mr surveyor wrote:that was an excellent "non-rant", and pretty well covers the entire subject. I just hope the powers that be in Brasil actually understand how close they are to either being the number one lever gun supplier to the mass market in the U.S., or being known as third rate. I think they are at the crossroads right now and have less than a year to settle the issue. Someone will eventually fill the slot of serviceable lever guns with readily available replacement parts
JD
The position they are fighting for is tied for first or somewhere 4th or lower IMO.
Part of that depends on what the other manufacturers are going to do. Whether or not Mossberg can and will continue to produce a quality gun or whether they are going to cheapen them up like they are doing on their department store 500s where they are molding the action bars into the forend instead of using a metal tube liner with the bars welded on like they have been doing for the past 30 years. IF Marlin/Remington is going to produce a quality gun or if they are going to slap some gun shaped object together or get out of lever actions all together. IF Henry can put out enough guns that you can find them on the racks or at least at the warehouses when you want one and are willing to pay for it. Whether or not Winchester/Browning/FN is ever going to cater to the shooter rather than the gentry with regards to prices and availability.
I asked him if this was going be the norm Taurus and I will never forget his reply: "Dude, they ALL go back. If somebody tells you one doesn't, they don't know what they are talking about. I do."
Ranch Dog
I'll agree they all do go back.
Some because people are stupid, some because of manufacturing issues. I've seen two Beretta's blown up one clearly was smearing lead down the barrel when it happened. I know a guy through the net who's blown up two H&K .45s using a published load that is above maximum in more than half my books. I know of three Kimbers that should have flunked QC for being mismachined in a mostly cosmetic way at the ejector retention pin hole. Then there was the Kimber Pro Carry that was placed in a hydro sonic cleaner that boiled off the anodize on the frame. Glocks that were returned because the owner decided to stipple them with a wood burning kit or a soldering iron. Ruger 1911s where the breachface J cut was mismatched enough to engrave the fired case heads. I know a fellow who used a Taurus .22 for training purposes when friends wanted to go shoot who's had to send it back for timing issues twice in two and a half years. I know another guy who had to return a couple millennium series guns. One was fixed and returned no problem but the other had to be replaced and due to CA's rather stupid laws the gent received a completely different model than what he'd sent in for work. Unfortunately the new gun didn't fit the owner and it also exhibited less than acceptable reliability. Living in CA makes it even more important that in the case of handguns the weapon be not only reliable but durable. No matter how good the warranty may be if the manufacturer has stopped paying the extortion fee to the state to keep it on the DOJ Roster of Approved handguns then a replacement isn't going to work. I've seen 3 or 4 Rossi revolvers going out or coming back at various shops for timing issues. In every case the owner expressed the intention to get rid of them and get something from Smith or Ruger.
Restricting screws and punishing owners because they dare take the gun apart in search of broken parts or burrs that are causing functional problems is going to result in a lot of guns getting sold as soon as they come back from the 'factory service', a lot of guns parted out on E-bay and a reputation that means IF one is on the shelf it won't even get looked at no matter how reasonable the price. The shop I hang out at sees a lot of noses turned up when the lever actions on the wall are identified as Rossi guns. People will pay twice as much for a gun they don't have to worry about sending back or that they can get parts to work on if they have to.