>>Skyhook, et al…
I had a feeling I might receive the type of response I seem to be getting from my posts here. I would like to think I'm being mis-read, at least in part, but maybe not.
To begin with - I NEVER said anything about grip being critical to whether or not the gun works. What I SAID was that both the aftermarket pinky extension and slip on rubber grip provide me with better CONTROL, accuracy, and enjoyment of my R9s.
I did not insinuate nor do I support the idea that it's ok for the R9 to fail in any way. Neither am I a “cheerleader” for failure or junk. As matter of fact – since we seem to be getting personal here…by nature I tend to be rather critical about things, and people…probably more so than I should at times. I also have a short fuse and can have a really bad temper, with an attitude and physique to back it up, as needed – not that this has anything to do with the function of the R9, and is probably considered by some to be just another case of “stealing a thread”. No apologies offered.
What I DID intend to say is that for some people more than others and in the minority at this point, the R9 may require some experimentation, tinkering, and patience in order to prove reliable for them. For some people, like myself, this may mean sending your gun back to the factory, or it could mean re-training to become proficient with it – such as following through with the special clean and lubing protocol of the R9, which you would never need with a Glock. Or it could mean searching for and trying a wide variety of ammo in order to find just the one that works for you and spells reliability in your R9, like Speer Lawman or Silver Tips.
Just as certain people may have shorter fuses than others when it comes to tolerance…some people may get bored and tired of the effort just because their Lawman HP won’t work in their R9, while they have been feeding their Glocks a steady diet of the stuff for years. As far as I’m concerned – that’s ok. I’m sorry to say the R9 or any other such specialty gun, may not have been the right choice for you in the first place, period. That is exactly the reason why I have repeatedly gone out of my way in the past to invite folks considering this gun to join me at my range for a test drive – even offering some individuals a place to stay if traveling to do so. Because there are still relatively few R9s out there I believe this type of opportunity is so important that I have taken my R9s to out of state shoots where individuals have expressed such interest in trying them out. Do you really think I would go out of my way to do these things if I thought the R9 was a failure…?…does this make me a cheerleader for junk…? For what it’s worth - to this day none of the people who have tried my R9s have experienced one failure of any kind, but maybe that’s just luck.
Not that it is my responsibility, but for those folks who have not found their R9s to be reliable, I am sorry to hear it and hope you are able to get to the bottom of the problem with satisfactory resolve as I have (seemingly). And I’m sorry if you had to spend nearly a grand to find this out, often on top of a long wait to get it in the first place...TW<<