After receiving my gun shop's FFL apparently via pony express, Arego's shipped my R9s and it arrived today!
When I first saw it at the gun shop, I thought “Wow!” The pictures on the Internet don’t do it justice. I was immediately struck by the look of the grip panels. The way they look in real life, the way they reflect light, is pretty cool. I was surprised that they feel smooth, not bumpy like they look. The lines of the slide look great. Overall, the look of the pistol is stunning and really gets your attention.
The pistol looked bigger than I expected, and a little wider than I expected as well. As soon as I picked it up, it felt solid, yet a little heavier than I expected, but not too heavy. As I cycled the slide I could see it is very well made. The slide was easy to cycle too. There is no slide play and no sharp edges to worry about. Everything looks very sleek and futuristic. The fit and finish is extremely good.
I packed it up, headed home and then I had to put it away for several hours, as I had an evening meeting to attend. When I got home, I dug it out again, and gave it another look. I put it right next to my KelTec P32 and found it to be virtually identical in dimensions, although a little wider. Definitely heavier. At first, I was disappointed at the slight gain in width, but as I gripped it, I realized that they very slight increase in width allows me a much better grip. I could never get a very good, two hand grip on my P32. I experimented with my new R9s in the pocket of a pair of jeans and a pair of dockers, and I think that it will probably carry as nicely as my P32. When it’s right up against you in your pocket, the extra weight does not seem very noticeable and the width is still narrow enough. I expect when I get a good pocket holster it will be just fine, as long as the leather is not too thick. I’m currently used to the narrower P32 in a thin kydex holster. The only place the extra weight might be an issue is this summer when I wear a pair of shorts without a belt. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll dig a pair out and try it tomorrow.
I spent some time dry firing and cycling snap caps through it. As everyone said, the trigger is long and smooth. My Lyman digital gauge measures the trigger at 7lb, 4oz. That was after some dry firing to loosen it up. The reset is all the way out, and I expect that this trigger may be prone to short stroking in a stress fire situation. Also, it will take some practice to learn to empty this pistol very quickly. Despite the disadvantages of the DAO, long trigger, I like the long pull, as it adds a lot of safety to the design. I hope the trigger lightens up just a bit more, but I don’t expect it to. And, of course, there is no DA/SA transition issue, plus the second strike capability, which I like quite a lot. I know, with good ammo it should not be needed, but I like it.
A couple of other things I noticed. The bore axis seems pretty high, which makes me wonder what the recoil will be like and how well the front site will return to the target aim point. Also, the front site is very hard to pick up quickly unless the light is just right. Probably, neither of these issues will be important at 21 to 30 feet, but it would be nice if the front site had some type of color.
It would be nice if the pistol came supplied with a punch to help breakdown, and a wrench to remove the right grip panel, as the manual suggests.
Finally, I missed having an extremely cool serial number by just 1 number! My SN is R501. It sure would have been cool to have number 500!
Since it comes properly greased from the factory, I probably won’t tear it down until after I shoot it. Then again, I might, to get a good look at how it should be greased. I plan to try it with all three common 9mm bullet weights in FMJ. Once I see what I like best, I’ll get some good JHPs in that weight. I have some Winchester RA9T on hand, so I’ll probably load up those if I can handle the way they shoot.
More info to follow after my first range trip! Too bad it will be at least several days L
Thanks to everyone here for this great site! Until I did a lot of reading here, I would never have spent this much money on a pocket pistol. If it shoots as well as it looks, I’ll be thrilled.
