I've been keeping my eyes open for a cw380 as a potential replacement for my aging LCP. I know @fieldgrade loves his and with the exception of some Fiocchi fodder it's been reliable.
At the gun show on Sunday, I spied a new P380 with trijicon night sights and 3 mags for $389. If you take the going rate for a CW380, add 2 more mags and trijicon sights to it it's more than this one was... so I took a chance:
I took it apart and cleaned it and got it ready for testing. I never understand why reviewers just "take it out of the box and shoot it". It doesn't seem unreasonable to check / clean / lube a brand new machine. Anyway, check out the shine on that feed ramp. Someone took a few seconds with a wheel to make this pretty:
As far as being an LCP replacement, it is just about the same size. Height/width is damn close, the only place the LCP has a clear advantage is on the muzzle end. The LCP slims down quite a bit whereas the Kahr says squared up the whole way down. It's not much, but when you're talking guns this small, it all counts.
At the range today, I turned this:
in to this:
My nice clean pistol was in need of a bath:
The results are excellent. Most excellent. I fired 280 rounds. No failures of any kind. Every round chambered/fired/extracted, and the slide locked back on empty and only empty with all 3 mags. At first I was just loading 5 rounds in a mag, then after the first 50 or so I started loading the mag full and topping it off after chambering a round like you would while carrying. I wanted the full spring pressure pushing that top round into the slide. I used the various ammos in the picture including wolf, PPU and S&B that were in the blue box.
I fired two handed, strong hand only, weak hand only, slow fire, 2-3 shot strings, a few mag dumps (I mean "bill drills") and some slow sustained fire at plate racks. I let the gun get hot, then really hot, let it cool a bit, then got it hot again. Didn't seem to care at all.
My trigger finger is a bit sore, the gun snaps but not badly but it still jams the trigger into my finger. I don't see how you get around that on these little guns, the LCP does it too as do small wheel guns.
I love the way it tracks back down after each shot, and how the sights and rear of the slide look like a tiny Glock. Dots seem to glow in the house, didn't really pay attention to them on the range today.
I wasn't shooting against paper so I don't know yet how accurate it is yet, but hitting the steel silhouette at 10 yards fast was easy and hitting the plate rack at 16 yards was... let's say challenging.
On the mags, I'm never sure if I like the extended ones or not. It didn't change how I gripped the gun or how controlable it was, so I wouldn't hesitate to carry the extended as the 2nd mag and keep the flush fit in the gun. Pinkie extensions or anything are not warranted on this one for me.
So there ya go. Seems like a keeper. Ordered a desantis pocket holster (it's slightly different than the LCP design, a different SKU) but it fits my existing open ended IWB leather just fine.
At the gun show on Sunday, I spied a new P380 with trijicon night sights and 3 mags for $389. If you take the going rate for a CW380, add 2 more mags and trijicon sights to it it's more than this one was... so I took a chance:
I took it apart and cleaned it and got it ready for testing. I never understand why reviewers just "take it out of the box and shoot it". It doesn't seem unreasonable to check / clean / lube a brand new machine. Anyway, check out the shine on that feed ramp. Someone took a few seconds with a wheel to make this pretty:
As far as being an LCP replacement, it is just about the same size. Height/width is damn close, the only place the LCP has a clear advantage is on the muzzle end. The LCP slims down quite a bit whereas the Kahr says squared up the whole way down. It's not much, but when you're talking guns this small, it all counts.
At the range today, I turned this:
in to this:
My nice clean pistol was in need of a bath:
The results are excellent. Most excellent. I fired 280 rounds. No failures of any kind. Every round chambered/fired/extracted, and the slide locked back on empty and only empty with all 3 mags. At first I was just loading 5 rounds in a mag, then after the first 50 or so I started loading the mag full and topping it off after chambering a round like you would while carrying. I wanted the full spring pressure pushing that top round into the slide. I used the various ammos in the picture including wolf, PPU and S&B that were in the blue box.
I fired two handed, strong hand only, weak hand only, slow fire, 2-3 shot strings, a few mag dumps (I mean "bill drills") and some slow sustained fire at plate racks. I let the gun get hot, then really hot, let it cool a bit, then got it hot again. Didn't seem to care at all.
My trigger finger is a bit sore, the gun snaps but not badly but it still jams the trigger into my finger. I don't see how you get around that on these little guns, the LCP does it too as do small wheel guns.
I love the way it tracks back down after each shot, and how the sights and rear of the slide look like a tiny Glock. Dots seem to glow in the house, didn't really pay attention to them on the range today.
I wasn't shooting against paper so I don't know yet how accurate it is yet, but hitting the steel silhouette at 10 yards fast was easy and hitting the plate rack at 16 yards was... let's say challenging.
On the mags, I'm never sure if I like the extended ones or not. It didn't change how I gripped the gun or how controlable it was, so I wouldn't hesitate to carry the extended as the 2nd mag and keep the flush fit in the gun. Pinkie extensions or anything are not warranted on this one for me.
So there ya go. Seems like a keeper. Ordered a desantis pocket holster (it's slightly different than the LCP design, a different SKU) but it fits my existing open ended IWB leather just fine.
