Tell me about the craziest issue you've seen with a new gun...

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...and I'll start it off with something I saw today. A friend of mine wondered why his new single action .22 revolver was keyholing at the range this afternoon. It was the first time he was shooting it at paper. "Let's check the bore," says I. I pulled the cylinder, and...

...no rifling!

It was an accidental smoothbore.


What other "fun" things have you experienced or witnessed?
 
I special ordered a Stainless Ruger 10/22 Hunter. The gun was absolutely beautiful with a fluted barrel and 1911 checkered wood grips. The owner wanted me to put a red dot on it and sight it in. The gun would not cycle. The inside of the receiver was rough and the ejector was bent. I took emory cloth and, steel wool, and a drill and polished it. Then polished the bottom of the bolt and straightened the ejector. It hasn't failed to cycle since. You would think that Ruger Quality Control would have caught it, but no.
 
Factory new Russian Mak with a chamber cut so badly it left the spent brass with a blister on the underside about half the length of the case.

Glad the dealer took it back, I wouldn't have wanted to sell that to anyone.
 
Not sure who was crazy, but...

I bought a muzzle loader that had a hammer with a deep cup in it that meant it would never actually touch the cap, so it couldn't be fired...I had to reshape the hammer. A web search indicates that they all come that way but only a few people notice because most never get fired.

I bought a break action 22/410 combo with a latch mechanism that didn't latch, and it barely cocked. I wound up using prussian blue to figure out why the latch wouldn't engage and reshaping it, then TIG welding extra metal onto part of the mechanism and re-shaping the cam surfaces so it would cock. It is now pretty slick but a less bored person would have sent it back to the factory for warranty work.

I also once bought an sp-101 that Ruger shipped out without a firing pin. Sorta raised questions about the quality of my pre-purchase inspection, but it worked out in my favor (Ruger fixed it and I got free stuff).
 
A friend I used to work with (Randy) bought a new Winchester 70, .416 Rem Mag for an upcoming Africa trip. He put a low power scope on it (I think it was a Leopold) and took it out to sight it in. He couldn't dial the scope down far enough to get the rifle to print any lower than 1 foot high at 100 yards. Besides that, it was a .416 Rem Mag, and after about 20 rounds, it had Randy so jittery he wasn't sure if it was him or the rifle that was causing the shots to go high, and Randy is a very experienced big game hunter.
Anyway, Randy asked me to take the rifle home one day after work and see what I could do with it. He said if it printed high for me, to yank the scope off it and shoot it with the open sights.
So, I took it down to the gravel pit (my "range") and put two rounds through it at a hundred yards. Randy was right - a foot high, and the SOB kicked like I couldn't believe! I then pulled the scope off, lowered the rear sight as far as it would go, and fired once more. Same thing - over a foot high at 100 yards, and by that time I was shaking. So I walked downrange, within 25 yards of the target, and because it was muddy, I just kneeled down and fired one more shot. That time the danged thing sat me down in the mud, and it still hit about 4 inches high!
Randy shipped the rifle back to Winchester. I think they determined it had a bent barrel, which they replaced, and Randy took a real nice Leopard, as well as several different species of African plane's game with it later on that year.
 
I purchased a savage model 10 .308 that shot dime sized groups with factory ammo at 100 yards. Might not be an issue for you but it is for me, I've payed double for a bolt 308 that never came close.
 
Brand new blue box Glock 36. One of the mags would allow the .45 ACP rounds to spin around backwards. Not sure how or why. Every other mag worked fine. That mag in another 36 would do the same thing.
 
s&w m&p 9mm full size will close the locked slide when you seat a magazine hard. Took it back to Gander mountain for the in house gunsmith to look at it and he said it was fine don't slam the mag in there. said its not unsafe and one less thing to do. :( gun did it one time during a state firearms qualification and the instructor wasn't too pleased.

Mossberg 500 brand new needs a gorilla to pump the action to cycle a round from the mag to the chamber. again took back to gander mountain and was told send it to Mossberg not their problem.

man do i hate that place.
 
s&w m&p 9mm full size will close the locked slide when you seat a magazine hard. Took it back to Gander mountain for the in house gunsmith to look at it and he said it was fine don't slam the mag in there. said its not unsafe and one less thing to do. :( gun did it one time during a state firearms qualification and the instructor wasn't too pleased.

This is dead common on the Plastic M&P and also Glock. Competitive shooters, especially in IDPA where the slide lock reload is standard, consider it a "feature, not a bug." I have heard of people rounding their slide stops to encourage the "autoclose." I can understand were a government official might not approve.
 
This is dead common on the Plastic M&P and also Glock. Competitive shooters, especially in IDPA where the slide lock reload is standard, consider it a "feature, not a bug." I have heard of people rounding their slide stops to encourage the "autoclose." I can understand were a government official might not approve.
I don't mind it as there is no safety issue but when we are trained per state standards they want us to pull back on the slide to release it and they are afraid that in the heat of the moment one might grab the slide and empty the live round when its already closed.
 
My buddy who works at the LGS showed me a new Taurus Raging Bull .454 that had a 44 magnum cylinder installed in it at the factory. Said the guy who bought it brought it back a hour later asking the 'trick' to loading it.
 
bought a Winchester model 60 last year at a gun show. It looked brand new. Absolutely perfect 99++++++++% !! And the guy only wanted 150 for it. After grabbing it I asked why so cheap? He replied that his Dad bought it new, couldn't hit anything with it and put it in the closet. He bought another gun. It sat there for decades. The son decided to sell it so he took it to the show. I spotted the gun as soon as he entered the room.

I was told it wasn't accurate. I thanked the man for being honest and took it home. Where I couldn't hit anything with it!!

