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RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2019 10:08 pm
by tdbru
mid last week i picked up the showroom rp9 locally. last one they had.
read manual, disassembled it (difficult) and cleaned it and relubed it.
ran 100+ rounds of 124gr. FMJ + some xtphp reloads. - no issues on functioning at all. accuracy was so-so, but that may be me. each one of the boxes ended up in 6" group at 25 yards resting the butt of the handgun on a sandbag. that's 50 round group. likely a better shot would do better.
after 100+ rounds field stripping was easy. something got a little more broke in i suspect.
Sunday PM i ran another 200+ rounds of 124 and 147 gr. fmj and hps including Golden saber and pdx1.
had one bobble. slide locked back with 1 round still in the mag. pulled the slide back and it chambered fine. not sure what that was about. wrt the mags, getting round 17 and 18 in was hard on my thumb. today i picked up a upLULA. group sizes with the various ammos + more of my reloads still averaged 6" at 25 yards with the butt of the pistol on a sandbag for a whole box. not sure if this it "normal" or not. or if i'm just a lousy shot, which is possible.

impressions: great value. full size auto. good reliability. sights were dead on for a 6 o'clock hold with Rem 124gr. umc. other types/brands tended to group in different locations. left. lower right, etc. trigger was, out of the box, surprisingly good for the genre. being striker fired there was some takeup that was a light pull, then it "hit the wall" as you increased pressure until the shot broke. overtravel was minimal. reset was tactile and not overly long. unloaded with ear plugs out and muffs off the reset is also audible. trigger gauge said 4 lbs. 15oz. +/- 1.5 oz. after the first 100 rounds. haven't measured it since. gripping surfaces seemed about right for the tradeoff between control and skin abrasion. no side to side slide wiggle at the rear frame rail points. front frame rail points had some side to side wiggle. mag release isn't too hard to press and the mags drop freely from the mag well.

looking at the guts, i think i've identified the spring that controls the trigger pull weight. looks simple to change out. it's a tension spring. not sure if i'll bother yet or not, though a lighter trigger pull might improve my accuracy with it. one thing i do want to put on order is some trijicon sights. i think Rem carries them. and a good holster would be nice. i stuck it in an uncle mikes #5 sidekick, but it's too tight for easy insertion or draw. anyone know of a good holster for this one?

what would i like different? well since this is a full size or duty size auto, i'd personally like a 5" tube and slide as the longer sight radius might help my accuracy and the longer barrel would definitely bump up the velocity. would likely shoot even softer. recoil was minimal as is so no big deal. and of course more accurate would please me, but it might be due to my shooting so i'll practice some more.

it is fun to shoot. and after 200 + rounds, the action wasn't too dirty. couple of q-tips and a little solvent and the action was pretty clean. pulled a bore snake through the barrel several times and call it done.

some of the reviews i've read said the barrel and slide are stainless. i posted a question about that to big green and was told they are not. just has that coating on it. pvd or something like that.

as my eyes get older, i might look into a plate that would replace the rear sight in the dove tail on the slide to allow mounting some of the "red dot" type sights. or not. not sure yet.

all in all an outstanding value, and so far reliability has been very good. not perfect, due to that one issue, but in 300+ rounds on a NEW pistol... i'm not too worried. i've issues on many other pistols i've had through the years when they were new out of the box too.

this will make a great utility & woods bumming & night stand & plinking 9mm. it's not a match pistol.

one thing i forgot to mention, i put the medium back strap on it. i just now thought that perhaps i should go group the RP9 trying each one. perhaps that might shrink groups when i get the best of the three on it. which i won't know until i try. oh darn. back to the range with more ammo (LOL).
-tdbru

Re: RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2019 10:38 pm
by MarkS20
It is a fine pistol. I was leaving the range one day and the counter guy noticed the target I was bringing home. He said great grouping and I asked what I was shooting. I told him believe it or not a RP9. His response was "Just goes to show that you don't need an expensive pistol to shootwell."

Mine took about 150 to 200 rounds to settle in. It got a little wonky with magazine seating but it hadn't been cleaned in a while. All good now.

-- Mark

Re: RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:01 pm
by tdbru
after over 500 rounds, the trigger is now pulling at 4lbs. 9oz. with a short tactile and audible reset. actually it's a pretty decent out of the box trigger for a striker fired pistol.

the trigger is not a limiter to accurate shooting, though again, it's not a single stage national match trigger either :-)

and the RP9 is way fun to shoot. no further issues of any kind. 100% functionality.

now if i could just find a good holster for it..
-tdbru

Re: RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:15 am
by MarkS20
Mission First Tactical has a very nice OWB Kydex like holster. They say it's a different plastic than Kydex and it does feel different.

-- Mark

Re: RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 10:55 pm
by tdbru
thanks Mark for the suggestion. i'll look into it.
-tdbru

Re: RP9 initial evaluation

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:25 pm
by MarkS20
Alien Gear also has RP9 holster options.

-- Mark