Ever find something wrong with a NIB firearm?

[sirgilligan]

Have you ever found something wrong with a new-in-the-box (NIB) unfired firearm?

This question goes with the idea of field stripping and inspecting a new firearm before the first use.

I have heard tell that some have found the recoil spring on backwards (on some firearms there is a big end and a little end to the recoil spring).

So, have you ever found anything wrong that you corrected before the first round was ever fired?

Once I found a magazine that had the spring in backwards and was rubbing, just unhooked it from the follower, flipped it around, hooked it up, put it back end, pushed on the floor plate, good to go.

 

[COgunner]

Yep - in January I bought a NIB .40 from a well-known, "quality" manufacturer and the barrel was not rifled. Took a little over 3 weeks to get it back with a new barrel.

 

[sirgilligan]

the barrel was not rifled

Good find. I bet if you had been at the range you would have been scratching your head thinking, "Man, I thought most all modern guns were accurate."

 

[Skribs]

I didn't really take notice of it until recently, but the recoil pad that is just supposed to pop out of a Benelli ComforTech stock on my SuperNova was fused to the stock, which meant when I finally decided to pull it out I pulled part of the stock out with it.

 

[J-Bar]

I ordered a new Uberti 1873 rifle through the local gun store. It arrived, I took it home, and it would not chamber a round. Took it back to the store that same afternoon. They returned it to the distributor and I got a different rifle about a week later.

 

[gpjoe]

Bought a Ruger SA revolver marked .45 ACP on the frame - this is a .45 ACP only revolver with a single cylinder. Got it home and tried to load it and found that it had a .45 Long Colt cylinder. Immediately went back to the seller and he repalced it with another from stock that was correct.

 

[gym]

Absolutelly, I can't remember all of them, but the most recent was a Taurus 357 mag. I picked it out for my best friend who defered to me on selecting which one he should get, knowing I am more into pistols than he is, from 3 that the dealer at the gun show had. It had a tight lockup and looked fine. Once we got home the cylinder once loaded with ammo would fail to turn. Either someone bent or dropped the gun. The rounds cut right into the frame. We immediatlly drove back to the show and got an exchange. Generally I have found more problems with sub compact pistols, as it's harder to shrink down a 45 and have it reliable in a 3" or less barrell.

 

[premier1]

Never had a NIB firearm with a problem.Never had to send a firearm back. And oh by the way I own 2 of those terrible Taurus firearms that never had a problem and can black out bullseyes.

 

[Eric646]

Bought a S&w bodyguard .380 NIB from cabelas. It fired 4 timed before the trigger would no longer engage. It just kinda flopped around in there. Took it right back to cabelas and they exchanged it for one that has worked perfectly since.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[joecil]

Sure have myself and recently (last year) bought a Rossi 92 rifle in 45 colt. It had failures to feed as that I discovered after getting it home and cleaning the factory grease out if. Loaded up a magazine of 10 rounds and tried cycling first went fine second didn't pulled it out and again went fine etc. Called Rossi and they sent a shipping label for the gun that afternoon and shipped it back. Got the gun 5 business days later working perfectly and never looked back. It happens to all of them as some things seem to slip by their quality control as no one is always dead on regardless.

 

[sirgilligan]

Thanks for the responses so far.

The point is that a little investigation prior to shooting can avoid a wasted day at the range or even something worse.

The advice of "take it out of the box and go shoot it" seems a bit presumptuous.

I am sure there are more stories, so please share them if you like.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I once purchased a new 30 carbine blackhawk that the cylinder wouldn't lock on because the detention plunger was wedged into the frame sideways

 

[TyGuy]

My Ruger Mk III had a trigger problem, that Ruger fixed at NO cost to me.

You could load the firearm, aim at the target, pull the trigger, and nothing would happen. You could pull the tigger again and nothing. Then about the third time you pulled the trigger the pistol would fire. Weird.

 

[Ryanxia]

I had a pocket .380 NIB that had trouble feeding. Tried two different magazines, different types of ammo, cleaned/lubed, etc. Eventually sent it back in and got a new one (free). New one shoots great.

 

[saltyyn1]

About 7 years ago I was working in a sporting goods store & ordered 5 1911's from a well known maker. Had to send 3 back for repairs before I could sell them. I don't remember all the defects, but never bought from that manufacturer again.

I also ordered a lever action rifle from a distributor and when I was was cleaning the grease off prior to display, I jacked the lever & a live round fell out. Gald a customer didn't handle it. Called the distributor as the s/n on the gun didn't match the s/n on the invoice. Seems this rifle had been sent back to the factory for repair & was packaged in a new box & sent to me. Both the distributor & manufacturer reps knew me by name. Must have had 30 calls from both of them in the week it took to send the rifle back.

 

[sirgilligan]

I jacked the lever & a live round fell out

Wow. Remember all guns are loaded! Literally. That is amazing.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I had a Para-Ord P12-45 that could not be field-stripped. The recommended procedure was to turn the recoil spring plug with a screwdriver until the locking tab disengaged, then the plug and spring would pop out. (This was shared with the similar Colt Officer's ACP.) Try as I might, it wouldn't pop out. Finally I retracted the slide and pulled the slide stop out. The spring plug turned out to have severe burring on the edge. And it went downhill from there.

 

[Captains1911]

Bought a Century AK once that shot 6 feet to the left at 25 yards with the sight cranked as far over as it would go. Own a Springfield 1911 that was a jamomatic out of the box, I had to send it back twice before they made it function properly. Also had a Rock River Arms AR-15 with a tight chamber that blew primers constantly (I hate RRA).

 

[gym]

My new gunstore gives you a box of rounds and a target with an hour of time when you buy a gun new.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Ever find something wrong with a NIB firearm?

Sure.

Probably the worst was a NIB Ruger MK III that fired when the thumb safety was moved from Safe to Fire.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Yes, very often. NIB means not carbon/copper/lead fouled. Without fail I see "new" guns being sold at gun shops as such (NIB). The problem is, it's not. It got joy rode.. or something.

 

[Beak50]

20+yrs ago I brought a Tec-9 that wouldn't cycle the 2nd. round.I took it back twice and finally told the guy I wanted a different gun and left with a marlin .444.The shop in New Castle,P.A. is closed now but they tried getting me to buy a chinese AK with a bent front sight also.

 

[clem]

Yes, a brand new Taurus 941. What a piece of crap!

 

[cyclopsshooter]

Just got in a Bersa Thunder .380 that was missing the rear sight blade and screw.

 

[toivo]

A brand-new Beretta shotgun that had no bead on the barrel. I even joked with the guy in the store when he opened the box to check the serial number. The barrel was boxed separately inside the main box, and I said, "Do we need to open that? There's a barrel in there, right?" We both laughed. Ha ha ...

Imagine my surprise when I got it home. I thought maybe it had fallen off inside, but I turned that box inside out and there was no bead anywhere. The store made good, though -- none of that "has to go back to the manufacturer" business. They just had their gunsmith put a new bead on it, and life was good again. Minus one point for Beretta, plus one for Gander Mountain.