New Kahr CW380

[steveb99]

I love my Rohrbaugh 380 and it is my always carry gun, especially in the summer months. Well, I went into Sportsmans Warehouse after work and left with a Kahr CW380. I looked at the S&W Bodyguard 380 and the little Ruger, but really liked the feel of the Kahr.  It is my first Kahr for the price, it seems like a really nice, well made pistol. It looks like it takes a couple hundred rounds to break in so I have an excuse to head out to the range a few times I the next couple of weeks.

[C0untZer0]

Can't wait for the range report, my CM9 went back to Kahr today to fix the out-of-spec feed ramp which is busting magazine followers.

[steveb99]

Sorry yours is going back. I spent some time reading about the Kahr, S&W and Ruger last week and I noticed problems reported with all of them!  I am hoping my luck holds and I got a good one and it will work fine.  The only pistol that I have ever had continuous problems with is a S&W-Walther P22 I bought several years ago and I don't think I have ever fired a full magazine through it without a stoppage. I hope Kahr gets your pistol fixed quickly. I'll post again when I get to shoot the CW380.

[steveb99]

Finally got to the range this morning. I brought a lot of ammo since both the salesman and the manual said it takes a minimum of 200 rounds to break it in.  I started with Blazer Brass and had many failure to feeds and the slide not fulling going into battery for the first 150 rounds. Between rounds 151and 200 the failures to feed became less and less and the last 50 rounds with the Blazer Brass was flawless. I then tested some carry ammo.  My Rohrbaugh 380 likes Gold Dots and Hornady Custom.  The CW380 liked the Remington Golden Sabers the best. I really like the CW380.  It certainly does not have the super quality of my Rohrbaugh 380, but for $319 it looks like it will replace the Rohrbaugh 380 as my carry gun until I find out if I will ever be able to get recoil springs for it again. In the meantime my Rohrbaugh 380 will be a safe queen.

Steve

[C0untZer0]

Eeeek, I get freaked out about having a lot of failures in a carry gun.

Did you follow any of the "break in" recommendations like manually racking the slide and firing it fairly wet?

[steveb99]

I also don't like failures with my carry gun, but I went into this one knowing about the 200 round minimum break in period so I was ready for it. I did leave it in the safe with the slide locked back for 2 days and then I broke it down and cleaned it before shooting it for the first time.  I re-lubricated the slide at the range after 150 rounds. I don't run my guns wet so i just did my usual lubricating with Browning gun oil.

[MRC]

I have a P40, a PM9, and a P380 and all have been 100% with quality, self defense type ammunition and none of them required any break in.

I would never judge reliability on Blaser Brass ammunition.  I have found it to be junk at best.  Winchester White Box is OK for what it costs, but judge your carry gun by what you are going to carry in it.

You will be happy with the Kahrs, I have been.

[steveb99]

I am glad to hear you are happy with your Kahr's. My friends initially had mixed results with reliability with theirs for the first few hundred rounds, but once they had shot them for awhile they ended up with reliable pistols. I was just glad I was forewarned about breaking in the pistol.  I am not a big fan of Blazer Brass either, but beggars can't be choosers and that was all I could get at the local gun stores. I am really happy with the CW380. It did fine with the Blazer brass after the first 200 hundred rounds, firing the last 50 just fine. I am hoping that as I continue to shoot it it will feed the Speer Gold Dots reliably since I have a lot of them because my Rohrbaugh 380 liked them and the Hornady Custom, where the CW380 was most reliable with Remington Golden Sabers which I don't have a lot of!. This is my first experience with Kahr and I think they make a really nice pistol.  I own mostly HK's and rarely carried, but once I bought the Rohrbaugh 380 I started carrying all the time and have become very partial to pocket 380's.  Now, I did see my first Boberg 9mm in the LGS over the weekend.  It was very nicely made but bigger than I thought it would be and it just didn't fit my hand. It is an interesting pistol though. My next pistol is probably going to be the Kahr MK9 if I can ever get to see one in person and see how it fits my hand.

[C0untZer0]

Blazzer Brass is some of the softest shooting 9mm ammo out there.

I ran "NATO" ammo through my CM9 for the first 200 rounds and had zero FTF/FTE, I also fired the pistol pretty wet.

The only cartridge slower than the Blazzer 95gr FMJs are the UMC 95gr SFHP - which I am guessing would also fail to reliably cycle a brand new P380 or CW380.

[C0untZer0]

Oh ya, I forgot to update:  My CM9 came back from Kahr with a noticeably shorter feedramp, I put 40 rounds of Winchester 115gr "Target", 10 rounds of 124gr Lawman TMJ, and 10 rounds of 147gr Golden Sabers through it with no problems. 

Two of the Golden Sabers that it fired had previously failed to fire in my R9.  They had little marks on the primer.  Anyway the CM9 shot them fine

[steveb99]

My second range trip with my CW380 was not very good. After firing a total of 435 rounds of various types of ammo from Speer Gold Dots and Remington Golden Sabers to WWB I was again having failure to feeds and the slide not going into battery. I called Kahr and they sent me a FedEx label and 10 days after I sent it to them it came back. I took it to the range yesterday and it fed everything except WWB with no problem.  According to the service report they replaced the extractor spring and reworked the extractor.  I have no complaints at all about Kahr service, just would have been nice if it worked out of the box, or at least after the 200 round break in.

Steve

[C0untZer0]

The CW380 is like a Taurus to me, they're very tempting but just when I really get interested in buying one I read a horror story about one and I tell myself "What the hell were you thinking?"

And then the cycle starts all over again.

[tracker]

That is an excellent analogy. I did buy a Taurus PT 738 TCP on my gunsmith's recommendation. It has an excellent, smooth 5 lb. trigger pull, is very reliable, and I decided to quit while I am ahead on Taurus.

[steveb99]

That is a great analogy.

[C0untZer0]

I've got a weird craving for a .32 ACP.  But I don't want the Seacamp or the NAA and I don't like the sights on the Kel-Tec.

If Bersa or Taurus ever chamber their guns for the .32 again, I won't be able to resist buying one.

I'm pretty sure too that I'll give in one day and buy a Taurus 905.