Well I decided to pick up a Kahr MK9 for a CCW piece as my Ultra Carry proved itself to be too big. Anyway, I find a good deal from on GunsAmerica.com in two-tone version ($399.99), so I order it from Keifers Gun Shop, located in PA. So the gun finally shows up today (holiday weekend). I was pretty excited to get my new CCW gun, and spent the last few days looking forward to an afternoon of shooting.

The MK9 great upon my first inspection. I take the pistol home and disassemble it for it's first cleaning. I had noticed in the box there was a small envelope containing one piece of brass. So after I see this I'm a bit set off that my gun is now in some database, but oh well.

After I got the slide off I noticed there appears to be a fair amount of powder residue. A lot more than I would expect from one round. There is also evidence of slide wear, the chamber has an imprint of a cartridge, supporting my theory that this gun has been fired multiple times. It was supposed to be NIB, so I was kind of angry. Instead of cleaning it, I decide to reasmble it for some reason.

I dropped the barrel into place and I was attempting to reinstall the guide rod. When I try to drop it into place, the PLASTIC end of the guide rod, which retains two springs, snapped right off. This sent springs and plastic pieces flying.

What a HORRIBLE design. A thin, brittle, plastic guide rod. I hope there is some sort of upgrade to a non-plastic part. By this time it was late afternoon and Kahr had already closed, but I will be calling tomorrow AM. Has anyone else experienced this failure? Is it possible that I just had some weak and brittle plastic?

I am still debating wheather this gun is really NIB or not. The box, accessories, and paperwork are obviously all new. Has anyone noticed any wear or excessive powder when they first bought their Kahr? Did the chamber have an imprint of a cartridge? The gun was in a bag and was pretty oily, but it wouldn't be hard to pour some oil on a gun and sell it as new.

Sorry to hear.. I can't help much don't own a Kahr, have thought about it tho.. I do know they are good guns. As for the brass in the envolpe every HK and Sig I have bought new come with that to show it was tested and works. As for having powder no way.. Never has that on a new gun.. Good luck

The fired case is included because certain states (like NY) require it (they keep it).
If its in the box - nobody touched it after the factory and they dont give any info to anybody.

The Kahr is meant to be a reliable carry weapon - Did you think the factory wouldn't test fire a mag
or two?

Read the manual - you probably reassembled it wrong (manual says you can screw it up )
www.kahr.com/download.html

I'm sorry to hear about that.  I have to wonder if the shop you ordered it from sold you a used gun.  You did get it for about $100 less than what it usually costs.  

In any case, the Kahr people are very good and I'm sure that they will take care of you.  Let us know how things turn out.

Well it looks like I did reassemble it wrong. I spoke with Kahn and they are sending me out a new part.

I was able to reassemble the gun with the broken plastic tube. Took her shooting and she ran 100%. Recoil was a lot lighter than expected. The little gun is very controllable during rapid fire, and has a sweet trigger. I was also surprised at how accurate this thing is. Points easily and fits my hand very well. I have shot about 400 rounds through my Kimber Ultra Carry CDP and I shot better with the Kahr on the first mag I put through it.

I have been carrying it daily in a Milt Sparks Summer Special 2. It's very concealable, and very comfortable. I forget I'm carrying half the time.

This gun was a bargin at $399.

Can't vouch for Kahr long term, but the customer service experience I had with them was A+

I own one for carry ,its 100%,little recoil and accurate.I would recamend it for any body looking for a carry piece.Sure beats my mouce gun.

Glad everything worked out for you, I have an MK 9 and am very happy with it as my primary carry weapon.

too bad the UC is too big for your needs.this past sunday i emptied 50 rounds threw several wilson mags,star mag,several colt mags with horsey and a some other no name o yeh the italian made kimber mag.guess what .zero malfuntions.O

I was at the local shop last week when 2 Kahrs came in, neither was cleaned after test firing.
The owner was grousing about it because some customers don't want to understand that the gun was test fired, as opposed to used.
My Armalites were the same way, both had been test fired and were mildly dirty.

DaddyDett

ETA: My buddy has a Kahr PM9, and sent it for night sights, he was extremely pleased with the customer service.

Kahr makes a good quality gun, I have a PM9 (polymer frame).  Mine has been dead reliable after more than 1K of various ammo, no malfunctions of any kind.  I know several Kahr owners, all report good experiences.

They produce a cut rate version of the MK9 that has some plastic parts, recoil spring guide rod for one.  I have examined these and thought they were not as solidly made as the standard MK9 or PM9.  I would avoid the cut rate guns.  

Don't worry about anything, Kahr will take care of you. Call their Tele# and ask for Dottie and she will take care of you.

Have had great experiance with my Khar pistols. Only lost grip screws on one, they shipped them 3-day and free of charge.

ComputerGuy:

I'm glad that shooting the gun has been a success despite the broken part.  I agree with the other posters....Kahr customer service (especially Dottie) has been great the times I called.  So much so that when a bad Winchester round caused the P9 Covert of Glocktalk member Concrete to KB, Kahr fixed the gun free of charge despite the fault lying with the bad round.

I have two Kahrs:  a P9 Covert that I carry in an IWB as my primary off-duty gun and a PM9 as my off-duty BUG.  The Covert is accurate enough that I bested my duty Sig P229 (.40) score during my last agency qualification.  I got a 296 over 300 with the Covert and 280-something over 300 with the Sig....and that was at ranges between 1.5 to 25 yards drawing from a holster.

I hope all the good reviews of Kahr are true.  I'm picking up a new PM40 in 11 hours.    

I live in PA and have bought about 3 handguns from Keifer's Gun Shop.  They are a little bit out of the way for me, but they have good prices and will help you out if needed.  It is a very small local shop.

I have also done business with Keifers, both over the phone, and at the shop. I think he is legit. Small shop packed with high quality stuff when I visited.