Stopped by to say hello

[jg-rider]

Hi everybody
  Just stopped by to see what was going on. At the present time the four Kahrs my wife and I own are my favorite toy from all the others we have. They are 2 K9's and 2 PM9's. The K9's are slightly customized, and the PM9's have Novak rear sights. I've changed out and/or modified the factory base plates to what we felt worked the best for us. I would add pictures but I don't know if that's  appropriate.
   John

[Norfdet]

Pictures are always welcome!

I currently own a K9 and a PM9. The PM9 rides shotgun to my issued Glock 19 and is my always companion when I am off-duty. Great choices and we would love to see some pics and perhaps discuss some range reports.

[jg-rider]

Hi Norfdet
  This will be my third attempt at sending some pics. I know I'm doing something wrong
  John

My PM9




Wife's PM9

[jg-rider]

  Hi Norfdet
 I finally got it to work.
After reading a lot of on line questions about the kind of Kahr custom work pistol smiths did or do, and not being able to find many custom Kahr pics. I decided to post an amateur's version of what a custom Kahr could look like.
  This set is of my K9 elite 98. It has 30 lpi checkering on the front strap, 50 lpi checkering on the grip screws, 40 lpi checkering on the guide rod tip, Novak rear night site and some things that aren't apparent like beveled mag well, melting of all sharp edges and internal polishing.
  The only thing I haven't done yet is to checker the backstrap. I haven't found the grips I need.
  John

[jg-rider]

This set is of my Wife's K9 elite 98. On this pistol I stippled the front strap, back strap, grip screws and the guide rod tip. She had me jewel the barrel hood also. She prefers stippling over checkering. She says it's more feminine. Hey what does she know! Again all the non apparent things done to my K9 were done to her's. All 4 of our Kahrs have Novak Tritium rear sights. All the factory mag. base plates were modified on the K9's and in the case of the PM9's were replaced with modified factory base plates.
  John

[twoguns]

Howdy again Mr. Jgrider,

Thanks for the pics and the details.  I am on my third K series now.  I previously owned both a K40 and K9 and ended up selling them to other LEOs who could not find them and would not stop raising their offers.  I eventually replaced them both with one K40 in stainless with nightsights.  It normally resides in a Galco ankle holster, and is my bootgun/back-up pistol.

I am a major fan of the 357 Sig, and wish someone would offer a conversion barrel in that caliber to fit the K40.  I think it would make an excellent pistol even more versatile.

twoguns

[Norfdet]

OUTSTANDING pics! Thanks. I have to ask, who did the work?

[Norfdet]

Is it me or does it look like there is some separation at the muzzle end of the dust cover?

[jg-rider]

"I am a major fan of the 357 Sig, and wish someone would offer a conversion barrel in that caliber to fit the K40.  I think it would make an excellent pistol even more versatile."

Hi twoguns
  Have you tried calling Bar-sto barrels. I seem to remember reading something about they were thinking about making Kahr barrels ,but weren't sure if there would be any interest. I've wondered why Kahr hasn't thought about coming out with a .357 sig. Is it an exotic round, hard to find?
I've never had the chance to try a .357 sig. Do you know what the recoil pulse feels like compared to a 9mm 124 gr. Although we prefer a 147 gr. bullet
  John

[jg-rider]

Hi Norfdet
All the work was done by me. I'm one of those basement pistolsmiths. The only thing left is to find a pair of older Kahr E9 plastic grips so that I can checker them. That's what I used to stipple the wife's K9. I should ad that besides being pretty they have been 100% reliable from day one. Also we pactice with lead cast bullets, 124 gr flat nose and 158 gr. swc reloads. I know that a lot of people are worried about shooting lead out of a polygonal barrel, but we haven't had any problems. What we do is load the last round of each practice mag with a jacketed bullet, helps clean out the leading.
  John

[jg-rider]

"Is it me or does it look like there is some separation at the muzzle end of the dust cover?"

Norfdet
  You're right, I never noticed before. The end of the dust cover does slope down a little, but not as bad as it seems in the picture. When I was looking at the pic again, I noticed something else that really worried me. I had to wait for the wife to come home, to look at her K9. The muzzle of her barrel looked cracked




Look at the 7:00 position. It must have been just a hair because it's not there now.
   John

[twoguns]

Howdy sir,

I have a buddy who owns the gun store I use the most.  He is a big 357 Sig fan as well, and is the person who ruined me by letting me shoot his Karh K series first.  He warned me if I shot it that I would want one.  I smiled and told him he was wrong, I wanted one in 9mm and one in 40, lol.

