What's your R9's round count?

[Richard S]

I defer to the superior engineering wisdom of my two distinguished fellow Forum members. However, I suppose I shall carry to my grave the memory of blowing up a perfectly fine engine from British Leyland.  :-/

[tracker]

Red lines are there for very good reasons. After a WestPac cruise I was on the #1 catapult waiting for a turn-up from the catapult office for the fly off to NAS North Island after six months at sea. After going to full power I noticed that the #2 engine RPM slightly exceeded the red line limit of 3000. Nonetheless, I saluted the Cat Officer, was launched, and shortly thereafter lost the #2 prop governor. The engine was barely manageable so I shut it down and elected to land back on the carrier on one engine; lesson learned.

[kjtrains]

I salute all of your excellent views.  When speaking of round counts or redlines, it's all about doing what you know supposed to be done; some methods may serve the same purpose, however, the end result is, be sure to use the method of your choice to accomplish what the recommended guide lines are.  

[sslater]

I'm with Yankee2500 on the weakened recoil spring = pounding the pup's innards.  Changing the spring every 200 rounds or so is cheap insurance.  At today's ammo prices, the spring costs around the equivalent of 3 rounds of premium carry stuff.  My early R9s has 2,000+ rounds.  I'm down to firing a couple of mags per month, and hope to continue doing it that way until the pup's an old dog.  

Years ago I bought a H&K USP in .40S&W.   H&K was very reluctant to sell me a replacement recoil spring assy. (It is a double spring set-up similar to the Rohrbaugh.)  The H&K factory rep told me to send the gun in if I ever felt the recoil spring was getting weak.  I talked him into selling me a new  recoil spring assembly with captive large spring.  After three or four thousand rounds I could feel the slide hammering the frame as it cycled.  Changed over to the new captive spring assembly.  After another three thousand rounds, I could feel that slide hammering the frame again, but by that time, Wolff was making recoil springs for the USP.  I switched back to the original loose-spring recoil assy., added the new Wolff recoil spring, and haven't had to change it again.  Wolff makes good springs.  I understand they are making springs for Rohrbaugh.
Lesson here is you have to listen to what the gun is telling you.

Incidentally, I bought a Ruger LC9 a few months ago, for those times when I don't want to put my R9s in messy situations.  It works well, but it is 6" long, a big difference compared to the 5.2" Rohrbaugh.   The LC9 has been 100% reliable from round one.  Have about 500 rounds thru it.  Called Ruger to get a couple spare springs, etc., and the service rep said there is no recommended interval for recoil spring change, but it should be well over 1,000 rounds.  "If the gun begins to fail-to-extract or fails-to-feed, then the springs should be changed."  I thought, "Great, wait until a concealed-carry gun screws up before performing maintenance.  Here we go again!"  He didn't give me any trouble about buying spare parts, though.  The LC9 has a (cheap) plastic recoil rod and two loose concentric recoil springs, but they seem to do the job, as spring length has changed minimally since new.  That extra 0.8 inch overall length difference compared to the R9 really is functionally significant.  I recall speaking to Karl Rohrbaugh one day and he said they really tried to keep the R9 overall length under five inches, but just couldn't get a recoil spring to work properly.  So, the 5.2" length was grudgingly arrived at.

Sorry for the long stream-of-consciousness message, but one gun thought lead to another and.....    

[TBI]

Shoot it. Clean it. Shoot it.  That's all you have to do.

[Reinz]

in 1973 I "red lined" my "rocket du jour" and blew the engine.
."

OUCH!
 

That will make a ya a believer in tachometers Real Fast!

[Dire_Straits]

 Wolff makes good springs.  I understand they are making springs for Rohrbaugh.
 

Have you confirmed this with Wolff? I checked their website prior to ordering my springs from Rohrbaugh and again this morning after reading your post; Rohrbaugh isn't listed on their site.

Please confirm.

[sslater]

I'm told Wolff is indeed Rohrbaugh's spring supplier, but they don't sell Rohrbaugh springs to the public.  I guess Rohrbaugh wants control of the supply base since the R9 is sensitive to recoil spring condition.  (In the OEM automotive business, we used to buy and own the tooling for some vendor-supplied parts.  That way, if the vendor went bust or started to screw up quality-wise, our QC and purchasing people would pull the tools and contract with a back-up maker.)

That ain't all bad.  Rohrbaugh's price is right, and every spring you buy has the Rohrbaugh name behind it.  Eliminates finger-pointing in the event of a problem.

S.

[Richard S]

What Steve said.

[Dire_Straits]

I'm told Wolff is indeed Rohrbaugh's spring supplier, but they don't sell Rohrbaugh springs to the public.  I guess Rohrbaugh wants control of the supply base since the R9 is sensitive to recoil spring condition.  (In the OEM automotive business, we used to buy and own the tooling for some vendor-supplied parts.  That way, if the vendor went bust or started to screw up quality-wise, our QC and purchasing people would pull the tools and contract with a back-up maker.)

That ain't all bad.  Rohrbaugh's price is right, and every spring you buy has the Rohrbaugh name behind it.  Eliminates finger-pointing in the event of a problem.

S.

Thanks for the clarification Steve.

[Reinz]

Have you confirmed this with Wolff? I checked their website prior to ordering my springs from Rohrbaugh and again this morning after reading your post; Rohrbaugh isn't listed on their site.

Please confirm.

From the Rohrbaugh website, note last two words :

Quote

State of the Art:
Our firearms are designed with the use of CAD/CAM programs. CNC machines perform the manufacturing. Then each gun is then hand fitted and assembled in our state of the art facility. The materials used are of the highest grade, including quality stainless steel, 7075 aircraft aluminum, G-10 grips and Wolff springs.

[yankee2500]

I guess that answers that, Wolf it is.  

[eye_spy]

Does anyone know what the highest round count is?

Is that w/o repairs/ problems?

[kjtrains]

Highest round count we know of is, over 5000 each!  Without problems.  Two customers of The Irish Guard, Tom Watson.

[eye_spy]

Thanks!  Are they members of the forum?

Are the guns showing much wear and tear?