The Rohrbaugh Forum
Rohrbaugh Products and Accessories => Rohrbaugh R9 (all variations) => Topic started by: 72AV8R on March 12, 2015, 03:05:19 PM
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I have carried my R9 every day since I bought it in 2011. The decision to go with the Rohrbaugh was made after reading about it on this forum. It is great that Eric has joined the group and I will once again be checking it out daily. I got a Seecamp .32 for my wife, and found their forum another great read. Larry Seecamp adds wonderful insight to many of the posts. If Eric is agreeable, why not have a special column for him? I have a couple questions to start the conversation. Of the roughly 6,000 R9s sent out from the factory what percentage were returned for warranty work? Based on that number were there enough spare parts made to last for many years? (I can understand if this is inside information and can not be released). Last question ( for now), what happened to Maria? She was the voice of the company to many of us who called with questions, and I hope she is doing well.
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Already mentioned I am working on this, but need some technical help to get it done. Part of an overall reorg of the discussion boards. Stay tuned.
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A little history before we begin:
In the early 2000s, when we were just starting to get the R9s out the door from our little shop in Farmingdale, New York, a fellow that goes by the name of Duane Daiker contacted us and asked if it was alright to put up a forum on the Internet about our pistol. Well, I put that by my brother, Karl Rohrbaugh, and explained it would be good to do. Karl agreed, I contacted Duane and gave him our consent and blessings to create “The Rohrbaugh Forum” ~ The Unofficial Rohrbaugh Firearms Forum. It has turned out to be a haven for all enthusiasts who love our little creation, and Karl and I are very happy of its content. While we were in business making and updating our design, we were having a blast . . . . . a dream come true. Then came the time that another company, Remington, made us an offer we could not refuse, so now here we are retired and doing things we wanted to do when we were putting in 50 – 60 hours a week or more into the workings of a gun company. Now that a little over a year has passed since the sale, I felt it was ok to finally join in here on your forum and help out in some way, if I can. I will try to answer your questions without overstepping my contractual agreement with Remington. If anyone should ask such behind the scenes questions I feel are private, I intend to keep them that way with respect to everyone both here as R9 owners and the new owners of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.
With that said, I will do my best to answer your questions starting here today with questions 72AV8R has put forth.
Welcome aboard everyone to “Ask ECR”, a.k.a. – Eric C. Rohrbaugh, Former Co-Founder of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.
To answer your questions 72, here we go:
There were close to 7,000 units produced from early 2002 until late 2013. As for warranty work, I would place legitimate repairs somewhere around the 300 or so mark, with an additional 200-300 sent in as “repairs”, however, those were more owner related issues which included installing the early directional outer recoil springs in backwards, causing them to go over the recoil system sleeve and causing the gun to jam. Other times the gun was so filthy, I had a tough time pulling the slide back to unassemble it from the frame! After a thorough cleaning and oiling, install a fresh recoil spring and the gun would work fine. So, you see, most problems we had seemed to be from owner neglect or installing parts incorrectly. So be it, that’s the way it was. You also ask if we had enough replacement parts. . . . Yes, we usually did. Once in a while, we would be short on slides, so if an early R9 came back with a cracked slide, which plagued us for a short time, and thank goodness that was a short lived problem, we needed to wait until slides were ready for assembly for those repairs. We would contact the owner and let them know we were waiting for slides to come back from the heat treat process, etc., and they were always fine with that information and waited patiently. Our customers, for the most part, have always been stellar. The spare parts that went to Remington, should keep everyone happy for some time to come. The only parts that may be an issue is the larger parts, that being: The slides, barrels and frames. Remington purchased the company who were making our barrels, so they will probably be in good shape there. As for the slides and frames, I have no inside information on those and cannot speculate either way on them. As for Maria, after her stint with us as office manager, she moved around 2011 to Oregon. She is there with her family on a small ranch with her horses outside of Bend and is currently doing internet sales with her health food company venture. She looks amazing and is happy there.
Until next time. . . . . . Be safe everyone!
Regards,
Eric R.
