Failure to fire

[alligosh]

So I bought my Rohrbaugh R9S today.  Very nice gun.

I took it into the range.  Very Excited.

I shot 50 rounds of Remington UMC through it, and by the end of it I was flinching at every shot because every third shot didn't fire (at all).  I would try a second pull of the trigger, and still nothing.  So I eject it and go on to the next, which may or may not fire.  The non-fired rounds had a small, but very light, mark where the firing pin hit them, but were obviously not fired.  I put them in my Glock, and every one of them fired fine.

The guys at the range tell me that the UMC is a very hard primer, so I shot 50 rounds of reloads they had, and most of them fired.  They keyholed very badly, but they fired.

Then I put 20 rounds of PMC Starfire HP through it, and every single one fired without a problem.

Question is: Is this normal?

Should I only ever put the $1 per round ammo through this gun?  Or is something wrong with it, and I should send it back to Rohrbaugh to have them adjust it?

-Steve

[theirishguard]

I would try shooting either Speer Gold Dot, Winchester silver tip or Federal ammo all 115 or 124 gr hollow points. Tom

[tracker]

All of what Tom said plus you might try Winchester White Box
at the range to keep down costs. I much prefer it over the
Remington, which I do not use any more.

[DTM_39]

I believe what Tom and Tracker said about sums it up. Feed your R-9 quality ammo and it will serve you well.   Dan

[eddie_c-clamp]

Steve- I had a similiar experience today at my qualifacation course of fire. Out of 50 mixed brand 9mm's I had about 7 failure to fire. All had light strikes on the primer that looked like half moons. This got me a bit worried since I shot 150 rds of 115 grain speer non-HP thru it two days ago.



I'm gonna stick w/gold dots from now on.........But should I be worried about these light firing pin strikes?


Does ammo make a difference on primer strikes???


Gents please chime in here....I'm getting paranoid

[tracker]

It seems to me that it is important to eliminate the variables;
you said that you fired 50 rounds of mixed ammo on a
qualification? I learned a lesson the hard way on a CCW qual
using reloads--fortunately, it worked out but why mess with
it? Just stick with what works.

[eddie_c-clamp]

You're right Tracker.......I'll just stick to the GD's......

[alligosh]

Steve- I had a similiar experience today at my qualifacation course of fire. Out of 50 mixed brand 9mm's I had about 7 failure to fire. All had light strikes on the primer that looked like half moons. This got me a bit worried since I shot 150 rds of 115 grain speer non-HP thru it two days ago.

Does ammo make a difference on primer strikes???

Gents please chime in here....I'm getting paranoid

From what I gather from talking to people about it (including calling Rohrbaugh) is that some ammo (read: cheap) has very hard primer.  The R9 has a hard time hitting it hard enough to get it to fire.  The good stuff, as in the major manufacturers good lines of ammo, shouldn't have a problem.  Speer Gold Dot and PMC Starfire both work, where the Remington UMC failed to fire every third round, and the magtech wouldn't even feed into the chamber.

As read elsewhere in these forums, every brand is slightly different in tolerances, and it seems that the R9 is tight enough on tolerances that it cares.  Which in my mind is a good thing, since it works with the defense rounds I want to use.

Thank you all for your responses.  When a firearm goes click rather than boom too many times, I start to get nervous.  You guys have helped me feel that the R9 is as good a weapon as I need it to be.

-Steve

[dawkind]

I had the same failure-to-fire problems using the UMC/Remington ammo with my R9S Stealth; never have I had one FTF using the Winchester white box ammo in the past 200rds.

I personally use Winchester Ranger bonded-core 147gr. HP LEO ammo in my Rohrbaugh and it has been flawless.....

[eddie_c-clamp]

I had no probs w/recommended ammo (150 rds).......just when I fed the pup junk food.......

Moral of the story.......no more junk food

[tracker]

Good on you, Eddie.

[theirishguard]

eddie, the pup only likes good food.  Tom

[Brenden]

Feed the pup right...

It will bark when you want it!!

[Richard S]

Steve:

As noted by the gentlemen posting above, it is best to feed the R9 only the recommended high quality ammunition. The pistol is the smallest and lightest full-house 9mm handgun yet produced and is built to minimum tolerances. I liken an R9 to a Ferrari. If I were fortunate enough to own a Ferrari, I wouldn't fill its tank with off-brand, low-octane fuel.  

Good luck!

[henryk]

Steve:

As noted by the gentlemen posting above, it is best to feed the R9 only the recommended high quality ammunition. The pistol is the smallest and lightest full-house 9mm handgun yet produced and is built to minimum tolerances. I liken an R9 to a Ferrari. If I were fortunate enough to own a Ferrari, I wouldn't fill its tank with off-brand, low-octane fuel.  

Good luck!

You bet!  I can fullly relate to that.