The Wife's CCW Pistol - NOT.

[ChrisStock]

Here goes... Bought a {{**edited by Moderator}} for the Spousal Unit for a CCW to replace the Bersa .380.. She wanted a concealabe a tad larger than .380, and there was a great sale going on at a local gun superstore, who shall remain nameless, except through PM.

I have substituted "the manufacturer", for well, the name of the manufacturer of this fine firearms company based in my home state, in Miami. I don't believe this is typical of their product, but rather an aberration. The arrogance of the below mentioned nameless commando and his boss are what REALLY peeved me.

[RANT]

We started out this a.m. at the range, and she was ready to give it a run, being fully briefed on the recoil in .40 in such a small frame. She owns and regularly shoots a ton of different pistols from .22LR, to .380, to 9MM, to .45ACP with no issues. Good grip, gentle squeeze, BAM. Nothing on the paper at 15 yds. Nothing but air. Next shot, I notice a small piece of paper get clipped on the bottom left of the target paper., a good 12" from the 10 ring. She looks over at me befuddled, and I coached her through another shot. Number three hit about 2" from the second shot and snapped the target frame in half. WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot? She emptied that magazine and gave me the dreaded "Pissed Off Spousal Unit" look.

I asked if I could have a run with it, and fired a string on my target. 3 out of the 10 made the paper..barely. All bottom left, but my target frame survived. Out of the box from a major small arms maker, henceforth known as "The manufacturer". I would have better luck in a confrontation with a slingshot.

Took it back to the dealer, and their self proclaimed IPSC A class shooter/Police Trainer/onsight gunsmith/shooting EXPERT (Read:dipshi* with an attitude. A definite gunshop commando) said "there is nothing wrong with it, let's go to our indoor range and I'll show you".

His 1st shot at 15 yds: 12" low, 8" left. I snickered. "It's not meant to be fired at this distance", says Captain Dillweed. Utterly unamused look on my face.

2nd shot: missed the paper COMPLETELY. Yep "A" class, if A is for @$$hat. "I'm not used to this pistol is all", he then said.

3rd shot:in the white, top left corner, 2' over the first shot. I suggested that he not adjust aim, but please keep it in the 10 ring and see where it patterns. "I'm not adjusting my aiming point". Umm yeah. OK.

4th shot: top center of the white, 12" due right of shot 3. By now, I am steaming. No offense to Ray Charles, but given a choice in a nasty situation, I think Ole Ray might be the better choice for a partner at this point.

Of course, he has fired 4 shots, hit the white 3 times in 3 separate places, and nailed a shot of air. On a full size torso at 15 yds, with 20 rounds, this "IPSC certified Class A shooter" has managed to shoot a shotgun pattern running 2' in height, 18" in width, with all of 5 impacting the actual silhouette. "See it shoots fine". "Nope", says I, "unacceptable".

Of course he refuses to budge at this point, being shown what a dip he is. I politely asked for his boss, the owner. He says that if we have a problem with it, to take it up with "the manufacturer", , because "the manufacturer", doesn't want to deal with him, but rather the customer. I finally lose it at this point, asking why he would knowingly sell something that he can't back. He repeated that if there was a problem with the new pistol purchased from him, to take it up with "the manufacturer", and leave him out of it. This is a LARGE gunshop. with a multi million dollar inventory. What an @$$. he just guaranteed himself that he has lost 2 frequent weapons buying customers for life at this point, and I will freely give word of mouth advertising with anyone else I shoot with. Guaranteed.

[/RANT]

I feel better already. I will definitely be calling "the manufacturer", in the a.m.

**Mod note: If you truly want to keep the discussion limited to an anonymous "the manufacturer" (in keeping with the Hate Forum Guidelines), it might be best to not publish the very unique and identifiable model of the pistol in the 1st line of the post.

Edited to add: thanks for the fumble recovery, ima45dv8.

CLOSED

Edited June 7, 2007 by Lighteye67

[L9X25]

We have this crappy little shooting range that rents guns for pretty cheap. In a situaton like yours, I would take the wife and have her shoot all of the potential options and let the results speak for themselves. Sometimes the way a gun feels in your hand does not provide much insight into how it will feel "going off" in your hand. Feather-light guns are often very appealing until that first shot.

[dajarrel]

With any luck, "the manufacturer" will make good on your pistol and pull the remaining stock off the A$$hats shelves.

Hope it works out.

dj

[BBunin]

Since you note the state of the Manufacturer, I just thought I'd point out that I've had nothing but good experiences with their customer care.

And that is NOT typical accuracy for one of those.

[ChrisStock]

With any luck, "the manufacturer" will make good on your pistol and pull the remaining stock off the A$$hats shelves.

"The Manufacturer" has spoken, and boy is he irked. As soon as I mentioned the issue, then the shop's name, he gave me the city and road it was on, as he was personally that familiar with this issue. Apparently this was not the 1st similar incident, nor the 2nd, or even 3rd with this particular shop. I even received an offer of having the rep on the phone call the seller and insist that he trade me out immediately, and that the dealer send the defective one back at his expense. I declined, even though it was a prime opportunity to say "I told you so". I don't know how well this portends for the dealer, but it really isn't my issue anymore.

There will be a Fedex driver arriving tomorrow a.m. before 10:30 with a box and paperwork to fill out to send the little .40 back to it's maker, and I have the direct number of the rep who I spoke with who will expedite the repair, and failing that, the outright replacement and return shipping at their expense. I wish this piece had been QA'ed before it left the factory, but the customer service after the sale from the manufacturer was superb. They accepted full responsibility, which is rare in most other areas of life in the world today.

I'm happy, the spousal unit has put away the death-ray eyes, and harmony resumes it's natural course though our household. Keep it up, Big T, and I'll deal with you in the future.

[ChrisStock]

A footnote to the story....The rep that helped so much in getting this FUBARed piece of shizzle back to the factory so fast, refused to return phone calls when inquiring about the status. However, once you have the direct line to the VP of "The Manufacturer" , it is amazing to see how quickly a pistol is being replaced and will be here on Monday a.m. via Fedex.