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Thank you Eric for a prompt and in depth answer to my questions. It is great to have you on board to answer technical questions and to give us a little insight into the building of the finest pocket pistol made. Glad to hear Maria is doing well.
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Thank you for believing in us and our little "invention" as Karl called it. Funny little caveat. . . . I forget what form my brother was filling out years ago, and it asked him what was his profession. . . . . and he writes down "Inventor". The fellow chuckled and said: "Well, I've never met an inventor before. What did you invent?" Karl tells him a handgun. . . . . He went about his business while they discussed "things". Fun stuff.
Well, enjoy your day out there.
Regards to all,
Eric R.
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A little history before we begin:
In the early 2000s, when we were just starting to get the R9s out the door from our little shop in Farmingdale, New York, a fellow that goes by the name of Duane Daiker contacted us and asked if it was alright to put up a forum on the Internet about our pistol. Well, I put that by my brother, Karl Rohrbaugh, and explained it would be good to do. Karl agreed, I contacted Duane and gave him our consent and blessings to create “The Rohrbaugh Forum” ~ The Unofficial Rohrbaugh Firearms Forum. It has turned out to be a haven for all enthusiasts who love our little creation, and Karl and I are very happy of its content.
Not too long after that, I came up to the factory for a visit. Eric picked me up at the train station and I got the VIP tour, even including shooting a very early prototype R380. Karl and Eric were very gracious with their time, and spent a few hours with me before feeding me dinner and getting me back to the train station. Since then, they have become good friends, and I have missed hanging out at the Rohrbaugh booth and spending time with them at the SHOT Show. Aside from producing a great product, they are great guys and true Americans too. I am glad that you all will get to see more of that now, and hear some of the great stories that I have been obliged to keep in confidence.
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You made me choke up Duane. . . . . You stop that now! lol. All kidding aside, Karl and I have always enjoyed time we spent with you, be it at our facility in Farmingdale, New York or at The S.H.O.T. Shows . . . . . It was always great seeing you. You are truly a good friend. You knew and understood why I would not join your forum when we were in business. I felt it was best to stay behind the scenes making our R9 better as time went on, which I like to think I did, and not get into “anything” that may have taken my mindset away from that task. Now, it is time to chime in here with our fellow Rohrbaugh R9 enthusiasts and hold conversation. I think this could be our next venture . . . . . and, thus far, I am enjoying the outcome of my decision to join. Thank you all for your heart felt well wishes and I will do my best to present some more behind the scenes stories and photographs as time goes on for all to enjoy and, perhaps, you may get some insight into what makes us Rohrbaughs tick. We are a complicated bunch, but we mean nothing but the best for everyone. Peace.
Eric R.
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Not too long after that, I came up to the factory for a visit. Eric picked me up at the train station and I got the VIP tour, even including shooting a very early prototype R380. Karl and Eric were very gracious with their time, and spent a few hours with me before feeding me dinner and getting me back to the train station. Since then, they have become good friends, and I have missed hanging out at the Rohrbaugh booth and spending time with them at the SHOT Show. Aside from producing a great product, they are great guys and true Americans too. I am glad that you all will get to see more of that nowhttp://www.rohrbaughforum.com/Themes/default/images/bbc/url.gif, and hear some of the great stories that I have been obliged to keep in confidence.
Would this be the write up from that visit? I believe the thread is no longer on this version of the forum, but for the guys who may not have seen it before...
http://www.acbsystems.com/boards/rohrbaugh/basefile/rofact-01.htm (http://www.acbsystems.com/boards/rohrbaugh/basefile/rofact-01.htm)
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Yes -- that was my write up on the trip.
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It looks like the history book is coming together but is still a work in progress.
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Yes, it is a work in progress, but some interesting tales await you down the road.
ecr
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"Stay tuned."
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ask ecr....i have a question what type of gun locks did yall send with your guns...color and lenght? thanks in advance...mickey
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Hello Mickey,
Well, as for the cable locks that we put in with the guns when sold new from the factory, I can remember the housings being red, blue or black in color. The company we purchased those from also sold those same locks to Glock, Sig and a few other name brand firearms manufacturers. As for the length, I really do not recall how long the cable was, but 6" or 10" rings a bell. I can not remember the name at this time as we bought thousands of them at a time to lower the price, so once we got some in, it was years before we had to order more. I think when Remington bought us last year (January 2014) there were a few hundred left.
