Very Impressed with Boberg Arms CEO

[TheTman]

I've been in email contact with Arne Boberg, the cheif engineer of the Boberg XR9 pistol, and CEO of his company. He is a super nice guy and comes across as a very sincere man with a lot of integrity. Can you imagine Justin Moon answering your email? Thats about what this is like.
I asked when I could expect my pistol, and they said they get a new batch of parts in next week and would beging assembling my XR9S. He was curious as to what Kahrtalk had to say about his pistol, so I gave him a few links to some discussions of the gun. The gun he is producing is I guess the 10th generation of the pistol he's been working on for several years, and should have the bugs pretty much worked out. I can't think of anyone else that has devoted that much time to developing a pistol, although the complexity of his design would require above average testing time. I'm hoping to get my gun sometime in January or early February, and will post a full range report and impression of the gun. Arne says that he expects each and every pistol to perform well out of the box, but I told him I still want 200-500 trouble free rounds before I consider it for carry. I'm just amazed that the actual CEO took time to respond to an email that I sent to his shipping/order person. Of course he was curious what Kahrtalk was saying about his pistol, so he did have a motive, but it was still a very cool deal.

[Thunder71]

That's pretty cool!

I did read that Kahr spent 2 years just trying to develop a special trigger for the NYPD, pretty crazy when you think about it.

[Barth]

Reading that Kahr spent a lot of time and effort designing and testing the MK40 was a large part of what convinced me to try one out.
Apparently the slide wasn't heavy enough for a 40 on the initial test models.
Then they still had recoil spring problems.
Finally deciding on paying to use the patented captured dual recoil design of Seecamp.

A some of other manufacturers would have likely went a faster and cheaper route to production.

Kahr does produce superior products.
Quality does cost money.
I get concerned when price starts driving products.
Particularly firearms.

[Bawanna]

I've mentioned it before but back in the days when I could still hear I called Ruger about a 45 Colt Blackhawk that I blew the cylinder out of. (My Fault).

None other than William Bannerman Ruger himself answered the phone. To say that I was awestruck was a massive understatement. We spoke for 20 minutes or so and he said he liked to spend time in all the departments from time to time and that day he was working the phones.

He had me send the gun in and he replaced the cylinder and refinished the entire gun, it was very well worn. "NO Charge". Said it wasn't their fault and suspected reloads which I had told him initially was the cause. Damn PO Ackerly and his triplex loads anyhow.

One of the significant highlights of my life.

[TheTman]

I did spend about 20 minutes on the phone one day with Arne, and he was very upfront with the production problems that were delaying them shipping out their guns. It was mostly small stuff, things not fitting just right or some of the sights he ordered had the white dots coming off after a short period, but big enough he wouldn't ship out the guns until they passed his specifications. The guy is super nice, and talking to him really makes a guy want to see him and his company suceed. I believe that he has really put his gun through the tests, altering the design at least 9 times before he has his "10th" generation pistol being shipped out.
I think he is going to give Rohrbaugh a real run for the money in the high priced small 9mm category. He is going to add a more conventional looking pistol to his line up as soon as is fiscally possible. I believe it will have a 4 inch or longer barrel in a package that would typically hold a 3 inch barrel, and I think he has an even smaller pistol in the works also. The public wanted the XR9S the most so he listened and chose that model to begin releasing to the public. I have to say the man has a lot of intestinal fortitude to open a new gun business in today's anti gun polictcal climate, but he's backlogged with orders and we probably won't see any on a dealers shelves for at least a year or so. Right now he can only make batches of a couple hundred, but I hope to see that change as he adds products and is able to buy more machinery. I like the fact that it's an aluminum framed gun, that won't flex as much as the poly framed guns, so it should be more forgiving of limp wristing and such. Unfortunately no laser companies have got on board yet, I guess they'd have to use a laser grip since there isn't much room to hang a laser off the front end. I think once he's sold a couple thousand pistols, that maybe CTL will climb on board and make a laser grip for it. At least he does have holster makers lined up to accomadate pocket carry and IWB/OWB carry.

[muggsy]

I've mentioned it before but back in the days when I could still hear I called Ruger about a 45 Colt Blackhawk that I blew the cylinder out of. (My Fault).

None other than William Bannerman Ruger himself answered the phone. To say that I was awestruck was a massive understatement. We spoke for 20 minutes or so and he said he liked to spend time in all the departments from time to time and that day he was working the phones.

He had me send the gun in and he replaced the cylinder and refinished the entire gun, it was very well worn. "NO Charge". Said it wasn't their fault and suspected reloads which I had told him initially was the cause. Damn PO Ackerly and his triplex loads anyhow.

One of the significant highlights of my life.

P.O. Ackerly ruined quite a few guns with his hot loads. :)

[Popeye]

Sounds like you've created a good repour with them.
Can't wait to hear the range report. Good Luck

[CJB]

I still dont know why anyone would want the complexity of a Browning long recoil pistol.... but to each their own.

I saw it done to a Beretta 84... by a machinest from Sensormatic (in Deerfield Beach when they were there). His worked great, but it was just a neat sort of techo feather in the hat.

At some point, we just want the gun to go bang when we want it to, not go bang when we dont, and reasonably be able to hit targets of moderate size. Kahr does that well.

[TheTman]

I agree, Kahrs do the job well, as do many other small pistols. I have 2 Kahrs that do a great job, and just want something different. The Boberg just happens to be a pistol I want. I like the fact it has a metal frame, that won't flex like a poly frame gun. The small size and little bit extra punch it packs for it's size is a goood thing. The added complexity of the feeding system might seem overly complicated, but we'll just have to see how the pistol holds up over time. I think that the design has been tested thouroughly before it's being release to the public. This is the 10th generation of the pistol, each generation being tweaked for greater reliability. I don't know of many other guns that have had such extensive testing.
Many people question why we want our "finicky" Kahrs. The answer is, because we want them and they meet our needs. I really do expect this pistol to go bang when I want it too and not go off when I don't want it too, just the same as our Kahrs, and from reports I've read it seems plenty accurate for the job it is intended for. I believe it is a pistol that will meet my needs very well. The owners that have gotten them so far have posted very good reports on the pistol, and I haven't seen anything negative from someone that actually owns one yet. Mr. Boberg said his goal is a pistol that is reliable right out of the box. That may be, but like all of my semi's I won't trust mine for carry until I get at least a couple hundred trouble free rounds down range.