Author Topic: Ask ECR  (Read 29656 times)

Offline 72AV8R

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Ask ECR
« on: March 12, 2015, 03:05:19 PM »
I have carried my R9 every day since I bought it in 2011.  The decision to go with the Rohrbaugh was made after reading about it on this forum. It is great that Eric has joined the group and I will once again be checking it out daily. I got a Seecamp .32 for my wife, and found their forum another great read. Larry Seecamp adds wonderful insight to many of the posts.  If Eric is agreeable, why not have a special column for him?  I have a couple questions to start the conversation.  Of the roughly 6,000 R9s sent out from the factory what percentage were returned for warranty work? Based on that number were there enough spare parts made to last for many years? (I can understand if this is inside information and can not be released).  Last question ( for now), what happened to Maria?  She was the voice of the company to many of us who called with questions, and I hope she is doing well.

Offline DDGator

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2015, 03:34:22 PM »

Already mentioned I am working on this, but need some technical help to get it done.  Part of an overall reorg of the discussion boards.  Stay tuned.

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Offline ECR

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2015, 06:56:20 PM »
A little history before we begin:

In the early 2000s, when we were just starting to get the R9s out the door from our little shop in Farmingdale, New York, a fellow that goes by the name of Duane Daiker contacted us and asked if it was alright to put up a forum on the Internet about our pistol. Well, I put that by my brother, Karl Rohrbaugh, and explained it would be good to do. Karl agreed, I contacted Duane and gave him our consent and blessings to create “The Rohrbaugh Forum” ~ The Unofficial Rohrbaugh Firearms Forum. It has turned out to be a haven for all enthusiasts who love our little creation, and Karl and I are very happy of its content. While we were in business making and updating our design, we were having a blast . . . . . a dream come true. Then came the time that another company, Remington, made us an offer we could not refuse, so now here we are retired and doing things we wanted to do when we were putting in 50 – 60 hours a week or more into the workings of a gun company. Now that a little over a year has passed since the sale, I felt it was ok to finally join in here on your forum and help out in some way, if I can. I will try to answer your questions without overstepping my contractual agreement with Remington. If anyone should ask such behind the scenes questions I feel are private, I intend to keep them that way with respect to everyone both here as R9 owners and the new owners of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.

With that said, I will do my best to answer your questions starting here today with questions 72AV8R has put forth.

Welcome aboard everyone to “Ask ECR”, a.k.a. – Eric C. Rohrbaugh, Former Co-Founder of Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp.

To answer your questions 72, here we go:

There were close to 7,000 units produced from early 2002 until late 2013. As for warranty work, I would place legitimate repairs somewhere around the 300 or so mark, with an additional 200-300 sent in as “repairs”, however, those were more owner related issues which included installing the early directional outer recoil springs in backwards, causing them to go over the recoil system sleeve and causing the gun to jam. Other times the gun was so filthy, I had a tough time pulling the slide back to unassemble it from the frame! After a thorough cleaning and oiling, install a fresh recoil spring and the gun would work fine. So, you see, most problems we had seemed to be from owner neglect or installing parts incorrectly. So be it, that’s the way it was. You also ask if we had enough replacement parts. . . . Yes, we usually did. Once in a while, we would be short on slides, so if an early R9 came back with a cracked slide, which plagued us for a short time, and thank goodness that was a short lived problem, we needed to wait until slides were ready for assembly for those repairs. We would contact the owner and let them know we were waiting for slides to come back from the heat treat process, etc., and they were always fine with that information and waited patiently. Our customers, for the most part, have always been stellar. The spare parts that went to Remington, should keep everyone happy for some time to come. The only parts that may be an issue is the larger parts, that being: The slides, barrels and frames. Remington purchased the company who were making our barrels, so they will probably be in good shape there. As for the slides and frames, I have no inside information on those and cannot speculate either way on them. As for Maria, after her stint with us as office manager, she moved around 2011 to Oregon. She is there with her family on a small ranch with her horses outside of Bend and is currently doing internet sales with her health food company venture. She looks amazing and is happy there.

Until next time. . . . . . Be safe everyone!

Regards,

Eric R.
Makers of the NRA Shooting Illustrated: "Handgun of the Year for 2005" and receiver of an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.

Offline 72AV8R

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2015, 09:21:12 PM »
Thank you Eric for a prompt and in depth answer to my questions. It is great to have you on board to answer technical questions and to give us a little insight into the building of the finest pocket pistol made. Glad to hear Maria is doing well.

Offline ECR

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2015, 09:02:00 AM »
Thank you for believing in us and our little "invention" as Karl called it. Funny little caveat. . . . I forget what form my brother was filling out years ago, and it asked him what was his profession. . . . . and he writes down "Inventor". The fellow chuckled and said: "Well, I've never met an inventor before. What did you invent?" Karl tells him a handgun. . . . . He went about his business while they discussed "things". Fun stuff.

