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Some manufacturers products needing a little tweeking on a few things when they buy the "new in the box" (NIB) pistols???

I have purchased two Springfield's GI's that both needed the mag catch tolerances to be tightened up a bit...The first one is perfect, and it will feed 7 empties (cases) through with zero problems now...

The second one will probably need this as well, but it already functions adequately enough to get by for now till I give it up for a while to have a little work done on it to get it up to my standards...

I'm only saying this because I am relatively new to the heavy metal side of self defensive tools, and never had an issue like this with the combat tupperware I carried for years...

A shopping list (of little tweeks and accessories) is as long as the membership here...I'm just presenting a discussion of some of the things you might have come across as far as issues with the same type of firearms and their funny little things you've come across needing to be taken care of when you buy them NIB...

Now for you Kimber and other high end "drivers" out there...Yeah, yeah...I know I should have gone that way...And many do...But I like a challenge, and I figure I'll put my tweeked .45's up against any of them, anytime, anywhere...

Besides, the only reason I have purchased two of them in the last two months...Is because "Wife Unit" said the first one is "hers"...How can you possibly argue with that logic??? Probably another thread should be started for that issue...

So the basis for this thread is to talk about the little things that you have noticed about your new pistols you have purchased recently, and either gotten those issues fixed, or if you just learned to live with them...

Stevie,

I had a new full size SA 1911 go full auto on me out of the box in the 1980s.

Both of my Kimbers have been good out of the box.

Anygun

anygunanywhere wrote:Both of my Kimbers have been good out of the box.

Same with my Glocks.

My Kimber had a slide stop lever issue out of the box which caused it to sometimes lock the slide back on a magazine that still had rounds left in it.

Somebody on this site told me that some of the Stainless Ultra Carry IIs were released with slide top levers that were slightly the wrong shape, and that if I called Kimber, they would send me a proper part. I did. They did. And the pistol has functioned flawlessly ever since (about 600 rounds now).

Whether I buy an automobile, a Jackknife or a television set, I expect it to work without failure right out of the box. There is no excuse not to get it right the first time. A handgun should be able to be reliable and trustworthy.

I've hardly ever heard of a Ruger, HK, SIG, Beretta or Glock ever failing out of the box. However spend about twice as much and folks will end up with a 1911 that takes them months to get to shoot reliability and need constant tweeking of springs and mags.

In the 70s American car makers pooh poohed the idea the that the Japanese made a better high quality car. Today Toyota is the #1 automobile in the United States. Fortunately for Kimber and the rest , gun owners are more loyal to JMB than they were Henry Ford.

On the other hand, I bought my night fighter gun specifically because it was (very) inexpensive and needed work right out of the box - because I took it right to the gunsmith and had it made into a night fighter.

The original gun was sloppy loose, had lousy sights, and wouldn't feed a whole box of ammo without some kind of hiccough, and I did take it to the range before the gunsmith, for testing to see what ELSE I wanted tweaked.

It's been reliable since, except for when I didn't pay enough attention to it.

Liberty wrote:I've hardly ever heard of a Ruger, HK, SIG, Beretta or Glock ever failing out of the box. However spend about twice as much and folks will end up with a 1911 that takes them months to get to shoot reliability and need constant tweeking of springs and mags.

I would offer the following 2 things:

1) The gun I traded in to buy my Kimber was as Sig, and it was the most unreliable and frustrating pistol I've ever owned. So I got rid of it.

2) Out of the box, my Kimber required swapping out one part, which was free, which took all of 5 minutes to replace, and which I received from Kimber within 5 days of buying the pistol. I've never had to do a lick of anything to make the magazines function. They work great right out of the box, and the pistol has functioned flawlessly ever since replacing that one part 5 days after buying it.

By comparison, my H&K (which I mention because you listed H&Ks as reliable guns), which does function reliably, is nowhere near as accurate, has an awful trigger, and this left handed shooter has been unable to procure a simple ambidextrous safety for it, after many many many many attempts, ever since he first bought the pistol almost a year ago. Why? Because H&K's concerns do not include making that part available to the 10%-15% of their customers who are left handed. I think that's idiotic; or perhaps it is Teutonic efficiency in action. Who knows? All I know is that it makes the H&K ownership experience less pleasant for me than it could have been.

When I think about price comparison, the price difference between the H&K and the Kimber was exactly $200. Unfortunately, the H&K's trigger can't be improved upon although it badly needs it, and the Kimber's trigger was perfect out of the box. I can't get an ambidextrous safety for the H&K to save my life (even though H&K claims that they make such a thing), but it only took me a few days to have a really nice one purchased, delivered, and installed on my Kimber. The fit and finish on the Kimber is nicer than the H&K's, and the Kimber balances better in the hand. The 1911 ergonomics are better than the H&K's. The Kimber came with good night sights and the H&K didn't. The Kimber is smaller and easier to conceal. Etc., etc., etc. In short, it is worth $200 more. So really, it boils down to preferences, and whether or not it is worth it to the individual buyer to pay a little more for a fine firearm. (BTW, at $740, that H&K was nowheres near cheap.)

