Got my Boberg Arms XR9-S pre order form.

[JFootin]

Thak you, aphead, for the explanation! That's too cool!

[TheTman]

I think he's aiming at the Rohrburg crowd. He's sold everyone he's made so for, but that's only a couple hundred. it has a 3.35 barrel compared to the 3" barrel on the PM/CM9. People that have got their hands on one really like them. I think after we see the waiting list filled the pistol will jump to over a grand. People are already buying extras and selling them on the auction sites for twice what they paid for them and people are buying them. I agree that 300 some is a lot to pay for 1/3 extra inches of barrel, over a PM9. It should also compete well against the MK9, about $100 more, but it too has a metal frame, plus the extra barrel length.
Can't help it, I just want one, you all know how that goes.
I think it's a cool design and I'll have a chance get low serial number. Should be a great collector's item.
Those bumpfire devices are cool but I don't have anything to use them with. I don't think they fit the MAK90 do they?
I just placed my order via phone, and got to talk to Mr. Boberg himself. What a positive guy he is, was very upfront about the problems they've had with the early production guns, all very minor stuff, like the paint coming off the sights, and some pins backing out of their hole, very small things but it was really a pleasure to speak with him. Imgagine calling Kahr and getting to talk to Mr. Moon. Bad side was the 9 week wait or more, while they are waiting on parts. I just have to say I was very impressed with his attitude about customer satisfaction and his goal of making a pistol that won't have to return to the mothership.

[FTG2Voge]

I'm on the list and the "Gun Fund" is set.:-)

[John43]

I read an article on them sometime ago and they were having problems with the metal cracking or some kind of metal problem.

[Deano]

Resurrecting this thread. It's been over 90 days now. Any range reports?

[muggsy]

I got my official pre-order form for the XR9-S from Boberg Arms today. They want to charge my credit card 949.00 in the next two days, with the pistol taking up to 9 weeks to appear at my FFL. That is something I normally would never go for. A lot can happen in 9 weeks. I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow. I have a buyer for my LC9 and can probably unload the DB9 for what I paid for it. That would provide most of the funds needed.
I guess I'm looking at it as an investment in something that may prove to be an oddity in a few years. Sometimes those pay off, othertimes not.
Some are buying 2 and selling the other on the Auction sites for about twice what they paid for it, thereby getting their pistol for free.

For the money I'd buy two CM9s and a couple of boxes of ammo.

[TheTman]

I have 2 Kahrs, thought I'd give something else a chance. This little thing is smaller than a CM9 and fits well in my pocket. It's about the size of a P380, but has 9mm +P firepower. Expensive ... yeah, but I got a serial number under 200, that should be a consideration for a colllector if I ever sell it, which I'm not likely to do, since it's a damn fine pistol. Some folks pay $1200+ for a Rohrbaugh, which is not meant to be shot much, but with the Boberg you can shoot all you want and it will hold up fine. Plus it's metal framed and not polymer, which I like a lot. It does have some faults, spare mags aren't available yet, you're stuck with the two it comes with, and if you don't rack the slide vigoursly to chamber the first round you can get it jammed which is a kind of a bear to get straightened out, but overall, it's a very well made pistol, with no FTF or FTE in the first 300 rounds or so, not quite as accurate as my Kahrs, still getting used to the trigger, but everything is in the 7 ring or better on the small sillohoutte. It does bean you in the forehead occaisonaly when using SD loads, so am going to start wearing a ballcap when I shoot it. And you need to make sure your ammo has a good crimp or adhesive on the bullet so it doesn't separate when the tongs pull the bullet out of the rear of the mag.

[TheTman]

Someone asked about a range report, I've only taken it out twice due to circumstances, but it had no failures of any kind, when firing from the mag. I got the first round hung up a couple times by not racking the slide hard enough to chamber the first round and got it jammed up, and it's kind of a bear to fix that, until I found the secret of nudging the round up inline with the chamber and letting the slide snap shut. 6 inch groups at 7-10 yards are what I was getting. I expect that to decrease as the trigger smooths out. I I've been dry firing it quite a bit and can feel the trigger smoothing out, getting close to Kahr like. Still is a little heavier though. The recoil is pretty soft for such a small gun, it has the rotating barrel to help with the recoil. Still I want to set it down after a close to 200 rounds, unless I have my ace bandage on my wrist, then I can go another 50-100 rounds. That's the wrist I broke once and arthritis has set in. I'm very happy with my purchase, wish it was less expensive though.

[TheTman]

Woo Hoo, they came out with the bump fire for the AK now! Gonna get me soma that.

[Deano]

Someone asked about a range report, I've only taken it out twice due to circumstances, but it had no failures of any kind, when firing from the mag. I got the first round hung up a couple times by not racking the slide hard enough to chamber the first round and got it jammed up, and it's kind of a bear to fix that, until I found the secret of nudging the round up inline with the chamber and letting the slide snap shut. 6 inch groups at 7-10 yards are what I was getting. I expect that to decrease as the trigger smooths out. I I've been dry firing it quite a bit and can feel the trigger smoothing out, getting close to Kahr like. Still is a little heavier though. The recoil is pretty soft for such a small gun, it has the rotating barrel to help with the recoil. Still I want to set it down after a close to 200 rounds, unless I have my ace bandage on my wrist, then I can go another 50-100 rounds. That's the wrist I broke once and arthritis has set in. I'm very happy with my purchase, wish it was less expensive though.