Well, enjoy your day out there.

Regards to all,

Eric R.
Makers of the NRA Shooting Illustrated: "Handgun of the Year for 2005" and receiver of an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.

Offline DDGator

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2015, 09:13:29 AM »
A little history before we begin:

In the early 2000s, when we were just starting to get the R9s out the door from our little shop in Farmingdale, New York, a fellow that goes by the name of Duane Daiker contacted us and asked if it was alright to put up a forum on the Internet about our pistol. Well, I put that by my brother, Karl Rohrbaugh, and explained it would be good to do. Karl agreed, I contacted Duane and gave him our consent and blessings to create “The Rohrbaugh Forum” ~ The Unofficial Rohrbaugh Firearms Forum. It has turned out to be a haven for all enthusiasts who love our little creation, and Karl and I are very happy of its content.

Not too long after that, I came up to the factory for a visit.  Eric picked me up at the train station and I got the VIP tour, even including shooting a very early prototype R380.  Karl and Eric were very gracious with their time, and spent a few hours with me before feeding me dinner and getting me back to the train station.  Since then, they have become good friends, and I have missed hanging out at the Rohrbaugh booth and spending time with them at the SHOT Show.  Aside from producing a great product, they are great guys and true Americans too.  I am glad that you all will get to see more of that now, and hear some of the great stories that I have been obliged to keep in confidence.

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Offline ECR

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2015, 09:25:20 AM »
You made me choke up Duane. . . . . You stop that now!  lol.  All kidding aside, Karl and I have always enjoyed time we spent with you, be it at our facility in Farmingdale, New York or at The S.H.O.T. Shows . . . . . It was always great seeing you. You are truly a good friend. You knew and understood why I would not join your forum when we were in business. I felt it was best to stay behind the scenes making our R9 better as time went on, which I like to think I did, and not get into “anything” that may have taken my mindset away from that task.  Now, it is time to chime in here with our fellow Rohrbaugh R9 enthusiasts and hold conversation. I think this could be our next venture . . . . . and, thus far, I am enjoying the outcome of my decision to join. Thank you all for your heart felt well wishes and I will do my best to present some more behind the scenes stories and photographs as time goes on for all to enjoy and, perhaps, you may get some insight into what makes us Rohrbaughs tick. We are a complicated bunch, but we mean nothing but the best for everyone.  Peace.

Eric R.
Makers of the NRA Shooting Illustrated: "Handgun of the Year for 2005" and receiver of an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.

Offline wildmanwill

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2015, 12:31:21 PM »

Not too long after that, I came up to the factory for a visit.  Eric picked me up at the train station and I got the VIP tour, even including shooting a very early prototype R380.  Karl and Eric were very gracious with their time, and spent a few hours with me before feeding me dinner and getting me back to the train station.  Since then, they have become good friends, and I have missed hanging out at the Rohrbaugh booth and spending time with them at the SHOT Show.  Aside from producing a great product, they are great guys and true Americans too.  I am glad that you all will get to see more of that nowhttp://www.rohrbaughforum.com/Themes/default/images/bbc/url.gif, and hear some of the great stories that I have been obliged to keep in confidence.

Would this be the write up from that visit? I believe the thread is no longer on this version of the forum, but for the guys who may not have seen it before...

http://www.acbsystems.com/boards/rohrbaugh/basefile/rofact-01.htm

Offline DDGator

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2015, 12:56:10 PM »

Yes -- that was my write up on the trip.

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Offline tracker

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2015, 12:59:04 PM »

It looks like the history book is coming together but is still a work in progress.

Offline ECR

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2015, 04:56:59 PM »
Yes, it is a work in progress, but some interesting tales await you down the road. 

ecr
Makers of the NRA Shooting Illustrated: "Handgun of the Year for 2005" and receiver of an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.

Offline tracker

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2015, 07:37:20 PM »

"Stay tuned."

Offline tattoo

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #12 on: March 14, 2015, 04:12:45 PM »
ask ecr....i have a question what type of gun locks did yall send with your guns...color and lenght? thanks in advance...mickey

Offline ECR

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #13 on: March 14, 2015, 06:37:01 PM »
Hello Mickey,

Well, as for the cable locks that we put in with the guns when sold new from the factory, I can remember the housings being red, blue or black in color. The company we purchased those from also sold those same locks to Glock, Sig and a few other name brand firearms manufacturers. As for the length, I really do not recall how long the cable was, but 6" or 10" rings a bell. I can not remember the name at this time as we bought thousands of them at a time to lower the price, so once we got some in, it was years before we had to order more. I think when Remington bought us last year (January 2014)  there were a few hundred left.

Eric R.
Makers of the NRA Shooting Illustrated: "Handgun of the Year for 2005" and receiver of an NRA Golden Bullseye Award.

Offline tattoo

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Re: Ask ECR
« Reply #14 on: March 14, 2015, 06:59:28 PM »
Ty Eric for the answer ....