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So I finally have time to write this review. When I first brought this gun home, I gave it a thorough look over.
Before I took it apart, I noticed: The finish on the gun was perfect, and the pull of the trigger was crisp with no weird vertical play or slack. The gun was bank vault tight. It was pretty hard to even rack the slide till I cocked the hammer first, but when I did, it was very smooth on the rails. The slide to frame fit was pretty spot on, and all in all not one complaint. The only weird thing was that a slight hint of light could be seen between the railed portion of the frame and the slide (where the recoil spring is held). But I looked at other Nighthawk GRP Recons before I bought this home, and it seems to be standard.
During first field strip before shooting: Internally everything looked good. No random scratches or issues with the finish. The barrel to bushing fit was really good. The bushing sticks at the end of the barrel because of the fitment, and I have to apply slight pressure to slide it off the barrel. I was thinking I should have just shot the gun before its first field strip since everything came lubed up and ready to go.
First Range Trip: I shot 450 rounds down range with different types of FMJ ammo. It ranged from American Eagle, Winchester White Box, UMC and Federal. I had a severe issue with the silver magazine that was sent along with the gun. For some reason it jammed a lot, I was getting FTF, nose dives, and etc with it all day. It did not matter if 8 rounds were loaded, or 5 rounds were loaded, FTF hell. After about 15-20 failures, I ditched that magazine and stuck with the black magazine that came with the gun.
AND thankfully the black magazine that came with the gun went perfectly, not one hiccup.
The recoil feels very soft and accuracy is wonderful as expected. I let several of my friends shoot the gun and they all loved it. When we were shooting at 25 yrds, we would avg about a 3-5" spread. This was not the guns fault at all. We are just poor shooters that need more practice unfortunately. But it was good to hear that one of my friends shot the best he ever has with this gun.
In short I really liked the gun when I gave up on using the silver magazine.
Field Strip & Clean Up After Range Trip: I posted some of the pictures below after the range trip. For the most part, the Black Nitride Finish is holding up well. The only visible wear marks I can see are on the frame rails but I guess that is to be expected. The barrel link has a few tiny nicks on it, I don't think they are an issue. There is also a tiny coating chip noticeable on the edge of the slide where the slide stop hits it (when the last round is shot and the slide is held in it's rearward position). Lastly I have very slight brass marks near the rear of the ejection port on the slide. Not really too sure how those occurred, like if one of the more inexperienced shooters were limp wristing or something. Other than that though, everything looks great.
Customer Service Call: I called Bill at Nighthawk the next day to talk about the FTF with the silver magazine, also the slight brass marks. He told me that he would go ahead and swap out the silver magazine for another 8 round black one. He also mentioned that they accidentally shipped me a 7 round black one originally, so they would replace that one as well. In regards to the brass marks, he wasn't sure if that was caused by the extractor tension or something else, but he said they would be happy to look at it. However, if nothing was wrong with the gun, they would have to charge me for shipping it back to me (which was totally fine with me as they shouldn't have to eat the cost of checking something out if there is nothing wrong with it). Lastly I mentioned the barrel link nicks and he told me that they shouldn't be a problem.
All in all, I am pretty happy the gun, and customer service. And I figured that since I am sending it in for them to check out, I might as well have them: install new sights (Heini 10-8 night sights), black nitride barrel, and flush and crown barrel.
I'll keep you guys posted when I get it back
Before I took it apart, I noticed: The finish on the gun was perfect, and the pull of the trigger was crisp with no weird vertical play or slack. The gun was bank vault tight. It was pretty hard to even rack the slide till I cocked the hammer first, but when I did, it was very smooth on the rails. The slide to frame fit was pretty spot on, and all in all not one complaint. The only weird thing was that a slight hint of light could be seen between the railed portion of the frame and the slide (where the recoil spring is held). But I looked at other Nighthawk GRP Recons before I bought this home, and it seems to be standard.
During first field strip before shooting: Internally everything looked good. No random scratches or issues with the finish. The barrel to bushing fit was really good. The bushing sticks at the end of the barrel because of the fitment, and I have to apply slight pressure to slide it off the barrel. I was thinking I should have just shot the gun before its first field strip since everything came lubed up and ready to go.
First Range Trip: I shot 450 rounds down range with different types of FMJ ammo. It ranged from American Eagle, Winchester White Box, UMC and Federal. I had a severe issue with the silver magazine that was sent along with the gun. For some reason it jammed a lot, I was getting FTF, nose dives, and etc with it all day. It did not matter if 8 rounds were loaded, or 5 rounds were loaded, FTF hell. After about 15-20 failures, I ditched that magazine and stuck with the black magazine that came with the gun.
AND thankfully the black magazine that came with the gun went perfectly, not one hiccup.
The recoil feels very soft and accuracy is wonderful as expected. I let several of my friends shoot the gun and they all loved it. When we were shooting at 25 yrds, we would avg about a 3-5" spread. This was not the guns fault at all. We are just poor shooters that need more practice unfortunately. But it was good to hear that one of my friends shot the best he ever has with this gun.
In short I really liked the gun when I gave up on using the silver magazine.
Field Strip & Clean Up After Range Trip: I posted some of the pictures below after the range trip. For the most part, the Black Nitride Finish is holding up well. The only visible wear marks I can see are on the frame rails but I guess that is to be expected. The barrel link has a few tiny nicks on it, I don't think they are an issue. There is also a tiny coating chip noticeable on the edge of the slide where the slide stop hits it (when the last round is shot and the slide is held in it's rearward position). Lastly I have very slight brass marks near the rear of the ejection port on the slide. Not really too sure how those occurred, like if one of the more inexperienced shooters were limp wristing or something. Other than that though, everything looks great.
Customer Service Call: I called Bill at Nighthawk the next day to talk about the FTF with the silver magazine, also the slight brass marks. He told me that he would go ahead and swap out the silver magazine for another 8 round black one. He also mentioned that they accidentally shipped me a 7 round black one originally, so they would replace that one as well. In regards to the brass marks, he wasn't sure if that was caused by the extractor tension or something else, but he said they would be happy to look at it. However, if nothing was wrong with the gun, they would have to charge me for shipping it back to me (which was totally fine with me as they shouldn't have to eat the cost of checking something out if there is nothing wrong with it). Lastly I mentioned the barrel link nicks and he told me that they shouldn't be a problem.
All in all, I am pretty happy the gun, and customer service. And I figured that since I am sending it in for them to check out, I might as well have them: install new sights (Heini 10-8 night sights), black nitride barrel, and flush and crown barrel.
I'll keep you guys posted when I get it back
I have shot that gun before and it was smooth. 
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