I picked up this, what appeared to be a pretty nice, 1977 HP from a local shop the other day.
Looked to be in great shape, right up until I fired it. Popped a loaded mag in the gun, dropped the slide, and the gun fired a round into the ground about 6' in front of me. Look at the gun, and the hammer has followed the slide forward to half cock. ***?
Cock the hammer, squeeze of the next round, and got a 4 round burst.
Well, that put an end to that. When I got home and stripped it down, its pretty obvious someone has fiddled with the sear, and maybe even replaced it, as its not the same color as the rest of the gun. It looks more parkerized and isnt blued, and the contact surface of the sear looks like it was stoned or polished. The hammer notch looks OK though.
I ordered a factory-new hammer and sear from Numrich, and then noticed that they are not shipping due to Covid (they are in NY). That was a fast $100. And from looking around, that actually wasnt to bad. Parts prices for them are salty, and all over the place.
MGW had a sear and sear spring, and they shipped today, so Ill see how things go in a couple of days here.
What kind of irks me is, someone would actually trade/sell this in the condition it is. I buy used guns all the time and expect to have to fiddle with things here and there, but this gun is downright dangerous.
I dont hold this against the shop I got it from, as Im sure someone pawned it off on him. Not that Im asking, but I expect he'll give me some money back for the parts, as hes done in the past with a couple of other things Ive bought there that had some issues. Its nice he does, but Im not expecting or demanding it. It just is what it is when buying used guns.
Still, whoever brought it in and didnt mention it, needs a boot in the ass.