Yes, a gun is "just" a tool. So are cars. After all, they are "just" transportation, right? And if all you are looking for is to get from point A to point B, a Yugo (Lorcin L380) will do fine. If you want to get there reliably and comfortably, buy a Ford Crown Victoria (Glock 23). If you want to get there fast and look good doing it, buy a Corvette (Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry II). If you want to do it con brio, with style, verve, and panache, buy a Saleen S7 (Les Baer Custom). Guns are the same way as cars, and they excite our passions the same way.

So for some folks, neither the price, nor the tuning (which is truly not necessary for most Kimbers) are worth the cost of entry, and that's fine. But for those buyers who chose to pay more for a nice 1911, it's not like we didn't think it through, and most of us truly aren't having the problems you mentioned.

I could be wrong about it, but that's just my 2¢.

I own firearms I have to tweak and play with.

Isn't that why we do what we do?

I want my carry handguns to be reliable, but without playthings I have to do chores around the house.

Anygunanywhere

The Annoyed Man wrote:
So for some folks, neither the price, nor the tuning (which is truly not necessary for most Kimbers) are worth the cost of entry, and that's fine. But for those buyers who chose to pay more for a nice 1911, it's not like we didn't think it through, and most of us truly aren't having the problems you mentioned.

I could be wrong about it, but that's just my 2¢.

My frustration isn't about the more money for a performance gun. Its just that I read time and again about people having so much trouble with their high priced 1911's I don't understand why there are so many problems right out of the box. I've worked quality control with a couple fortune 500 companys and they would find it appalling to achieve the failure rate that the hi end 1911s seem to have. What makes it even worse is that a handgun is something that one may count on savings ones life. Is it that difficult for someone like Kimber to achieve the same low failure rates as Black and Decker can opener? or even a Ruger or Glock? or a Toyota?
Maybe they just need to spend a little more effort polishing ramps or actually testing the guns? I understand that the folks that buy the highpriced 1911 always seem to really like the guns once they get the issues ironed out, and they feel it is worth the extra hassle. I do believe that maybe we would like them even better if they actually worked right out of the box. Shucks, I even might buy a pretty Kimber if I could trust if they would be actually reliable.

I would think that by God something I spent $1000 - $2000 on should work properly without me having to mess with it. I can't make the Glock that I spent $500 on mess up!

No issues with my M&Ps out of the box.

My frustration isn't about the more money for a performance gun. Its just that I read time and again about people having so much trouble with their high priced 1911's I don't understand why there are so many problems right out of the box.

keep in mind most people don't post the good ones; just the ones that have problems. yes, there are problems with some 1911's, but once they are right, and most are right out of the box, they are a pleasure to shoot.
i bought a glock to carry. great gun; no problems whatsoever. but i missed my commander; the feel, the look, the quality.... so i bought an ultra carry II. never regretted it, even through the break in period. now i carry it every day because of personal preference. that's what it comes down to. it's not better on many levels it's just different. my preferring it doesn't in any way take away from what you like.
my 2 cents.

Also keep in mind that in a number of the 1911 "disaster" stories, the guns were not problematic out of the box. The owner added this doohicky here and that doodad there and tightened up tolerances for that so it would be super accurate, and now, on its first magazine ever, it won't feed two rounds in a row! this gun is a piece of junk!

The 1911 has been around for so long and is so familiar to everyone in the "gun" world, that too many people try to be a shade-tree mechanic on an otherwise fine pistol. I have owned 2 1911's. A Colt 1991 5" that I never should have let get away from me and a Rock Island Armory Tactical 5". The only thing I ever did to either of them was change the grips, and both work(ed).

CompVest wrote:No issues with my M&Ps out of the box.

Ditto (well, M&P...singular.)

"get rid of that nickle plated wimpy pistol and get yourself a glock"

I had a rock island 5" that I bought and didnt like the recoil. I had to hold it up so high on the grip that i was afraid it was going to bite me. I was also getting stovepipes left and right. All of those issues may have been me.

sold it and bought a 5" firestorm that felt better in my hand. The firestorm fell apart after 200 rounds. The screws holding the safety plunger tube came out while shooting sending parts flying and jamming the gun, and screws holding the grips kept working loose. Had it fixed twice and gave up on it. At least it wasnt stovepiping

on the other hand a friend of mine has a taurus pt1911 and has had no issues whatsoever with it. I put two mags through it and no issues either.

I have put about 2000 rounds through my glock 17 since I cleaned it last with no FTF or FTE. I dont clean it often other than a barrel swab.

If i put 2000$ into a pistol I want to be able to trust my life to it right out of the box. I never hear anything about nitehawks, are they as problematic?