So I order a custom barrel from a well known maker. I wait the 3 months and the barrel comes. I mount the barrel to my Contender frame and it has a on-half inch horizontal movement to it. (measured at the end of the 24 barrel)
So, I go over to my shootin buddies (my frame # is 147k his is 289K) and we hook it onto his Contender frame. Same amount of wiggle. Then we take his 18 custom barrel that was made by the same company (he bot it used off of ebay) and it locks up as tight as a tick on a dog on my frame----just as it does on his frame.
I call famous barrel maker guy and he says take out older barrel lugs (with roller lug) from one of my older barrels and put in new barrel. I do this and get the same wiggle. However, I install new lug in my old barrel and it actually locks up nice and tight, but the lock and unlock is much smoother than before.
Famous maker guy (FMG) says send barrel back. Also ask for my frame and promises not to touch in any fashion my frame. I worry, but my shootin buddy says hey
what could he do. So, I send barrel and frame back with written letter that is very specific and states DONT TOUCH MY FRAME. Why???...cause I dont want to void the TC warranty.
I call FMG (every Monday for a month) and finally he says its everything but his barrel. I ask why it does the wiggle on my buddies frame
he blows this off. He says my frame is old and well worn. I tell him one month earlier I had it sent back to T\C and they just put in the easy open trigger (for free cause the original was bad) and they found nothing else wrong. He tells me I filed or sanded the breach plug. I tell him I dont even know what a T\C breach plug is! (Thats because I dont). Then he tells me he removed my breach plug and put in one he had in his safe
.from an old one he had in pieces
.and he installed an old set of lugs and the barrel no longer has any vertical movement.
VERTICAL
I said it had horizontal movement. He said it still had a little horizontal movement, but that was because of my frame. Oh, then why do all of my other barrels work just fine? Why does one of his previous productions work fine? Why does this barrel wiggle in another frame. Is it just a Pennsylvania thing?
I told him to send me my frame
and put it back in the condition he sent it ( he was screaming at me at this point) and to keep his barrel. He stated he would not refund the money to me. I told him I didnt care, just give me my frame back. Just dont send me the barrel.
So
.help me out here
..would you pay top dollar for a custom barrel that wiggles in your Contender frame? Would this be acceptable to you?
Any opinions?
Thanks.