11/4/08

I forgot to mention that I tried to install that ambidextrous safety in the 1911 while cleaning and fitting it to the new case on Halloween night. Yeah, it doesn’t fit. I figured that was why Juan was supposed to take it to a gunsmith to have it installed. No, when I got to the range after the gun show on Sunday (remember that was where I left off the story yesterday?) I talked to the gunsmith there and asked about it. He said that Springfield has a slightly different shape to their… um, trigger and safety mechanism, which has a name, which he used, but I don’t remember it now, and the Wilson safeties don’t always fit. Or was it, “always don’t fit?” Anyhoo, I asked if there was anything I could do about it and he shrugged. I understand his point of view. He doesn’t want to modify something and be liable for it failing. I'm cool with that. We installed the extended slide release and tested it with a Kimber clip and the Zombie Apocalypse Magazine. The Kimber clip locks the slide back when out of ammo, as it should, but the ZAM did not. We both shrugged that off saying if forty rounds didn’t stop whatever you were shoosting, you had bigger issues than a closed, empty chamber. For some reason I showed him the ammo I had bought for the Judge and he pointed out that the .45 Long Cold rounds were for “werewolves.” They are silver (colored) hollow point self defense rounds and a bit spendy for paper cutting at the range. I knew that going in and hadn’t really planned on firing many bullets through the Judge. I was more interested in popping off shotgun rounds! Larry had suggested that I ask if I needed to do anything special before firing the Judge so we looked it over. The gunsmith said it should be fine so I took my stuff and entered the range. I began with five shotgun shells in the Judge. They were quite snug. In fact, too snug in hindsight. I pushed them all down and closed the chamber. I fired the thing and pulled the target in to see the pattern. Not too bad, the silhouette was peppered pretty well with a fairly even coverage. The gun didn’t kick near as bad as I had expected either. I liked it! Unfortunately, now was when the problems began. I tried to pull the hammer for a second shot but it wouldn’t budge. I also noticed the trigger was still in the pulled position. I went to extract the cylinder and the trigger snapped back into the ready position. I tried the hammer again to no avail. I opened the cylinder and checked the shells. They were all seated but I pushed them again just to be sure. I closed the cylinder and cocked it again. It fired again just fine, spitting out a huge gout of flame I might add. Awesome! Oh, it flashed mightily every time, I'm not saying anything was amiss with the flame. It was awesome though, did I mention that? I pulled in the target again and checked out that pattern. Yeah, that was a waste of time. I tried the hammer again and it was stuck once more. This time however, the trigger wasn’t stuck. I opened the cylinder and had another look. When I closed it again it would cock. Now, I know I should have stopped there and had the gun looked over, but I went ahead and fired all five of the shotgun rounds in that manner. Bang, try to cock, open cylinder, inspect, close cylinder, cock, bang, and repeat. When the shotgun shells were all spent, I tried to eject them. No luck. They were stuck. I tapped the ejector in the edge of the table but they still wouldn’t budge. I set it aside and moved on to the 1911. I pulled out the ZAM and started loading it. I lost count of the bullets but knew I had about fifty in the box so I stopped when there were ten left. I picked up the pistol and slid the mag in. It didn’t lock. I snapped it in a little harder and it did click in place. I worked the action and took a shot. The second round didn’t load. I chambered another manually and took another shot. This one “stove piped” where the fresh round sticks straight up and gets caught in the slide. I removed that and ejected the mag to unload it. It clearly wasn’t going to work. I slid the first round out in the normal forward sliding manner but my thumb hit the nose of the second bullet as I was coming back. It flipped up and fell into the box followed by the rest of the ammo. It all just dumped out! The spring had hung in the bottom of the mag and they all just came a tumblin’ out. Nice. I didn’t bother to count them but assumed there were still some in there. I set that POS aside and popped in the Kimber clip with range ammo. I blasted through all but seven rounds and left one clip full in the case with the gun. I took all my stuff and headed to talk to the gunsmith about the Judge. He took it and managed to extract the shells. “I hate to tell you this about a new gun,” he said, “but this guy has major problems.” He showed me how the extractor didn’t move smoothly, how the cylinder didn’t turn smoothly, how it didn’t close or open properly, and how the cocking/firing mechanism didn’t work right. I asked if he could take a look at it. He disassembled it and came back with a similar diagnosis. He suggested I haul ass back to the show and see what the seller would do for me otherwise I'd have to send it back to Taurus to have them fix it on their lifetime warrantee. I took off to the gun show. I stopped at the cop table so they could verify the safety of the weapon and then went to talk to the lady taking money to enter. I ‘splained that I had been there a few hours before, bought this gun, and needed to see about the vendor making it right. She let me in. I went to the dealer and told my story to them. They looked the gun over, tried the cylinder, tried the cocking/firing mechanism, and then had a whispered conversation. The owner finally said, “Yeah, just give him another one. Change the paperwork though!” so I sat down and they found my paperwork to change the surreal numbers. He handed me the new gun and asked that I try out all the functionality while he did that. This one was much smoother operating. I thanked them for their help and took off. Oh, by the way, the dealer in question is The Gun Zone in Dallas, Texas. I promised I would praise their customer service in making this deal right and tell all of y'all what swell folks they are. Deal with them if you have a chance. Ok, so I have my new, new gun in hand and head back to the car. It is about 1630 h by now and I'm debating what to do. I have the Old School Car thing at 1900 h and still needed to get Shichi from the shop. I decide to go back to the range figuring I might get lucky and he’ll let me have a lane to try this out. I was right, he did but I had to wait for the three people ahead of me. The gunsmith and I looked over this gun and tried dropping a shell into it. There is a step in the cylinder, I figured out later it is for extraction, which still stopped the shells from sliding all the way down. We tried some other shells and they met resistance at the step but did go all the way in with very little pressure. I bought a box. I also bought a box of the range ammo he recommended and sat back to wait for a lane. When one came available I went in and set up a target. Five shells in the chambers and I was loaded and locked. See John, I pay attention from time to time. I popped off the five rounds and was giddy. I really like this thing! Unfortunately, I'm learning too late that the thing doesn’t kick as much as I'd expected and the ultralight might have been a better choice. My arm is tired from hefting that thing up and holding it, not from the recoil! Oh well, one day I might sell it and get an ultralight. We’ll see. So I blast through about ten shotgun shells and twenty Long Colt rounds, including five of the “werewolf” ammo for comparison, and realize I'm wasting time. I have the lane for free so I shouldn’t take too long, I’m reasoning, and I have the car thing later. I pack up and head out. I tell the gunsmith I am very happy with this weapon and he gives me a thumbs-up. I load the thing in the trunk and head for the shop. But I'll tell that story tomorrow. I gotta go now. Have a day.