From the first time I heard of this gun, I knew I had to have one. I've been drinking the Kool-Aid on this forum, trying to get as much info on the pup as I could before purchasing.
After some searching, Arego's in Hot Springs, AR said they had a "factory refurbished" gun available, and would I want one of those? Full factory warranty would be in effect, and the gun looks like brand new. Usually I always buy new, but I wanted one real bad, so against my better judgement, I said OK. Price delivered was $888.
The gun arrived yesterday and I immediately took it to the range. Cosmetically, the gun has two small scratches on the trigger guard and some wear on the barrel hood, but was otherwise flawless. Not exactly as flawless as I was led to believe, but it is a used gun. It came with the black grips.
This was the first time I had actually held one of these in my hands. I was most struck by how smooth the grip area is. I immediately thought "skateboard tape is in order!"
I was also struck by the obvious quality, but - and don't get me wrong - it has an almost toy-like feel to it. Not because it is a toy, but I think because it is so light and fine. My normal carry piece is a scandium S&W J-Frame .357, and while it is very light at 12 ounces, it is ugly enough to have a sort of nasty quality. The R9s is not nasty at all, but its nickname of "pup" is very appropriate.
Anyway, I stoked it with WWB 115-grain ball. I know, it likes Gold Dots, but this was redily available and inexpensive for break-in purposes. The pup went through the first mag without a hitch.
Recoil was much less than I was expecting. I found it quite tolerable, and I have every expectation of breaking the "carried often, shot seldom" philosophy - I expect to shoot this gun a lot. But then, I actually like to shoot +P .38s in my scandium J-Frame, so there you go.
There were two hangups on the second mag, rounds 2 and 3 failed to feed properly. This is not an easy gun to clear of malfunctions. The lack of a slide stop makes the recoil spring fight you as you try to get the jammed round out.
I wasn't too concerned, because I could tell I needed to grip the pup better. It is so smooth and the bore axis is high enough in relation to your hand that it feels like it's trying to wrench itself out of your grasp with every shot. Not uncomfortably so, just like trying to hold onto a fish that wants back in the water.
I put on a golf glove and shot the next 30 rounds or so with perfect functioning. A good grip is clearly vital, and the grippy glove made all the difference. I dropped the hammer on an empy chamber every time the magazine was drained - the lack of a slide stop will take some getting used to!
A friend wanted to compare it to his Kahr PM40. Side by side, the R9 is a bit slimmer and lighter, and the Kahr feels positively clunky when you pull the slide back as opposed to the silky smoothness of the R9.
He fired two magazines. I encouraged him to wear my glove, and when he didn't, I knew he would have malfunctions. He did. They were the same feeding problems I had before I put on the glove. When he handed me the gun back, I fired my remaining 8 rounds without a hitch (grippy glove on).
All of my rounds hit about 5 inches low at 21 feet. I think I'm pushing the muzzle down at trigger release. Further testing is required...
Disassembly for cleaning was a snap, but getting the recoil spring back in was a challenge. No way am I going to let pliers near this thing, I don't care what the owner's manual says!
I'm off now to the hardware store for some skateboard tape and the elusive "SuperLube!" Happy shooting, everyone!
