First impressions

Just received my XR9-S this week and thought I'd share my first impressions.

First of all, I have to say that this is one incredibly beautiful piece of engineering work! Not only is it beautiful to look at, it's also beautiful to hold. The weight, the balance, everything. I just love it, and so does everyone else who has seen it.

I took it to the range this morning to run it through its paces. As has already been pointed out, you really have to pull back hard on the slide to get that first round to seat properly in the barrel (I also had to push on the back of the slide to get it all the way closed; I assume this is just because everything is so tight out of the box).

First shot fired perfectly (and straight, I might add) but the shell casing failed to eject and I had to rack it back to get it to fall out. The second round loaded fine and ejected fine, but when the slide cycled on the third round, the case and bullet separated and I ended up with gun powder all over the place. I tried a couple more times but had the same problems. The ammo I was using was Federal Champion 115g FMJ. I even tried another box of the same ammo but the problems continued. (BTW, this stuff works flawlessly in my Beretta PX4 Storm.)

I then switched to an even less expensive bulk Winchester 115g FMJ ammo and the gun ate it up with absolutely no problem (other than the first round in a fresh magazine which needed another bit of a shove on the slide to get it to seat properly).

After about 100 rnds I can honestly say that this is one of the sweetest guns I have ever shot. The accuracy is impressive, the felt recoil is amazingly light. What can I say . . . I love it. But, unlike most other "traditional" semi-automatic pistols I've owned and/or fired, it is definitely picky about what ammo it likes and dislikes.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any of my defensive ammo with me this morning to test (I use Hornady Critical Defense) and, based on my experience this morning, would definitely not want to trust my life to this gun until I had fully tested it with that ammo (I know, that rule applies to any gun!). But I think it's especially important with the XR9-S.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John G. Byers on February 18, 2012 at 1:06pm

Read the ammo threads...the Bb prefers quality crimped ammo, brass casings. I just got back from the range an hour ago after receiving my Boberg shorty yesterday. I guess I'm used to racking heavier slides so no problem getting the first round into battery.

First loaded 147 gr. Golden Sabres. Fired weaver aimed quick fire from 6 yards. First 7 rounds fired at center mass on perp target and one was on the X, 4 were in the 9/10 ring areas and one in 7 ring with one flyer in 6. Fired the last shot rapidly at the head and put it centered just under where the nose would be. I was impressed!

Then fired 2 mags each of Winchester 115 Silvertips, Speer Lawman 115, Spear 147 Gold Dots, Hornady 115 Critical Defense, RMC Bronze JHP 115, all with absolutely no issues. All fed, all fired. I liked the Sabres and the Gold Dots best. The Critical defense seemed to make bigger holes in the paper/cardboard for some reason...wouldn't have thought that they would expand that much more quickly.

Also tried Black Hills 115 FMJ subsonic. Next to last round in the mag failed to feed. This pistol does not seem to be all that fastidious and pretty much ate anything that I put through it. If I'm not carrying my .45, this will be my primary carry with the Rohrbaugh R9 Covert backup (or Seecamp .32 depending on clothing).

John

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Permalink Reply by Arne Boberg on February 18, 2012 at 1:41pm

I haven't tried the Black Hills FMJ subsonic. I'm guessing that with the gun brand new, the locking lugs are not fully broken in and are somewhat tight. You may be able to feed this ammo later on.

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Permalink Reply by harvey schonwald on February 18, 2012 at 2:20pm

i agree with the above comments. received it thursday, put 200 rounds downrange this morning. initially speer lawman 115 had two ftfs, but after another 100 rounds no problemas using: magtech guardian 124 jhp, remington umc 147, remington golden sabre +p 124 jhp, fiocchi 115 jhp, aguila 124, ppuc (prvi partizan) 124, federal american eagle 115, and lawman 115 (vide supra). ate them all, with only problem early on, and my failure to rack hard enough initially.

comments: thumb hurts from loading rounds into magazine--not used to this gun and "tenderfoot" thumb

trigger finger a little sore--not used to double action trigger yet

the hammer pivot pin, part #44, crept out several times, and i had to keep pushing it back with the flat of a screwdriver. any way of permanently correcting this problem? i am reticent to hitting it with hammer and steel dowel.

btw, i am going to echo what others have said about this web site. worthless comments/occ opinions aside, the amount of information about guns/this gun/bullets/ballistics, etc., is impressive. the "care and feeding" of each customer and response to the inevitable problems which are encountered is likewise impressive, from office staff to the chief cook and bottle washer himself. koudos.

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Permalink Reply by John G. Byers on February 18, 2012 at 6:58pm

Need to correct my range report from this a.m.....was thinking about rifle sighting targets. On a human torso "perp" target, of the 7 rounds fired from 8 (not 6) yards, 4 were in the center (X ring), two were in the 10 ring and one flyer was in the 9 ring. The head shot was perhaps 2" below my aim, but dead center and would have gone up a nostril. Impressive accuracy for rapid fire off the front sight. Just love this pistol. Another 100 rounds (50 Gold Dot, 25 Golden Sabre and 25 Critical Defense and I'll start to carry. Will likely settle on the Gold Dots for carry. Didn't have a problem with the hammer pivot pin, but will watch for this when I next go to the range. Agree with the impressive input from "himself", which would be worth another $500 even if the pistol wasn't (BUT IT IS !!!).

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Permalink Reply by Arne Boberg on February 18, 2012 at 8:20pm

For now, you could de-grease the hammer pin and frame hole with alcohol and super-glue it. Inevitably, we can "upgrade" your receiver by adding the new set screw with grooved pin, which is our new design moving forward.

harvey schonwald said:

i agree with the above comments. received it thursday, put 200 rounds downrange this morning. initially speer lawman 115 had two ftfs, but after another 100 rounds no problemas using: magtech guardian 124 jhp, remington umc 147, remington golden sabre +p 124 jhp, fiocchi 115 jhp, aguila 124, ppuc (prvi partizan) 124, federal american eagle 115, and lawman 115 (vide supra). ate them all, with only problem early on, and my failure to rack hard enough initially.

comments: thumb hurts from loading rounds into magazine--not used to this gun and "tenderfoot" thumb

trigger finger a little sore--not used to double action trigger yet

the hammer pivot pin, part #44, crept out several times, and i had to keep pushing it back with the flat of a screwdriver. any way of permanently correcting this problem? i am reticent to hitting it with hammer and steel dowel.

btw, i am going to echo what others have said about this web site. worthless comments/occ opinions aside, the amount of information about guns/this gun/bullets/ballistics, etc., is impressive. the "care and feeding" of each customer and response to the inevitable problems which are encountered is likewise impressive, from office staff to the chief cook and bottle washer himself. koudos.

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Permalink Reply by Harry Truman on February 19, 2012 at 10:21pm

I think you'll find both of these things will get lighten up and get easier with increased use. That's been my experience! 8-)

harvey schonwald said:

comments: thumb hurts from loading rounds into magazine--not used to this gun and "tenderfoot" thumb

trigger finger a little sore--not used to double action trigger yet

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Permalink Reply by Paul Koning on February 20, 2012 at 3:30pm

Wouldn't blue (low strength) Loctite be better? That wouldn't require a torch to break loose.

Arne Boberg said:

For now, you could de-grease the hammer pin and frame hole with alcohol and super-glue it. Inevitably, we can "upgrade" your receiver by adding the new set screw with grooved pin, which is our new design moving forward.