem impervious to scratches and holstering doesn't cause any issues at all!