How patient should you be with a gun?

[BTC3]

Had a great day out shooting today.  It seemed that I could hit almost anything, gun was comfortable in the shoulder, lead (as in the metal) was flying in the right direction, in other words, where I was trying to put it, I was in good company, the sun was shining...  You get the idea.

A few shots in I realised that the top barrel wasn't ejecting.  Not ejecting more weakly, just not at all.  At first I thought the way I was holding my hand over the cartridges on opening the gun was somehow preventing it from ejecting.  It was firing OK, so carried on, and it was clear that it just wasn't ejecting.  Took the gun to pieces, everything passed a quick visual inspection, the ejectors had good spring resistance, and there was no fouling.  Put it back together again, fired a couple of cartridges, no ejection on the top barrel.  Long story short, the experts at the ground couldn't figure it out, so it went back to the RFD, who at first couldn't work out what it was either, but after half an hour of looking at it from all angles, suspects that the culprit is a broken ejector cocking rod.  They've taken it in for repair, and I can foresee that I will be without my [number 1] gun for a fortnight or longer.  Back in January the gun was out of commission for the best part of 6 weeks while they replaced the fore-end mechanism as the fore-end was rattling and there was nothing left to fettle to stop it.  Top lever was also replaced as the spring seemed to be a bit worn too.

So now I'm hacked off.  I really like the gun, I shoot, admittedly by own standards, well with it, it's comfortable, it fits, and I have yet to find another gun with a grip that is as comfortable.  But I got it last August, and I don't think that spending the best part of 2, soon probably 3, months being fixed is on.  The RFD has been good about fixing all of this (the gun was bought used and out of manufacturer warranty) but I have to wonder, is it time to call it a day and get something else?  I guess there are no hard and fast rules about this sort of thing, but what would you do?  

Thanks,

Richard

 

[Sian]

Depends how much do you love it?  I know that you'd have to prize my husband's gun out of his dead hands despite having been without it for a period of approx 18 months!  Two problems which I will not bore you with which took excessive time to solve.  In the meantime he had to shoot his old semi which admittedly he shoots well with but is nothing compared to his No 1 gun but unless that No 1 gun literally falls apart and cannot be stuck back together he would wait.

 

[cockney21]

What gun is it? As with anything parts do wear out. Part of the issue with the trade in general is that they all seem to take at least a week, but more normally two weeks to fix what should be a 1hr job. If you had dropped it off one day and picked it up the next you would not think anything of it, so maybe give them one more chance to fix it and see how you get on. If it is a modern well known brand then action style faults should not be an issue as there should be part on the shelf to fix most thing....if it's older with the need to make the part from scratch then you will have to accept delays and costs...

 

[ips]

You Have To Buy as many guns as you can as quickly as you can to get it out of your system. And it helps the economy it's a win win thing ,)

 

[RobertBeard]

With the various issues now sorted there is surely not much left to cause any problems so it should be good for the future, so keep it if it suits you so well.

 

[ips]

Keep every gun just buy more.  Someone at some time will have more in the stable than 40up. ... or will they ?

 

[BTC3]

Sian - the fact that I am wondering whether to call it a day suggests that I'm not about to start paraphrasing Charlton Heston just yet...

Cockney21 - your one hour fix comment is very valid, but the problem is that it is not, it's going to be a while longer than that.  The RFD is certainly getting the chance to fix it, and I can't wait to get back out there, but the problem (probably just for me, however) is that I get "the fear" when things break down and lose confidence in them.  It started with a car that kept going wrong, I hated it and grew to distrust it - to this day I won't even consider buying another one from that group - and got rid of it just as soon as I could.  I've reacted to things in a similar way since, and I worry that the gun is going in that direction, hence the idea of cutting and running.

Robert - the issues will hopefully be on their way to being sorted out, but in the back of my mind will be the idea of what will go next...

IPS - had to be you enabling my spendaholic ways ;-)  So, what's the target set by 40up, how many times over do I need to remortgage?

 

[ips]

No one knows mate that's the thing but we suspect a lot. 

 

[Sian]

Sian - the fact that I am wondering whether to call it a day suggests that I'm not about to start paraphrasing Charlton Heston just yet...

Sorry you've gone right over my head with that, don't understand whether your being funny or taking the pee out of me - either way no matter

 

[ips]

Sian 

I don't understand either ?

 

[Sian]

Sian 

I don't understand either ?

We can both be thick then.  ?

 

[Bebo]

Charlton Heston was (is?) president of the NRA.  One of their slogans is 'I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.'  See Sians original post for (almost) use of the same phrase.

 

[ips]

Good one that me too mate.

 

[Sian]

Thank you for explaining Bebo - wasn't aware of that.  Only ever remember seeing him in a Bible movie!

 

[chippy]

Like you I,am losing patience with my gun, I've owned it for 13 years and every time I shoot I tell it " I want you to win today"  and do you know it hasn't even been close. 

 

[BTC3]

Sian: I apologise, no piss taking involved or offence intended. In fact quite the opposite, I take a similar approach to some of my possessions, and I'm trying to work out whether it [still] applies to this gun.

In terms of humour, I thought your comment about prizing guns from hands was an implied reference to the NRA catchphrase and was trying to acknowledge it.  Heston used it in a speech in 2000 responding to the US anti-gun lobby, and if my inner geek remembers correctly, he was, in turn, paraphrasing from congressional testimony from the mid-seventies on the same topic...

Thanks Bebo!!

 

[Sian]

No offence taken, wish I was clever enough to have done that but in truth I am not.

 

[Salopian]

It is a problem with a very simple solution.

Have your gun examined by a COMPETENT gunsmith , decide if it is economical to repair /refurbish to the gunsmiths recommendation and it should then be trouble free for some considerable time. Remember a vendor is only going to refurbish parts which break during a guarantee /trial period any thing else is eating into his profit margin.

I service my guns annually and have never had a significant breakdown in many years.

 

[BTC3]

Well, I think I need to take back my words from the first post: the RFD decided quite quickly they didn't have the bits they needed to fix my gun quickly, and so took it to the importer where they had the bits and made the repair on the spot.

The culprit was a bent ejector cocking rod, which neither the RFD or importer had seen before, nor have they been able to explain why it got bent. Both rods have been replaced and the gun was gone over, cleaned and regreased.  Credit where it's due to RK Stockcraft for identifying the problem and taking the gun to Anglo Italian rather than send off for the parts. Credit also to AI for an on the spot fix.

Gun works just fine again, so until the next problem, all good on this front and the despair I felt last week is gone.  But I still want a laminate stock...!