Kahr Arms is a firm that understands the little auto, specifically the little lightweight auto. The New York-based company has been a part of the handgun scene for only a few years, and the little auto-in two calibers and several sizes-is Kahr's bread-and-butter product. With 10 years of gunmaking to its credit, Kahr now enjoys a reputation for first-class design and quality guns. And the two newest introductions to the line aren't going to do anything to damage that reputation. As a matter of fact, the PM40 and the TP9 may turn out to be among the most popular Kahr yet.

Function And Design
Both pistols are variations on the basic Kahr design, which is a small, flat DAO pistol in either 9mm Luger or .40 S&W. Kahrs are unabashed concealed carry autos that are smaller than almost anything on the market. Designer Justin Moon was able to include a Browning-style tilting-barrel system of recoil operation in a gun that is smaller than most typical blowback pocket autos. Moreover, the Kahrs are far slimmer than any other recoil-operated pistol.
A strong breech-locking system is mandatory on a pistol chambered for the 9mm Luger, much less the potent .40 S&W. There's a certain amount of bulk associated with this type of locking system, so keeping the gun flat-to facilitate concealment- can be a problem. The basic Kahr design uses an offset feed ramp and locking block on the barrel. This means the trigger bar is inside the receiver, where it belongs. The result? The gun remains less than an inch thick across the action.
Kahr's first pistols were rugged little beasts made entirely of steel. They were indeed small, and while they were generally well accepted, they were a little on the heavy side for some CCW holders. Kahr considered making an aluminum-frame pistol but eventually decided to develop a polymer gun.
The company's first polymer pistols were 9mms weighing around 18 ounces. That is definitely light, but the company was able to build an even lighter pistol with a shorter butt and slide. It weighs right at 16 ounces and has a six-round magazine. I contend that this gun, the PM9, is the best pocket auto ever built. The TP9 is a tough act to follow, but one of the two guns featured in this article is at least as good.

Caliber Upgrade
The pistol in question is the PM40. It is essentially the same gun as the PM9 except for the more powerful chambering. Since the PM9 is now well known on the market, let's make some specific comparisons to the new PM40. First is weight. The PM9 is 16 ounces (empty with a magazine). The PM40 scales one ounce more. In size, the PM9 is 5.3 inches long while the PM40 is 5.35 inches long. The two guns are the same overall height (four inches), but the PM40 is .04 of an inch thicker than the PM9 (.94 of an inch vs. .90 of an inch). In plain terms the two pistols are virtually identical. The engineers built the PM40 with a slide that is one ounce heavier in order to compensate for the more robust recoil of the .40 S&W cartridge.
The PM40 is built from the ground up to be a concealed carry firearm. In the hand, most shooters find the butt to be on the short side with room for only two fingers. But it gives you enough purchase to control the pistol fairly well. Until you load the gun, it seems to be rather top-heavy since most of the metal in the PM40 is in the slide. Once the gun is fully loaded, the disparity in balance is not quite as noticeable. And speaking of loading the PM40, the pistol comes with two magazines. The shorter one has a more concealable flush-fitted floorplate and takes five rounds. The longer has a floorplate that extends just below the butt, has a little finger rest and accepts six rounds. With a round in the chamber, the pistol's on-tap capacity is either six or seven rounds depending on which magazine is selected. I believe most shooters will choose the short magazine to carry in the gun and keep the longer one as a spare.
All of the familiar Kahr features are present. The general lines of the butt section are the same as other models, right down to the molded-in checkering fore and aft and the Kahr logos. The slide is the same blocky, stainless steel type with board cocking serrations at the rear and a flat top.
For long service life Kahr installs its sights with lateral dovetails. My sample had the basic black sight system with white-dot front and white-bar rear highlights. Tritium night sights are an available option.
As with other Kahrs, the PM40 has a double-action-only trigger system that works on approximately six pounds of trigger pressure. In the Kahr system, the internal striker sets in a precooked mode when the slide moves. Therefore, the striker partially cocks when the shooter racks the slide to chamber a round. If the gun is fired, the slide cycles, and the striker sets once again. Trigger pressure completes the cocking movement of the striker and fires a shot. There is an internal passive striker safety linked to the trigger in such a way that the striker is blocked until the trigger is pressed. There is no manual safety and no need for one. It is a modern, up-to-date system well suited for a pistol that serves as an emergency defensive tool. It is the same system used on all Kahr pistols. Therefore, it is the system used on the second of the two new Kahrs.

