Ironically, on the evening of my last post, the gun shop called my home and said that my pistol had arrived. I picked it up and tried it out on Friday. First off, I learned a little about how the Metroarms distributor works as far as warrantee work goes. Had I been able to take the pistol home with me on the first day, I would have read the paperwork that came with it. Brian G, you're correct. There are five gunsmiths that are registered with the Metroarms U.S. distributor as well as any Gander Mt. store. My pistol went to Ahlman's in MN.
What was wrong with it?
I guess, from what the gunsmith said, the chamber was not reamed correctly (too tight) and had to be reamed a second time. That's it! The gunsmith had reported to the store manager that this seems to be a reoccurring problem with the American Classics lately.
Here is how things went:
I took the pistol into the range right away instead of inspecting it in the front of the store. It appears that whomever was handling the pistol didn't handle it with much care. Albeit the grip panels are ugly as sin and are going to be replaced, there are now two chips on them. I also found a very noticeable scratch and almost marring across the grooves of the mainspring housing. There are a few other minor scratches in the finish as well but hardly noticeable. So basically, I had at the time, a pistol that looks as if it were a year old and I hadn't had the chance to even shoot it. Nice!
How does it shoot?
I realize that autos need some break in....about 500 rounds of break in, so I'm not really sure if this is typical or bad or what.
However, when I bought my series 80 Colt back in the early 90's, I do not recall having any cycling problems with it from the start. Nonetheless, I would say that about every third round, I have to push the slide forward in order to lock a round into battery. Some magazines full shot flawlessly while some needed a push forward on every round or every other round. Overall, within the 150 rounds I fired through it, I probably had to remove the magazine and completely clear the chamber about 10 to maybe 15 times, which is probably pretty acceptable for a new autoloader. This seemed to occur more as the pistol was fired more and more and became fouled.
Upon analysis of my brass, I noticed that every case had funny scratch-like rings on them....somewhat concentric rings around the case that almost looked as if they had been brushed on or into the sides of the case. Also noted, the extractor of this pistol really does a number on casings. The rims were all gnashed and bashed. NASTY!
As far as the rings on the casings goes, it is my guess that the chamber may have been reamed but not polished or just reamed poorly.
Unfortunately, I haven't had too much time this weekend to give it a detailed inspection. I hope take a closer look tonight.
Service and representation of Metroarms:
The store manager told me that they had four of these pistols. Of the four pistols, two were sold and both had to be serviced for the same reason. The interaction with the US distributor apparently wasn't so good. In fact, it was bad enough that the store owner is sending the remaining two pistols back for a refund. They do not want to sell any more of these pistols. Ironically, from what I was told, the distributor has been having a hard time lately with these pistols as well. This is all "word of mouth" here....just what I've been told. With that, anything can be true...or false for that matter.
Anyway, that's the story. All in all, with the exception of having to send a new pistol back for repairs, having a few dings and scratches put in it and an "iffy" cycling (not sure if it's typical for new pistols), the darn thing shot great and I'm fairly happy so far considering this was a $380 gun. Hopefully the cycling problem will work itself out and get better as it breaks in. I'll probably have the chamber polished a little if not. Much to my surprise, it has a decent trigger pull, shot accurately, and no adjustments will be needed on the sights. Using a four inch black circle target, shooting off hand, I was able to keep all eight rounds of each magazine in the black at 75 feet time and time again. Not too bad!
