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Old December 12, 2006, 05:29 PM   #1
HankL
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Vickers Tactical Pistol

If I were Larry Vickers I would be really upset with my partners at Nighthawk Custom. I would also be wondering if the American Pistol Smiths Guild were considering pulling my membership for putting my name on Nighthawk's work.

The pistol Denny Hansen reported on in the January 2007 issue of SWAT should have never left the shop in the condition it was in. Almost half of the magazines in the first 200 rounds of the test had failures to chamber because the pistol was not properly assembled.

Sending out a pistol with an unchecked/unset extractor is not excusable. Sending out a $3000 pistol with said extractor problem to a magazine writer is just plain nuts.
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Old December 14, 2006, 02:08 AM   #2
hydrashok407
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I read articles like this and I just have to laugh. Why? Because my mom raised ugly kids, not stupid ones... you will NOT find me spending that kind of ridiculous money for a 1911 style pistol.

Both of my $450 Springfield GI45s will perform just as nicely as those fancy $2000-$3000 name guns. They came in a box, both have had over a thousand rounds through them with multiple magazines, I've hit golf balls at 15 yds with both of them, and both of them have YET to malfunction or misfeed.

But, I said all that to say that I agree with you... to send a $3k gun to a magazine that hasn't been, at least, halfway checked over is lunacy.
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Old December 27, 2006, 03:01 PM   #3
DanV1317
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A buddy of mine has 2 of them. He has like 2,000 rounds through one, and actually just fired the new one a few weeks back with me for the first time. The safety was so stiff on it you could barely take it off with your thumb.

Accurate yes, but the damn thing isn't that reliable. I will throw down at least 100$ every time we go to the range that it will jam in some fashion.

There is no way i'd pay that much money for the gun. I'd take a springfield operator any day over one of those guns any day if they were the same price.

I'd pay like 700 or so for the gun at best.

I just laugh when the thing jams.

He has already switched magazines like 3 times to try to find out what works. If they had lemon laws for guns, both of his would qualify for a return.
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Old December 27, 2006, 06:33 PM   #4
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Everyone should have a way to run malfunction drills in a random manner. For me, it is with ammo my gun doesn't like. Maybe if I had the money, I could buy a 3k dedicated malfunction gun.

Some months back, I saw the post about hurrying up to order a low serial# Vickers gun from Nighthawk. I am glad I passed.
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Old December 28, 2006, 12:22 PM   #5
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Kudos to SWAT for telling it like it is!
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Old December 28, 2006, 02:43 PM   #6
Denny Hansen
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Appreciate the kind words, but don't forget this was an easily corrected problem with a single pistol. NightHawk is establishing a good reputation and the test sample should not be considered indicative of all their guns. Overall, the fit and finish showed a high degree of quality control.

Denny
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Old December 28, 2006, 04:22 PM   #7
DanV1317
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I do give extra credit to magazines that actually do tell about the bad aspects of a product or a major problem they had with it! It shows that they dont do that thing where they only write great reviews for companies to try to keep good ties and maybe get some extra money for promoting that perticular product.

Last edited by DanV1317; December 29, 2006 at 04:26 PM. Reason: Wrong use of wording
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Old December 29, 2006, 09:46 AM   #8
Pat Rogers
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Dan- reporting accurately on what happens or how a piece of equipment performs is not "bashing".
Somethings are extremely subjective- how something feels in the hand; how it points and so forth.
Reporting on performance is nothing more than accurately stating facts.

Making statements that have no basis in fact- similar to about 90% of errornet posts- can be construed as many things, including bashing.

One gun- or ten- or maybe a hundred, are not necessarily anything more then an abberation or a minor glitch on that (or those) particular guns.

Scientific evaluations is not something done in the firearms industry outside of the government. Advertising may be truthful or fantasy, with a lot leaning towards the latter.
Gun evaluartions, like equipment evaluations, are an opportunity for the writer to present his observations on that particular gun/ widget over a short term.
Like the gun or not, unwilling to pay more for a pistol then a sniper rifle or not- that's on the individual reader. All the writer is doing (and i'm specifically referring to Denny here) is reporting on what he experienced.
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Old December 29, 2006, 04:29 PM   #9
DanV1317
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Ok, i've changed my post to better wording. Anway, it was good to hear that you actually had a "not so perfect" experience with a firearm and told everybody about it. It keeps us all aware of it's possible problems and also lets us know you guys are looking out for us.
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Old January 10, 2008, 02:08 PM   #10
ForneyRider
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+1 on custom 1911 for $3k is ridiculous.

A few custom parts, coatings and metal work for 3k seems pretty high.

But I never shot a Wilson, STI, etc.

I have shot some custom 1911's that I would call hot-rodded for around 1k-1.2k and they were much better than the 500-800$ factory model they started out. They had custom coatings, parts and hand finished.
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Old February 14, 2008, 08:33 AM   #11
northshooter
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Just new to the site, but not to SWAT magazine. I would first like to say what a great publication.

Now as far as the Nighthawk goes, in my opinion, it is like all the other $2500+ "custom" 1911's.

A good friend of mine recently purchased a Nighthawk Talon 4.5". Very nice gun, no dought about it, but not worth $2850.00.

I have a 2 1911's. A Kimber TLE II and a Norinco government sized I built up myself. The only thing I did to My Kimber was replace the rear sight with a Novak (only because I wanted to) and a set of John Van Zykes fabulous Gatorback grips. This gun in total cost me $1020.00 with the new rear night sight and grips and 3 extra Wilson mags.

Now my Norinco I installed a Nowlin drop in trigger kit, and had a friend mill in a set of regular Novak sights and I fit an Ed Brown Beavertail. Total cost for this, $593.00 with another set of Gatorback grips and, 3 more Wilson mags.

Bottom line is, I have well over 10,000 rounds of every kind of .45 out there through my Kimber and for me, it is just as accurate and reliable as my friends new Nighthawk and he has put 2000+ rounds through thus far.

Move to the Norinco, It shoots just as good as my Kimber for me, and I have put even more rounds through it, I shoot it the most, pride thing since I built it myself, so for me, there is no way I would spend $2500+++ on a 1911 when I can build one for almost a 1/4 of the price that works just as good.

But hey, thats just me.
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