The Rohrbaugh Forum
Rohrbaugh Products and Accessories => Cleaning and Maintenance of the R-9 => Topic started by: Dino on January 19, 2009, 10:48:11 AM
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After cleaning my R9s yesterday I noticed the lands in my barrel have dark shadows in them. The rest of the barrel is nice and shinny but not the groves.
I am a finatic on barrel cleanning and all of my other guns do not look this way after a good cleaning. Any advice? Is this normal?
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What bore cleaner do you use? I have good luck with Outers Nitro Solvent. If I use other cleaners and find the barrel less than perfect I find a little Outers Nitro finishes the job for me.
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I used break-free, the foam type. I will try nitro. So I take it the lands should be as shinny as the rest of the barrel?
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Dino;
I've noticed the same thing re:the R9 grooves retaining shooting residue. It does take a bit of extra work to get them clean. They seem to have machining marks left over from the rifling process.
I've been using WIPE-OUT foam bore cleaner on all my firearms for a couple of years now with good results. My R9s gets a couple of passes with a brush before patching out the residue. Works pretty good for me.
Steve
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Thanks Steve, do you use a brass brush? I used a plastic brush to no avail. Now I understand that with my rifles I have to take them thorugh a cleaning break in process and maybe it is just going to take more than 60 rounds to "smooth" the barrel out??
At least now I know it is normal.
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Dino,
Use a brass brush. Afterward, be sure to flush it with spray cleaner because foam bore cleaners dissolve copper (and brass).
I don't think the brush will last thru too many cleanings, but it's a relatively cheap price to pay.
Steve
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Thanks Steve, I was afraid of brass on that barrel but I have used it on others with out any problems. I just have to have a extra clean barrel or I'm not happy. I will try it tonight. I have ordered some of the above mention bore cleaners but they have not arrived yet.
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Dino:
Everyone has their own preferred cleaning materials, and there are many excellent products out there. For my purposes, I've settled on Ballistol for just about every aspect of the gun cleaning process. It's even good on leather and wood. I once heard it referred to as "the ultimate survival juice," and that's pretty much the way I feel about the stuff myself.
http://www.ballistol.com/
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I bought some Ballistol months ago on Richard's recommendation
and it is, indeed, a quality product. Also, while lurking around the
gun dept. yesterday at Bass Pro Shop, I picked up a small rifle
cleaning kit for $9.95. It had a 2 oz. bottle of Outer's Nitro Solvent
in the kit which beats waiting for it in the mail.
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+1 Ballistol
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Thanks men, the UPS and mail man are going to like me as I do most of my shoping from my computer. Ballistol is on the way.
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My barrel rifling seems to still have machining marks which retain residue ... is that a normal situation on these pistols?
Unfortuantely, I did not closely exxamine the bbl prior to shooting for a comparison point But now, it is readily apparent even after cleaning with solvent / oversized brass brush / patches. I have used Hoppe's and Prolix to no avail ... would you suggest that I go next to JB's ?
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I have a friend who has a HUGE gun collection. He keeps a 20 gallon auto parts washer full of Ballistol. He field strips the firearm, lets the parts sit in the washer for a few minutes, shoots the ballistol through the barrel, and scrubs it with a brush, may lightly brush around the areas as needed and then dries the excess off with an air compressor. It takes him minutes to clean a gun, and while they may not be immacuately clean, they all look and function great. If I had the room, I would do the same thing, although I don't have anywhere close to that number of guns.
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I have a friend who has a HUGE gun collection. He keeps a 20 gallon auto parts washer full of Ballistol. He field strips the firearm, lets the parts sit in the washer for a few minutes, shoots the ballistol through the barrel, and scrubs it with a brush, may lightly brush around the areas as needed and then dries the excess off with an air compressor. It takes him minutes to clean a gun, and while they may not be immacuately clean, they all look and function great. If I had the room, I would do the same thing, although I don't have anywhere close to that number of guns.
I do admire your friend's style! At $55.00 +/- per gallon of Ballistol, he's got about $1,000.00 invested in that product alone.
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Richard,
He only keeps the washer about half full. When you consider how much his collection is worth, it's really not that significant. I only wish I had had his foresight and the means to purchase many of the firearms he did years ago.
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Anyone else have rough surfaces on the rifling ... anyone? This is a new production stealth pistol whereas I did not notice the almost "galling" of the rifling on older R9 pistols.
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I have found that in some old used guns that I have bought; when the normal cleansers and brass brush don't cut it, I then use the stainless steel chamber brushes. They are not reccomended for everyday bore cleaning, but they do help out in a pinch.
If that does not work, as you mentioned earlier, maybe the JB bore scrub.
Then there is the Outer's Foul Out electrolosis/chemical system that works great on leading or copper build up.
Lastly, if you think you have a rough bore, then "lap" the barrel.
Good Luck
Reinz
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As noted, consider J-B bore compound or IOSSO bore cleaner. I have used J-B on a limited basis and it works quite well and might address your question.
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I disassembled and cleaned my stealth for the first time last night and I was very puzzled at the barrel condition. The top of the lands appeared very black and rough and it was very difficult to clean for only 30+ or- rounds of jacketed ammo. I finally got the patches to some clean, but the lands still appear somewhat dark and rough looking. This made me come to the forum and I find others with similar problems. Has anyone contacted Rohrbaugh? Does anyone know if they had any bad barrel problems? I am going to see if I get any feedback before I contact them.
