Cracked R-9S Slide

[Brenden]

BTW I am carrying an R55X serial # and have a consecutive one "put away".

Both Deer Park and looks to be within a "possible" problem area??

I will continue to shoot my carry gun and not worry that something "may" happen..

If something does occur,I shall deal with it,I do not anticipate it!!

I would not carry the pup if I did not have utmost confidence in it's ability to carry out it's duty..

Brenden

[MountainMan]

Eric (eblackhawk)

I'll correct my previous post.  If I had a son as yourself I would be shooting the R9 more.  You are a lucky guy.  I have many pleasant memories shooting with my dad.  Of course in those days nobody used ear protection - one reason a have some ringing now.  

I am now very protective of my hearing .  Won't even cut the grass with out hearing protection.  Into pistol carry now days over a lot of shooting for that reason.  I use to do competition 100 yard steel plate pistol shooting using both ear plugs and muffs at the same time.

Many kids don't shoot now days - but they have another problem with ear damage.  I'm afraid many of the kids using ipods today are looking at a future of ring ears.
Dave

[R9SCarry]

Dave - not so jokingly, my wife and I considered a venture in hearing aids - because of the modern trend for young folks to blast their ears so casually!!  Eventually they will pay the price.

In my early center fire long range rifle days, as an army cadet - the best we had for ear ''protection'' was twisted up cleaning patch - lotta good that did.  How and why I do not have severe tinnitus I do not know - more down to luck than judgement!!!

[Michigunner]

Mine is bad.  You are fortunate, Chris.

I took my 97 year old mother to get a hearing aid recently, and asked him if he had anything for ear ringing.  I was thinking of an appliance putting out a signal 180 degrees out of phase with the person's ringing, which would result in zero amplitude, I guess.

He said No, but indicated that hearing aids actually seem to help reduce the annoyance.  I don't know how.

[MountainMan]

Bill and Chris
If I would think of the ringing in the ears it would be annoying - most time I just don't think of it.  There are people who have had it bad commit suicide.  It is never completely quiet.

I think most of the problem developed from years of using the tractor without ear protection.  

Wife keeps on telling me to get a hearing aid but I have been resisting.
Dave

[Michigunner]

Excellent advice, Dave.  The less you think about it, the better.

White noise is most useful.  I like to be around water and hear the waves "roaring".

You know, it may not be possible to "cancel" out the ringing, as if it were a sine wave.  Maybe nothing is in motion in the ear, which could be canceled with another wave 180 degrees out of phase.

Maybe it is the brain pretending to hear ringing.  Who knows.

For now, it's foam ear plugs and ear muffs.  That's a good idea about wearing something while mowing.

[theirishguard]

Dave, HUH?
Tom

[Ubik380]

The fine hairs in our ear's semicircular canal act like tiny tuning forks and vibrate with incoming sound, producing elecrical signals which the brain interprets as sound. The function of these hairs can be disturbed by the hairs being broken (by loud noises) or debris in the fluid collecting and moving the "hairs". In my case it was homemade fireworks, rock concerts, 5" naval guns and someone shooting a handgun about a foot from my unprotected left ear. It's exacerbated by asprin, dehydration and certain kinds of sounds.

The suggestion of low levels of white noise is a good one - it does mask the tinnitus. In some cases, nerve damage causes the electrical signal to stimulate motion in the "hairs", producing sound that can actually be heard by another person!

[R9SCarry]

Ubik covered some good stuff there.

IMO some damage aspects are actually physical to such a degree that phase inversion cannot help too much.  In other words - there is no 'sound' per se to cancel with a 180º signal.

The other factor which I think affects some folks is, apart from cochlear hairs damage/disturbance - is the ossicles that can sometimes get a sorta ''arthritis - tho this affects acuity more than causing tinnitus I think.  A conduction factor.

Ossicle degredeation is perhaps due to sometimes congenital/genetic factors - a predisposition to degenerative effects - tho some argue that extreme excursions of ossicles even if not enough to tie in with eardrum perforation - are themselves able to predsipose degenerative change.

Bottom line - is protect those valuable assets - tho us oldie's of course were rarely if ever really aware back then of our risks.  Oh so logical, NOW!!!

[jimacp]

What did you say?

[Erich]

Drat!  

Well, I went to the range today - after changing out the recoil spring (on #3 now), I've put round #550 through it.

And look what I see after cleaning the gun . . . an incipient crack on the right side of the slide. (I hope it shows up on the photo, and I hope folks forgive the giant photo.)



Looks like R 584 did not dodge the "batch of bad steel" bullet after all.

I'll bet Maria's getting tired of talking to me . . . we'll find out tomorrow a.m.  

[Michigunner]

Erich,

I'm shocked to  see this.

A resolution needs to come right away before word gets around in the gun world.

It is a most serious situation.

To my knowledge, fine pistols do not crack.

[R9SCarry]

Heck Erich - that does look suspect  

Same thing - thinnest region over rails.

[tracker]

"Shot a little and carried a lot" has a new ominous twist. I
was noticing how thin that area was,too, after several
failures--maybe it is more than a bad batch of slides.

[sslater]

I took another look and some comparison measurements on the R9 vs. Sig P239 (.40 S&W) which has a very similar construction.  
R9 is 0.0375" thick (thin?) in the area where Sawbones & Erich have experienced cracks.  The corner appears to be a very sharp right angle - almost no radius.
Sig P239 is 0.050" thick in the equivalent area.  Corner on the Sig is just as sharp as the R9.  That doesn't sound like much more material, but it's 1/3 again more material.  30+% stronger.

I'll be keeping an eye on my slide from now on.  I guess the only bright spot is if it ain't cracked when you put in your pocket in the morning, a defensive scenario where you have to shoot the full magazine ain't gonna cause the R9 to fail you.  I hope...  

BTW: This should probably be a new thread, but I'm wondering if anyone has had to shoot an R9 in "anger"?