Malfunction, clean firearm or not to clean firearm...

[urnoodle]

I went to the range today with a friend and she had a problem with her Kimber Solo. The brass failed to eject. She tried with different ammo types; golden saber, critical defense, TAP, whitebox and remington UMC JHP. Every one failed to eject. She contacted Kimber and they asked her to send it in. Neither one of us thought to ask if should she clean it before sending it in. Would the powder marks help Kimber see what might be causing the issue or should she clean it?

[03Lightningrocks]

The powder marks won't matter. Clean her up if you want to.

[Ameer]

Cleaning it first is like washing your car before taking it to the mechanic.

[urnoodle]

Great thanks! I'll tell her to clean it. I don't like dirty guns so I was opting for cleaning it anyway. She's going to throw in some of the brass that didn't eject into the box anyway.

Most of the time, the primer side was sticking out of the ejection port but the mouth of the brass was still in the chamber. When dropping the mag, the next round in the mag pointed straight up. Both her mags did the same thing. An old gun I had wouldn't eject on certain brands of ammo but her Kimber jammed on all of them. The range office tried to make sure it wasn't us and it jammed with him too.

Kimber said upto 3 weeks before she would have it back. I'm glad it's not me.

[urnoodle]

The email, from Kimber, my friend received states that she must send her gun to them by overnight through UPS, DHL or Fedex by law. Can anyone point me to the clause in the ATF laws that it must be sent by overnight? I've been able to find the piece that states it can't be sent through the us mail and must be sent through a common or contract carrier but I don't anything that says overnight. Overnight will cost $60. Kimber only mentioned paying the shipping costs from them to her.

[A-R]

The email, from Kimber, my friend received states that she must send her gun to them by overnight through UPS, DHL or Fedex by law. Can anyone point me to the clause in the ATF laws that it must be sent by overnight? I've been able to find the piece that states it can't be sent through the us mail and must be sent through a common or contract carrier but I don't anything that says overnight. Overnight will cost $60. Kimber only mentioned paying the shipping costs from them to her.

Talk to someone higher up the ladder at Kimber to see if they'll cover shipping costs both ways. I've heard bad word of mouth about Kimber customer service, so YMMV, but I had good luck "demanding" this from S&W both times I've had to send guns back to them and they paid for it both ways both times.

I can't quote chapter and verse, but I believe expedited common carrier shipping is mandatory per some obscure Federal law. I've always had to send and receive by overnight or at least two-day rush delivery via UPS, FedEx etc. when dealing with gun manufacturers.

[03Lightningrocks]

The email, from Kimber, my friend received states that she must send her gun to them by overnight through UPS, DHL or Fedex by law. Can anyone point me to the clause in the ATF laws that it must be sent by overnight? I've been able to find the piece that states it can't be sent through the us mail and must be sent through a common or contract carrier but I don't anything that says overnight. Overnight will cost $60. Kimber only mentioned paying the shipping costs from them to her.

Check with one of the FFL's in the FFL forum/topic. They can ship by USPS(by law) and most will only charge you the usual fee plus shipping. USPS is much cheaper than doing the other methods but will only allow handgun shipments by FFL's. Tom Hart is in Plano and he is a great guy. I use him for all my purchases and sells. He can always get me shipping cheaper than I can do it myself.

[urnoodle]

Talk to someone higher up the ladder at Kimber to see if they'll cover shipping costs both ways. I've heard bad word of mouth about Kimber customer service, so YMMV, but I had good luck "demanding" this from S&W both times I've had to send guns back to them and they paid for it both ways both times.

That's what I was thinking too. So I'm going to tell her to call Kimber back Monday. When the customer service agent said he was emailing her the shipping documents, we both assumed it would include the postage label. The gun is new and I don't think she has put 50 rounds through it yet. If it was $20 no big deal but $60, that's too much. I think she would be ok with it if they were going to reimburse her once they confirmed it was a manufacturing defect and not a user issue. If they won't bend, then I'll tell her to visit Tom's. I've driven by the place and she lives pretty close to it.

Tom Hart is in Plano and he is a great guy. I use him for all my purchases and sells. He can always get me shipping cheaper than I can do it myself.

I've never had to send in a handgun for repair. I've had to get a replacement recoil spring for one once but the manufacturer didn't need the gun. I learned something new today. I was going to mail one of my handguns to my parents house to have when I visit so I won't have to travel with one. I didn't know it was against the law. When I've picked up my guns at my FFL, they were always in US priority mail boxes. Good thing this happened today, I might of gotten in serious trouble.

[johncanfield]

When I sent my little Sig in for repair, I had to take it directly to the UPS center - a UPS store could not accept a firearm, just an FYI for you.

[apostate]

The email, from Kimber, my friend received states that she must send her gun to them by overnight through UPS, DHL or Fedex by law. Can anyone point me to the clause in the ATF laws that it must be sent by overnight?

I don't know any law that requires overnight shipping for handguns but it seems many shipping companies put the screws to gun owners by requiring next day service in the company's rules.

[03Lightningrocks]

The email, from Kimber, my friend received states that she must send her gun to them by overnight through UPS, DHL or Fedex by law. Can anyone point me to the clause in the ATF laws that it must be sent by overnight?

I don't know any law that requires overnight shipping for handguns but it seems many shipping companies put the screws to gun owners by requiring next day service in the company's rules.

Yep... funny thing is, they only do this crud with handguns! You can ship rifles all day long USPS so I guess the shipping companies know they can't get in our pockets on these.

[Greybeard]

Quote: " but it seems many shipping companies put the screws to gun owners by requiring next day service in the company's rules."

Ya, the must-be-shipped-overnight thing was initiated several years ago on handguns to give UPS employees less chance to steal 'em.

[Hoosier Daddy]

If you bought it new from a dealer's stock, they should be willing to ship it for you and charge you (at most) their actual cost to ship. It seems like the least they could do for selling you a lemon.

If you ordered direct and only paid them a $20 transfer fee, they might be willing to ship it for $20 plus actual shipping costs, which is probably a lot less than $60. FFL fee + UPSP flat rate box =

[urnoodle]

Ya, the must-be-shipped-overnight thing was initiated several years ago on handguns to give UPS employees less chance to steal 'em.

If that's the case and they hire a higher quality employee to handle overnight shipments, then maybe they ought to review their hiring practice. Ultimately someone still has to handle it whether it's 2nd day or overnight. Also, I can't see where there's increased security for an FFL to ship USPS opposed to non-FFL. The same hands will be on the package.