Why Is The Rohrbaugh Still So Rare?

[yankee2500]

Our conversation was about frames because I was wondering about getting a damaged or unusable one. She told me that first they would have a lot of ATF paperwork to do in order to account for the frame and that if they had a damaged or unusable one it would be returned to the vender for a credit.
There was no mistake about what she told me.
  If she lied I lied.

John

[kjtrains]

The Rohrbaugh is still the Rohrbaugh no matter who makes what and we all love it, so to speak, so..........!

[FloridaCCW]

I have it on good authority from reliable sources that the components listed below are the only processes which are outsourced by the factory in the manufacture of Rohrbaugh pistols, such being done because they do not have the equipment to do it themselves and it would be too much, at this time, to gear up to do it “in house”. (By the way, this is a common practice within the firearms industry, so Rohrbaugh is not the only manufacturing company doing such things via an occasional outside vendor.)

The items which they send out for different treatments are as follows:

Anodizing of the frames;
Heat treating of the slides, barrels, and some small detail components;
Grip screws;
Magazines; (Checkmate)
Grips; (Neil Hogue)
All Springs (Walt Wolff);
Parts of recoil sub-assembly (such as the end cap, rod and sleeve)

Otherwise, all Rohrbaugh pistols are manufactured and deburred by hand, then hand finished and assembled entirely in-house using CNC machining from solid hand-selected billets of aluminum and stainless steel. They are then hand fitted and tested by one of the Rohrbaugh brothers before leaving the factory. Anything that has been printed on the Internet to indicate anything different than what has been described here is totally false and possibly malicious towards Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.

When my slide was sent back several months ago, Maria told me the slides were NOT made by them anymore. Not my words... If it means better quality control, I could care less who makes the parts.

[yankee2500]

   I have been very happy with my pup and don't care who made it, the design, quality and customer service are whats important to me and they have nailed all three.
 I don't know why Maria would tell people the parts were made by venders if they were made in house.
 Until Karl or Eric signs on here and states different I have to go with what I was told by Maria.

John

[kjtrains]

I don't care who makes the parts either.  It's a Rohrbaugh and I'm happy with it.    

[DDGator]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Sorry I didn't see this before it got to 3 pages.

Richard is absolutely correct.  Slides and frames are machined at the factory in Deer Park.  They are then sent out to have the various finishes applied.  Application of high tech finishes is not economical on a small scale, plus it involves a lot of environmentally sensitive processes, etc.

When Maria says she is waiting on slides from a vendor, she means she is waiting to get the slides Rohrbaugh machined back from the vendor who applied the finish.

I am a bit fuzzy right now and can't recall if I am supposed to know who the vendor is or not...so I won't say.

All is well, and your favorite guns are designed by Rohrbaugh, machined by Rohrbaugh, hand finished by Rohrbaugh, hand assembled by Rohrbaugh, test fired by Rohrbaugh, and cleaned and inspected by Rohrbaugh.

As for why they are so "rare" -- I am not sure that is true.  The R-9 has been covered in many magazines, many times.  It has been on the cover of several.

My favorite gun store is not very big, but usually has one in stock.  Every gun show I go to has one.  Most experienced shooters know what a Rohrbaugh is -- even if they can't pronounce it right.  

Lets face it -- 5,000 guns is not a lot.  How many Glocks have been produced?  750,000?  I would guess at least that many and probably far more.

[ccoorreeyy]

I guess sometimes 1+1=3    

[yankee2500]

If the frames are machined there how do they return it to the vender for a credit like she told me ? Just curious.

John

[Alphonso]

I (the OP) didn't mean to start a flap.  

My question, restated, is why has a pistol that is so superior not caught on in a bigger way?

My question was a compliment to Rohrbaugh, not a criticism...

[tracker]

It is a boutique weapon, with no criticism intended.

[yankee2500]

 Alphonso, you didn't start a flap, there are just some inconsistencies in the information and it would be nice to get it cleared up.

John

[DDGator]

I don't think any of the info is inconsistent, there may just be a misunderstanding in what was conveyed.

Just to be sure that the brothers didn't sell the operation to the Chinese in the dark of night, I spoke with Eric today.

Richard's list of outsourced parts and services is 100% correct.  Slides and frames are still produced in house on Rohrbaugh's CNC machines -- the same ones I photographed for the factory tour of the Farmingdale location.  Slides and frames are sent out to a third party for the heat treat and application of finishes.  It doesnt matter if its a Stealth model or not -- all slides are heat treated.

Of course, the slides and frames come back to Rohrbaugh for hand fitting and finishing, then on to final assembly, inspection, test firing, cleaning and packaging.

Maria's comments about slides and frames can relate only to the third party heat treat and finishes.   There is no other explanation, and any info to the contrary is somehow being poorly communicated or poorly understood.  This is straight from the horse's mouth -- and consistent with everything I have ever seen or been told about the Rohrbaugh operations.

I hope we can put these concerns to rest and get back to the OP's actual question.

Thanks.

[yankee2500]

Good enough for me. Might be the water in Oregon.

John

[DDGator]

To refresh my memory I went back and looked at my write up of my visit to the factory back in 2004.  It is still in the R-9 FAQ.  It was a good refresher on all the steps required to build the R-9!

[ccoorreeyy]

Good enough for me. Might be the water in Oregon.

John

 

Ok-e-doe-key, thats good enough for me too.  Thank you Richard and DD for setting us straight.