Purchased the Covert R9, which to the best of my knowledge is an R9 with Tuff Finish from Wilson Combat.. I paid a hefty price for the Covert model but to be clear.. prior to visiting the range I LOVED the Covert in all asthetic and dry-firing aspects. I am a detective in a urban area of NJ so the ability to comfortably carry something off duty (with stopping power) is worth the price..
Two days ago was my first day at the range with the R9.. our rangemaster and about a half dozen SWAT guys were there.. until this point, I've only owned department isued glocks. The only malfunctions I've experienced have been simulated with dummy-rounds etc..
I was shocked to have two malfunctions on my very first magazine, and three on my second most were failure to fire, and failure to eject. At first I thought it was possible that I wasn't letting the trigger out all the way in between pulls.. but I grabbed a few other guys including the range master and the malfunctions persisted.. on average 4 out of 10 shots. I was shocked.. everybody's reaction was the same "you gotta send that thing back"..
I know malfunctions can and do happen when breaking in a new gun, but the Rohrbaugh. Was brought to my attention by a 2009 magazine article that compared about 6 pocket guns.. the rohrbaugh tested in the article was a .380, however the author marveled at how the rohrbaugh was the only gun tested that performed flawlessly (not 1 misfire) in over 500 rounds..
I inspected several of the casings that took more than one pull to fire, some had no firing pin impression! I called the Texas Dealer who shipped me the Covert (which was brand new btw), and he told me that he'd never received a complaint after selling approx. 50 similar rohrbaughs but he said he'd call me back after doing some research.
He did call back; and said after calling his Arkansas distributor he was told that they've had several returned for the same reason. However, he said that these malfunctions are due mostly to 'operator error' basically saying that the R9 does not favor a slow and deliberate trigger pull. He said that being a defense gun the trigger must be jerked in rapid succession for the gun to cycle properly..
My question is, is this true? And if so would misfires still be that common? I mean maybe it's my training, but 'jerking' the trigger is almost impossible for me, especially with a DAO setup.. what if I don't want to shoot someone 6 times? The dealer gave me some contact info for a Woman named Maria from Rohrbaugh, I plan to call on Monday.. I'm considering driving to the Rohrbaughs shop/factory in NY due to my close proximity to dave the hassle of shipping the gun and the wait..
I'll also be attaching a picture of the Covert, and pictures of the type of ammo I was using; in case that may be the problem.. note: one picture (green box) is frangible ammo that was available because we were at a location that also has an indoor range, but I was told this should make no difference.. and to be clear I have no objection to paying for very expensive ammo, so long as the gun will fire. SOMEONE please steer me in the right direction because in all other aspects the Rohrbugh is the best option for me, I just want it to work!
