Seriously, I want Info on RGs

[kBob]

I have searched everywhere I can think and not found the introduction dates for the RG .25 autos, RG 26 and RG 42.

I just wanna know.

I do not want either, just want to know whee we n they became available.

Don’t need horror stories about RG revolvers ( though honestly the RG 66 seems no worse than some current zinc single actions) just info on the RG26 and RG42.

-kBob

 

[Oldschool shooter]

I know they were around in the 80's. Joke was that RG stood for Rotten Garbage. Never owned one.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Oddly enough, I'm picking up an RG tomorrow. Odd thing in that it looks like a SA but is DA/SA. In .32 Long, which is why I got it as I like that round.

Sorry, I'm no help on them broader than that.

Better question may be importation dates rather than introduction though. As, I think they were made before and after they were imported to the US.

Didn't the 1968 GCA ban their stuff as you couldn't import things made of zinc alloy?

 

[WestKentucky]

I cleaned a 26 recently for a coworker. Was his mother’s purse gun. It was so full of crud I had to use a dental pick to drag stuff out of it before I could get it functioning properly. Simple little gun, but not the greatest materials used to make it. He said his mom passed early 90s and it hasn’t been shot since, but he remembers it back into the 70s.

 

[Frulk]

R.G ceased importation to the US in 1986.

R.G was litigated out of business due to a product liability issue.

I don’t know when they were introduced in the US.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

They started showing up in the early 70's (72/73 If I recall relative to where I was in school at the time) and went south in the mid 80's as stated above.

While they were *made* in Miami, they were actually mostly assembled there with the same German mystery-metal parts as the German-made guns.

One or two of the semis are PARTICULARLY bad and dangerous so have a care on the product line.

Todd.

 

[PapaG]

K Mart used to sell the little 22 short revolver for $14.96. Still have mine, unfired.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I remember RG from the mid to late 1960s, pre 1968 gun control act.
The RG 10 .22 short with rifled barrel resembled the RG starter pistol with vented barrel for .22 blanks only.
1960s, guys in high school shop class would take the RG starter pistol, fill in the vent with weld, and drill the barrel out to fire .22 short smoothbore.

Later, a lot of the RG pistol models were actually good guns, but they never overcame the prejudice from the crappy RG10, cited frequently as the original evil demon Saturday Night Special.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

.... so full of crud I had to use a dental pick ....

I prefer to use a bamboo skewer whittled to point on one end, wedge on the other, for cleranup.

Putting cruddy parts in a ziplock bag, spraying them down with WD40, and letting them sit overnight solves a lot of cleanup problems.

 

[kBob]

Hmm,

well things I HAVE found:

RG did suffer from size and “points” requirements under GCA 68 and RG International was started in Miami to assemble German parts on an American made frame.

this got around GCA 68.

my understanding is that some pre ‘68 guns had wooden scales.

RG 26 was said by some to be unsafe in that it some times fired during loading or fired multiple rounds with a single pull of the trigger.

RG 42 was larger and resembled the Ortgies.25 ACP though they had different safeties and the Ortgies was all steel.

I think the Ortgies is one of the more shootable.25 acps but it is all steel and I trust it.

The RG 42 was also marked “Erma designed”

Actually the RG 42 does not look bad in the one decent video I found.

I was shown what I believe was an RG 26 in Germany in 1974. The guy trying to sell it insisted it was a Klein Kaliber .22 Long Rifle and had a couple of loose rounds with it. This being just out side the bathroom of a train station it was definitely a shady deal and I suspected a police sting. So I did not handle it or stand around and argue. I suspect it was a blank gun.

I have found nothing about RG making a .22 pocket auto in any .22 rf chambering.

Still nothing about when they were either first made in Germany or imported onto the US.

I have personal experience handling ABN shooting the RG 10 (never again!) the RG 66 and the RG 38 .

the RG 66 was .22 magnum and as stated worked as well to me and for me as a Heritage. The RG 38 (two of them) were rough and had a heavy, gritty trigger, but would allow a person to pass the old all hits on a sheet of typing paper at seven yards test. I only fired the old widow maker .38 SPL RNL and equivalent SWC hand loads in them both. They would beat the heck out of not having a gun in the night stand at all. I will confess checking to see there was no one one the range to see me with one and never let them near my Colt or S&W revolvers ... I case anything was catching.

-kBob

 

[Speedo66]

I remember RG from the mid to late 1960s, pre 1968 gun control act.
The RG 10 .22 short with rifled barrel resembled the RG starter pistol with vented barrel for .22 blanks only.
1960s, guys in high school shop class would take the RG starter pistol, fill in the vent with weld, and drill the barrel out to fire .22 short smoothbore.

A Jr. HS friend did just that with an RG blank revolver, except after drilling out the plug he inserted a piece of auto antenna tubing in the barrel for a smooth bore .22 short. The cylinder stop was a tiny spring loaded ball bearing that fit in depressions in the front of the cylinder, if I remember correctly. Timing left a little to be desired. OK, a lot. lol

I bought it from him for 5 bucks, shot it with my cousin in his basement in NYC. Held onto it for no reason, and four decades or so later sold for $200 in Brooklyn in a buyback scheme.

Promptly put the money towards another gun. A real one this time.

 

[Jim Watson]

I tried to get the guys to pass the hat and buy an RG57 in .44 Magnum (!) to see how long it would last. But nobody would kick in and nobody was willing to do the shooting anyhow.

 

[Buckeye63]

I bought a slightly used RG 38spl ...snubbie back in 1986 .. $50.00 .. 6 shot seemed to be close to a D size frame ... kept it loaded with snake shot and carried it while doing yard and farm work ... and a truck gun loaded with 158gr LWC .. never failed me

Sold it bout 15yrs ago for $100 to a fellow that was going to use it in the same way ... as far as I know he still has it

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Held onto it for no reason, and four decades or so later sold for $200 in Brooklyn in a buyback scheme. Promptly put the money towards another gun. A real one this time.
aka Unintended Consequences.

Personally, I consider most gun control proprosals including Buy-Backs to be frauds. CDC 2003 and NRC 2004 had the same conclusion.
I have an $8 junker 12ga Noble pump shotgun that I bought for spare parts for another Noble.
I could make $200 on a bogus bull manure buy back, but I will not.
It is a single shot, spare magazine hand fed, "snake gun" of some limited usage to me.
Worth the $8 I paid for it.
But not at all worth the BS the antis wanna spin.
And I willl not buy into their fraud.

 

[Alte Schule]

John Hinckley used an RG Model 14 firing .22 "Devastator" rounds in his assassination attempt of President Reagan.

 

[Snowdog]

Here's a picture of my Rohm .32Long I also enjoy the .32 Long


Nickel plated Colt Pocket Positive

 

[Patocazador]

Here's a picture of my Rohm .32Long I also enjoy the .32 Long

View attachment 994828
Nickel plated Colt Pocket Positive

The photo shows a Colt prancing horse.

 

[vintovka]

There used to be a big auction of police confiscated guns down in Stockton or fresno CA. Huge lots of guns were auctioned off every couple minutes. Of interest was big cardboard boxes of Mostly RGs, Ravens, Titans and similar .25s. Always had 2-3 boxes full and averages 4-5 bucks per gun in lot. Swear same guns were being sold, confiscated again and sold every year.