Eric R.
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Ty Eric for the answer ....
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You're welcome Mickey.
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Eric
I live in Michigan and today drove 90miles up to Williams looking for a trigger bar spring for my wifes new/used R9 and they did not have one to sell..where can I obtain one? Also looking for mag springs to freshen up the ones I own for both of our R9s. :-\
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I need to buy a magazine base plate also....hopefully someone has one or Eric post some for sale...😏
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Eric
I live in Michigan and today drove 90miles up to Williams looking for a trigger bar spring for my wifes new/used R9 and they did not have one to sell..where can I obtain one? Also looking for mag springs to freshen up the ones I own for both of our R9s. :-\
When Remington took all of our stock after the sale, there were hundreds of trigger springs left in our shop that went to them. I do not understand why they say they have none, unless they decided to discard them and do a redesign. Mag springs. . . . . Remove the baseplate. Count how many coils are on your spring. There should be 12. The originals were 10 coil. Karl made them 13 coils. Through testing, I found 12 coils to be optimum, so that was the last rendition. . . . 12 coils in the magazine spring. Let me know how many coils you have and I can help you with a solution to "freshen up" that spring. ;-)
Eric
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I need to buy a magazine base plate also....hopefully someone has one or Eric post some for sale...😏
Send me a pm. I have some base plates. ;-)
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They had magazine springs last month. They will not sell trigger bar springs over the counter, claiming its a gunsmith install part only - so that may be why you were unable to obtain one. Make sure you ask for Alex if you call or stop in.
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Alex was not there..I guess Ill just take the wifes R9 in and see next week..maybe they will also install a mag spring.. Thanks all.
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Sounds like the way to go being you are in close proximity to Williams. That is where I would be going. ;-) There is "a little trick" to installing the spring and to have the correct angle of it in relation to the trigger sear bar and the hammer cam. Your original on your R9 can be "tweaked", but it is difficult to explain it with words alone. Tweaking each trigger sear bar spring was something I did personally at the factory by hand which involved a visual thing and a "certain feel" to it the way it reset the trigger from a full pull to "ignition", and then I did a slow release ~ "feeling" the way the trigger returned forward and to what intensity the sear bar recovered around the back of the hammer cam.
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I take it Alex is proficient with this tweek to achieve proper reset..
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Good morning Eric,
I recently acquired serial number R593, without sights. it is a Deer Park, NY gun with the script style letters instead of the block style. My understanding is that this was one of the first batches to come out of the Deer Park plant. Is this slide/gun reminiscent of the Farmingdale slides/guns or did it receive the enhancements of the newer ones? Any other info about this serial number would be appreciated. I am excited to have acquired this and look forward to firing it as soon as I have time to get to the range.
Best Regards,
Vic
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resized, I wanted a better look at it.
(http://)
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Thanks - I did a search through some old posts, and saw something about a certain range of serial numbers where there was some bad steel for the slides, and was also wondering if this serial number is one of those. This gun wasn't fired but just a few times (maybe three mags). I don't notice anything irregular.
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Hello Vic,
Your serial number was well before the issue with the cracking slides. The slides cracking was not a bad run of stainless steel, as we originally had thought. It was more an issue of the type of steel we were using in those early years, being 17-4ph stainless steel. We found out that 17-4ph gets brittle when the heat treat Rockwell number goes above 46. Some of the R9s with issues we tested were at 48 Rockwell. Those needed to be swapped out with a lower Rockwell number slide. We really did think it was a bad mill run of steel we got, so that is what the story was at the time. I am just happy that we caught it early on, stayed on top of it and there just a few that unfortunately made it out the door, but we were unaware of any problem because nothing had come back broken up to that point, so all was well. Like they say: "You can't fix what isn't broken yet." Thankfully no one had a bad experience with them overall and we exchanged them as they came in without charge to the clients. Many were fine, even with the higher Rockwell number. . . . Just luck of the draw if yours cracked along the backside rails. The Deer Park guns that had the 17-4ph stainless slides were the ones with script writing on the left-hand side of the slide. Those with issues were only found on about 17 R9s, so the number of cracked slides were few, however, with the Internet, it was all over the place as if every R9 was cracking. In our ten year run, we made close to 7,000 handguns, so the percentage was quite small. If it is a Deer Park slide with the block letters, those slides are of a different stainless steel called 416 stainless. Those are fine all the way through their production run.
