How Did You Come To Grips?

[Reinz]

The R9 is not exactly a mainstream pistol that you can walk into any gun shop and buy everyday.  And it does not quite fit everyone's budget either.  I thought it might be interesting to know how others came to know about the R9 and make the plunge.

While some of our stories may have been heard before, some folks have not heard yours.

Please take a moment and share your story.    I'll lead off......  next post.

[Reinz]

September/October 2004- issue of American Handgunner: I just read the write up on the Rohrbaugh.  Man I had to have one.  I just knew they would be showing up on dealers shelves anytime.  Yeah right!

I 've been carrying concealed since the early 70's, while illegal, I felt, if concealed, who'll know?  CCW's, called CHL's in Texas became legal in '94 ? maybe?  Thats when I Started carrying EVERYday.  And hence my search for the perfect pocket pistol.

It had to be a pocket pistol. because a jacket is rarely worn in my part of Texas and a coat basically never.

I evolved from a very accurate at 20 yards, German 38 Derringer,to 25, 22 Beretta, to PPK, to P11 Kel TeK.    The P11 was very reliable and accurate.  But I still searched.  Now you have to remember, the choices where NOT avaiable in 2000-2006 like there is today.

Back to the R9, it never showed up.  Me being a gun addict and a salesman on the road.  I was in gunshops within a 100 mile radius almost daily.

Then at a gunshow in Dallas I saw the one and only and jumped on it.

Price was not an issue.


I just wish I knew about Tom Watson earlier.

[Richard S]

The R9 is not exactly a mainstream pistol that you can walk into any gun shop and buy everyday.  And it does not quite fit everyone's budget either.  I thought it might be interesting to know how others came to know about the R9 and make the plunge.

While some of our stories may have been heard before, some folks have not heard yours.

Please take a moment and share your story.    I'll lead off......  next post.

Reinz:

My search for the perfect pocket pistol all started back in Germany in 1963. I wanted something to serve as a backup to the  Colt 1911 to which I had been introduced by a benevolent U. S. Army back in OCS. (My relationship with the 1911 might be described as "love at first shot.")

In searching for a pocket pistol I started with a Walther PPK, a marvelous weapon that unfortunately at the time had a tendency to bite the hand that fed it. Then, later, the Colt Mustang came along and I adopted it, even though I would not carry it in "Condition One" due to its lack of a grip safety. Next came the North American Arms .32 ACP Guardian, on which I settled because it was DAO and the waiting list at the time for a Seecamp .32 was counted in months if not years. (I even had the NAA32 "blinged" with sterling silver grips.) By the time I had my Seecamp .32, NAA had come out with its .380 ACP Guardian and the waiting time for the Seecamp .380 was counted in months if not years. The NAA380 therefore became my EDC pocket pistol (and it also got "blinged" with silver grips).

Then, while following press reports from SHOT 2002, I saw a photograph and read a description of the prototype Rohrbaugh R9, a 13-oz DAO chambered for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge.  I immediately knew that I had found my "perfect pocket pistol" -- to paraphrase John Taffin's term, "perfect packin' pistol." I immediately got in line, took delivery of R9 No. 132 in May 2004, and have carried it ever since. It has worn many different grips in the past 8-1/2 years -- blue and black CFs,  ivories, aluminums, exotic woods, VZs, etc. -- but the VZs are the ones usually mounted on the piece and are there in my pocket as I type this tome.

Reasonable minds may differ, but in MY reasonable mind the R9 is the best damned pocket pistol ever designed and produced.

Further Deponent sayeth not.

[Reinz]

Richard - thank you for your good read.

I have been fortunate with the PPK in that it never bit me.  Either my hand is not meaty or manly enough or I was I just dumb lucky enough to stay out of harms way.

I forgot, that I too had/ have a NAA Gaurdian in 32.  My gunsmith did an excellant trigger job and polished the gun as well.  The most incredible thing he did was a weight reduction.  I felt it was a bit too heavy for pocket carry in business clothes.  So now the loaded gun weights what it used to unloaded.  Pretty significant work, I must say.

When the 380 NAA came out, the first sample I examined was pitiful.  Thus, I lost all interest.

Then I also had a few 32 Kel-Tecs that were winners as back- ups as well.

[Z]

I found the PUP after years of searching for the perfect pocket pistol on the Internet.
I purchased my first R9 in 2008 and joined the Forum a year later.
I started carrying a Ruger SP101, Walther .380, KELTEC P32, KELTEC P3AT, Ruger LCP and then my favorite, a R9. I have owened a couple of R9s over the last couple of years and think it has all of the features to make the perfect pocket pistol!

My two favorite PUPs are the Robar Edition and the Silver Framed Farmingdale!

[Reinz]

HEY, HEY, HEY... LOVE them Robars! 

[Z]

HEY, HEY, HEY... LOVE them Robars! 