Thanks for the report. So is the size difference enough to make it significantly better than a CM9 for pocket carry? I'd pay a good bit to get a gun as reliable as my kahr, but with the same firepower, and a smaller frame. It looks to me like the frame on this is shorter but wider. Have you tried this one in the pocket?

[TheTman]

I've never handled a CM/PM 9 or had one in the pocket so can't really compare, I know it does fit well and comes out easily enough, and the extra 1/3 inch of barrel makes a little bit of difference in penetration. The slide is about the same width as my CW40, .95", but with no with no slide release to get hung up on stuff. The take down lever fits flush into the frame in a little place cut out for it. If the CM9 fits your in pocket, this should fit equally well except it's probably a bit wider, more like a CM40 would be. I think it will probably still be awhile before it makes it to dealers though. There was quite a big backlog of orders to fill.

To whomever commented about putting your finger on the trigger guard and blowing your fingertip off, thats for damn sure, I never got into the habit of putting my off hand finger in front of the trigger guard so that wasn't a problem for me, but they do warn you not to attempt to hold it like that.

One thing you have to contend with on the Boberg that never comes up on other brands, is that you have to make sure you buy ammo with a good crimp, or the bullet can separate from the brass when the tongs pull it out of the magazine. My pistol came with a big piece of paper laying across the gun saying not to use Federal's inexpensive ammo from Walmart because of separation problems. I'd say the quality is on par with Kahr, or any other established manufacturer. I've been following the progress quite awhile, and I think he was on generation 7 of the prototype, and it's been a couple years since then before it deemed it ready for the public with generation 10. I don't see testing like that done on too many other pocket pistols, seems like most are rushed into production and they let the public beta test them.

[jocko]

probably 4 or 500 hundred bobergs out there will give one a better indication of what is and what isn't.

[JFootin]

That model overdoes it with the barrel ending at the front of the trigger guard. The original pistol had a longer barrel and looked more like a typical subcompact handgun. I was a bit puzzled by his decision to bring out the one with the extreme nose job first. Of course, the original wouldn't be as pocketable, so I guess that was a consideration.

[TheTman]

J, he went with what the forum members wanted him to produce first. I agree it is a funny looking thing, but after carrying it awhile, you start appreciating the compact size, and it begins to not look so weird. After he gets done filling orders for the shorty, I guess he's gonna get back to work on the bigger one with a 4.5" barrel. Hard to say, people are wanting all black ones, and this or that customized, and he likes to listen to the customers so who knows what will be next. I'm kind of guessing he'll go with the black version, since he's already tested some coatings out, then start on the longer barreled version. Plus he's working on a Canadian version, which has different legalities than the US version, I think the barrel has to be longer or overall length increased or something.

Jocko, not sure he has 500 out the door yet, lemme see... he was shooting for 200 a month starting in January, I got say number 200, so if he's on track they should be getting close if he hasn't reached it. Major complaints, are getting beaned on the head by ejected cartridges, some light strikes, (I guess they put the wrong spring on some of the firing pins), and the cartridges separating on some brands of ammo. Some were having problems with the gun getting stuck open, and he had to figure out what was going on with that and tell folks how to fix it. And the usual stuff, some want it all black, some want this, some want that, I want laser grips, and I imagine they won't be available for a long time. Very few complaints about the gun malfunctioning, with the firing pin spring being the biggest deal so far.
Not bad for a brand new gun from a brand new manufacturer. I believe he really has tested the hell out of the thing so their wouldn't be problems, he told me on the phone that he's aiming for "glock perfection" right out of the box, with no break in period or anything, just take it out of the box, load er up and have fun. (Thats exactly what I did, no prep or anything) He was curious as to how KahrTalk members were reacting to the gun, so I sent him some threads.
I finally did take it apart to have a closer look, and everything appears to be pretty robust, except the guide rod is kind of long and skinny, about the diameter of an 8 penny nail or so, but seems to do the job. And the recoil spring is skinny and long, which he says is a benefit compared to a little short spring crammed under the 2.5" inch barrel on some of the competition. He says he's run over 5,000 rounds on one spring. The magazine is a little weird, it has no baseplate, it's not needed to hold the action open when the gun is empty, as you'd have to close the action to cycle a new round in anyway. The last round is a little hard to insert. With the baseplate flat on a table, the mag leans forwards at about a 75 degree angle, making it a little difficult to get good leverage. Haven't tried my uplula on it yet. And it sure is weird putting the rounds in backwards.
It is pretty soft shooting for such a compact gun, but I noticed I was getting tired of shooting it after 150 rounds or so, with the last couple mags being Hydra Shoks. I didn't wrap my wrist up with the ace bandage, so maybe that was it. So I shot a few mags of .22 out of the Buckmark, and then finished getting my 200+ rounds in. Haven't shot it a lot since, mostly just a couple mags out of the barn.
I haven't built a new backstop yet so I'm not shooting very much out there until I get the new berm built up. The starter went out on my tractor, so haven't been able to use the front loader to move the dirt around like I wanted too. Need to get that fixed as the bush hog is my mower for the time being. Luckily I don't live where the manicured lawns are a big deal.
Why does every post I write turn into a damned book? Oh, cause I don't have a wife bitching at me to get off the computer and do something useful.

[ORSalesRep]

Have to admit that I want one, but I hate waiting. I am a "type A," instant gratification S.O.B. I ordered a Wilson Combat at the end of December, but canceled it shortly after, because I couldn't handle the 9-12 month wait. Luckily I found a new one at a local Master Dealer which was almost the exact build I had ordered in the first place.
Question on the Boberg...I noticed that dimensionally it is a similar size to the P380, although significantly heavier. Is it a lot thicker too?