Help!!!

[ddavis52]

I have disassembled, cleaned and reassembled my R9S aout a half a dozen times since I got it..... I have never had any problems (other than needing three hands or a vice)...... until yesterday.  

Yesterday I put the slide back on the frame and inserted the pin as normal.  The slide cycled back once (I think).  I put the gun down, unloaded, cleaned, reloaded and inserted the magazine.  When I tried to cycle it the slide would not pull back more than about 0.25 inches (not far enough to see the slide pin).  The trigger and hammer action is normal.  I am fairly confident that the recoil spring was installed properly (open end forward).

This all happened at about 3:45pm eastern yesterday so I called Rohrbaugh several times but only got voice mail.

Does anyone out there know what I have run into, or even more important, how I can recover?

Any Help would be greatly appreciated.... my Rohrbaugh is my "always" gun and I feel really strange without it in my pocket.


                               Thanks,
                                Don

[justin2992]

Don,

Try pushing down on the barrel hood while you pull back on the slide.  Something may be catching wrong on the takedown pin.
Then of course take it apart and check on that recoil spring positioning

[R9SCarry]

Don - thus far puzzling.  I would certainly try Justin's suggestion.  Most usual prob is after reinsertion of recoil assembly, the rear part does not always set back fully into the frame relief - but that is shown by difficulty getting slide back to reinsert pin.  

To get this after reassembly - I am just not quite sure what has gone in wrong.  Has to be IMO a function of something amiss with recoil assembly.  Sorry to not be more help.

[Wayne]

Don,

I understand your problem to be that you cannot disassemble the R9 because the slide will not go back far enough to get where you can push the pin out.  

If this is the case, I would try to look at the pin from the other side of the gun.  That is, the smaller hole side where the pin is pushed towards upon reassembly.  You might be able to see some daylight or play in there that would indicate the pin has somehow not correctly seated.

Sorry to not be of more help.  This sounds like one for the factory.

[ddavis52]

Thanks for all of the ideas..... I sat around looking at disassembled pictures for an hour or so and came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no way that I could have missed the barrel lug slot with the pin... my biggest fear.  I was also confident that the recoil spring was properly assembled so........
I wrapped the grip with leather and put it in my larger vice and started applying a little more pressure.  No luck.  The slide still only came back less than 0.25 inches and the barrel hood still only dropped about .030 inches from full lockup.  I started pulling back with quite a bit of force while trying to push down on the barrel hood with my thumb.... still no luck.  I kept the pressure up trying to pull the slide back and lightly tapped the barrel hood with a small rubber capped hammer...... SUCCESS!!  The slide retracted!  I blocked it open and then removed the slide before ever letting it close again.

Examination of the disassembled gun did not show any anomolies in the components.  The recoil spring assembly was properly assembled.  The only thing unusual was a small white plastic fragment 0.034" thick, 0.090" wide, and 0.108" long that was near the assembly pin hole in the barrel lug.  I re-lubed and then reassembled everything.... all is normal now.

The only thing I can figure is that the plastic fragment I found had somehow actually got into the barrel lug pin hole below the assembly pin and would not allow the barrel to swing down completly out of battery until I drove it down with the hammer.  I have no idea where the plastic came from.... it doesn't look like anything I used today... not even oil bottle tips, etc....  I guess it could be "holster lint" that somehow invaded... I just don't know.  

In any event everything seems to be OK now.  Thanks for all of your ideas and thoughts.... THEY REALLY DID HELP!

                       Cheers,
                         Don


                              

 

[Wayne]

Glad you got your baby back.  

[R9SCarry]

Don - glad things are sorted.  Since my last post the one thing that was buzzing round my head was - funnily enough - ''foreign object'' ... which it seems was what you had.  But as I could not think of anything that would have fitted the bill, did not/had not, posted again.

So - whatever this was, .034 x .090 - is not actually that small - and had to be as you deduced, preventing barrel unlocking sufficient that slide could travel.

I'll wager this thread has made many of us think and been a learning experience too - such that any future instances similar will bring this to mind.

[ddavis52]

As I said in my first post, I called Rohrbaugh as soon as I experienced the problem friday afternoon; however, they had apparently left a little early for the weekend.  

I resolved the problem saturday evening after a little thought and several ideas from the forum.  

I was pleasently surprised when I got home from work today (Monday).... I had two voice messages from Maria at Rohrbaugh trying to help me sort out the problem.  I really do appreciate their efforts.

                       Don

[R9SCarry]

That's Rohrbaugh for you!