I purchased an R9s Stealth from Tom Watson / Irish Gaurd and got it last Saturday.
http://irishguardfirearmsltd.com/contact.htmTom is a great guy to work with.
The pistol is very well put together, high quality fit & finish. The DAO trigger is very smooth, only a slight amount of stacking toward the very end and it has a fairly crisp break. Cycling the pistol was a little herky-jerky and there was a lot of clink-ka-chink to it.
I posted this same range report on a few other forums and immediately got negative feedback on the R9 being too expensive, a few people spouted off about the Kel-Tec being lighter and a whole lot cheaper... yada yada yada.
As you guys know, it's a true pocket pistol, it fits comfortably in a normal Levi jeans front pocket and dissapears from view. We all know there are people out there who drop a Glock 26 in their cargo pocket and declare the G26 a "pocket" pistol. Other people stuff an "ultra" compact 9mm in their front pocket and even though its bulging out all over and sticking out the top - it's a pocket pistol and no one can say otherwise. We know the R9 is a true pocket nine. I'm comfortable walking with it, sitting down and standing back up, driving, seat belt on, whatever - it's very comfortable.
I think only people on this forum would understand this but my favorite thing about the R9 is just carrying it. I forget it's there, it doesn't poke me, it doesn't weigh my pants down, but I know I have 7 rounds of potent 9mm conflict-stoppers if I should need them.
Well the first thing I did was read the manual and field strip the firearm. I then inspected it (fit & finish were excellent). I then cleaned it. It wasn't dirty so this really only amounted to wiping off the factory oil. I then lubed it in the spots that the manual called for. I used Tri-flow oil for everything except the end of the barrel, and under the barrel - inside the link. (I think it's called a link?) On the end of the barrel and inside the link I used a tiny bit of Lubriplate SFL-0.
I had a really tough time reassembling it. In my clean workspace, I dropped and lost the retaining pin twice. It took me 10 or so minutes to find it the second time, I thought it went down a vent but i did eventually find it. I am guessing it took me 30 or so minutes to get the pistol back together.
Although I've gotten better at it since, I really need this tool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xJ9Fv0P6YI went to the range and fired a box of 124gr Gold Dots. It went through the 50 rounds without a hitch and that's important to me. My plan is to just use 124 gr Gold Dots for the first 100 rounds. I also have 124gr Lawman which I will use. When I get past 250 rounds of the 124gr stuff I plan to test out Winchester Ranger "T" Series 147gr JHPs - RA9T. I'm really hoping my R9 likes those rounds because I like the way they perform in the FBI tests and the 4 layer denim engineering protocol. But the first 100 rounds will be 124gr Gold Dots, followed by Lawman 124gr TMJs.
The recoil is snappy with this little pistol, my trigger finger got twacked quite a bit and it wasn't fun to shoot, but I didn't buy it as a range toy. I purchased some batting gloves just for shooting the R9 and I wore one glove over my shooting hand for the range session.
I used a thumbs forward grip and I don't have it all quite worked out yet. I had to readjust my grip each time and I was very slow for follow up shots. I actually do better with follow up shots firing one handed, and at close distances I'm sure it would be better for me to fire it one handed. But anyway, firing with a Weaver stance and thumbs forward grip - slow fire at 15 yards I was able to keep 5-shot groups under 2" which I'm happy with for the first time out with this pistol.
I'm mainly happy that the little pistol fired 50 trouble-free rounds, that is the most important thing for me right now. When I got home from the range I cleaned it, it cleans up fairly easy. I was surprised how much fifty rounds smoothed the pistol out. The herky-jerky clink-ka-chink was gone. Pulling the slide back and chambering a Snap-Cap was much much smoother. I suspect it will only get smoother with use.
I have a Nemesis holster for it, and one of the things I am experiencing is that the R9 comes out of my pocket still wearing its holster. I may be able to learn to brush the holster off on the draw, it may just be this particular pair of jeans - they are old and they had a relaxed fit to begin with. Or I may need to purchase one of those really high quality leather pocket holsters from the top-notch holster makers listed in various posts on this forum, we'll see.
