Dad's Old Gun - RG38 - German Made

[btefft]

Dad's Old Gun - RG38 - German Made

We had Thanksgiving at my parents' house and somehow got on the subject of old guns.

Daddy produced a gun that had been in a leather holster for, I guess, 10 years. The leather had stuck to the revolver and when I first looked, I said, "Crap Dad, have you ever cleaned this thing - he didn't even remember having it.

His house gun is a Ruger P85 and it looked maintained. I took the old gun home and gave it a thorough cleaning - it cleaned up pretty good (I wish I had taken a "before" pic)

From my research, so far, it appears to be held in pretty low esteem by many. However, the ones I've come across so far have been blued, this one appears to be stainless steel.

Here are some details: On the left side of the barrel is stamped ROHM GMBR SONTHEIM/BRENZ. Beneath that is stamped (centered) CAL 38 SPEZIAL (yep, with a Z).

On the right side of the barrel is stamped MADE IN GERMANY.

I think the hand grip is plastic (wood grained). At the top on the left grip is a stamp, RG38, and on the right is a stamp "ROHM".

I weighed it, and empty, it weighs 2 lbs. Should be mild recoil with 38 Specials. It holds six rounds.

I read that pre-1968 RG38s have no serial number, but this gun was one on the bottom of the frame beneath the grips - 902xx. So, I guess this one was made after 1968.

Here are some pics:







I'm looking forward to shooting it with 38 Spls, no +P.

Any know anything about this old gun?

Hack

 

[Piedmont Plinker]

Yeah. It's not worth much. If you must shoot it, use only the mildest loads, or it might explode in your hand.
These were the definitive Saturday Night Specials back in the day- cheaper than Lorcin cheap. That said, they make on the low side of okay beaters, and it might shoot okay.
So shoot it with mild power loads. If you can hit the target, keep it. If you can't, give it to a police buyback and get $50 for it.

 

[xstuntman]

A co-worker has the same gun in an all steel blued snub. Shoots reasonably well and looks darn nice. I've heard that the higher numbered RG's like yours were better in quality than the lower model numbers that weren't all steel. Mike

 

[rondog]

Ewww. Sorry man, those aren't the finest things to ever come out of Germany. I have a Rohm RG10 revolver in .22 short, and that's the most worthless p.o.s. I've ever fired. Only reason I keep it is because it was my grandpa's. Still has the box and the little leather holster that came with it.

 

[jrou111]

I've got an RG40 in .38spl. It goes bang everytime but shoots 3" high at 25 feet. Paid $70. Hoping to trade it in for $100 Wal-mart gift card at a buy-back one day....to buy ammo

 

[Trebor]

You sure it's stainless steel? It might be nickel plated. That can look like stainless sometimes.

If it is nickeled, be careful as some solvent's will attack the finish.

Heck, it might even be unblued bare metal with a little polish.

 

[bikerdoc]

Had one back in the day, IMO You have a Nice paperweight keepsake that belonged to your dad.
Just my .02 please do not be offended.

 

[krs]

The Rohm company (Rohm GmbH of Sontheim/Brenz West Germany) produced a large range of pistols under their own name, and then sold them under a dozen other names as well, most of these names were for American export sales in the days prior to the gun control Act of 1968. The passage of the 1968 gun Control act, with its restrictions on pistol dimensions, severely curtailed the importation of Rohm pistols into the United States and many of the sales names promptly ceased to exist. In addition to cheap revolvers, Rohm produced starting pistols, air pistols and alarm pistols (?) for the U.S. market during the late 1960s. Rohm revolvers are usually identifiable by a round medallion in the grip carrying 'RG' and the model number. Rohm values fall in the $25.00 or less range. If you intend to fire this revolver I would strongly advise you to have it checked by a competent gunsmith first.

The German guns should not be confused with the later guns imported by a company called "RG Industries". Their products may have been German made, or they may have been made anywhere else, but all were rebadged/marked with the company name. This later company was litigated out of existence in 1986 over product liability issues.

Overall not a treasure.

 

[woad_yurt]

It does have a certain notorious cachet for the morbidly minded, though, kinda like a pill bottle full of thalidomide would.

 

[krs]

They do, and wasn't it an RG revolver that Sirhan Sirrhan used to assassinate Robert Kennedy?

 

[Bubba613]

And one that John Hinkley used to shoot Reagan. And maybe one that Arthur Bremer used to shoot Wallace.

 

[SigfanUSAF]

I have a complete parts set for one of those on GB right now, the owner brought it in because the frame blew into four or five pieces. Pressed and pinned barrel, scary stuff.

Cast pot metal POS. I wouldn't fire blanks through it

 

[S&Wfan]

I made the mistake of trading for one, back "in the day." I knew very little of firearms at that time. The year was probably 1974.

The RG was one of the original, super-cheap "Saturday Night Specials" that Congress finally banned in the early '70s or so.

Selling originally for about $50-$75, the thugs would buy 'em because they were the cheapest new guns in the pawnshops . . . sort of like the Jennings and Lorcin crap today, though much, much worse.

Mine's accuracy was terrible and the quality was too. A couple of years later a trigger return spring broke. I took it into a fine gunshop and waited for the crowd to get away from the counter before quietly getting it out.

"Sir," I quietly asked the shop owner, "How much would it cost to get the trigger return fixed on this revolver."

He replied, QUITE LOUDLY, "Son, that's a !@#$IN' RG! You couldn't PAY me to work on that piece of shidt!"

Everyone got quiet and turned to look at me, the fool who would own one.

The owner continued, "Son, if you want to tell someone you threw away TWENTY DOLLARS, then tie a twenty to that RG and throw it in the river!"

I crawled out of that store so embarrased! However, by that time I'd learned, and experienced, just how poor these guns were.

I eventually too a 4lb. hammer to it and broke that old pot-metal thing into an unshootable, unrepairable chunk of metal. I then took apart what I could and disposed of the parts separately so no one might ever get hurt on it.

Sorry to bring you the bad news. I'd keep it as a momento of your dad of course, but I would NEVER recommend you shoot it.

T.

PS: Hinckley shot Regan with the .22LR version of the RG, luckily!

 

[Mooseman]

Since it's probably of more use as a memento than a functional piece why not mount it in a shadow box with a picture of you and your dad? Might be a cool conversation piece.

 

[bluetopper]

You mean German craftsmanship runs the gammut from RG to Korth?

BTW, I think Sirhan Sirhan shot RFK with an Iver Johnson Cadet snubnose 22.