Well I decided to pick up a Kahr MK9 for a CCW piece as my Ultra Carry proved itself to be too big. Anyway, I find a good deal from on GunsAmerica.com in two-tone version ($399.99), so I order it from Keifers Gun Shop, located in PA. So the gun finally shows up today (holiday weekend). I was pretty excited to get my new CCW gun, and spent the last few days looking forward to an afternoon of shooting.
The MK9 great upon my first inspection. I take the pistol home and disassemble it for it's first cleaning. I had noticed in the box there was a small envelope containing one piece of brass. So after I see this I'm a bit set off that my gun is now in some database, but oh well.
After I got the slide off I noticed there appears to be a fair amount of powder residue. A lot more than I would expect from one round. There is also evidence of slide wear, the chamber has an imprint of a cartridge, supporting my theory that this gun has been fired multiple times. It was supposed to be NIB, so I was kind of angry. Instead of cleaning it, I decide to reasmble it for some reason.
I dropped the barrel into place and I was attempting to reinstall the guide rod. When I try to drop it into place, the PLASTIC end of the guide rod, which retains two springs, snapped right off. This sent springs and plastic pieces flying.
What a HORRIBLE design. A thin, brittle, plastic guide rod. I hope there is some sort of upgrade to a non-plastic part. By this time it was late afternoon and Kahr had already closed, but I will be calling tomorrow AM. Has anyone else experienced this failure? Is it possible that I just had some weak and brittle plastic?
I am still debating wheather this gun is really NIB or not. The box, accessories, and paperwork are obviously all new. Has anyone noticed any wear or excessive powder when they first bought their Kahr? Did the chamber have an imprint of a cartridge? The gun was in a bag and was pretty oily, but it wouldn't be hard to pour some oil on a gun and sell it as new.