My bad, the DLC pins are DLC, not nickel. The barrels however, are nickel plated. You can polish them out to shine like chrome, much easier than a stainless barrel would polish out. In fact… just about use hand rubbing with some polishing compound and rag.
On the PM series, the slide stop is two pieces. The pin is ground, very tough, and held into the MIM lever with a small blind crosspin. The pin will usually swivel in the lever. On the CM’s the entire assembly is MIM and will not swivel. The “stainless” colored pins are nickel plated prior to assembly to keep them silvery colored and for lubricity.
Back to the barrels, its not uncommon for the ramps to show some deformation of the plating after a bit of use, say… anyplace from 500 to 1000 rounds (best guestimate). Wear of the plating on the ramp does not impede performance.
Most users on the internet form “all about Kahr” tend to agree that the polymer pistols run best fairly dry, especially the FCG and striker/striker channel, which tends to crud up easily with firing.
The slide stop spring, on the polymers has a retainer disk, and a retainer scew. These can loosen, and/or the spring can be deformed by over tightening the screw (or the screw hole can be deformed too). Incorrect re-assembly can bugger the spring. Its a part that works, works well, but… if there’s gonna be an issue, thats it. The slide stops can walk. The slide stop can become enganged prematurely. The slide stop can not become engaged… you got the picture. Correct assembly counts.
The sideplate pin was replaced with a tiny torx screw, and as far as I know, the pin can be pulled and the screw put in place, perhaps with a little countersink in the sideplate added by the user (or the factory can do the same). My oldest is pinned PM9, no issues. My two PM45’s are both screwed into place.
What’s an SME? I’m not a huge fanboy of Kahr, they do have stupid issues. Its not a design problem, but assembly. The trigger bars, the barrel noses. Take note - check your barrel fit, pressing it fully rearward with no slide mounted, just a slide stop pin. Insert the magazine (empty). If the follower rubs on the slide, you need a ramp nose trim. The fit is tight and some of those poly frames are just a few .001’s different. They function ok, but the stacked tolerances cause a follower smack, and eventually breakage.
On the break in - something to consider - a pistol like a 1911 has a huge amount of slide over-run of the rear of the magazine (and cartridge rim). In a Kahr, there is just a miniscule amount. That small amount of distance makes for critical timing, which they pull off to an extraordinary amount of satisfaction. But like a thorobred sports car, they need to be “right” to run the way they ought to. The recoil spring is short, and must be flexed to become the spring it ought to be. It cannot (easily) be made the spring it ought to be, and thus is made too tight, with the intent of loosening upon use until a state of near equilibrium is had.
Gotta say all three of mine run 100 percent with good ammo, less than 100 percent with range loads and such.
If you (or anyone ) wants the run down on Kahr, go to that internet forum and find the answewrs (and meet some great folks too). I wont mention the forum name here, might be against the rules, dunno.
Last thing, the mag release is all metal, and has been for a while My older PM has a plastic one, no issues - yet. Newer PM45’s are metal, similarly no issues.
