Kahr has been a successful purveyor of small pistols since the mid-1990s. They continue to add value-priced offerings for cash-strapped consumers. You get high tech for lower costs. The difference between their premium P-series polymer framed pistols and their CW line is the difference in cost. CW guns have conventional rifling in their bores instead of match grade polygonal rifling. The slide stops are made with metal injection molding technology instead of the machined slide stop of the expensive gun. The roll marks are plain on the CW line and the lower priced gun uses pinned front sights instead of front sight mounted in a dovetail. P-series guns are provided with two magazines. The CW guns come with a single magazine. Jeff Quinn, Gunblast.com, calculated that you could buy a CW380, five spare magazines (at $40 each) and still be able to afford a box of premium ammo before you match the cost of the P380, with two magazines supplied. That tilts the cost scale toward the CW-class pistol. I'm currently using a CW380 as a "third" gun (as opposed to a primary and a second gun). Why all the hardware? Because the CW380 is flyweight, around 11 ounces with empty magazine in place. With a capacity of six plus one (easy to insert a topped magazine into the in-battery pistol), the trigger cocking action, locked breech and a barrel of just under 2.6", it's a lot of gun in a small package. At that, the recoil spring is stout and running the slide does take some effort. Even though it's locked breech, it's still a bit of a thumper in the recoil department. It's by no means unmanageable but it takes some effort. The sights are Kahr typical, with a white dot up front. Where the white vertical line under the rear notch would be, the CW380 sights are so short that it's a dot under the back notch. The front sight is correspondingly short. The rear notch is just a small amount wider than the front sight appears when looking through the rear sight. I'm at the age where I could use more light - make it wider - on either side of the front sight. Still the sights are superior. With other like pistols - tiny .380s - the Kahr is at least in the top 3 as far as issued-sighting equipment. The sample was fired with Winchester 95 grain ball, COR-BON DPX, Hornady 90 grain Critical Defense and COR-BON 90 grain JHP. The Kahr chugged through every brand and type of ammo we tried. From a seated rest at 10 yards, the CW380 hammered five rounds into just over three inches. It's not bull's-eye quality but it's easily as accurate as other micro-.380 pistols. The main problem with benchrest accuracy testing is the tiny format - you have a two-finger grip on the gun and it's very susceptible to minor variations in grip and finger placement. The remarkable thing is that these variations don't affect reliability. LT Chuck Haggard shot the CW380 somewhat more dynamically - two hands, one hand only, both right hand and left hand. All the shots he fired clustered into the "softball" in the face of an IALEFI-Q target. We both noted that the gun shot a little low for us. We also noted that the gun didn't like the "slingshot" method of dropping the open slide on a loaded magazine. The gun is so small and cramped inside that it's impractical to pull the slide back far enough to accomplish that task. Fortunately the slide stop nicely provides that function. It's unlikely you'll need to reload the gun operationally, but you need to be prepared for that eventuality with another gun or spare magazines - either or both. Holsters and aiming lasers that fit the Kahr P380 also fit the CW380. It's hard to beat the Kahr CW380 as a spare gun and for carry in environments where discretion is critical. I'm nearly tempted to epoxy a pin on the side of the frame and use it for a tie tack. --Rich Grassi