A Perfect 9?
This 9mm TP9 is somewhat larger for those shooters who need a general-use 9mm rather than one that is exclusively designed for concealed carry. The TP9 is possible because of the interchangeability of major components in the Kahr system of handguns. Kahr makes three lengths of 9mm barrel/slide uppers-three, 3 1/2 and four inches. The four inch upper was developed for use on the so-called "target" model, the T9. By using this four-inch slide on a standard P9 (polymer) lower, you have the TP9. The original T9 was an all-steel pistol that has somewhat thicker grip panels of Pau Ferro wood. The TP9 happens to be one of those happy compromises that work out well. It is slightly shorter and slimmer than the T9 but significantly lighter. By producing such a gun, Kahr makes yet another attractive option available for yet another niche in the market.
Kahr builds small guns for concealed carry, but it also builds small guns for people who don't have large hands or long fingers. Even the largest Kahrs are useful in certain concealed carry situations. But every Kahr is small enough to be usable by shooters who require a smaller handgun.
The TP9 weighs 20 ounces, empty with magazine. It is 6 1/2 inches long and approximately five inches in height and comes equipped with an MMC elevation-adjustable rear sight. Two magazines are in the lockable plastic case; the shorter, flush-seated one takes seven rounds, and the extended variety takes eight. As with the PM40, the TP9's slide is stainless steel, and the receiver is molded black polymer. Naturally, it has the same DAO action already described. The overall impression is that of a slightly smaller-than-normal service pistol with a graceful grip and natural pointing characteristics.

Kahrs On Target
Impressions are OK, but shooting a pistol on the range tells a much more complete story. I fired the TP9 on the range with four different kinds of ammunition and three bullet weights-115, 124 and 147 grains. There was one malfunction-a failure to chamber-and I suspect it was due to insufficient lubrication. Kahr recommends that its customers break in a new pistol with several hundred rounds.
I have had very little trouble with new Kahrs, but I still consider this admonition to be valid. As a matter of fact, I am surprised that other makers have not said the same thing. It is a good idea to take the pistol to range for initial shooting with a good coating of oil on the major contact surfaces. Then run several boxes of bargain-table ammo through it. This gets the lube distributed evenly and tends to smoothly burnish down the points of hard contact. I found the TP9 to be easy to shoot and decently accurate at the 15-year range I was using. The trigger is fairly smooth and the recoil mild.
The PM40 is another story. Since the gun is so small and the ammo is large, I was expecting a longer break-in period. After about 200 rounds, however, I had experienced nothing in the way of problems. Everything-from 155s to 180s-fed smoothly. My earlier sessions with a PM9 produced a few malfunctions, which eventually went away with continued shooting. The recoil of .40 S&W ammo is invariably greater than 9mm stuff, and the greater thrust tends to work the action somewhat more aggressively.
At any rate, it did not fail, and that is a plus. However, shooting .40 S&Ws in a 17-ounce pistol is not the easiest thing you'll ever experience. There is nothing painful or even uncomfortable about shooting the PM40 because the gun is well shaped and well engineered. But the muzzle rise is considerable and presents a definite gun-handling problem. It is hard to shoot fast pairs with this little pistol, and most shooters may have to modify their technique to spend a fraction of a second more in recovering from recoil. That is probably the only knock on this superb little gun.
You get what you pay for. Lots of shooters wanted to know when the company was going to make a polymer micro .40, and the answer is now. It is a virtual dimensional twin to the PM9. The PM40 is a powered-up variant for shooters who can manage the little brute and are willing to spend the time to develop real skill with it.