Author Topic: Range report, Stealth Elite  (Read 4352 times)

Offline Brian894x4

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Range report, Stealth Elite
« on: November 20, 2009, 11:43:22 PM »
Got to shoot my new Stealth Elite today for the first time.  Since I went to an indoor range I had no choice but to shoot their ammo.

It was Indepedence FMJ, 115 grain standard 9mm.

The good news is that I didn't have one single failure in the 50 rounds that I shot.  Every round cycled, every round fed and every round fired.  

The bad news is the key-holing was abudendently obviously.  It ripped the target to absolute shreds.  After firing a 6 round clip, the target looked like I had fired a 20 rounds at it.  

The tumbling must start immediately, because I had key-holing up as close as 5 yards.  

Accuracy was a bit inconsistent.  Sometimes it would shoot dead on even out to 10 yards, but sometimes it would be off a good bit.  And there didn't seem to be any consistency in where it was off.  Like if I was doing something wrong.  It's possible that the accuracy issues could have been me.   But since it shot well sometimes and sometimes not, I wonder if the tumbling issues caused the rounds to fly off course.  

Recoil was definately stout.  I would say comparible to my old Kahr PM40 loaded with .40 cal.   But there's less to hold on with the Rohrbaugh, which can make it a little difficult to shoot.  

The trigger is probably the best part about this gun.  I actually like the long pull and it's smooth enough that it gives you time to set up and fire controllably.  Reminds me of shooting a revolver, but with a much lighter trigger pull.  

I was very pleased that it fired reliably, given some of the reports on this gun.  I'll be carrying Gold dot 115s, since that seems to be reliable enough with everyone else and I don't really have the time or ability to test fire my own carry ammo right now.  

The key-holing does bother me a little bit, but I feel confident enough that rounds will hit on target out to at least 10 yards and as long as lead hits the bad guy and stops him as a threat, that's my only concern.  

One final note.  I did notice that after 50 rounds the recoil spring has softened up enough that the slide is noticably easier to pull.  I have several spare springs and will probably always keep a brand new one in the gun when carrying for ultimate reliabilty.  

Offline kjtrains

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2009, 09:53:23 AM »
Brian.  Thanks for the range report.
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.  Abraham Lincoln

Offline Richard S

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2009, 09:03:56 AM »
Brian:

Sounds good. Thanks for the report.
(1963-1967) "GO ARMY!"

Offline r9slover

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2009, 01:05:37 PM »
I have an early R9s and carry it everyday in my right front pants pocket. I live 5 minutes from my gun club so I practice often. I found initially that Federal NyClads fed without failure and were extremely accurate, but probably not the most powerful as they were in the 285 ft/lbs range. Well federal doesn't make them any more and I am down to about 500 rounds, so I started experimenting and found out that the gun really loves Hornady Critical Defense 115 gr. 200 rounds later, no failures to feed, excellent accuracy, and about 285 ft/lbs of energy and comfortable to shoot. If you want max power with out being a +P then Black Hills 115 gr ep round comes in about 315 ft/lbs. 32's, 380s and 38 spls are obsolete now! (I know the revolver lovers will never go away) but my R9s is very reliable like no failures to feed with the above ammo. The r9s is the GREATEST POCKET GUN EVER! It is so small and light no one has ever noticed I am carrying. Yet it has enough power to be a real defense gun. I thought about trying Extreme Shock 115 gr penetrator ammo as, I called them and their phone guy said it is not +P, but when I look at the numbers, I wonder what the psi is? Anyone know? Thank you Mr Rohrbaugh for a wonderful product that filled a real need!

Offline Richard S

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2009, 04:46:51 PM »
r9slover:

Welcome to the Forum and to the growing club of satisfied R9 owners. And thank you for the excellent report on your range sessions with this finest of pocket pistols.
(1963-1967) "GO ARMY!"

Offline kjtrains

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2009, 05:52:08 PM »
Welcome to the Forum from me as well, r9slover, and thanks for the good report.  You definitely have a work of art, as you  know.  An abundance of knowledge is here.    
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.  Abraham Lincoln

Offline theirishguard

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2009, 12:22:09 PM »
welcome from Texas as well, good range report.  Tom
Tom Watson, DVC , Quis Separabit ,  Who dares wins, Utrinque Paratus

Offline mefly2

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2009, 09:07:51 AM »
Was this a paper target ... with or without backing?  If no firm backing to the target, try shooting at cardboard and then check for instability of the projectile ... often  I have found paper [only]  targets do not relay good info as far as potential key-holing ... they tear rather easily.

Offline Reinz

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Re: Range report, Stealth Elite
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2009, 05:01:25 PM »
Thanks for the range report.

Keyholeing, not good.    Hopefully it is the ammo.  Maybe out of tolerance, or the bullet design just will not work in the gun.

You need to rule out the possibility of a bad barrel.

Try a session shooting your Gold Dots on paper.  We all know that they perform well with R9's.

If the GD's keyhole, you may need to send the gun back to the factory to have a new barrel fitted to the gun.  Or maybe the barrel just needs a cleaner crown.

When I carry a gun that my life depends on, it needs to be a straight shooter - no compromise.


Good Luck

Reinz
« Last Edit: December 22, 2009, 05:02:10 PM by Reinz »
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