Kahr CW9 Irons vs Laser Sights

I've been both shooting and carrying a Kahr CW9 for about 9 years or so. I love the gun. It feels a bit like a 1911 in the grip and carries a fair 7+1 rounds of 9mm on board. The CW9 is lightweight, thin and one of my favorite weapons. If I were limited to only owning a couple of handguns then this one would be on the list.

The DAO trigger is a deal breaker for many shooters that I know but I like it on a carry gun that doesn't have an external safety.  I know that the cool guy thing in 2020 is to have a Glock type setup, but guess what? When I see article after article in the firearms media about negligent discharges most of those having accidents seem to be carrying Glocks (or something similar). To each his own but I like a little heavier trigger pull or an external safety for concealed carry. I'll probably never need to use my carry gun (I can hope) so I'd rather be a little safer when carry concealed.
I know, I know. Your trigger finger is your safety blah, blah, freaking blah. You'll forget to take the safety off under stress yada, yada, yada. The internets say so.

My apologies if I don't mirror the rest of the concealed carry/gun world.
To each his own.

I added night sights and eventually a Crimson Trace Laser Grip to the pistol. I love the laser. It makes a big difference when your eyes aren't the best or the lighting is poor. I know that it's not the cool guy thing either. I'll probably add a review of the laser grip eventually and perhaps a few paragraphs on why I like laser sights.

Anyway, I took a few pics during a recent range trip and dug up a few more from the hard drive. The plan was to put iron sights against the laser grips. I've been shooting this gun long enough that I knew what the results would be. It was still fun to confirm it. This is more anecdotal than scientific but I know what works best for me at the range.

The targets on the left are small pie plates with a 1" bullseye in the center. The left target was shot with iron sights. Laser sights were used on the right. There's not a lot of obvious difference in the two groups but the right target was shot much faster than the left. You'll have to take my word for that.

I rotated between 5 and 7 rounds per mag throughout the day. I generally download my mags a little in order to increase my reloads. Nothing's wrong with helping build more muscle memory.

The target below was shot at 15 yards with the laser. The orange and white target probably wasn't the best choice for the laser sights but I think that I did pretty well.









The target below was shot using the laser grips. This was done at 7 yards at the end of the day (definitely warmed up). The groups were shot as fast as possible.

I should have marked up the target above to keep from accidently using it in another review. Live and learn.
The target below kind of speaks for itself. Again, I was shooting pretty fast compared to how I shoot with iron sights.

This is a pie plate sized EZ see target at 25 yards. The 3 bullet holes at the top were from different groups earlier in the day. This was slow fire and I'm pretty happy with this target. I doubt that I'd be able to see the target using iron sights with my middle aged eyes.

I had set this target up to face me for two seconds and then turn away for two seconds for about ten cycles or so. I hadn't done this drill in quite awhile and I consider this probably the best test that I can do for a defensive sight comparison.

Bear in mind that this is not a full sized silhouette. That is a 1" orange bullseye in the center.

Here's another attempt at the same drill.
You'll note that I used a black silhouette while shooting with the laser grips. Maybe it's cheating but I usually try to match the target to the sights that I'm using. You decide.


That is a 1" orange bulleye on the target.

This is the same drill on the same day. Two seconds facing the shooter followed by the target turning away for two seconds.

I didn't do as well with iron sights in spite of changing over to something that's very visible for the darker fixed sights.

This target is the same size as the black silhouette shown earlier.

Let's be honest. Shooting at 7 yards with a medium (?) sized handgun isn't usually much of a challenge unless you're under some form of pressure. A well lit square range is not much of a test, but it's what I have. Hell, it's not like I'm getting paid for this.
Soooo... The groups are similar but I think that those on the right are clearly better. They were certainly shot faster although I do not have a timer.

I hadn't planned on doing this, but I'm going to talk a bit about my experience with laser sights in general.