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This is just an update on this am's post. When I got off line, I went down and took the R9 stealth back apart to check it out some more since I'm not the only one having problems. I took the BBL over to my gunsmith friend and looked it over with a magnifier. We both agreed that it looked like tool chatter on top of the lands starting at the throat and continuing all the way to the muzzle. It was more pronounced at the middle section of the barrel and barely visible the last .5" on the muzzle end. I am not saying it is tool chatter as I do not know how these barrels are made, I am just using that term to describe what we saw. The gunsmith said he would call Rohrbagh if it was his. Is anyone else seeing these kind of marks or has anyone talked to Rohrbaugh?
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MRC. Welcome to the Forum. I can't answer your question and will defer to others who may know the answer. If not, I agree with your gunsmith to call Rohrbaugh. They are back open today, 1/26/10.
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I did not get any responses, so I called Rohrbaugh. Maria said that I was the first complaint that she has ever fielded on this issue, so she went back to "talk to the guys". She promptly called back and told me that their broach-cut rifling leaves these marks and that it should not hurt the functioning of the pistol. I told her that I have been shooting for 25 years and and had never seen anything like this. The gunsmith has thirty years in the business and is second generation and he has never seen a bore this bad. They were busy getting ready for the Shot Show, so I sent pictures and am waiting for them to catch back up and call me. I just don't buy the theory "if it goes bang, there isn't a problem".
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MRC as I stated on the first post of this topic, my R9s also had dark marks in the lands. That was over a year ago right after I bought it.
Many, many rounds later the marks are all but gone.
Welcome to the fourm, shoot your gun and clean it well. My R9s always performed with not problems. Good luck.
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MRC just had time to take my R9s apart and look at the lands again. They are normal now with no signs of darkness in them. One thing, Tracker wrote about J-B bore cleaner in his post above, I used this on my R9 way back when I first noticed the problem last year. If I remember right, it almost completly removed the blackish marks in the lands. Nothing else came close to cleaning or maybe I should say polishing it out.
Maybe worth a try before you send yours back. Please keep us informed.
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As Dino says, J-B works quite well but use it only when necessary as it is a mild abrasive and can turn a .30 into a .31 if used excessively.
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Apparently few of the many owners notice or experience the rough rifling in the bbls ...
Maria is great in the CS department; however, it sounds like we will just have to live with the rifling roughness on these limited-production pistols. Even my ultrasonic cleaner has a hard time getting out the fouling - that is simply a result of the roughness in the bore. I was initially quite disappointed in the bbl condition on a pistol that expensive, but given it's designed purpose and the amount that it is actually carried, I am a happy camper and am resigned to live with the rough bore. I am rarely without the R9 even though I have many other "slick bores" from which to choose!
We shall see just what happens in the mini pistol department with the economy headed as it is. I know several other manufacturers have projects headed for the niche/leo market but until that time, the R9 is the only 9mm game in town ... much more convenient to carry than even my Detonics. $.02
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Before heading out into the snow for provisions, I took a few minutes to give "No. 132" her routine clean and lube. There was no evidence of tool marks on her "innerds" (which I knew anyway), and a scoping of the lands and grooves in her barrel showed everything to be as smooth and shiny as polished silver.
Now -- on to the Trading Post. (Where did all this @#$%^& snow come from anyway?)
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Hope you didn't forget the Bushmills 21. However, the Trading Post may not have it. :) :)
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Hope you didn't forget the Bushmills 21. However, the Trading Post may not have it. :) :)
It ain't yer ordnery Tradin' Post. ;) Gray Goose Vodka, Bushmills 21 Year Irish Whiskey, Courvoisier "Napoleon" Cognac Brandy, Toasted Head Russian River Valley Chardonnay . . . you name it, they've probably got it.
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Now that's what I call a Trading Post! :) :)
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Indubitably driven by the gentry trade who weren't raised in the holler on moonshine.
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Well spoken!
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I have resurected this old thread as I am curious about the barrel condition on the newer Rohrbaughs
I have had two, R4059 and now R4283. The former was junk and went back to Long Island for good. The latter is in my possesion now and both have had the roughest bores of any handgun I have owned. R4283 functions fine and this is the only problem with it. Kj and Corey have seen the pictures of R4059 and have told me they agree with me that it was not really acceptable. Eric saw the pictures when I asked for a new barrel on warranty and had Maria tell me that all their barrels looked like that and if the gun functions, it is not a problem in their opinion.
Is this a common problem or did it just occur in guns in the early 4000's? Does anyone else have this problem?
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After cleaning my gun yesterday I looked closely at the barrel and didn't notice any of the roughness that was on yours. My S/N is 7XX, about 6 years old and has about 350 rounds through it. The last time I cleaned it after shooting was with the old standby, Hoppe's #9. Although I hadn't shot it in over 6 months I decided to clean and lubricate it again.
This time I used "Blue Wonder" on a brass brush and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes before reswabbing the barrel. A fair amount of lead and copper residue came out that wasn't removed by Hoppes. This seems to be an excellent barrel cleaner.
http://www.bluewonder.us/BlueWonderGunCleaner.html
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Try a dab of JB Bore Cleaner. It's a paste and will actually help lap the roughness out of the barrel. Over time it should stop happening. It may be that Rohrbaughs need a break in like new rifle barrels. In order to break in a new rifle barrel, even a high quality cut rifled barrel here's what I do. I clean the bore after each shot for the first ten rounds. Then I clean it after every 5 rounds for the next 10 and after 10 I do it again. After those 30 rounds it is considered broken in and ready to go.
Cleaning consists of a pass with a patch with bore cleaner, 5 brush strokes and patch it dry...shoot...clean again same way. In a precision rifle I never use the same brush after the first 10 or the second 10 and throw them away. What you are really doing is by shooting and cleaning is lapping all the roughness out.
If you do that with a Rohrbaugh, by the time that range session ends you'll have disassembly down to an art form.