Eric R.
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Eric,
I took the mag apart and counted the coils..there are thirteen on the one side and twelve on the other side, i.e. long side thirteen short side twelve. Interesting thought comes to mind if I clip one coil and reshape the end to look like the other end there wont be a long or short side when measured end to end and less pressure to keep the round from nose diving...but Im gona clip and go with your twelve and not 13..what then, a little stretch? not too much but just enough ;) seems like it would be the way anyhow.
On a side note, I have smith experience on many firearms through the years (I am the C.E.O. of a precision micro tig welding business) and have never..ever felt a action like this jewel..I recently purchased a second early R9 for my Wife and just cannot wait till it gets here to take it apart and look it over..After shooting about 75 rounds of 124 gold dots out of mine and cleaning it like a jeweler three times in that round count I truly feel 50 to 75 rounds is all I will run the recoil spring..You two brothers have made the perfect pocket pistol. In my care these two R9s will run forever. I have carried anything remotely pocketable for many years while going about my daily routine/work and gotten rid of many fine guns that I tuned to be reliable and trustworthy always longing for the perfect 9mm. It only took one day with your masterpiece to realize the search was over. Spare parts will be my quest from this day forward. I now have the only pistol I will carry daily from here on out. Thanks for all the untold stress and work you and your brother and mom must have gone through during the years that your business toiled bringing these gems to market. Some of us are eternally grateful.
sincerely
Joel
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Thank You so much Joel for your nice words. We did endure much stress then, however, we are in a much better place in our lives being clear of the riggers of running such a business today. It is not an easy task for sure.
Your thought of simply clipping one coil off of your 13 coil magazine spring is proper in thinking. That is EXACTLY what I did while testing and improving the reliability of the design. It worked. The originals were rather weak at 10 coils. You can stretch those out a bit and they too will work just fine. The 13 coil mag springs were a bit aggressive for their work and should be replaced or adapted as you mention here. That is "The Trick Fix" for that issue. ;)
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Hi, Eric --
I'm a manufacturing engineer in a shop that designs and builds tooling for CNC machines, so I'm well acquainted with some of the manufacturing issues and design tradeoffs you guys no doubt encountered during your time building these fine pistols.
Just curious -- did you guys experiment with other alloys besides 17-4PH and 416 for the slides and what I assume is either 6061-T6, 7075-T6, or 7050-T7651 for the frames? If so, what were some of the reasons (beyond the cracking issue already mentioned) that lead to your decision to go with the materials in the final revision?
Also, am I correct in assuming the black slide finish is salt-bath ferritic nitride (i.e. "Melonite," "QPQ," several other trade names)?
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Good Morning Ted,
Karl and I wanted to use nothing but the best materials available for the R9 pistols; hence the original 17-4PH slides, barrels and ALL of the small parts were also cut from 17-4PH Stainless solid billets to include the trigger, extractor, ejector, hammer, magazine release and plunger. The frames were made from 7075-T6 through the entire production of our firearms. Besides the few cracked slides we had issue with, which as stated before was heat treat related and not a bad mill run of stainless, we had experienced excessive galling at the barrel to slide lockup area. Asking our “insiders” what was the problem; they suggested that due to the dissimilar metals, i.e., 416 barrels and 17-4PH slides, that was an issue. They mentioned most manufacturers were using the 416 stainless for both their barrels and their slides. We changed to what seemed to be the industry standard and made the decision, after much testing, to remain with that change in metal choices to the 416 for both the slides and the barrels. We had no more problems with galling after that change, so we stayed with it.
