Beginning in 1994, Kahr Arms launched the sub-compact 9 mm Luger handgun market with the K9, a single-stack, all-steel pistol that weighed only 23 ozs. Over the years, the company has offered a wide-range of models chambered in cartridges from .380 ACP to .45 ACP, with frames of steel and polymer, but used single-column magazines. New for 2024, the company is introducing its first pistol with a double-column magazine, the Kahr X9.
The X9 is the first Kahr Arms pistol to use double-column magazines.
The basis of the X9 is Kahr’s tried-and-true striker-fired action with its “safe cam” double-action-only trigger. It has a polymer frame with a Picatinny accessory rail molded into its dustcover and a slide CNC-machined from stainless steel and given front and rear serrations and a matte black finish. The X9 uses a 10-round, double-column magazine made of stainless steel. Each pistol ships with two magazines, one with a flat base and one with an extended thumbrest base, in a hard-sided plastic case.
The X9 fits a double-column magazine with a capacity of 10 rounds in a package nearly the same size as the company’s single-stack designs.
Optics ready, the slide is cut for a Holosun K footprint. Iron sights are fitted in dovetails and consist of Kahr’s “bar-dot” system, which uses a white bar on the rear below the notch and a white dot on the front blade. The pistol is ambidextrous, with slide release levers on both sides and a reversible magazine release. A new takedown system that uses an external lever makes disassembly for cleaning easier.
The X9 mates a CNC-machined stainless steel slide with a polymer frame.
The overall size of the X9 puts it firmly in the micro-compact category, with an overall length of 6.13” with a 3.54” barrel (with conventional rifling), a height of 4.38” with the flush base magazine inserted and a width of 1”. It weighs 17.6 ozs. These dimensions make it similar in size to Kahr’s polymer-framed CW9, S9 or P9, but with three more rounds of capacity.
The X9 ships with two magazines in a hard case.
The Kahr X9 has an MSRP of $549. For more details, visit the Kahr Arms website here.
The X9 builds on Kahr Arms’ three decades of experience building sub-compact 9 mm Luger pistols.
