"The Last Rohrbaugh"

[ECR]

The Last Rohrbaugh:   

I’d like to share with all of our Rohrbaugh R9 enthusiasts something very special to me. Months before we sold our family business to Remington, I made my brother Karl and I two last guns for ourselves. They were actually the last R9 pistols ever assembled at the factory. One I made for Karl was sort of an Elite model with extra oddball parts on it as he always had an R9 that was just thrown together from spare parts. It was so Karl! He recently sold it to a neighbor of his. The one shown here is actually the last sequential numbered Rohrbaugh R9 9mm Pistol ever made. It is made it from a prototype frame which was done in hard chrome by a vendor who was sending us different finishes to examine for possible use in a collector gun series. Although there was everything from high gloss gold, blue, green black and grey to satin finish to satin sanded finishes, this natural 7075-T6 aluminum frame in hard chrome was my favorite and I indulged myself in putting the last serial number of production on it rather than a custom number. I did that for myself so I can be reminded of it. It means the world to me to actually have something like this, which I affectionately call:  “The Last Rohrbaugh”.  It will be a safe queen until my passing, when it will go to my son, Jon-Eric Rohrbaugh, who now resides near Lake Tahoe in California as an artist welder. Knowing how you all have been enjoying me posting interesting facts and history about our little firearm, I thought it nice to post this for you all to enjoy and for the history of it. Interestingly enough, the serial has something unusual about it. . . . . . If you take the two middle digits and add them together and then read the serial number. . . . It would read:  R666  . . . . . . . The Devil.   The numbers simply happen to fall that way. . . . Interesting to contemplate the meaning? . . . . . But, interesting none the less. Just for the record: Our Rohrbaugh Family Crest, nearest we can trace, goes back to around the year 1068 A.D.  ~  Yes, the family line goes back quite a ways.

I have added a few photographs I just took of the R9. Here is the link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133408092@N03/

Just to reiterate ~ This is the last R9 pistol I ever built. 

I hope you all enjoyed this little story about “The Last Rohrbaugh”.

Respectful Regards to All of You,

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

[tattoo]

That gun is fine....thanks for posting and as many will say after me... I WANT IT...

[ECR]

I figured that would happen Tat. . . . . . However, it goes to my son when I'm worm food. 

[cargaritaville]

That is a stunning gun...Luca Brasi wants to know if he can come by just to look at it.

[ECR]

Surrrrrre he can. . . . . No prob-blem.   

[DDGator]

Very cool story. 

So, Eric -- if you don't mind saying -- how many R9s do you still own?

[ECR]

Well. . . . . I have #2 of course (not for sale - yet) and "The Last Rohrbaugh". I have S.N. 102 (The Bob Jensen Gun), which was the first R9 sold to the public! I am holding onto two R9s for friends of mine. So really, I guess only three personally. My son has one of mine I made years ago for myself early on ~ S.N.: ECR-000-1. That would make it four in total. My son Jon-Eric has that now in California but I used to carry that one everywhere for years. That's it. . . . . . The first and last guns made are what I have now.  Funny how that worked out! 

[CaptBW]

Thanks for sharing.

[mz368]

That looks to be an early Farmingdale slide - with the "s".  Outstanding and fitting that you should have the first and last.

Thanks for sharing and all your contributions to this forum.

Chris

[ECR]

You are welcome everyone. Thank you for accepting me here.

Have a wonderful day out there now. . . . . It is a picture perfect summer time morning here on Long Island! Gentle breeze, pure blue sky, low humidity. . . . . and I'm heading off to a local gun gathering here on the Island today. Some mild competition / recreational shooting, food and friends. Ye-hah..............

[Richard S]

Eric:

It is altogether fitting and proper that you should have the first and last Rohrbaugh R9s produced. I'm just honored to have R9 No. 132, which resides in my pocket as I type this and is wearing the Black Carbon Fiber grips you initialed for me on the back side of the right panel.

[ECR]

I am honored Richard that you still have and still carry #132 on your person. Thank you for that trust good Sir.

[pjames32]

Eric
Thanks for sharing. I think sharing the last Rohrbaugh would be difficult from your perspective. Guess not!
Thx
Paul James

[Dirt]

Great read Eric, but don't you miss it just a little?

Maybe just a bit?

[ECR]

Eric
Thanks for sharing. I think sharing the last Rohrbaugh would be difficult from your perspective. Guess not!
Thx
Paul James

Well Paul, I did think about sharing or not sharing my thoughts and the story prior to posting "The Last Rohrbaugh", but, overall, I felt it a fitting end to what I feel is a great American story and for the history of our company so the true enthusiast, such as yourself, would have some insight to the marque. Note that there never was a new gun company that came out and received the "Handgun of the Year" Award within the first year of production in all of the NRA's 141 year history! Just Rohrbaugh Firearms and the Rohrbaugh Brothers hold that honor thus far, to my knowledge. . . . . . and that is quite the honor. I am proud of what my brother Karl and I were able to accomplish with the help of our shareholders and good people in the firearms industry itself. I wish the events after the sale, when Karl and I were "involved" and working under the auspices of new handgun design at Remington Arms Corporation, would have lead to us continuing to work hand in hand with their designers on the R9 design and other projects, but they thought otherwise. For that I am hurt. . . . . . But I am simply picking myself up again and moving forward in my life to dwell in other creative ventures. Who knows what lays ahead for us . . . . . . Time will tell. 

Regards,

Eric R.