Didn't take long to figure out why. It was a smoothbore !!! And the muzzle was un-crowned and still bore machining marks. A rather glaring factory screw-up, but the little booger sure is pretty!!
 

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s&w m&p 9mm full size will close the locked slide when you seat a magazine hard. Took it back to Gander mountain for the in house gunsmith to look at it and he said it was fine don't slam the mag in there. said its not unsafe and one less thing to do. :( gun did it one time during a state firearms qualification and the instructor wasn't too pleased.


This was actually one of the problems with the M&P that caused S&W to revamp it, and release the M&P 2.0

It has a detent that holds the slide release, so when you seat a mag, it doesn't cause the slide to close.
 
In 2014, I ordered a black powder pistol from Cabela's. When I got it, it looked beautiful. I started to clean it and soon noticed something not quite right. The barrel was for a .44 caliber pistol and the cylinder was for a .36 caliber pistol. It was sent back to Cabela's and its replacement soon in my hands and shoots great.

In another Cabela's order in 2014, I ordered a .44 caliber J.H. Dance pistol. When I got it, I was recording the serial number, complete description (all for insurance purposes in case of theft), and the year of manufacture. I thought I knew the current year marking but what was on the pistol was different. The marking on it was for the year 2002. Did they really send me a 12 year old pistol? Yes, they did and they could never explain how it happened. Since it was obviously new, unfired, and has a really great trigger, I decided to keep it. I do wonder where it was for 12 years.......................
 
I bought a Taurus 8 shot revolver new from a dealer years ago. While paperwork was being done I fondled the gun and asked if the fact that the cylinder spun clockwise and counter clockwise was normal. He didn't know much about revolvers, suggested I call Taurus. I did. They sent FedEx out the next day to pick it up. I had it back within 5 days fixed.
 
I ordered a new Uberti 1873 lever action rifle and it would not chamber either .357 Mag or .38 Spec factory ammo. The cartridges protruded back into the action about 1/4 inch. The wholesaler exchanged it, but it makes me wonder how the manufacturer proof tested the dern thing...
 
This isn't about a revolver or pistol so please forgive! I had a close friend in high school that told me one day abut his uncle ordering a hunting dog (don't know what kind it was) from a mail order. He received the dog and took it hunting and it turned out to be a "silent trailer" which meant that it would follow a sent but not bark at all. I laughed so hard I thought I'd fall over.
 
Bought a 308 bolt action, and after sighting it in, discovered that the faces of the bolt lugs had never been machined and lapped. By then, the matching faces in the lug pockets were ruined. Got a new rifle in exchange.

BTW, I once thought that I had bought a Ruger SR22 pistol with a smooth bore. Checking closer, I saw that it did have rifling, but very shallow. Apparently that's normal, and part of their system that allows the gun to comfortably digest about any 22 ammo.
 
Picked up a Taurus .45acp automatic.
Dryfired just fine.
Would not feed when fired with live ammo, though. (Ever shoot a round auto manually racking the slide?) Took it home, field stripped it down and checked that all the parts were there and moving the way they should. Went back to the range, single shot again.
So, back to LGS. They tinker on it.
Off to range. Fires first round, then mirable dictu, loads a second round. But will not load a third (or 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th).
Back to LGS it goes, they send it to Taurus.
Comes back. Still will not self-load.
Goes back to LGS--Three strikes and out, they agree to hold me a "store crediit" for the beast. (Turned that into a Colt 1903, a much better use of my time.) They tell me that I could have the Taurs back, instead--seems they sent it back to them again, and they put the frame in a building jig, and every one of the left-side holes was 0.05mm untrue to the right side. Not enough to fail QC, just not good enough to not be a single shot.
 
Worst I have seen personally was a glock 17? That snapped a firing pin on the second mag. Normally a broken part means a stoppage, that time was a wild ride for about a second since it jammed the FP forward and was slamfiring.

A Keltec p11 I bought had a chamber under spec and jammed up tight with the first round.

A Brolin muzzle loader years ago had the most dangerous safety ever. It had a bolt notch and a lever, if you used the lever and then the bolt notch it would fire when you dropped the bolt back into position. The safe procedure was to put it in the notch first, manually cycle the safety a few times, then drop the bolt down.

Back to back gp100s had terrible bores. One grossly oversized and the other with visible chattering in the barrel.

But out of all my gun purchases in the last 20 years of me buying guns, the most surprising thing I have ever seen is a Phoenix hp22a that cycled perfectly, shot tiny groups, was zeroed exactly right for 10yd shots, and had a broken magazine release from the day I bought it brand new for 50 bucks.
 
Some years ago I bought a Taurus Model 992 .22/.22 Mag conversion. After picking it up I went to my LGS indoor range in the same building. Out of the box after one shot from the .22 cylinder it froze. The binding was so bad it would not move at all. .22 Mag cylinder worked perfectly. Took it home, cleaned it thoroughly and gave it a little oil. Attempts to dry fire afterwards same thing. Called Taurus and sent it in. Secured both cylinders with bread ties so they wouldn't roll around in the box during shipping. Returned the following week, cylinders still secured as they were when I sent it in. Note saying"couldn't duplicate problem." It was obvious they hadn't even taken it out of the box. Sold it at a loss and was glad to be rid of it. I understand their CS has improved since then.
 
...and I'll start it off with something I saw today. A friend of mine wondered why his new single action .22 revolver was keyholing at the range this afternoon. It was the first time he was shooting it at paper. "Let's check the bore," says I. I pulled the cylinder, and...

...no rifling!

It was an accidental smoothbore.




What other "fun" things have you experienced or witnessed?

That would make it illegal under the NFA 1934 laws on short barreled shot guns?
 
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