Everyday Carry
By Robb Manning
Kahr PM9
We are in the golden age of the micro-compact 9mm. I’ve been a long time fan of the 9mm cartridge, and a fan of really small concealable handguns. It doesn’t get much better than merging the two. One excellent rendition of the micro-9 comes from Kahr Arms, and is the PM9. The PM9 is about as small as it comes.
Weighing in at 14 ounces unloaded, with a length of 5.42”, height of 4.0” and width of .90”, the PM9 puts the “micro” in micro-9. It holds six rounds in a standard magazine, and seven rounds in the extended grip magazine. That’s more rounds than a pocket revolver, plus it offers faster reloads and is much thinner. It has a black polymer frame with a stainless steel slide (this test model is matte stainless, but it also comes in 2 other versions; matte blackened stainless, and high polish engraved stainless.) The barrel is 3.1” with polygonal rifling and a 1-10 right hand twist.
It is a trigger cocking DAO (Double Action Only) and operates using lock breech with a Browning-type recoil lug. The safety is an internal passive striker block -- this means that the striker cannot touch the primer without the trigger being pulled. There is no magazine disconnect, which makes me a happy camper. Also absent is a manual thumb safety, just like a revolver or Glock. This puts the primary safety right where it should be, between your ears. There have been a lot of negligent discharges due to guns being “on safe” or being “unloaded.” This lack of manual safety forces you into a state of situational awareness that I believe increases safety.
The trigger pull is long -- trigger travel is nearly 3/4” -- with a feels light pull of 5.75 pounds. The trigger pull doesn’t feel as heavy as that, though, and it’s very smooth and uniform throughout the pull. With self-defense handguns like this, you really only notice the trigger pull when you’re trying to see how tight of a group you can get at the range. When you’re practicing self-defense and seeing how fast you can unload the pistol into a plate-size target, trigger pull isn’t an issue. I do wish it had a better trigger reset. The trigger needs to come almost all the way back to it’s forward position to reset, which will slow down your shooting slightly.
Sights are drift adjustable, white bar-dot combat sights. Think: dot-the-i, because that’s what it looks like, a lower-case “i”. I like the sights, and think the simplicity allows for acquiring a fast sight picture. Also available are tritium night sights and Crimson Trace laser sights. Personally, I like the tritium night sights, and if I were to upgrade the sights, that’s the route I would go.
Shootablity of the PM9 is pretty good. It does have some pretty noticeable recoil, primarily due to it’s minuscule size. It’s not uncomfortable to shoot, though, and I actually like to shoot it.
Kahr does advise, in their owner’s manual, to shoot 200 rounds through the PM9 as a break-in period, before it should be relied on for personal defense. I have not had a malfunction or failure to speak of, even during the first 200 rounds. I’m very confident that it will continue to be very reliable.
Kahr is known for making high quality handguns, and the PM9 is no different. A lot of firearms look nice on the outside, just like cars, so the best way to see the true quality is to open it up and look under the hood -- just like in a car. When you take the Kahr apart and look under the hood, it’s evident that the craftsmanship is top notch. The machining on the inside of the slide is excellent, and the internal parts are well made. One small point of contention -- I would have liked to see the guide rod spring be fully captured. It’s a half captured spring, and when re-assembling the handgun the muzzle end of the spring will sometimes bind up and not allow for the guide rod to seat properly with the hole in the slide. This has no bearing on the functioning of the pistol, only on reassembly.
I found the PM9 to have very good accuracy, considering its mission. Of course, it’s not going to win matches, but that’s not its intent. It’s made for self defense, which is close quarters, and for that the accuracy is very good. Quite honestly, I’ve found all of the micro-9s that I’ve shot to be pretty comparable in accuracy.
Overall, I really like the PM9, I think it has a lot to offer. At first the trigger took me some getting used to, but as I put more rounds down range, I’m getting used to it, and it’s getting better as it breaks in. It’s an excellent little pistol, and if you’re in the market for a micro-9 for CCW, it’s definitely worth your consideration.
MSRP as tested is $786 (model PM9093), with a street price of $100-200 less.