Kahr CM9: Revisited

Recently I have taken my CM9 out for a trial run against the Beretta Nano. i must admit that the Kahr CM9 was outshot by the Nano in terms of the trigger pull and the recoil. After a little time behind the tiny Kahr 9, I found myself very attracted to its shooting characteristics.

The grip on the CM9, like all the other Kahr pistols, is aggressive in nature in order to ensure a tight grip. It is pretty rough shooting it at first if you have delicate hands. After shooting it for a couple hundred rounds, I found the abrasive grip to be good for preventing my hand from slipping. I was not much of a fan of the heavy recoil, but the pistol is so tiny that I cant help but to give it a bit of slack in this arena. I can understand why this pistol is not preferred by inexperienced shooters. The pistol both kicks and bounces if you are not controlling it.
One of the specific areas of issue for me was the trigger. You see, the CM9 is so small that a two handed grip will actually end up enabling your trigger finger to reach your support hand and slow it down slightly. I also noted the pinch that my trigger finger experienced from shooting. I have no idea where it came from, but it stung a bit until my hand got used to the gun.

In general, when evaluating what it took for me to get good with this pistol, I remember going through a gauntlet of trial and error to try and deduct what I needed to improve on or alter. The biggest things I had to relearn were a new grip method and prepare to ride the bronco(recoil) for as long as there is ammo in the pistol.

If you can master the grip and get used to the aggressive texturing, the next thing to do is get used to pulling the trigger in a timely and controlled manner. The trigger is constantly bashed by Glockerators who feel that only a hair trigger can give you accuracy. Bashing aside, the trigger on the Kahr is very good and you can effortlessly hit what you want if you apply the proper manipulation technique to the trigger. That said, I found that the trigger is so close that you end up overlapping the trigger and touching your support hand while shooting. Unfortunately, this is not something I have been able to get over at this time.

It is commonly found among those who have used Kahr firearms that they are natural pointing guns. The sights display that perfectly. I find the sights to be perfect for what the Kahr pistols are intended for; self defense at close and medium ranges. The two points of the sights, even when slightly lined up, can still impact your target reliably without much deviation from the intended impact. That is of course if you do your part and manipulate the trigger without moving the sights.
​I have yet to find the Kahr CM9 to be out of my natural point of aim, which is comforting for me. Usually going back and forth from a double stack pistol to a single stack requires some retraining of the grip technique. Just another thing I appreciate about the CM9 and other Kahr pistols as well, perhaps.

The last thing to cover is followup shots with the CM9. Shooting the CM9 after shooting pistols with almost no perceivable recoil is quite punishing. At first the grip hurt and I anticipated almost every shot. But once I got over the recoil and rested my hand, I went back at it and decided to shoot as fast as I could shoot accurately.
I will tell you right now that you would do good to hang onto this pistol if you do not wish for your shots to shotgun your target. Locking the wrist and applying a tight grip seems to do the trick. This sounds simple but doing this while also dealing with the sharp grip and manipulating the trigger without moving the sights can be difficult. This pistol does not just fall right back on target, so it is on you to manage it with your muscles and mastery of the fundamentals. The Bore axis doesn't do anything for you and the clearest proof is that the Nano has less recoil in feel and flip but has a higher bore axis and lighter springs. Theoretically the Nano should recoil more even though it weighs more, since all the weight is in the slide.

I guess the best way to wrap this up is to say that for the price, the Kahr CM9 is a nice buy. The Beretta Nano does function and perform better in my experience, but the CM9 just has that fine tuned feel to it. It just feels like a purpose built carry gun, which is exactly what it is. It works for what it was intended for, but it is not the most charming in terms of how it goes about it. I like this pistol and intend to use it in the summer, but I think I will use the Beretta Nano until I need the smallest gun possible.