Yes, the black slides on our “Stealth” models was a Ferritic Nitro carburizing treatment called BlackNitride® by H&M Metal Processing out of Akron, Ohio. We had tried a few different companies through the years, but H&M did the treatment on most of our black slides and they were extremely nice to work with.
Regards,
Eric R.
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What is the best way to remove and reinstall the fire pin stop? In the past I've had a gritty feeling fire pin and just blasted it ought with cleaner.
My next question is my Elite really need refinishing what finish whose used by the factory and how many did you make? Last I would like to thank you for making this grate work of art and wish you the best in retirement.
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Hello Rod,
Sorry it took this long to respond to your inquiries, however, I was away on vacation and just returned.
Well, we actually had made a tool to make that an easy task. It was round stock stainless steel which we cut down to fit inside the firing pin retainer hole at approximately .124” of an inch, making the end of the tool slightly rounded and not crisp-edged. Then we went to a slightly larger diameter so as to use it as its own “stop” against to retainer. Machined that way, you are able to insert that tool into the rear of the retainer without fear of hitting the machined area inside the slide where the firing pin and spring are located. Tap down on it to remove the retainer from the slide. The procedure is: First, place the slide (without the barrel of course) flat on your workbench, top of slide facing up. Place a soft cloth over the nose and put that up against a vise mounted to the bench. Then insert the tool into the firing pin retainer forcing the firing pin forward, clearing the slide internally. Now it is possible to use a ballpeen hammer to tap the retainer out of the slide. Careful as once the retainer drops out; the firing pin and its spring with “take off” on you! To reinstall the firing pin: Place the slide on its nose on the bench. Insert the firing pin spring and firing pin. Push down on the firing pin with a 1/8” punch; slide the retainer in the cut out channel of the slide to “catch” the firing pin, remove the punch and the tap the retainer back in place.
The coating of the black slides is noted in the above response to Ted. In reference to how many R9 Elite pistols were made. . . . . Well, we no longer have those records as they went to Remington during the sale. Not knowing exactly how many were made without access to those records, I would say we made quite a few hundred of them, but, certainly not thousands for sure as the sides were all sanded by hand on a block of granite covered by declining grades of Emory cloth coated with machine oils to get that silver side. They were not the fastest thing to do at the factory, so usually we took a few days to “do a batch”. . . . and that is all we usually did on those days. . . . hand sand the Elite slides! Time consuming for sure to build those.
Thank you for your compliment on our pistol. It was fun to make them!
. . . and finally, yes. . . . Karl and I are enjoying our retirement. 8)
Regards,
Eric R.
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Eric,
First, thanks for being part of the team that brought such a great firearm to the American shooters. I presently own 4. Three R9s and one Special Forces. #R1638 has been a in a Recluse holster in my right front pocket daily now for many years. My question to you is about the Special Forces model. How many Special Forces were actually made? I keep seeing where only 24 were ever made. According to how many I have seen for sale over the last few years, either more than 24 were made or they are being put up for sale pretty often!
Thanks,
David
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Hello David and "Thank You" for believing in our little pistol. While I can say I remember building more than 24 Special Forces versions of the R9, I would only be able to guesstimate how many were actually made as the paperwork is now in the hands of the new owners: Remington Arms Corp.
I would say we made somewhere around maybe 50 - 80 of them but again, that was years ago now and counting how many we made was something we really did not actually do. I would have been able to pull the records and see how many were shipped, but those records are gone now. When we got orders for that model, I would simply make them to fill those orders. Without access to the files, all I can do is put an approximate number out here for you Dave. I wish I could do better than that for you and everyone, but, unfortunately, that's the facts. . . . . . a guesstimate at best at this time. I can give you some insight was to why we stopped making them however. . . . . and one of the reasons was that when the barrels were treated black, the finish would begin to wear off rather quickly as it was a thin process. Complaints about that rolled in and while we investigated different ways to make a black barrel stay black for a longer period of time, it was not to be, hence the demise of The Special Forces model and the blackened barrels. Some people fully understood that issue and were fine with it, while others would not hear of it. . . . So it was better to stop making them rather than deal with those people who "didn't want to hear it." . . . . i.e. the excuse / reasoning for the scuffing on the top of the black barrels.
