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Kahr Floorplate Wars

36K views 56 replies 14 participants last post by  thornepk  
#1 · (Edited)
It's no surprise that the magazine fit is not on Kahr's short list of fixes, and that we've all had to accept it for what it is. Until Now!

While pondering a fix for the fugly Kahr magazine fit, I decided to look into other magazine options to see about using a different floorplate. Little did I realize that I had the answer in my collection, and within minutes came up with a very easy solution. Here's the Original that we've all come to love and hate. Way to go, Kahr... Nice fit!

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So lets see if my solution makes things look any better. On the left is a Diamondback DB9 magazine, and on the right is a DB9 floorplate where the top surface has been sanded down to fit.

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Here's a closeup of the floorplate. It's a perfect fit.

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Now let's see it installed. WOW! That is absolutely flush fitting, and even gives you a scunge more area for a part of your pinkie finger. Awesome.

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Here's another shot. I'm pretty sure the fit can't get any better than this. Of course, with a little little research and experimenting, you may find another floorplate that suits your tastes a bit better. I'm satisfied with this and had a spare magazine on hand. If you could find a similar fitting floorplate, but with a straighter pinkie extension to match the angle of the grip, that might even be better.

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As you can see in this pic, I used the spring retainer and floorplate locking tab from inside the DB9. You have to, in order to have the retaining hole properly aligned. Works very well.

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Of course, there's going to be a caveat, right? Right! Diamondback magazines are on constant backorder, it seems. People on the DB forum are forever whining about the lack of availability, and DB seems pretty indifferent about making these available to its customers. Way to go, DB!

The only concern about sanding down the floorplate to fit as well as the one pictured, is getting the proper angle established. You'll see what I mean if you take on this project. You too can do it, Kahr. It took me just minutes to get this corrected, and I don't have any corporate advantage or staff. Just me and a $75 bench top belt/disk sander. The magazine is a tight, but secure fit. If Kahr undertakes this type of project development they will undoubtedly allow room for manufacturing tolerances, so I'm guessing you'd still end up with part of the magazine body exposed, but perhaps it would at least be parallel to the grip. To get yours like the one pictured is a custom hand fit, but the results are very nice. This has been test with fully loaded magazines, including a round in the chamber. Either empty or filled, the appearance remains identical.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Hey, let me know what you think while I go pour some red wine in celebration!

:gym: <--- I have no idea why I selected this smiley...
 
#54 ·
This is Al's website: https://lakelinellc.com

He sells on eBay also, and his extensions look very good on the gun.

I recently purchased some followers and extensions from him for my CM9. I hadn't shot my CM9 at that point and wanted his hardened aluminum followers to prevent any breakage to the factory followers that some of the CM9's seem to prone to doing. He makes good stuff, but in some of my older mags I was not able to get the extra round in when using one of his followers and extensions combined. He advised me to chamfer the inside edge of the follower a bit more aggessively or try a newer mag. I opted for the latter because I wanted some extra mags anyway, and that did the trick. Something different between the way in which the new and old spring windings are finished. His stuff is pricey but very well made.

I finally took my unfired CM9 to the range along with a new P380 that I purchased and the CM ran flawlessly. I even ran a mag equipped with a factory follower through it a couple of times since I now have extra followers following my purchase from him, and there was no breakage. Yet.
I had "prepped" my CM9 by racking the slide by hand close to 1000 times over the long wait before I got it out to the range so that may have helped with the break in at the range. My new P380 had two FTE and two FTF's in the first couple of mags and then ran flawlessly after that.

I should note that on the older mags I use in my PM9 and MK9 I had no issue in getting the extra round in when using one of his extensions, because I didn't install one of his followers on those mags. So in those 6rd mags I can now load 7rds with no issues.