I read somewhere that if you grab a gun for the first time and it feels like the handshake of your long lost brother, you should buy it. That is pretty much what happens when I grab my wife’s CW9.
After she bought it, we went to the range where she graciously allowed me to shoot a mag worth of ammo through it. I expected a snappy recoil, but I did not feel it (then again I am not bothered by recoil unless we are talking triple digit revolvers starting with “4”) and I found myself placing a beautiful tight headshot groups at 7 yards.I think this is partially because of the texture of the frame: soft on the sides and aggressive but not painfully so in the front and back. It gives you a very positive control if the gun while shooting.
The sights are notch & post with a white vertical line painted in the rear sight and a withe dot in the front. It was also a nice surprise that with my corrected vision I han no trouble aligning them, it was almost a natural thing to do. I was ready to hate the vertical line but my mind was happily changed.
Lately I’ve been thinking about buying a gun for Back Up/NY reload/”pocket.” Something small and slim that I could hide in my less than perfect figure without having to wear a cover garment or even (gasp!) an inside the love handle holster and my brain kept going back to the CW9. The other option was the Ruger LC9 which is a nice little weapon and with almost the same dimensions and price, but somehow it did not feel quite as well as the CW9. In the Plus Plus column, Ruger and everybody else are just joining the Sub-Compact madness while Kahr has been in it for many many moons (pun intended.) I think by now they have the whole pocket pistol thing down to an art.
Then it hit me: it makes sense to buy the CW9 if for nothing else, redundancy. All but one of the other handguns in the house are too big or too hard to manipulate for my petite wife and if hers is to be in need of repairs, she will surely commandeer mine till hers is back from repairs. It also makes sense that if for any reason I am to be out of the fight in a situation, she can retrieve it and carry on with a gun she already knows.
The only problem is that I need to dispose of a gun to get this one. The economics are not that good and I got permission to buy the CW9 only by not affecting the budget, zero sum. I already have selected a Safe Hermit that has not been shot in almost 2 years and that should cover the price of a new CW9 and a couple of spare mags.
I may have to beg for the holster and the mag pouches though. Birthday is several months ahead. 🙁
a holster for a 1911 can be pressed into service with adequate fit if you have one laying around .
I am one of those heretics… I don’t own a 1911
I have it in a 40SW. It kicks a bit more.
I am starting to see people leaving the 40 for either a 9mm or .45 ACP. Apparently it is neither fish, nor fowl. If they don’t like the recoil, they rather shoot a 9mm, if they don’t mind the recoil, they rather have the big boomer.
[…] Kahr CW9 […]
Great run down! I kinda want one now…
I plan on getting a CM9 the day after ccw passes here in The People’s Republick of Obamastan. (Illinois)
Plenty of years to save my money.
I will have one back on myself just as soon as I leave my “gun free zone” workplace…
Is my daily carry.
In a Remora IWB.
Works great..
Kahr makes a slick pocket gun. Compared to any gun of similar size they hold more, give you a longer grip, and have a lower bore axis.
With the new CW and CM line that competes in price with the newer Rugers and Berettas and such, they dominate in everything but marketing.
I’ve tried my brother in law’s. Not too bad, recoil wise, for a mini-pocket pistol. Snappy, but not in that Kel-Tec way of “Now for my hands there is only pain.” The trigger reminds me of a revolver. I kind of like it.
Nice. I don’t own a 9mm, but do have several M1911s in various forms. I have an old AMT .380 Backup for pocket purposes, but haven’t carried it in decades. Your wife’s Kahr looks like a BUG possibility, though. Thanks for the review.
[…] My Wife’s Kahr CW9 by Miguel of Gun Free Zone […]
[…] won’t. Fortunately a new blogging acquaintance/buddy Miguel over at GunFreeZone.net has already done a review on his wife’s Kahr CW9 that I’d be happy to call my own plus video. I’ll probably run some quick video of the […]
Just a note to anyone who is thinking about buying a Kahr. I purchased a CW9 that was made about three months ago new from buds guns. The problem is not with BGs but with Kahr.
I took the gun to the range and every other shot the mag fell out and it was not me hitting the MR. I called Kahr and they did send an all metal one to replace the plastic one. I refitted it and that seemed to take care of the problem as it did not happen again, but I then took the CW to the range a third time and the recoil spring broke. I called Kahr and was told I would have to send it back to Kahr on my dime. So to put it in simple terms I had to pay 20 dollars to send the gun back wait 6 weeks for them to look at it for a 2 dollar their cost 8 dollar my cost RS.
Now I will contrast that with two other problems I have just had this week, One of my Smith and Wesson M&P mags was not working correctly and was over stripping the round. I called Smith and they did not even want a serial number, they just said, whats your address and one is on its way. WOW thats service 😯
The second example of great CS is Glock. I have a 19 2nd gen from about 95 that I purchased new, put it in my safe and have not even broken it in. My brother called me and said he was getting two Glocks and that he had been reading that the guide rods made of plastic seems to be a problem to some owners. I then went to the safe and checked my GR and it was missing about half the round plastic circle that holds the spring on in the rear and fits into the grove of the lug on the bbl. I called Glock and said its and old gun but I really have not shot it, they did not care it was what is the serial no, and one is on its way hope this fixes the problem.
Contrast this CS at Smith and Glock with that of Kahr. I called a third time to Kahr to see if I could get a different agent as maybe this guy with a heavy English accent was just having a bad life. I got him every time and asked why he always answered the phone. He said he was one of two techs for all of Kahr. Well that answers that question. Next I told him I was shooting RAM ammo and was told to stop right there that any reloads void Kahrs warranty. I asked him if it would work for Kahr if I bought two and used them as book ends, if that would keep the warranty alive and well. LOL.
Kahr seems to be loosing their edge as this great company that pays attention to detail and makes a great gun to one that has horrible to non existent CS and guns with problems. To give full disclosure I did have a previous problem with the CW, and Kahr did send me a replacement mag catch all metal that took care of it or at lasted seemed to as I did not get to shoot as much to test it out before the spring broke. But they also have had a lot of problems with this as far as I can read on line although they will most likely not admit it.
So if you are looking for a Kahr, you may want to consider something else. As for me I am going to replace the spring with a wolf spring from midway and then sell it and buy a M&P c or G26, which I should have done in the first place.
PS, I don’t have photos of the Kahr spring. I disassembled it at the range and threw it in the garbage bbl. I know I should have kept it, but who would have though that Kahr would have reneged on their product over a 2 dollar part?
I just recently bought a cw9. Great weapon, but needs a few minor tweeks to suit my fancy. I noticed on the range I tend to grip the cw9 tighter than a Glock. The ridged grip leaves imprints and sometimes bruises on my right hand. I am not impressed with the sights either. I plan to have them replaced ASAP.
Great read, thanks.