Stay Safe.
Regards,
Eric C. Rohrbaugh
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Eric
I've wanted an R9 since they came out. Had a chance to shoot one a few years ago and began my search. Finally pulled the trigger today and bought an R9s on e bay. It should come in next week.
I own NO other 9mm. All my stuff is 40 or 45.
I need to go to the store to get some rounds and need your suggestion of what to buy.
Help??
Paul James
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Good Afternoon Paul and welcome to the forum. In reference to what ammunition to use in the R9. . . . . Karl and I usually carried Gold Dot 124 grain JHP and at the range to function test the firearm we used Federal American Eagle 115 FMJ. These are the rounds we used through the years to test fire all new R9s that came out of our shop. Keep her clean and you should not have a problem. If you have any further questions, chime in here again and I'll do my best to answer them for you.
Regards and thanks for picking up "The Original".
Eric C. Rohrbaugh
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Eric
Thanks for the reply. Just bought the Gold Dot 124gr to try when I get my new baby.
Paul James
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Sounds great Paul. I'm sure you will give us a range report then. Enjoy the new addition when she comes. I'd be interested to view both sides and the rear of the slide along with the serial number if you take and post any photographs.
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Any thoughts on hard chrome or nickle finish on slides? Wanting to bling up my pup a little and got a few scratches on the slide. Thanks in advance
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I have seen a few R9s done in either finish and they continue to work fine, so if you are looking to bling things up a bit, I'd say pick a finish and go for it with my blessings. 8)
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Did the .45 prototype go to Remington? How close to production were you with it?
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I have seen a few R9s done in either finish and they continue to work fine, so if you are looking to bling things up a bit, I'd say pick a finish and go for it with my blessings. 8)
If a guy wanted to do an elite look and sand the sides, what would you finish the bare metal with Eric?
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Did the .45 prototype go to Remington? How close to production were you with it?
No, it did not. We are still in possession of that one. ;) We were approximately two years away with the finances we had. If we had more R&D cash laying around, it would have been within a year at the time of the sale to Remington.
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I have seen a few R9s done in either finish and they continue to work fine, so if you are looking to bling things up a bit, I'd say pick a finish and go for it with my blessings. 8)
If a guy wanted to do an elite look and sand the sides, what would you finish the bare metal with Eric?
It depends on a few factors Josh: I usually went up to 600 wet paper, however, I would use that paper "fresh" and then let it get to "mid-life". . . . Then added more water to the mix to finalize things. If I wanted it to shine like a polished job, I would go all the way to 1200 or 1500 wet sand paper to do the job. Started off with a blackened slide using 220 wet on a machined piece of granite and worked my way up using the 220, 320, 400 then the 600. 8)
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I have seen a few R9s done in either finish and they continue to work fine, so if you are looking to bling things up a bit, I'd say pick a finish and go for it with my blessings. 8)
If a guy wanted to do an elite look and sand the sides, what would you finish the bare metal with Eric?
It depends on a few factors Josh: I usually went up to 600 wet paper, however, I would use that paper "fresh" and then let it get to "mid-life". . . . Then added more water to the mix to finalize things. If I wanted it to shine like a polished job, I would go all the way to 1200 or 1500 wet sand paper to do the job. Started off with a blackened slide using 220 wet on a machined piece of granite and worked my way up using the 220, 320, 400 then the 600. 8)
Well if I ever end up with a spare hour or two and a bit more guts than I currently posses I may perform this look on one of my stealths. And yes I would really do it : )
Thanks for the info Eric.
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It can look pretty scary when you start the process. Streaks and such of stainless silver and black. You need to keep going and get past the blackened area down to the s.s. to see the difference. Some slides however, had lighter engraving so after the sanding process, they were rendered useless and scrapped! At well over a hundred dollars a hit, that was not good when that happened! lol ~ Should you decide to try it Josh, put some photos up of both sides of the slide so I can see how well the engraving is. I'll let you know whether to proceed or leave well enough alone. ;)
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A tip I discovered on slide polishing:
First, definitely use either a very flat surface like the granite block Eric recommended or a flat sanding block of some kind to keep the surface flat during sanding. Wet sanding always produces better results.
