Got back from the range and did a thorough cleaning and lubing of the R9. Put almost 100 rounds downrange with only 3 failure to fires. The 3 rounds were the Herter's Select steel cased 115gr. ammo. I know for a fact the primers were on the harder side as even my Sig 239 and Para PDA had issues igniting them. On the other hand, the 3 rounds fired on the second trigger pull, so the R9 having the second-strike capability is a real bonus, in my opinion. The brands I shot:
- Herter's Select 115gr. steel cased
- Herter's Select 115gr. brass cased
- Magtech 115gr.
- Speer Gold Dot 124gr.
I shot about 3 mags worth of each type of ammo. Not surprisingly, the Gold Dot ammo was perfectly flawless and shot closest to point of aim. Both Magtech and the brass cased Herter's ammo were flawless as well. Surprisingly, all ammo tested shot very close to point of aim with the steel cased Herter's being the furthest off impacting about 2 inches off the center at 8 o'clock. My best grouping was about 2" at 7 yards.
"Punchy" is the first term that came to mind when I fired the first shot. The R9 definitely recoils snappier than any of my other 9mm guns, but then again, it is a good 8oz. lighter and offers less hand real estate. Overall a very good trip to the range with the R9. Having read about other positive range reports, I was expecting a similar experience and was not let down. The trigger pull on the R9 is incredible. Easily the smoothest pull I had ever experienced on a box-stock gun. I probably dry-fired about 300 times last night after I had cleaned the lubed the gun for the first time. I had gotten a very good feel for the trigger and was able to stage it just so that it would break cleanly to allow me the most accurate slow shooting. Double-taps were a little bit of a handful with the snappy recoil, but I did manage to keep them within the confines of the standard human silhouette target. I did shoot one-handed and although the groups were horrible, the gun functioned perfectly - even with my left (weak) hand.
I am quite pleased with my investment. I like the ability to carry 7 rounds of 9mm in my pocket in a similar size as the Bodyguard 380. I will admit that I can shoot better and faster with my KelTec P-32, but that is simply due to the fact that it is a much smaller caliber and I have carried and trained with it for years longer. I am a strong believer of training with your carry weapon and drilling with it to the point that drawing and clearing jams become second nature. While the notion that the R9 is meant to be carried lots and fired little puts me off a bit, I feel the gun itself can certainly take the abuse. I think I read somewhere on these forums that someone had over 1500 rounds through his R9. Nevertheless, I plan to train with this gun since it has now become my primary carry. The only thing that I feel will be a major snag will be mag changes. I never carried a gun with a European style mag release, but it is simple enough. Practice will make perfect (or at least close).
I will probably try a dry wax lube used for bike chains. I had used that before on my Sig with good results. So far, I am using auto tranny fluid as a lubricant. Stuff works great in guns and is cheaper than all the other high-end lubricants out there.
C0untZer0, no. You do not have to rack the slide to reset the trigger. The R9 is truly hammer fired and will cock and drop the hammer with every pull of the trigger.
Faawrenchbndr, thanks! Same to you. I saw your R9 and those grips are killer. Been looking at the VZ grips since I got my R9.
