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Well here's one this week.

I sent a MKIII in to be rebarreled. The lady at customer service told me $135 parts and labor (very reasonable IMO) and put a note in with the gun asking for the barrel to duplicate the original serial #. That way they can ship it to me directly w/o an FFL transfer.

So Mon they call me. A different lady this time tells me they got the pistol, it's in the work queue, it will take 7 - 10 business days, but they need an FFL to return it to. But ... but ... duplicate serial #..? "Oh no we don't do that any more"

So I got a bit ticked off. There wasn't really much money at stake but I don't like it when the rules change in the middle of the game and I have no choice but to play it their way. I told her this wasn't in the budget when I decided to send the pistol in for work and I felt like I was being held up. She was very pleasant about the whole thing. She went to talk to her supervisor. Comes back and tells me "Send us the bill from the FFL. We will cover up to $25 of your expense".

Today my FFL calls to tell me that the MKIII is back! That's a three day turnaround!

I dont know if I even will send in the receipt. It wasn't really the money so much as I wanted a gesture to show that they would own their mistake and they did a class act.

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Did you know that if you say "gullible" backwards, it sounds like "buffalo" ?

"..still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses." / Marcus Aurelius.

Strange, the MKIII has a thread in barrel seperate from the receiver, I wonder why they would have given a seperate serial number.

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Buy American, it may be your own job you are saving!

They told me that they replace the barrel + receiver as a unit. I think this is cost driven. It's probably cheaper to simply grab a new receiver/barrel unit from their inventory than it is to unscrew the old barrel and then machine the breech end so that it aligns proplerly.

There is also liability: When they return the gun they have to certify it that it's in good working order (something a gunsmith tasked with just replacing the barrel may not have to do). This is probably safer with brand new parts.

I believe they also replace the whole action whenever they service these guns - again just to be be confident that the gun is completely sound. The action parts cost them next to nothing. When a consumer buys parts he is mostly paying for inventory and distribution costs.

They are known to swap out any aftermarket parts like a Volquartsen trigger set ( I uninstalled mine before sending it in) - again because they won't accept liability for someone else's parts.

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Did you know that if you say "gullible" backwards, it sounds like "buffalo" ?

"..still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses." / Marcus Aurelius.

Looking at my MKII the serial number is not on the frame as is typical of pistols but on the receiver. So that is probably why they replaced the whole thing with a new serial number.


I think they can't make a second gun with the same serial number, cause think the AFT says you can only have one of a serial number by law. Maybe the first person was mistaken when they quoted doing one of the same serial number, or they were planning on removing the barrel and screwing on a new one, then replace the hole thing, like th previous poster mentioned.

Well I picked up the MKIII from my FFL today. New barrel + receiver. Also a new box labeled with the new SN #.

When I went to remove the stock plastic grips with my nice aluminum ones I noticed that the cammed out screw that I had sent with the gun had not been replaced. Actually I bought replacement screws but I sent it in with the damaged one hoping they would just replace it. They didn't. Cheapskates!

Then I noticed they had replaced the rear sight. I know because the old one had dings in it.

Next step was to remove the trigger assy and put back the Volquartsen parts I had taken out before shipping it to them. I did a quick dry fire of the stock trigger. I dunno what they did to it but it's perfect. No creep, no scratchiness - just a crisp break!

Was I right or what?

So, in sum: $135 + shipping for a new barrel, reciever, sights, trigger job and reimbursement for the transfer fees.

_________________
Did you know that if you say "gullible" backwards, it sounds like "buffalo" ?

"..still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses." / Marcus Aurelius.

Ok, here's a third one

I bought an LCR .22lr. The trigger DAO was impossibly heavy. I called Ruger and the cust service rep said they can lighten it but only down to 8lbs. Great! I send it in and again got a call saying 'Oh no, I don't know who told you that but we can't go lower than 12lbs" So again I got ticked off. It cost me $37 to ship it FedEx. Had I known , I would have put that money to having my own gunsmith work on it instead of sending it in.

So this rep tells me - "Well we can do one of two things, either reimburse your shipping cost or trade for another gun" I decided on a BlackHawk convertible .357/9mm convertible with a 6.5" barrel. I've been lusting after one for some time.

It will be a while before arrives, they are shutting down for a week starting July 2nd but I will be on travel for a while so NBD.

Once again, a class act.

_________________
Did you know that if you say "gullible" backwards, it sounds like "buffalo" ?

"..still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses." / Marcus Aurelius.