Kahr Arms

Infobox_Company
company_name = Kahr Arms
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1995| location = Blauvelt, New York
key_people = Kook Jin "Justin" Moon , CEO/President of Saeilo
industry = Firearms
homepage = [http://www.kahr.com kahr.com]

Kahr Arms is an American small arms manufacturer founded by Kook Jin "Justin" Moon (son of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon), who currently serves as CEO and President. It is owned by the Saeilo Corporation (pronounced say-low), a subsidiary of the Unification Church International holding company. [http://www.portfolio.com/careers/features/2007/09/17/Unification-Church "Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, "Conde Nast Portfolio", October 2007] ]

The company specializes in compact and mid-size semi-automatic pistols chambered for popular cartridges including 9 mm Luger Parabellum, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. Kahr pistols feature polymer or stainless steel frames, single-stack magazines, and double-action striker firing actions. Its headquarters is in Blauvelt, New York and it has a manufacturing facility in Worcester, Massachusetts.

History

From the age of 14, Justin Moon enjoyed shooting guns. [Massad Ayoob, "The Rise of the House of Kahr", American Handgunner (November/December 2001) pp. 58-67. "My first experience shooting was with my older brother when I was 14. He also liked guns and took me shooting with friends and family. We would have a great time setting up and shooting targets with an assortment of firearms. Ever since that first shooting experience, I continued to pursue my interest in firearms."] At age 18, Moon got a license to carry a handgun, co-signed by one of his older brothers, but he wasn't satisfied with the small calibers available in compact handguns. "I had been licensed to carry in New York State since I was 18 and had looked for an ultra-compact 9mm pistol," Justin later told American Handgunner magazine. "To my chagrin, I could not find a pistol with the quality of construction and features in design which I felt were appropriate for a carry gun. Therefore, I decided to design an ultra-compact 9-mm. pistol that I could carry." [Quoted in "Rev. Moon son made gun" "New York Daily News" July 27, 2003.] By his junior year of college, he decided to design one himself.Massad Ayoob, "The Rise of the House of Kahr", "American Handgunner" (November/December 2001) pp. 58-67.]

After graduating from Harvard University in 1992, Moon founded Kahr Arms in 1993.

In 1999, Kahr Arms bought Auto-Ordnance Corp., the maker of Thompson submachine guns. Now Kahr manufactures Auto-Ordnance's line of semi-automatic weapons, including a long-barreled, semi-automatic version of the famous "Tommy Gun." The Auto-Ordnance Corporation that Kahr Arms purchased was not the original Auto Ordnance started by General John T. Thompson and his investors.

Kahr has offered its line of compact pistols at a time that has seen a liberalization of concealed weapons laws, in many U.S. states. Since the 1990s, many states passed "shall-issue" laws, promoted by the American National Rifle Association and other gun rights organizations, that required state authorities to issue permits to carry concealed weapons to law-abiding citizens who met certain conditions set forth by state law.

In 1994 the U.S. federal government banned manufacture and importation of pistol magazines with more than a 10-round capacity. These were the so called "high-capacity" magazines, which again became legal to manufacture and import in most states in September 2004, after the relevant federal law expired. This change in federal law rendered many staggered-magazine pistol models (commonly with magazine capacities of 15 or more rounds) less popular in the American market. They were now overly large in light of their newly mandated 10-shot limit. [cite news |first=John |last=Mintz |coauthors= |publisher=The Washington Post |date=1999-03-10 |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/moon10.htm |title=Church's Pistol Firm Exploits a Niche |accessdate=2007-09-22 ] Kahr was at the forefront at offering small well-made pistols that fire eight or fewer relatively large 9mm and .40-caliber bullets. Their single-stack magazines enable a slender compact pistol that has proved popular with the buying public.

Since late 2003, or very early in 2004 Kahr has changed from offering a Limited Lifetime Warranty on their Pistols to one of only Five Years duration, bringing them more in line with industry standards for such Warranties. [http://www.kahr.com/DL/kahrmanual.pdf] [http://web.archive.org/web/20031008043920/www.kahr.com/front.html]

Kahr enjoys a reputation for quality Customer Service.

Kahr design

The Kahr action is a Browning locked-breech design and has a striker-operated firing pin with a passive firing pin safety. It is a true hammerless action. When the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar begins to rotate the cocking cam. Having two lobes, the cocking cam simultaneously begins to draw the striker to the rear, compressing the spring behind it, while depressing and therefore deactivating the firing pin block. At the end of the trigger's travel, the lobe contacting the striker slips off the striker and releases it, the other lobe has now completely depressed the firing pin block and permits the striker to travel forward and strike the primer. This single piece takes the place of more complicated and fragile designs employed in other pistols. It is similar in principle, though very different in execution, to the design on Glocks. It also allows the firing pin block to be located further to the rear of the slide and therefore further from possible contamination from combustion gases and fouling. For this innovation, Justin Moon was awarded one of the five patents he possesses on the Kahr pistol. This system is employed on all Kahr pistols regardless of frame material, size or caliber.

The Kahr trigger is similar to a double-action revolver, with a short 3/8 inch trigger travel. On polymer models, The Kahr slide travels on four steel inserts; in steel framed versions, the rail design is traditional and very similar to that of the M1911 pistol. Kahr pistols have their feed ramp offset to the left, which allows the trigger draw bar to lie flatter against the right side of the frame. This design feature helps the 9mm Kahr pistol line to achieve slide width of .90 of an inch in 9mm and .40 S&W models and 1.01 inches when chambered in .45ACP, narrower than many popular pistols. [cite web |url=http://www.kahr.com/PA-1B/review_cch2006.html |title=KAHR Perfect Pocket Pistols |accessdate=2007-09-22 ]

The initial Kahr offering, the K9, provided a full powered 9mm Parabellum Pistol that was virtually the same size, and in some dimensions, smaller, as widely accepted "Pocket Pistol" .380ACP and .32 ACP handguns, such as the Walther PP and PPK/S, as well as the Sig-Sauer P230/232, and the Beretta "80" Series.

With the introduction of the K9's brother, the P9 (and soon thereafter, the P40) they not only matched size, but offered these service calibered weapons in a format sometimes weighing several ounces "less" than these respected arms.

Pistols

Kahr currently manufactures and distributes the following firearms:

All weights shown are without magazine, which approximates 1.9 ounces.

References

External links

* [http://www.kahr.com Kahr Homepage]
* [http://www.kahr.com/review_ahg_1001.html Massad Ayoob, "The Rise of the House of Kahr", "American Handgunner" (November/December 2001) at 58-67.]