If you want a mirror shine beyond what 1500 grit will give you, go to 2000 or 3000 grit, then polish the surface using McGuiars "Mirror Glaze" fine cut cleaner, which you can usually find at AutoZone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly, etc. Simply pour a little on a cloth and rub onto the surface. Since it doesn't cut deeply into the metal, only polishes, you don't need to use a sanding block or flat surface. If you evenly sanded the surface with super fine (above 1500) grit so that you don't have any deep scratches, the Mirror Glaze will really make the finish pop to an incredible mirror polish!
I did this to 2 other pistol slides (not my R9 Stealth) with incredible results!
http://www.meguiars.com/en/professional/products/m0216-fine-cut-cleaner-16-oz/
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It can look pretty scary when you start the process. Streaks and such of stainless silver and black. You need to keep going and get past the blackened area down to the s.s. to see the difference. Some slides however, had lighter engraving so after the sanding process, they were rendered useless and scrapped! At well over a hundred dollars a hit, that was not good when that happened! lol ~ Should you decide to try it Josh, put some photos up of both sides of the slide so I can see how well the engraving is. I'll let you know whether to proceed or leave well enough alone. ;)
Will do sir. Thanks for the help Eric.
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A tip I discovered on slide polishing:
First, definitely use either a very flat surface like the granite block Eric recommended or a flat sanding block of some kind to keep the surface flat during sanding. Wet sanding always produces better results.
If you want a mirror shine beyond what 1500 grit will give you, go to 2000 or 3000 grit, then polish the surface using McGuiars "Mirror Glaze" fine cut cleaner, which you can usually find at AutoZone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly, etc. Simply pour a little on a cloth and rub onto the surface. Since it doesn't cut deeply into the metal, only polishes, you don't need to use a sanding block or flat surface. If you evenly sanded the surface with super fine (above 1500) grit so that you don't have any deep scratches, the Mirror Glaze will really make the finish pop to an incredible mirror polish!
I did this to 2 other pistol slides (not my R9 Stealth) with incredible results!
http://www.meguiars.com/en/professional/products/m0216-fine-cut-cleaner-16-oz/
Is the mirror finish what you accomplished on the elites Eric?
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No. . . . . I went for a satin "machined" look, although it was done by hand. We would stop before it got to be too much like a polished mirror finish look.
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No. . . . . I went for a satin "machined" look, although it was done by hand. We would stop before it got to be too much like a polished mirror finish look.
Great. I prefer that anyway personally.
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Eric
The pup looks like new! No carry wear! I picked it up today and made a quick stop at the range.
I could not find American Eagle 115gr so I "borrowed" a few off brand 115gr ball and my box of Gold Dots. Gold Dots were great. 20 rounds no problems. Off brand 115 fmj failed to extract every other round :( The gun is good, the operator not so much.
I'll post some pics tomorrow.
I do have a question: to become accustomed to the trigger can I dry fire this gun? I'd like to do several range sessions, but also realize this is a carry often shoot little gun.
Thx
Paul James
"Good Afternoon Paul and welcome to the forum. In reference to what ammunition to use in the R9. . . . . Karl and I usually carried Gold Dot 124 grain JHP and at the range to function test the firearm we used Federal American Eagle 115 FMJ. These are the rounds we used through the years to test fire all new R9s that came out of our shop. Keep her clean and you should not have a problem. If you have any further questions, chime in here again and I'll do my best to answer them for you.
Regards and thanks for picking up "The Original".
Eric C. Rohrbaugh"
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Eric
...I do have a question: to become accustomed to the trigger can I dry fire this gun? I'd like to do several range sessions, but also realize this is a carry often shoot little gun.
Thx
Paul James
The dry-fire question is a good one. It's one I've searched for here before, without much success. I'd like to see some real input.
In another vein regarding the polishing being discussed in this thread: how about S&W stainless frames?
I just picked up another .38 spl. 640. Its finish doesn't quite match what I remember from my own, twenty years ago. I think it was much more matte, or brushed, or "vapor honed."
I liked that better.
