Upgrading Pocket Power - Kahr PM9

I've written before about my Kel-tec P-3AT and the pocket holster I put together for it. Well...it's soon to be a new year so I decided to make a change to my pocket carry. Yesterday I became the owner of a very used and well worn Kahr PM9. That's right moving up from .380 to 9mm. You'll see from the pictures what I mean by well worn. According to the previous owner he's fired well over 3000 rounds through her himself and he had purchased her used so the total round count could easily be pushing thousands more than that. It's also seen it's share of being dropped, scratched, and who knows what else. You're probably wondering why would I buy a gun like this that's been so obviously abused...the reason is simple, the price was right and I'm more into function than looks anyway. As long as she shoots reliably and as accurately as I need then she'll be a keeper.

Almost immediately after I got her I took her to the range to make sure she didn't FTF (failure to feed) or FTE (failure to eject) on me. After over 100 rounds through each of the 3 mags I got for her with no problems I came away impressed. This was the first time firing a PM9 and I had some initial expectations that it would be similar to firing the P-3AT. Boy, was I wrong. The biggest reason for the difference is the grip of the P-3AT only allows 1 1/2 fingers on it where on the PM9 I can get 2+ fingers on it. It made all the difference in the world. I added on a Pearce grip extender to the 6 round mag that further aided comfort. The PM9 has decent sights (the dot the i kind like a Sig) which also helped in accuracy.

Now for the condition of this PM9. Check out the pictures below for reference. The slide on the left side has been scratched along the grooves like it's skidded across asphalt. There are other minor similar scratches here and there in other places. You'll see from the pictures that somewhere along the life of this PM9 someone took off the white from the rear sight. I plan on painting it back on. Obvious attempts had been made to move both sights with scratches on the right side of both. It's much worse on the rear sight. Luckily, they line up to POA (point of aim) for me at 7 yards which is all I need it to do. The base of the grip has had a file to it to smooth off any sharp edges. The only other mark I can see on the polymer grip is on the right side on the corner of the beaver tail, but it's only superficial.




Now, I said that this was to replace a P-3AT in pocket duty. Here's how:




It was super easy to make. All I used was the plastic cover from a three ring binder and 3 rivets from the local Tandy Leather. I wrapped the gun in the plastic and trimmed it with scissors. Then I punched the holes where the rivets where going and set the rivets. In the holster with the grip extender, the gun is a fairly large package. Good thing I have large & deep pockets. It hides very nicely.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with both the gun & the holster. They do the job and do it well. The gun also came with a Comptac CTAC holster which I may use on the occasions I decide I need a lighter IWB carry than my Sig P239.