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**************Edit/Update 03/12/12:***********************
I bought a stock RIA 1911 GI second-hand in superb condition from a fellow calgunner a few months ago, and decided to upgrade the sights and a few other parts (hammer/sear/grip-safety). I should have just bought a completely different gun lol, but anyways: I took it to a well regarded 1911 gunsmith and he told me the price range (about $210-260) and turnaround time would be 3-5 weeks. 6 weeks went by and I emailed him asking how things were progressing and if there were any problems. He emailed me back the next day to tell me that he hadn't even started on it yet. OK no problem, I knew he was busy. 3(!) days later I get the call that it's ready and I can pick it up. Great. I chat with him, he discusses the things that he's done, like taking the slop out of the trigger, and that he replaced a bunch of springs that were substandard (the gun has had at most 150rds through it by both owners). I'm charged about $320 for labor and $45 for new parts. It's a bit steep, but he's so well regarded it must be worth it so I go ahead and write him the check.
I take it home that night and function test, and from my original post below, it's not working correctly. I email him shortly after the saturday before last and tell him the symptoms, and ask him what I should do next. I've received no response after well more than a week, and my check has also *not* been cashed.
In the meantime, I just wanted my 1911 to function, so I took it to Evan's gunsmithing and they told me 2 weeks. It took maybe 1 week, and they had to replace the trigger and recut the sear, because according to them, the trigger had just been mangled and the trigger-bow was visibly bent. The charge to replace & repair was $86.
I'm curious what I should do now with my outstanding check for $366 and the hassle I've had to go through. The previous gunsmith *did* do a seemingly good job of night-sight installation, but I'm pretty disappointed that the gun clearly didn't even pass a rudimentary safety inspection and the trigger was seemingly beyond repair. I guess I wouldn't mind if he never cashed the check and just wrote it all off, but at the same time I: A) want to pay him for the work he did perform (night sights) and B) get this cleared up and not have the $366 uncleared check constantly sitting at the back of my mind.
I'm thinking of asking him for a partial refund, at least the $86 it cost to have the gun fixed. I suppose this would require asking him to send back the check and I'd send him a new one, or I call my bank & cancel the current check and send him a new one.
Thoughts/advice? I can see the future and see someone asking me "Well why didn't you just send it back to the original gunsmith to repair what he did?" Answer: because I was stupidly impatient, he's a 40min drive away during work (with no traffic, it'd take hours with the rush hour traffic and I don't have time after work anyways), didn't want to have to deal with him anymore and just wanted the thing fixed and was no longer confident he'd give enough of a rat's *** to fix it properly. I know now that I really need to keep dealing with it because he doesn't deserve the full $366 that I cut a check to him for. I'd also like to not "out" him until I hear his side of the story, if/when he responds next.
Thanks!
************END OF 03/12/12 UPDATE**********************
ORIGINAL:
Sorry in advance if this thread just makes you go
I'm a new 1911 owner. Rock Island Armory .45 GI. I decided to have night sights installed, and while I was at it, a skeletonized hammer & requisite upgraded beavertail grip safety (this also required a compatible sear lol). Before I decided on these features though, I put about 150rds through it and loved it, but just wanted those parts.
I sent my new-to-me 1911 off to a gunsmith who installed all of the above and I just got it back today. Tonight I loaded a magazine with Snap-Caps (dummy rounds which are mechanically safe to dry-fire) and found the following problem:
If I hold the trigger in and rack the slide and let it forward feeding a dummy round, if I let go of the trigger, the hammer will be stuck back and the trigger does not make the small reset *click* when released. The grip safety is of course engaged, and if I try to press the trigger again, there is little movement in the trigger, and the hammer does not release and stays stuck in the beavertail. In this "problem" position, the hammer can be pressed down a bit deeper into the beavertail by a few mm's and then will go back to the problem position.
With or without dummy rounds, If I rack the slide again while keeping off the trigger, the trigger/hammer reset and function normally.
With no dummy rounds and an empty chamber, if the slide is racked with the trigger depressed, the trigger/hammer reset and function normally.
When the problem is happening, I have found that I can make the trigger & hammer get "unstuck" by pulling (on the tip of the spur) or pressing (on the very bottom tail-end) on the beavertail grip-safety, but it takes a good amount of force to make the hammer become unstuck. Is this an actual problem that needs to be fixed, or this because there is no real recoil due to the use of dummy rounds, and that with live ammunition and forceful recoil from firing, the trigger/hammer will reset? I've been shooting for 10 years, but again, this is my first 1911 and I am not very familiar with the platform's quirks. I figure I can get a quicker answer here than waiting until Monday to contact the gunsmith!