He was a Kahr LE distributor early on, and asked them about offering the K 40 in 357 Sig.  Their response was they had no plans to offer the caliber as standard, but would be willing to make a special production pistol just for him.  We debated it among his staff and steady customers, and finally decided we did not wish to be the Beta testers for Kahr.

On the felt recoil of the 357 Sig round, it is a bit hard to define for me.  I will say I find less felt recoil than with a 40, as do most of my shooting buddies who like to try my various 357 Sig pistols out.  I start them with the 40 barrels then change over to the 357 Sig.  Everyone to date has said for a round moving a 125 gr JHP roughly 200 fps faster than a heavier 40 S&W, they were amazed to find the felt recoil was less to them.  Some folks said much less.  I have some medical issues, and will explain that I can easily fire twice the number of 357 Sig loads versus a 40 session, before it stops being fun.

I would say the felt recoil is probably a bit more than a 124 gr 9mm.  But rather than an upward recoil, to me and most other shooters, it feels more like the recoil in more rearward.  But I have read several folks who explained the perceived less felt recoil issue by saying the action cycles more quickly with the 357 Sig load than with the 40, which at least in part helps to create the impression of less felt recoil.

If you will check in the reloading and ballistic rooms, I and some other members have posted some chronograph figures comparing various factory and reloads in 357 Sig vs 40.  One member posted a well done comparison between the 357 Sig, 357 mag, 40 and 9mm.  You might find reading those of some interest.

Not a precise answer to your question, but the best I can offer.  Hope it helps a bit anyway sir.

twoguns   

[Norfdet]

I just picked up a K9 and would love to find someone that could checker the front strap as yours is, nice work for a basement gunsmith! Now, if I could just find someone to take some of the slack out of the trigger.......

[Norfdet]

BTW JGrider,

Any chance of you posting a "how to" on stippling and checkering? Pics, steps, etc?

[jg-rider]

"Now, if I could just find someone to take some of the slack out of the trigger......."

Hi Norfdet
  I was looking at some older posts and I ran across the one from you that you wrote about the NYPD Kahr that you picked up.
  "Thanks, I scored a used but in GREAT condition K9 with night sights, 2 mags, box and papers off of GB. This gun was owned by a former NYPD officer and while checking out K9's on GB, someone had advertised a "special" K9 built especially for NYCPD. It said that the trigger reach was shorter from 3/8 to 1/2 so that the pistol fit more officers. I contacted Kahr with my S/N to see if they could tell me if mine was one that fit into that category, I will await their reply. If it turns out that mine is in fact a "special order" than the price that I paid was even better considering that the dealer on GB (with the other one) was asking 739.00 for his, which was considerable higher than a NIB Kahr."

3/8 to 1/2" shorter? That must be a typo
   Having been born and raised in Brooklyn, I go back there often. I've seen and handled the earlier special Kahr K9's. for NYPD off duty carry. The ones I know about had what was known as a standard trigger as apposed to the then optional Elite trigger the other difference was that it had a stiffer trigger pull, ala NYPD Glock trigger.
  The difference between a standard and an elite trigger was about 1/8 " - 1/4" of travel. There is a misstatement when someone says an elite trigger has a longer or  shorter trigger pull the answer is yes and no. If someone says that the older and possibly still used by NYPD standard trigger has a longer or  shorter trigger again the answer is yes and no.
 The standard trigger has about 1/8" of more slack before engagement then an elite trigger so yes it's a shorter reach at the beginning of the pull, but you have to pull back about 1/8"  further before it  breaks over for a long trigger pull then with an elite trigger.
  The elite trigger engages about 1/8" sooner for less slack so it's a longer reach at the beginning, but it breaks over 1/8" sooner for a shorter trigger pull then a standard trigger.
   The bottom line is that with the elite trigger, everything engages and releases about 1/8" further forward, but the length of pull before release is the same.
  An unscientific test to see what you have is to cock the gun take up the slack and see where the bottom tip of the trigger aligns to the inside hump of the trigger guard. With my 2 K9 elites the tip aligns just a hair behind the hump.
   AFAIK Kahr doesn't use the standard trigger any longer for commercial sale. Everything now supposedly are elite triggers, but from what I've seen, they are inconsistent. 
  Stripping diown the frame isn't something I'd want to do. The trigger pivot pin is pressed in for starters.
   John