Gun Review: Kahr PM40

Recently I embarked on a quest to find the best OD/BUG (off-duty / back up gun) on the market. This is a quest I undertake from time to time. After all, technology changes, my particular needs might change, etc. What does not change, however, is that I need a weapon that is comfortable enough to carry 85-90% of the time (saving the smallest and lightest and less powerful for that other 10-15%). That weapon must be reliable, reasonably accurate, and preferably chamber a duty-caliber round. If all else fails, I'm willing to take a .380 but I normally reserve that for my tiniest OD/BUG, the Kel-Tec P3AT.

Well, I wound up recently purchasing a very lightly used ("Like New Condition") Kahr PM40. By very lightly used, it was, so the dealer told me, bought new by a deputy a couple o'counties over. Said lawman put, reportedly, two magazines or less through it and promptly traded it in. Hmmm ... I love a challenge! In fairness, it did not appear to have any wear whatsoever on it. When I closely examined the interior I saw a very fine amount of smudge on the inside. About right for a couple o'mags, I reckoned.

First, let me describe this little wonder. It's a double action only (DAO), polymer framed ultra-compact pistol chambered in .40 S&W. Mine came with a stainless steel slide, barrell, and trigger. The finish is matte, bordering on satin. The trigger pull is quite smooth and easily managed without being nerve-wrackingly light. It measures 5.35" long, 4" high, .94" thick, and weighs about 17 ounces with an empty magazine.


I'm actually amazed at how close it is to the size of my uber-tiny Kel-Tec P3AT .380. It looks like it's maybe 1/3 bigger, but that's just an eye-ball guess. I haven't done any actual measuring yet. Still, it's under an inch thick (just) and rides very comfortably in my waistband inside a Don Hume clip-on leather holster. The thin, formed leather adds very little bulk and the reinforced mouth let's it stay open for relatively easy reholstering. I've worn it IWB (inside waist band) behind my hip, cross-draw, appendix, and even just barely fore and aft of 3 o'clock (along the outseam of my pants) and in all those posts, it concealed under an XL t-shirt. I've also worn it quite a bit in an Uncle Mike's pocket holster. It literally just becomes a small not-at-all-gun-shaped lump in my office kahkis. It almost disappears in my relaxed fit Levis. This polymer framed Kahr is even comfortable on my ankle. That's something I could not say about it's slightly larger and much heavier brother, the K40 Covert.

The PM40 takes either flush-fitting 5-round magazines, or 6-round mags that extend about a finger's width below the grip. My PM40 came with one of each, the 6-rounder having a large polymer floorplate that fills in the gap between the bottom of the pistol's grip and the bottom of the magazine. Some folks who've held it commented that they preferred the longer magazine as they did not like having to curl a finger underneath the grip. I personally prefer as small a grip as possible. Why? Simply put (and generally), the smaller the grip, the less bulk there is to print under a shirt. So long as there's enough to get a grip on when drawing, I'm usually happy. But, to each their own. I even heard a few comments to the effect that it was "too small." Sure, I've carried even full-sized USP .45 concealed and yes, I mean in this semi-tropical environment of the SouthEastern Gulf Coast. I can carry big guns concealed. I don't like carrying big guns concealed. It's not comfortable (for me, anyway ... I'm 5'09" with a waist that varies from 34" to 36" depending 'pon the season). This little Kahr is quite comfortable and in several modes of carry. Plus, it's light enough that it doesn't drag down the pants even in pocket carry and send all sorts of red flares up.

My model came with Trijicon Express-style sites rather than the standard ones. These feature a huge white dot front site and a rear site that, rather than the typical square cut-out, is just dished down somewhat from left to right, with a vertical white stripe down the rear center. Both the dot and the stripe feature Trijicon's glow-in-the-dark feature. Express-style sites are not designed for precision target shooting. They are designed to come up on target very quickly and go back on target very quickly after recoil. They do that and do it very well. Put that huge dot on the target, bring it down to dot-the-i over the rear site, squeeze the trigger, and ... there you go. A few days prior I had been shooting a friend's PM9 (fractionally smaller if you happen to have a micrometer handy, but otherwise virtually the same pistol in 9x19mm). His had standard gun sites installed. I was able to make hits on metal Pepper Poppers (chest sized falling metal plates) out as far as 75 yards. With my PM40 and it's express sites, though, I was having great difficulty repeating that feat. For one thing, at that distance that big front dot covers most of the target. Nevertheless, this ultra compact is not designed for precision target shooting. From 25 yards and in, it is very, very fast on target and very easy to hit with. From 15 yards and in, it really begins to shine. At the more realistic self defense range of 7 yards and in, I can't think of faster set of iron sites on a pistol.

Now then, recoil is, in a word, interesting. I equate it with shooting an air-weight j-frame .38 special with hot and heavy +P loads. After about half a box of Winchester "White Box" 180 grain FMJs, the web of my firing hand around the thumb joint was aching. I don't view this as a problem, however, unless one is recoil sensitive. This is not a pistol you're going to be firing a whole lot. The next day I qualified with it on our off-duty/back-up course. This consists of a total of 25 rounds fired from 15 yards, 7 yards, and from the hip at 3 feet. The last bit concerned me simply due to the fact that this being such a light pistol in such a high pressure cartridge, the shooter must fight the recoil or risk a feeding failure. Indeed I had one during the course. I limp-wristed the second shot and the slide did not go back far enough to load the next round. It tied up with the next round nose-diving into the feedramp. All it took to resume firing was to tug the slide back and let go. Still, it was a lesson first I and then later another shooter had to learn. Do NOT limp wrist this pistol at all! The "firm but relaxed" grip we are taught to use on service pistols does not apply here. Grip that pistol like it's a highly venemous, very angry snake and hold on! The tendecy I've observed is that once the shooter realizes the recoil isn't in the light weight .44 magnum category (ouch!), the firing grip relaxes a bit and then curse words follow. So, hold on, hold on tightly, and you should be okay. In fact, the ten rounds I had to fire from three feet one-handed and from the hip did not produce any stoppages at all. I seem to actually do better holding it one-handed. Perhaps this is due to my normal manner in which, utilizing two hands, I actually let the "weak hand" do most of the gripping and mostly consentrate on using the firing hand to pull the trigger smoothly. My extensive experience with the tiny .380 P3AT taught me how to overcome these hard recoiling tiny guns that are so dependant on a very firm wrist.

Kahr pistols are quite expensive. I've seen used Kahrs go anywhere from $450 to a couple of hundred more, with most hovering around or just over the $600 mark. That's a lot of cash. Still, if your needs include a super small, very light, high quality, big-caliber pistol, I don't know where you'll find one in this class for less. I only have about 100 rounds or so, maybe a wee bit less through mine at this point, but so far [knock-on-wood] I have to say I approve.