Cut Recoil Spring

[offrdmania]

I just purchased my R9 a couple weeks back. Today is the first time I took the gun apart. I wanted to do a full clean and grease job on it before I hit the range. It was sold to me as brand new as far as the previous owner knew. When I pulled it apart there was literally no wear so I'm guessing if it had been fired then it was probably less than a handful of rounds.

When I got the slide off, the recoil rod assembly came out way too easy. Here is why..



Someone somewhere at sometime cut the large recoil spring, most likely to make it easier to install or to make some light ammo work. No idea which the reason. A fresh (full length) spring has been installed : )

[ECR]

Please note that the earlier guns had that open ended outer recoil spring and then we updated that to the spring that is finished at both ends. That may be the original recoil spring from the factory at that time, so it may indeed be a low count or NIB R9.

Eric R.

[offrdmania]

Please note that the earlier guns had that open ended outer recoil spring and then we updated that to the spring that is finished at both ends. That may be the original recoil spring from the factory at that time, so it may indeed be a low count or NIB R9.

Eric R.

Thanks for clearing that up Eric. I was scratching my head. Why did you switch to the longer spring? Was the shorter one too soft?

[tracker]

Not to answer for Eric but it is possible that the spring in question was shortened from firing even though you were told the pistol was new.

[offrdmania]

Not to answer for Eric but it is possible that the spring in question was shortened from firing even though you were told the pistol was new.

It was cut shorter. Look at the coils, they arent compressed. They are the same distance apart

[bamboobob]

Not to answer for Eric but it is possible that the spring in question was shortened from firing even though you were told the pistol was new.

+1 +
they are compressed
count down

[ECR]

The left spring looks old, hence "compressed" . . . . we saw that all the time after the spring had just a few mags through it. This look was common place and not too big a deal really. The really bad thing about this spring is many "defective guns" would come back "jamming" and all. . . . The owner put the outer recoil spring in backwards, which is user error and not the fault of the firearm. It would work it's way over the ridge on the machined sleeve that it rode on and jam the gun.
We went to the double finished end springs to alleviate that issue.

The right spring, looks like a new style spring in new and unused condition.

[offrdmania]

The left spring looks old, hence "compressed" . . . . we saw that all the time after the spring had just a few mags through it. This look was common place and not too big a deal really. The really bad thing about this spring is many "defective guns" would come back "jamming" and all. . . . The owner put the outer recoil spring in backwards, which is user error and not the fault of the firearm. It would work it's way over the ridge on the machined sleeve that it rode on and jam the gun.
We went to the double finished end springs to alleviate that issue.

The right spring, looks like a new style spring in new and unused condition.

If the old owner put a few mags through the gun, I cant find a single lick of wear anywhere on it. No slide wear on the frame, no case ring on the bolt face, etc. Its good to know that these guns wear like a rock

[ECR]

We ran just about 5,000 rounds through an early R9 test gun, pre-prefix serial number job, and the issue at around the 5,000 round mark was the right hand side of the frame, where the barrel pin goes through, developed a slight crack. We closed the tolerances between the frame and the trigger sear bar by .030" and made the frame area where the barrel pin goes through on the right side a full enclosure of 360 degrees, giving strength to that bearing surface. Issue resolved. To note those frames, we added the "R" prefix, designating that updated stronger frame. The "R" prefix meant two things:  "R" for revised frame and "R" for Rohrbaugh. So, while those 47 or so early no-prefix guns are rare, they also are not as strong as a prefix R9 model. Now if you "Carry is a lot and Shoot it a little". . . . . you should be just fine with that early R9. My early gun is still in service 14 years later without frame cracking in that discussed area. So there you go. . . . another behind the scenes bit of information for the "R" within the serial number of the Rohrbaugh R9 pistols. That is the meaning of the change in numbering. 

As you cane see, as with the outer recoil spring, the bearing surfaces of the frames. . . . we were constantly upgrading trying to make our pistol the best we could. . . . . and I believe we did a good job in that process. ;-)

Regards,

Eric R.

[johnny]

 5,000 rounds!
  That's a lot of rounds Eric.Malfunctions?

[ECR]

None. . . . No malfunctions. We removed the slide and barrel around 60 rounds. . . . wiped it down, ran a cleaning rod through the barrel. . . . oiled the frame rails, barrel lug, reassembled it and I began firing again. When the outer recoil spring got weak. . . around 270 - 300 rounds, I would install a fresh one and continue. It took me about a week to do it. . . my hand hurt like hell (LOL), but when I noticed the slight crack in the frame around the 5K mark. . . I called it quits and showed Karl the issue with the frame and that's when we both agreed to make the bearing surface on the right hand side of the frame the same as the left hand side. From then on we suggest 200 rounds and change the outer recoil spring. The rest is history as they say.