+1

[Sydney]

I just happened upon one at the local range. I friend of mine works the counter and one was just traded in...He told me he thought it would be the perfect carry gun for me, being a very petite person. I had previously been eyeing the Kimber SOLO, but loved the sleek streamlined construction of the R9. I immediately put it on lay-a-way while I awaited my CCW permit. I picked it up last night and put 25 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 115gr without a single hiccup. 

The more I read about them to more I love them. I am very impressed with this little pistol so far!

[Z]

Sydney

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your new PUP!

Keep us posted

[Reinz]

Good move Sydney.  And welcome to the forum. 

[thor447]

I came across the Rohrbaugh while firing, oddly enough, the largest gun I've ever shot.  Those who have read my earlier post about the 1861 Henry I had the pleasure of handling could easily assume that a friend of mine has just a small amount of discretionary income he puts towards firearms.  We were out at a quarry about 1 hour to the south of Oklahoma City, near the town of Davis, OK shooting his Anzio Ironworks 20mm bolt action rifle.  We had all obviously brought out a few other firearms to shoot (who wouldn't if you get to shoot in a quarry!) and one of the firearms he brought was a clean looking little pocket pistol that I could not identify.  Oddly enough, like other members have also stated, I was carrying a PPK at the time.  Nice little firearm, and I did get bit by it once, and decided to carry an XD9 Sub-Compact until the Rohrbaugh arrived.  He told me about his recent acquisition of his R9, and after looking it over it was easy to see why one would spend the extra money on this little pocket pistol.  I put 2 magazines through his pup and from then on was dead set on finding my own.  One of our other mutual friends who went with us that day was a weekend gunsmith at an OKC firearms store.  I discussed my interest in the Rohrbaugh with him and after about a month of him trying to convince them to buy a couple, and me putting my name on paper with a guaranteed purchase offer, they placed an order for 3.  The day they came in, they received 1 steath, and 2 two-tones.  I gobbled up the stealth and haven't looked back since.  I was told that the others were sold by my friend there over that same weekend, and since then, the R9 is a regularly stocked item when quantities are available from Rohrbaugh.  The R9 is slowly gathering more folowers in OKC.  Thanks to my friends John and Mike.

I wish I had known about this forum and Tom Watson back then and I'm sure that I would have had one sooner than I did.   

[theirishguard]

Sydney, congrats on your new R9s.  Thor, I would have loved to help you sooner but you got it bought anyway.   Tom

[yankee2500]

Sydney, Congrats & Welcome.

[backupr9]

Many years ago started carrying an S&W .38 chief's special.  Next came a Keltec PF9, but had reliability problems and an absolutely terrible trigger pull, so traded it for the PPKS, which bit my thumb web with every shot and had a safety that required two hands and a hammer to move (I've been told the early PPK's made in Germany were better?).  Traded that, carried a Kimber Ultra .45 and a Ruger SP101 in .357, but not regularly.  Read about the R9 in 2004 and finally found one at a gunshow (NIB), handled it and bought it on the spot.  I also sometimes carry the LWS .32 when clothing requires a tiny weapon, my Kimber when clothing permits, and although I have a Boberg, I haven't found an occasion where it would replace the R9 on one end or the Kimber on the other.  I need more rounds through it to decide if the extra round and +P capability will change my mind, but I can't pocket carry it comfortably due the the extra mass and configuration.

The R9 is simply the ideal carry, front or rear pocket, IWB, OWB, appendix or ankle.

[C0untZer0]

I found out about the R9 from the Firing Line Forum.

About every 3 weeks someone will come along and ask for advice for the "best" pocket pistol or "best" CCW.  I think one of the threads asked which is the smallest or which is the lightest and someone answered "Rohrbaugh"

There was some argument about the Diamondback DB9 being lighter or something.  I started researching the smaller nines - the Rohrbaugh R9, the Kimber Solo, the Kahr PM9 and CM9, the Diamondback DB9 - I even looked into the MICROTECH Archangel.

People were reporting problems with the Kimber Solo on The Firing Line and other forums, people were reporting problems with the DB9 - all over the place and especially on the Diamondback Forum, and there were videos on YouTube showing peices coming off the DB9 and videos of them blowing up.  MICROTECH was undergoing severe  financial problems - that was a red flag for me.

So it came down to the CM9/PM9 and the Rohrbaugh.

From reading posts here, I came to the conclusion that the R9 was finicky about ammo but once you found a cartridge your pistol liked - it was going to cycle that cartridge reliably and you could count on it to fire when you needed it to.

The Kahrs IMO are great little pistols, they are less finicky than the Rohrbaugh and I think they function reliably and are well put together. 

The decision for me came down to wanting something slightly smaller than the PM9 and a pistol that weighs a little less too.

I haven't gotten an R9 yet - but the check is in the mail to Tom / Irish Gaurd and I'll have my local FFL contact him next week.