Handgun of the Year 2005 / Twenty Years ago this year 2025. Rohrbaugh R9 Pistols

[ECR]

Here it is. . . . . . My, how time has a way of moving along without a care in the world!

It was 20 years ago this year that we were The NRA Shooting Illustrated Magazine's "Handgun of the Year" for 2005!

     An NRA Golden Bullseye Award . . . . . . for Best Handgun 2005

It was quite the surprise for sure. Karl and I were dumbfounded by it and very humbled. It was, and has been, an absolute honor of our lives to have achieved such an award as this.

I have attached a couple of photographs of the magazine article here. If you zoom in, you can read their short synopsis of what we did. Whiley Clapp loved the gun. He kept that first R9 we sent him. We asked him for the gun back after he reviewed it, but Whiley being Whiley, he said to us. . . . I'm not sending this back, bill me, I'm keeping this one!  Ha haa . . . . . He loved that little fella. He shot it pretty well too! 

We love all of the people we met along the way in the industry. It was truly an honor to have been accepted by so many good people who were there as we all did what we do to promote and advance the firearms community and those of us who love to shoot for fun, for hunting, and to protect our loved ones, our families, and our friends. God has blessed us all.

It was an exciting time, just post-9/11, to have introduced such an innovative firearm that changed how people carried a small pistol for protection while being discreet. We can all thank my brother Karl N. Rohrbaugh, the designer of the R9, for that!

Sincere Regards,

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

[ECR]

I used to be able to make the photographs smaller so they would be accepted.
I can no longer figure out how to do that.
I apologize for that.

ecr

[DDGator]

Truly an amazing accomplishment, and a well-deserved award.  You both played a part in essentially creating a new class of pocket pistols.  You have reason to be proud, for sure.

I'm happy to have played a small part in your story, and gotten to meet you both along the way.

[MikeInTexas]

So when you guys were at the NRA convention in Houston, 2005, you did not know about the award yet??

It was there we met and I got started on the process of purchasing one for a friend.


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[cargaritaville]

Congrats again to the Rohrbaugh's for designing and building the most elegant gun ever made!

[backupr9]

I fell in love with the R9 pictured in the “Handgun of The Year” NRA article, but it took me 4 years to actually find one at a gunshow.  The R9 is still my EDC.  Treat it right, hold it tight, feed it what it likes….carry a lot, shoot it rarely and you have a mutual love affair.

[MikeInTexas]

Pictures from Eric.  Click to enlarge.

[MikeInTexas]

Pictures from Eric.  Click to enlarge.

[MikeInTexas]

Pictures from Eric.  Click to enlarge.

[ECR]

Well now, I'd like to say to everyone here to please give MikeinTexas a big "Yee-Haw" for reducing the photo size so he could upload these magazine photographs of our award article. Most kind of you to offer to do this for us Michael. You're a true gentleman. Thank you, good Sir.

ECR

[ECR]

I'd also like to remind everyone that everything on this pistol is cut from solid billets of steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber materials.
Then, much hand work is involved from deburring the parts to hand finishing them and then hand-fitting them. The end result was something that we put all of our lives into to make the very best carry firearm available at the time. Having been following other creations through the recent past, I believe we still have made the best Micro-9mm Pistol available at the time. . . . . . Perhaps still.

      Time waits for no one . . . . . . . as I told my brother Karl in reference to making and getting us to the S.H.O.T. Show in January of 2002. . . . . . . . He wanted to wait another year before introduction of his creation. That’s when I told him:   "There's only one number one (when making something of an innovation), and that's going to be us!”  So I pushed him to agree to go for it now, S.H.O.T. Shot 2002. And just post 9-11 . . . . . It was we who created “The Micro-9 Pistol” genre!  Absolutely Amazing!

Thank you to all who believed in our vision and products then and through the years. Our family has been forever honored by receiving this esteemed award.

Sincere Respectful Regards,

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

[ECR]

Truly an amazing accomplishment, and a well-deserved award.  You both played a part in essentially creating a new class of pocket pistols.  You have reason to be proud, for sure.
I'm happy to have played a small part in your story and gotten to meet you both along the way.

And yes, I must give a shout-out to you, Duane Daiker. When you phoned us and asked if it would be all right to create an online forum for the Rohrbaugh R9 Pistol, I asked you to please hold on a moment while I asked my brother Karl what his feelings were, as I already knew mine. He thought about a second or two and agreed with me on this. . . . . Yes, absolutely!  And the work you have done with your computer people here through the years should also be honored for keeping all of this information and the outings we had through the years documented here. So much history of the R9 pistols is written within the forum you created!  Let’s add to that all of the members here who have chimed in with their experiences with the pistol and many cataloging the different types of finishes, models, etc.  At the time, as many of you know and understand, being involved with the manufacture and some of the design work of the pistol, I felt I shouldn't be involved with any forum about it. I felt it should be for the enthusiasts only. Then, once we sold the company to Remington in January of 2014, I felt it would be alright to join, and I did at that time. I hope that those people I have helped through my years here, after the sale of our business, have been a help in some way. I would also like to say to everyone reading this:   Thank you.

Regards,

Eric C. Rohrbaugh

(Former V.P. Rohrbaugh Firearms Corp., U.S.A.)

[MikeInTexas]

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Please allow me a minute to hijack this thread.

20 years ago is pre-historic/dark ages to many of these young men that are now starting to take over the firearm businesses down here.  Their knowledge base is deep (but narrow).  Many are combat veterans of the GWOT and know the modern stuff inside and out, not so much with other items. 

I have copied the last photo onto my phones photo album so I can share it with those that have never heard of this 'classic' handgun.  It seems like having a short history lesson may enlighten many to the significance of this gun.  Bonus is that it is concise, thus acceptable to those with the short attention spans that seem to be the norm these days.



(Thanks Eric for the kind words.  It was really no inconvenience to assist.)
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