View Single Post
 
Old 08-24-2017, 02:32 PM
wrangler5 wrangler5 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,300
Likes: 4
Liked 1,023 Times in 510 Posts
Default

For years, the usual advice for checking out an autoloader before carrying it for personal defense has been to shoot it until it had 100/200/500/1000/pick-your-number of consecutive shots without a failure. And that included trying different ammo. Precisely BECAUSE new guns are known for not always being totally reliable right out of the box, and for sometimes not liking a particular brand or bullet weight. I've NEVER heard anybody say that if a gun has ANY failures with the first brand and type of ammo you try, before it has been through a reasonable break-in regime, then you should not trust it, no matter how many flawless strings it may have later with that or other ammo.

Sure, lots of people report flawless reliability out of the box, with the first ammo they try, even without a hint of cleaning the brand new gun. And we may all be spoiled by those reports, or even our own excellent experiences. But is it realistic to set that as a MINIMUM, when the historic experience recommends hundreds of rounds, and usually different ammo, before making a judgment?

Admittedly, if you're going to send the gun in for the magazine fix you may not want to "waste" any more ammo on function testing. I was just pointing out that IF the magazine problem can be fixed without a new frame/gun, then you might avoid having to go through the break-in process again if you got THIS barrel/slide/frame setup to work first, so the factory didn't have to fiddle with it.

As for replacing the whole gun if the frame turns out to be slightly out of spec - well, that's what you'd want 'em to do. It's just a nuisance have to go through the FFL/background check process again, when a "normal" repair comes directly back to your door. I've been through the replacement process, though, and there is NO extra cost - all the shipping is covered both ways and S&W reimburses the FFL/transfer fee too - it's just the nuisance of having to go to the FFL and then submit the receipt to S&W.
Reply With Quote