Still Some Sharks Out There

[Guest jaypee]

Hi Y'all,

I'm not prone to use websites as a forum to carry out a grudgefight with a seller, and I promise I won't do that here. But there are still some sharks out there and they sell guns, as I recently found out the hard way, so I'll pass this on for the good of the cause. It wasn't disastrous by any means, but could have been. The crux of the story is that I recently bought a LNIB gun from a private party a thousand miles away in another state over the 'net and it was delivered with a trigger rendered dangerous by an incompetent trigger job that the seller had to have known about. Here's the story.

I had a hankerin' for a FEG PJK9HP because of its close similarity to the Browning Hi Power, and because of the FEG's good reputation. This gun is out of production now and no more new ones are around, so I went looking for a used one and found one on a gun selling site.The photos looked great and the seller had an Outstanding rating with many accolades, so I bought it outright after a phone call in which the seller assured me he had only fired 200 rounds in it and had no problems at all with it. So I did everything right, right? Right.

When the gun arrived I found that the trigger did not make hard sear contact until it was almost all the way back against the backstop and had a tremendous amount of left/right wobble in it.On a quick trip to the range I only fired five rounds when the back of the trigger body overran its stop and came sailing out into the trigger guard area.

I took the gun home and disassembled it. I found that the seller had tried to remedy a hard pull by doing two things that basically ruined the trigger. First, he shortened the trigger lever waaaay too much.....so much it would barely make contact with the transfer bar, and that's where the mile-long takeup in the pull was coming from. Diagnosing the bad wobble in the trigger as drilled out trigger axis pin holes in the trigger body, I got it out and found I was almost right.......he hadn't drilled them out, he had HOGGED them out with an undersize bit in a hand drill. They were nowhere near concentric or even round for that matter. I suspect that once he realized he had ruined the trigger he decided to unload it to an unsuspecting buyer on a reputable site. Luckily for me he didn't drill out the trigger axis pin holes in the frame, and he didn't know how to get into the back of the gun to mess with the sear and hammer. So all it has cost me is $10 for a new Browning trigger lever and $45 for a new C&S trigger unit....the only positive aspect is that it got me off my fanny to get Steve Camp's disassembly guide so I can correct the hard trigger pull the right way.

While I believe the seller was being truthful about the amount of firing the gun had done, there is just no way he could NOT HAVE known he was selling a gun with a damaged, incompetent trigger in it. This puts him in the same category as the guy who would sell a parachute with a big hole in it, and it's hard to believe a responsible person would do that. So while 99% of sellers are honest, the remaining 1% are still sharks, so be careful, y'all. Best wishes.

JayPee

Edited March 9, 2008 by jaypee
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[KahrMan]

I hope you left him the appropriate feedback.

[Smith]

Stephen Camp is the Hi-Power expert. I've enjoyed and learned a lot of information from his site.

[Guest price g]

I have found over the years that a good many people really don't have a clue as to the way it was produced from the manufacture, therefore unable to communicate a possible defect. And I will never understand our inability to accept a trigger for what it is. OK, I'm done.

[Guest jaypee]

When the trigger is falling out of the gun, the man had to know he had done something drastically wrong to it. Yet he sold it anyway. That's inexcusable gross negligence, and that's quite a bit different from a lack of mechanical aptitude.

JayPee

[Mike.357]

The guy knew what he was doing. He would have been better to off to be honest about what was going on. You did not do anything wrong, sucks to not be able to trust people.

I dunno but I bet you would have bought it anyway. Seems you know how to get it running and all.

Did you contact him about it? I'd call him out on it with an email at the least.

[Marswolf]

He's only a thousand miles away. Maybe we could pay him a visit.

[Guest jaypee]

At these gas prices? Heck I aint' THAT mad at him!

Really guys, I wasn't looking for sympathy by telling this story. I just wanted all of my friends to be aware that the shark is not yet an extinct species, and some of them sell guns. So we've got to be careful. This guy had excellent ratings and dozens of customer testimonials. I checked him out on the website, which was very respected in itself, did some private checking on the side, went over the photos with a fine tooth comb, called him and asked pointed questions about the gun, and he passed with flying colors. He knew exactly what he was doing and he pulled it off. Recourse? None really.He's too far away for the Small Claims process to work, and in the small amounts I was dealing, a prosecutor wouldn't even consider a fraud charge, especially since state lines are involved. Mail fraud statutes ditto. Plus I'd have to prove that he knew about the bad trigger, which I cannot do.

As for calling him and expressing dissatisfaction, there's an old saying that you never get in a pi---ng contest with a skunk, and I believe that's all it would be. So my new C&S trigger and Browning trigger lever got here today and I'm going to put it behind me and build myself one doggone nice gun despite this guy. He did his damndest and couldn't get to me for more than fifty bucks, so I'll take some comfort from that and post a photo when I get it done. I really hope my experience will be of use to y'all in the future, and that's the only reason I brought it up. Best to all.

JayPee

[Guest price g]

When the trigger is falling out of the gun, the man had to know he had done something drastically wrong to it. Yet he sold it anyway. That's inexcusable gross negligence, and that's quite a bit different from a lack of mechanical aptitude.

JayPee

I indubitably agree, you got had. Better luck next time.

[Guest TNDixieGirl]

He's only a thousand miles away. Maybe we could pay him a visit.

ROAD TRIP!!

[Guest desireeharper1]

what are the rules for buying an out of state gun from a private seller? i am going to sell my 3 week old walther p99 compact QA and someone in a neighboring state has asked about it.

[Marswolf]

what are the rules for buying an out of state gun from a private seller? i am going to sell my 3 week old walther p99 compact QA and someone in a neighboring state has asked about it.

You have to send it through a transfer agent (FFL) in his state. His agent will have to send you a copy of his FFL and you sent the gun to him by overnight UPS or an air carrier. UPS is frequently a hassle if you aren't a dealer. If you have a friendly gun dealer, you might want him to send it.