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Old July 21, 2011, 11:26 PM   #19
Aristides
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 18, 2008
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 352
Update from OP...Strange...!!

Well, this was a strange journey. I will share my story in some detail, as maybe others can learn from this.

I waited 3 1/2 weeks, and went by the LGS where I bought the gun. It's one of the largest gun stores in the area. I was actually there to help a friend buy a gun. While I was there, they told me my gun was back. Hmmm, why hadn't they called me to tell me the gun was in, as they promised they would?

The notations with the gun indicated that they had shot 80 rounds, of various brands, with no failures. 60 of them were FMJ, 20 were JHP. The notations stated that they had tested multiple mags.

I was surprised, and told the sales guy that I was not happy. I couldn't believe they had NO failures. He advised me to go back to the range, and be sure I was holding the gun with a firm grip. I told him that I know about limp-wristing, and I didn't think that was it, but I would try again with special attention to having a firm grip. I told him that I don't have limp-wristing problems with any of my several other semi-autos, and wasn't likely to keep the gun if I had to hold it with a vise-grip and my tongue twisted counter-clockwise.

So I went straight to the range, and wouldn't you know it, I had two jams in the first 8-round mag. There was 1 failure in the next mag, and 1-3 failures in each of the next few mags. These were with my carry JHP (Winchester PDX1). Then I switched to FMJ, and the jams were less frequent, but I still had a few. Somewhere along the way I switched to the spare mag. Things were running smoothly now. I went back to the JHP, still looking good. Eventually I went back to the original mag and my carry JHP, got through a mag or two with no failures, then bam, another failure! Next clip, bam, another failure. After thinking I was in the clear, it was a real bummer to have the failures again.

So I packed up and went home, feeling very disappointed with Colt and determined to make the LGS take the gun back and get something else.

But while unloading the ammo at home, I just happened to notice that, while stripping the rounds from the mag with my thumb, the ammo was nose-diving into the mag, and it looked just like it did when the gun was jamming at the range. After loading and unloading the mag several times, it was clear that the nose-diving was happening consistently in the first 3-4 rounds, but the last 4-5 rounds in the mag would then come out smoothly. But the problem was quite consistent.

Then I tried the "spare" mag that I was keeping in my range bag. When stripping the rounds from that mag with my thumb, all the rounds came out smoothly, no nose-diving at all. I loaded and unloaded the mag several times, no problems.

So this morning I went back to the range and shot the gun again with the "good" mag, and shot 3 boxes of my PDX1 JHP with not a single hiccup, it was smooth as silk. Also shot about 25 rounds of FMJ, likewise no problems at all. I intended to also shoot the suspected "problem" mag, just to confirm that it would jam as I suspected it would, but I accidentally left it sitting on my desk at home.

Driving back from the range, I called the sales guy at the LGS. I started out by telling him that I had immediately started getting jams, and before I could explain that I figured out it was a bad mag, he said they would send it back to Colt. I then said, no, I just want them to replace the bad mag. But I also said that I'm upset with Colt, because I just didn't believe that they had shot both my mags. If they had, they would have learned that one was bad. That's when the sales guy said that, actually, they hadn't sent it back to Colt at all, instead, the owner/manager of the store had done the test shooting. What???!!! They had kept the gun for 3 1/2 weeks, and not even sent it back to Colt?? What were they doing for 3 1/2 weeks?? I asked the guy why they told me they were sending it back to Colt, when they hadn't done so? He simply said it's their practice to test the guns themselved first, to see if they can replicate the problem, so they don't send guns back to the manufactures unnecessarily. I said, well, that would be fine, if you inform the customer that's what you are doing. But to SAY you are sending it back to the manufacturer, hold it for over 3 weeks, and then give it back to the customer...still pretending you sent it off??? That's dishonest. He didn't have an answer for that.

And if the test guy did shoot both mags, he must have just "happened" to have shot the JHP with the good mag, and the bad mag must have just "happened" to behave in the little bit that he shot with it.

I've bought several guns and lots of ammo from these guys over the past few years, and I've sent a number of friends to them, too. I'm on a first name basis with several of the sales guys, and have thought of this store as one of the best in town. But, for the foreseeable future, I'm done with them, there are other options in my city.

Meanwhile, I called Colt, told them about the mag problem. They said to send in the defective mag, and they will send a replacement.

Aside from my bad LGS experience, and with the "good" mag in the pistol, the Colt New Agent is great to shoot. The recoil is mild, even with 9mm +P, and it carries easily IWB and in my cargo shorts. It's beautiful aesthetically, too. I'll be keeping it!
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If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back...Regina Brett
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Last edited by Aristides; July 21, 2011 at 11:43 PM.
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