About 10 years ago I added a universal laser (Crimson Trace) to a full sized service pistol. This was a home defense gun and there were no plans to take it out and about. I moved onto to putting laser grips on a Kahr CW9 and eventually my Ruger LCR. A Ruger LCP II with the Viridian laser was added to the stable. I recently put Crimson Trace laser grips on a 16 year old (?) Kimber Stainless Target II. I have a decent amount of experience in using lasers on handguns.

Everyone is familiar with iron sights regardless if they're blacked out, night sights or fiber optics. I'm not going to discuss what everyone already knows a great deal about.

Let's dispel the myth of a laser sight giving away your position as you creep around the house like a Ninja. First of all, I'm a fat middle aged man. I'm not silently creeping anywhere. If the floor boards aren't creaking when I walk across the room then my joints are popping. A silent approach is not my forte  I plan on turning on every light in the house as I move through it should things go bump in the night.

I will agree that a laser may give away the fact that you're carrying a gun if your hand is on the weapon's grip while the pistol is in a coat pocket.

Lasers kind of suck outside on a sunny day. Even the green lasers are just so so. They absolutely rock in any kind of low light conditions and I've never had an issue picking up the dot indoors. It wouldn't hurt to remember that iron sights, even night sights, are just mediocre overall at night or in low light conditions. Everything is a trade off to some degree.

Yes, batteries die. Get on a battery rotation. Of course you still have your irons as a backup.

Your eyes pick up the green lasers much better than the red. I'll let the manufacturer tell you why.

Green lasers are more expensive and batteries don't last as long. Again, I'll let the manufacturer explain why.

Lasers are great for unusual or unconventional shooting positions.
I had rotator cuff surgery a few years ago. 3 out of 4 rotator cuff tendons were torn on my dominant side. My shooting was still pretty good overall even though I couldn't raise my arm higher than my sternum. I let this go on for quite a while and was able to shoot for a much longer time using lasers than with iron sights.
It takes awhile to get back to normal and have the usual range of motion after rotator cuff surgery. I was able to shoot from (a little higher than) the hip during my recovery (until I was fussed at by the RSO).
Left handed shooting is much easier for me with lasers. It's nice to be able to take sight alignment out of the equation.
Anyway, there's a lot of us guys at there with arthritis and injuries. Laser sights might work better for those that have a limited range of motion.

Bear in mind that there's a whole world full of people that absolutely hate grip safeties because one guy somewhere at sometime had a hand wound and couldn't properly depress the grip safety on his 1911.
On the other hand, it is assumed by many laser haters that everyone will always be well enough to raise a pistol to eye level at all times to use the factory sights.

I'm not going into vision issues. That should be a given when discussing lasers.

Laser sights seem to magnify any shaking that you do before squeezing the trigger. You'll need to really work on your trigger squeeze if you decide to add a laser to your weapon. In my experience, unless you have vision issues, if you're a bad shooter with irons then you'll probably be a bad shooter with laser sights. If you're a good shooter with iron sights then you'll probably be better with laser sights IMO.

I have to make myself practice with the factory sights. I'd guess that about 20% of my practice is with iron sights when using a laser equipped handgun. That could definitely be improved upon. I have to say that my life is pretty boring and I tend to stay away from adventures in bad areas. That's no guarantee of safety, but it does help cut down on life's dramas.
I'm also a big guy even if most of my size today comes from the drive through instead of the gym. Odds are that I'm not going to need a weapon. If I do need a gun then I would bet that it will be indoors or in some low light condition. There's no 100% guarantee about that, but you see the same bad guy robbery videos on YouTube that I do. What do you think?



This is just something I found on the hard drive from a year or so ago. It's a few 7 yard groups shot about as fast as I can shoot. I think that I did pretty good since while they weren't controlled pairs, they weren't exactly slow fire either.

I'll probably add a few more pics as the mood strikes me. As always, all comments and information are just the ravings of a middle aged guy with too much time on his hands. Take them for what they're worth.

More of my gun reviews can be found here.