Today the R9S literally feels like a part of me. My brain has cancelled the weight of it entirely out of my consciousness - I don’t feel it at all. The only time I notice it is on the very rare occasion when it is not there and then it is a nagging sense that something is missing.
Often carried and seldom fired has been the way with this fine gun for me. I fired the majority of rounds through this gun during the first year when getting familiar with it and getting it to run reliably. That was ~600 rounds of Gold Dot HP 115gr and a couple recoil springs back then and it has had no more than 250 since then. Doing the math, that is a couple of mags per year after the initial set. This serves to keep me convinced that it works and will fire when I pull the trigger. It also serves to cycle out the ammo that has lived in the mag for a year. It has been dry fired quite a bit more than that. Early on, I got a 9mm chamber insert that shoots a momentary laser dot every time the trigger is pulled. This was great for training and for the relief of my hand. I have never loved firing this gun a whole lot but can do so accurately enough and without hesitation that I have no doubt that it will protect me and mine.
As far as care and maintenance is concerned, I have done very little with this gun over the years, aside from carrying it and occasionally firing it. It gets cleaned about once a year, and that is after I fire it. I do blow the lint off/out of it every so often if I notice it is particularly bad. So it sits in my pocket for a year, gets fired, gets cleaned, and the cycle repeats. Some folks may balk at this, cleaning their personal carry guns once a week or month, whether they fire them or not. Not me. If I carried the relationship metaphor forward, I’d be divorced and alone a long time ago due to neglect. Even so, it has never failed me when I pull the trigger.
The bottom line is that this gun is reliable and is always with me. The two things that a gun must be. I have no desire to try anything else for defensive carry. What a nice feeling. I have to thank the Rohrbaugh brothers and company for such a fine handgun.
I never did post much on here, although I joined in May 2004. I haven’t been back in years but it is great to see the community is going strong. It is cool to see that some of the active folks from back-in-the-day are still here too… DDGator, Richard S, MountainMan… I am sure that there are others.
Kind Regards, Brian