I bought a stock RIA 1911 GI second-hand in superb condition from a fellow calgunner a few months ago, and decided to upgrade the sights and a few other parts (hammer/sear/grip-safety). I should have just bought a completely different gun lol, but anyways: I took it to a well regarded 1911 gunsmith and he told me the price range (about $210-260) and turnaround time would be 3-5 weeks. 6 weeks went by and I emailed him asking how things were progressing and if there were any problems. He emailed me back the next day to tell me that he hadn't even started on it yet. OK no problem, I knew he was busy. 3(!) days later I get the call that it's ready and I can pick it up. Great. I chat with him, he discusses the things that he's done, like taking the slop out of the trigger, and that he replaced a bunch of springs that were substandard (the gun has had at most 150rds through it by both owners). I'm charged about $320 for labor and $45 for new parts. It's a bit steep, but he's so well regarded it must be worth it so I go ahead and write him the check.
I take it home that night and function test, and from my original post below, it's not working correctly. I email him shortly after the saturday before last and tell him the symptoms, and ask him what I should do next. I've received no response after well more than a week, and my check has also *not* been cashed.
In the meantime, I just wanted my 1911 to function, so I took it to Evan's gunsmithing and they told me 2 weeks. It took maybe 1 week, and they had to replace the trigger and recut the sear, because according to them, the trigger had just been mangled and the trigger-bow was visibly bent. The charge to replace & repair was $86.
I'm curious what I should do now with my outstanding check for $366 and the hassle I've had to go through. The previous gunsmith *did* do a seemingly good job of night-sight installation, but I'm pretty disappointed that the gun clearly didn't even pass a rudimentary safety inspection and the trigger was seemingly beyond repair. I guess I wouldn't mind if he never cashed the check and just wrote it all off, but at the same time I: A) want to pay him for the work he did perform (night sights) and B) get this cleared up and not have the $366 uncleared check constantly sitting at the back of my mind.
I'm thinking of asking him for a partial refund, at least the $86 it cost to have the gun fixed. I suppose this would require asking him to send back the check and I'd send him a new one, or I call my bank & cancel the current check and send him a new one.
Thoughts/advice? I can see the future and see someone asking me "Well why didn't you just send it back to the original gunsmith to repair what he did?" Answer: because I was stupidly impatient, he's a 40min drive away during work (with no traffic, it'd take hours with the rush hour traffic and I don't have time after work anyways), didn't want to have to deal with him anymore and just wanted the thing fixed and was no longer confident he'd give enough of a rat's *** to fix it properly. I know now that I really need to keep dealing with it because he doesn't deserve the full $366 that I cut a check to him for. I'd also like to not "out" him until I hear his side of the story, if/when he responds next.
Thanks!
************END OF 03/12/12 UPDATE**********************
ORIGINAL:
Sorry in advance if this thread just makes you go
I'm a new 1911 owner. Rock Island Armory .45 GI. I decided to have night sights installed, and while I was at it, a skeletonized hammer & requisite upgraded beavertail grip safety (this also required a compatible sear lol). Before I decided on these features though, I put about 150rds through it and loved it, but just wanted those parts.
I sent my new-to-me 1911 off to a gunsmith who installed all of the above and I just got it back today. Tonight I loaded a magazine with Snap-Caps (dummy rounds which are mechanically safe to dry-fire) and found the following problem:
If I hold the trigger in and rack the slide and let it forward feeding a dummy round, if I let go of the trigger, the hammer will be stuck back and the trigger does not make the small reset *click* when released. The grip safety is of course engaged, and if I try to press the trigger again, there is little movement in the trigger, and the hammer does not release and stays stuck in the beavertail. In this "problem" position, the hammer can be pressed down a bit deeper into the beavertail by a few mm's and then will go back to the problem position.
With or without dummy rounds, If I rack the slide again while keeping off the trigger, the trigger/hammer reset and function normally.
With no dummy rounds and an empty chamber, if the slide is racked with the trigger depressed, the trigger/hammer reset and function normally.
When the problem is happening, I have found that I can make the trigger & hammer get "unstuck" by pulling (on the tip of the spur) or pressing (on the very bottom tail-end) on the beavertail grip-safety, but it takes a good amount of force to make the hammer become unstuck. Is this an actual problem that needs to be fixed, or this because there is no real recoil due to the use of dummy rounds, and that with live ammunition and forceful recoil from firing, the trigger/hammer will reset? I've been shooting for 10 years, but again, this is my first 1911 and I am not very familiar with the platform's quirks. I figure I can get a quicker answer here than waiting until Monday to contact the gunsmith!
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