Can I take a bit of paper to this frame and dull it up to what I'd prefer?
Thanks Eric, and the rest of the fellas.
Doug
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I do not know exactly what finish you are looking for, but these pads do well on the brushed finish that I like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsaHryvoakY
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To answer Paul and Doug's question in reference to dry firing a Rohrbaugh Pistol: Don't do it! You will do damage to the firing pin. Use "Snap-Caps" or at least a fired 9mm casing with the spent primer still in place as a substitute.
Ref. your little .38 snubby Doug, with all of the nooks and crannies of a revolver like that, I believe you would have a hard time making it look factory and even textured. You may destroy the overall look of the gun, so. . . . my two cents. . . . Leave well enough alone on that one. ;)
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Thanks Eric!
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I am so glad to help out here guys. Please forgive me if I sometimes take a few days to get back to you. I just purchased a bunch of vintage recording equipment and I'm setting up my home recording studio for my musical projects. It is scary with all of these wires, but quite fun!
Talk to you guys soon.
Regards,
Eric
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Hi Eric,
The accounts posted about hammer struts prompted me to disassemble my R9 and inspect the strut.
Looking at the strut with a eye for stress riser points the area that is relieved to clear the hammer pivot pin looks to be the failure point..Did the 5000+ round count R9 get to the number with the original strut?
What was the material used on the struts?
Mich
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Eric,
Vintage recording equipment?What did you purchase?
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Hi Eric,
The accounts posted about hammer struts prompted me to disassemble my R9 and inspect the strut.
Looking at the strut with a eye for stress riser points the area that is relieved to clear the hammer pivot pin looks to be the failure point..Did the 5000+ round count R9 get to the number with the original strut?
What was the material used on the struts?
Mich
Yes, it did Mich. The hammer struts were made out of 17-4ph stainless steel. There was a batch that were heat treated and they just put them in an oven all together in a relative pile. The few that have come back broken, of which there may have been only about 7 to 10 R9s in total, had a heat treat that was higher on the Rockwell scale than they should have been. We were asking for them to be around 40-42 and the broken ones were up around 47-49. At that point, 17-4 becomes more brittle and subject to failure. Thank goodness it seemed to have been held to just one batch of about 500 pieces. With only 7 to 10 coming back out of around 7,000 or so guns, I'd say we are OK overall on those. If it's mechanical, it will break. . . . Keeping that to a minimum is what every manufacturer wants to do to remain competitive and profitable and hold the public's trust. ;-)
Eric R.
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Thanks Eric I cannot believe the wealth of information, appreciate it a lot.
Mich
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Eric,
Just curious, but was this steel type and hammer strut heat treatment concurrent with the few hardened slides that cracked or was that a different time frame and issue?
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It was different time frames and even different heat treat companies. The slide issue was earlier and was a problem for us where we actually had to scrap a few hundred slides, which was quite costly as you can imagine. Then we changed companies and the new company went just over the specification we set for them one time on the hammer strut heat treatment, but was rectified on the next immediate batch. Not all broke by the way, but just a handful, which brought it to our attention and the problem was remedied immediately.
Eric R.
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Thanks, Eric.
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Hi Eric, can you shed some light on the life expectancy of R9 firing pins? Thanks.
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Hi Eric, can you shed some light on the life expectancy of R9 firing pins? Thanks.
If you use snap caps when you dry fire the thing, it should outlast you. lol. Dry firing is not a friendly procedure for your R9 pistol!
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Good to know. Thanks.
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Eric,
Vintage recording equipment?What did you purchase?
Otari "Half-Track" Reel to Reel Mastering deck, Teac A-3440 4 Track Reel to Reel, Tascam 512 & 520 Mixing consoles, Yamaha Rack Mount Professional Stereo Power Amplifier w/ Meters, Echoplex, Multivox MX-312 Echo (Pink Floyd).
Now to release the thread highjacker in me. . . . . lol
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You must have very little hearing loss to enjoy that set-up.
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My ears work fine tracker. . . . . My brain has malfunctioned though! lol
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You could have fooled me. There is nothing wrong with your recall capability.
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LOL