Extractor Removal?

[jh225]

I have a new to me R9 and while the disassembly is pretty much the same as a 1911, I want to strip the gun down and clean/check everything.

I am however, in need of a little info on this guns extractor removal. I am used to internal extractors, can anyone tell me the steps on removing the R9 external extractor?

[tattoo]

I would say impossible.  Getting one together is an act of congress.  Removing one no clue. 

[MikeInTexas]

I second tatoos comment.

Darn near impossible for the layman.

I tried for a few hours before I gave up.  IIRC it will involve a specialized tool that they had at the factory, or a drill that will permanently modify your slide.



By The Way, welcome to the forum.
.

[tattoo]

I second tatoos comment.

Darn near impossible for the layman.

I tried for a few hours before I gave up.  IIRC it will involve a specialized tool that they had at the factory, or a drill that will permanently modify your slide.... I didn't want to modify myself but you could drill pin hole from the bottom in order to make the pin hole the same size. Then you could remove the pin with a punch. " the bottom of the extractor hole is smaller than the top.  If that makes sense. 
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[tattoo]

Ps I had to buy 30 extractor pins in order to get the order shipped. I wanted the nice ss pin.  Lol

[ECR]

We had a special jig to hold the extractor in place in the slide while we used a 1/16" flat punch to install the SS pin that holds it in. Now, the real tricky part is the removal of the pin! Again, a special tool. We took a 1/16" flat punch and ground it down so it was 50% ground from the side, making it look like a half-moon. THAT is the trick of getting those little pins out.

Good Luck if you feel the need to do it. It can be done without the jig to install a new pin, but you will need a third hand to do it.

[jh225]

First off, sorry for the triple post, but I got an error message 3 times. Didn't even realize a single one worked until just now when I pulled up the forums.  :

As for the extractor question, thank you for the replies.

Eric,
Was there a particular reason for this design? Reason I asked the original question and why I question the thought process is this..... I am a 1911 guy.

Being such, when I break down a 1911 for general cleaning, I pull the firing pin and the extractor (internal) as there is a tremendous amount of burnt powder and general crud that gets into the extractor channel

. Now most people don't go that far for general cleaning, but if they knew just how much crud is in there, many probably would go that far.

Now, I don't have any external extractor 1911's, but I do know there is a certain process to remove one, and I would imagine it doesn't involve grinding tools and such. 

So, as a new Rorbaugh owner (and I freakin' love how small this thing is), I am trying to learn as much as possible about it, hence the original question.

Thanks

[ECR]

Well now Mr. JH. . . . There is a reason the design is the way it is. The extractor on the slide has to be where it is located and if you have a look inside of your slide, you will notice that the hole we had to drill for the extractor pin is in a precarious spot. When the CNC machine drills that hole for the pin, halfway through the slide it opens up to an unsupported area, where if we were to continue to drill through, so you could use a standard 1/16” round flat nosed punch for the task of removing the pin, there would not be any material on one half of the drill bit and it would be sliding off the work to the side and break off once the upper part of that extractor pin hole was drilled and we continued to cut the metal on the slide so that we could use a standard flat pin for the removal of the extractor pin. Tough to explain here, but I hope you grasp the idea. Anyway, hence the filing down and making of a special takedown tool for that job. Specialty firearms sometimes require specialty tools. When you make things big, they are much more forgiving to manufacture. When things get “miniaturized”, all bets are off and you have to get creative in the processes. The way we did that area works, so that’s simply what we ended up with. 

[jh225]

Thank you Sir, that makes a lot of sense. What also makes sense is that when you miniature things, there is less room to place things. As I said, I am big into 1911's and tend to think of things using that platform as a base. Shrink that 1911 frame down to R9 size and things change pretty quick.

On a side note, I can't believe how much smaller and easier to pocket carry the R9 is than the Kahr PM9 I have carried for years. Heck, the R9 is a lost inside of a PM9 sized Sticky/Remora type holster. I can put the R9 inside a P3AT sized holster which is amazing for a 9mm.

I'm really liking this little gun.   

[ECR]

I am happy to hear such things JH.

Carry on now.   Ha haa . . . . .

Eric R.

[Griff]

This is an interesting conversation that leads me to ask if we should be cleaning the interior hard to reach parts with Gunscrubber spray or some other method?  If so, how so, and how often?

[ECR]

When some R9s came in for warranty work, I would take the firing pin out and it was always relatively clean in there, so I would say not necessary there, however, if shot a lot, the extractor would get dirty, but I was always able to clean it up without removing it from the slide. . . . . other times, I would remove it just to be sure and I would install a fresh extractor spring while I was in there.  ;-)

Eric R.

[jh225]

When some R9s came in for warranty work, I would take the firing pin out and it was always relatively clean in there, so I would say not necessary there, however, if shot a lot, the extractor would get dirty, but I was always able to clean it up without removing it from the slide. . . . . other times, I would remove it just to be sure and I would install a fresh extractor spring while I was in there.  ;-)

Eric R.

Exactly. Hence why I asked the original question.

As Eric said, there is rarely gunk in the firing pin slot. There is always gunk in the extractor slot (much more so with a 1911 as a person generally fires many more rounds through a 1911 than an R9), which is pretty hard to get out without removing the extractor.

Now in theory, as long as you clean the gunk off of the extractor tip, you should be OK, but I would still very much prefer to remove it for thorough cleaning.

In the end, don't mind me as I am just thinking out loud. 

[PhilZ]

Are the tolerances too tight to use compressed air to blow out the debris?

[jh225]

Are the tolerances too tight to use compressed air to blow out the debris?

I don't see how air would get into the channel with the extractor in place, so no, I don't imagine that would work. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try.