New purchase - CW45

[CarRacer]

As my gun tourism has moved between rifles and pistols of different calibers, I'm starting to figure out where my preferences and tastes are. My previous pistol was a new caliber for me, 9mm, and the recoil of that gun didn't mesh with me so in my most recent purchase I went back to 45. A bit of research led me to this Kahr CW45 that I picked up from Thunderjohn.



It's budget friendly but still had the features I liked. I haven't fired it yet but I did notice it was well put together while i was cleaning it. I'm excited to get it to the range soon.

[grousemaster]

As my gun tourism has moved between rifles and pistols of different calibers, I'm starting to figure out where my preferences and tastes are. My previous pistol was a new caliber for me, 9mm, and the recoil of that gun didn't mesh with me so in my most recent purchase I went back to 45. A bit of research led me to this Kahr CW45 that I picked up from Thunderjohn.



It's budget friendly but still had the features I liked. I haven't fired it yet but I did notice it was well put together while i was cleaning it. I'm excited to get it to the range soon.

How do you clean out the firing pin channel on it? I had a CW9 come through and I tried to figure it out.....I couldn't

[CarRacer]

I went by what this thread said: http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14748

Basically there's a small hole on the underside of the slide and you spray brake cleaner through there. That should clean out any debris and crud in there. You're not supposed to oil it either although I made sure to let the slide air dry for a couple minutes to allow the brake cleaner to evaporate.

[grousemaster]

I went by what this thread said: http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14748

Basically there's a small hole on the underside of the slide and you spray brake cleaner through there. That should clean out any debris and crud in there. You're not supposed to oil it either although I made sure to let the slide air dry for a couple minutes to allow the brake cleaner to evaporate.

Can't you actually remove the firing pin to get a good detail clean? I really like these little Kahr's...I think one is in my future.

[CarRacer]

Shouldn't need to. I used the spray straw on the brake cleaner can and it sprayed out the striker channel with quite a bit of pressure. I don't see any greater cleaning being accomplished by taking it apart.

There's a thread showing how to detail strip the upper but it sounds like a recipe for a small part and spring explosion. http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14746

[grousemaster]

Shouldn't need to. I used the spray straw on the brake cleaner can and it sprayed out the striker channel with quite a bit of pressure. I don't see any greater cleaning being accomplished by taking it apart.

There's a thread showing how to detail strip the upper but it sounds like a recipe for a small part and spring explosion. http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14746

Thanks for the info. I think all pistols need the striker channel cleaned out eventually, brass shavings, etc get in there.

Those Kahr's have awesome triggers.

[rukwikenuf]

Love the cw45s and p45s! Great guns, simple operation, easy to hide. Nice purchase

[Shipyard]

break cleaner works great on sludge, not so much on brass chips. you will NEED to open up the slide to get them out. and you will need to get them out. period. but don't worry, it's easy, if you use SCIENCE!

i owned a PM45 that i bought and the guy said it wasn't workin right - lots' of light strike issues. i bought it for a song and took it home cuz i LUV kahr pistols. you disasseble the slide to get to the firing pin chanel the same way you do on a glock.....

jam something skinny and hard into that little half moon slot, slide the back pate off and spend the next 30 minutes on your hand and knees lookign for the spring that just shot out (it's best to do this inside of a paper/plastic bag in case the spring shoots you won't loose it.... you can follow the same disassembly video's on you tube for a glock slide if you want. same design more or less...

pull out the pin, clean it all off, assemble in reverse.

i did this to the PM i bought - it was FULL of brass chips and some sort of oil that was dirty as hell - the previous owner probably sprayed a bunch of something in there in a bubba attempt to cure the light strike issue - which, jsut gummed it all up and made it worse... good for me, bad for him............


i put 2K rounds through that pistol with ZERO issues after a good internal scrub


i love Kahr's. great guns. congrats on teh new toy and don't be too scared to tear it appart. it's good to know how your rig works - especially if you expect to rely your life on it

[CarRacer]

I'll just use the same trick I do to contain the spring for the front takedown pin on an AR lower. The paper skids at work are wrapped in plastic and the bags are big enough to drape over yourself like a poncho plus they're clear so you can see what you're doing. I put a chair in the middle of a flat floor and if the spring tries to make a break for it, it just gets knocked down by the plastic and lands at my feet.

[grousemaster]

What do you guys think of the Kahr mags? The one I had in seemed kinda weird...like the round on top sat cock eyed. I didn't know if that was normal or what....

[Stradawhovious]

The CW45 is fun.

I know you and I talked about this (OP) but for others that don't know, 1911 mags will FFE in this gun. The Intrawebz will say the mags need modification. I have found they work fine without it. I would never carry it with a 1911 mag, but it sure does make range time more efficient.

There is also an issue with the older CW45s where the slidestop would work itself out of the frame a bit during fire. Originally this was fixed with a replacement spring that KAHR would send out free of charge. I assume that your's is the newer model, and this should be fixed.

Enjoy it. I know I enjoy mine!

[Shipyard]

What do you guys think of the Kahr mags? The one I had in seemed kinda weird...like the round on top sat cock eyed. I didn't know if that was normal or what....

it's a lot more pronounced in the PM9, but the angle of the dangle on the top round is a bit agressive.... advised to use a mag carrier unles you want half the bullets to unload themselves out of the mag in your pocket

[s4s4u]

I built 3, 7-round flush fit mags for my CW45 using 1911 parts. It is simple to do and they are 100% reliable. That 1/4" may not seem like much sticking out, but when it is gone you appreciate it. One more round doesn't hurt either.


I can 'splain the process if anyone is interested. Much cheaper than factory mags as well.

[grousemaster]

What do you guys think of the Kahr mags? The one I had in seemed kinda weird...like the round on top sat cock eyed. I didn't know if that was normal or what....

it's a lot more pronounced in the PM9, but the angle of the dangle on the top round is a bit aggressive.... advised to use a mag carrier unles you want half the bullets to unload themselves out of the mag in your pocket

dang, I 'm not crazy then. Why the heck don't they just design better mags? You'd think they've probably heard a few thousand complaints by now.

[CarRacer]

Had a crappy day at work so I figured a trip to Bills to try this out was a recipe for success. It fired all 150 of the rounds I brought nicely and wasn't too rough on my hands either. The gun also fed the plated semi wad cutters I brought too, although the 4.8gr of W231 in them wasn't quite enough to cycle the action. It's also more than capable of doing its part if I do my part, the grouping is from 15 feet(red line). That smooth trigger made me look like I know what I'm doing too, it's very easy to just squeeze that trigger instead of jerking it.