Lemons to lemonade stories?

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PT1911

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So I recently purchased a CZ 527 varmint in HS precision kevlar stock for a pretty good price only to find its performance at the range was baffling. It would stack the shots in the same hole at 50 yards but the group size would open up to 8 to 10 inches at 100 yards.

Needless to say I was discouraged and thought I had a lemon on my hands...

So I had a Gunsmith buddy of mine take a gander at her(before I touched anything.) We found the stock to action screws were tightened down FAR too much. Then, out of curiousity, I ran a patch down the bore only to find it came out clean. Seeing as I had put a couple boxes through her a few days prior, I decided to try some foaming bore cleaner and found it to have considerable copper fouling.

SO.... took her to the range today and needless to say I feel much better about my purchase. was able to group under an inch at 100 yards with "thrifty" PMC ammo. I am confident I can tighten that down to 1/2 inch with higher quality ammunition and improving my shooting as I felt myself pull a bit on a shot in even my best groups.


SO.. with all that said, have you been discouraged about a purchase only to find it was such an easy fix as i have disclosed?

lets hear your lemons to lemonade stories.
 
A few years back, I picked up a lightly used Springfield 1911 (one of their early loaded models). Supposedly had less than 50 rounds through it. Well, that was probably true, since it turned out to be a jam-o-matic. Stovepipes/FTE, FTFs, just a frustrating pistol.

Called Springfield, noted that I had just bought it used and was asking for advice. The cust service rep was very friendly, gave me a RMA to send the pistol back (and even apologized that they couldn't pick up the shipping to, but would cover the costs of any inspection, repairs, return shipping). I thought that was more than reasonable, since I wasn't the original owner.

Well, got it back in three weeks :) and it has run like a top ever since. Among other things, they replaced and tuned the extractor, polished the feed ramp, and replaced the mag I sent it with, and provide two more!! It is now one of my most reliable, and accurate 1911s.
 
I have an AMT DAO .45 ACP Back-Up that would misfire 50% of the time. Sent it back to the factory three times and they never fixed it.
One evening I was looking at it, contemplating how to ethically get rid of it, when I noticed the hammer was rubbing slightly against it's channel in the slide. This was robbing it of just enough momentum to result in light firing pin strikes and hence the misfires. Five minutes with some emery cloth and I haven't had a problem with this gun since,
 
My CZ 75BD had always jammed on range FMJ ammo. Not enough to make me consider selling it, but I didn't trust it for carry use.

I sent it back to CZ, with a return note "no problems found". :scrutiny:

The empty shell would jam against an incoming round. I got a new extractor, extra power spring and mag spring...didn't work.

Someone mentioned the factory 15rd mags were made by Mecgar, but when I looked at a new 16rd the follower was a different shape, so I bought three in hopes of 'fixing the glitch'. Plus the Mecgar spring is a LOT stronger.

On a whim I also hosed it down with some PowderBlast. Junk was running out of the gun for a good hour, despite the fact I was quite careful to clean everything previously.

It's been working fine ever since. Even took it to 'qualify' at the CC class.
 
Bought a Norinco 1911 for $250, at about 500 rounds the slide stop quit stopping the slide. Bought one for 5 bucks off a junk tray at the gun show. Spent 20 minutes with a file fitting it, and it's never acted up since. I have even done a no clean test to see how long until it jams up (2500+/-), and it's my favorite carry gun the last 15 years.
 
I had a new model superblackhawk and it was alright but nothing great, I was thinking of selling it but I sent it to Mag na port instead for a Predator package Then I sent them a birdshead grip frame and asked about cutting the barrel to 4 inches. and .......
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I bought a Beretta PX4 from a friend who needed money. Half a box of ammo through it. I liked it but I could never get used to the safety. I read an article about David Olhasso and his beretta work so I sent it to him for a "G" model conversion and a trigger job and see if he caould help with the accuracy. When I got it back it was awesome, sweetest DA/SA trigger I have ever felt and all my sigs went to the back row. But I still didn't like the checkering being so sharp, read a story about Robar and the grip work they do so I called them about stippling the grip and refinishing the slide with NP3 and adding XS big dot sights. I got an e mail from them asking if I would let them get "creative' with the stippling and sent me a pic of an FN that they had done and asked about refinishing the internals with NP3 as well as the slide. I said that it had a great action job and as long as it would'nt mess that up to go ahead. And......
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My wife tells me that I can't leave anything alone.
 
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