Inspecting Your New Weapon

Inspecting Your New Weapon

Whenever you are issued or purchase a new firearm, you should take some time to make sure the weapon is reliable enough to bet your life on. New or newly modified firearms can have problems and even the very best factories or gunsmiths can let a bad one out.

I have seen bad production runs from virtually every major manufacturer. I had one entire shipment of rifles with bad strikers. The striker hadn’t been fully machined and the safety couldn’t be engaged. I received an entire shipment of revolvers with barrels that were so loose they could be turned in and out by hand; this from a major company. My very first shipment of the very latest- and very expensive- semi-auto service pistols from Germany wouldn’t function at all.

Fortunately, any factory or gunsmith worthy of your business will bend over backwards to correct an error or solve a problem. The trick is to give them the opportunity and the information they need to fix things. And, to make sure that the first indication of a problem doesn’t occur when your life is on the line.

Do not make any modifications to the weapon until you are certain you won’t be needing the factory warranty. This includes even simple dehorning of the sharp edges. I would much rather spend a few bucks sending the firearm back to the factory to have the defective barrel replaced, than spend a few hundred to have a gunsmith do the same work. For some brands, this means do not so much as adjust the trigger pull until you’re sure everything is operating as it should.

Most of these inspections and tests can be performed by anyone. A few of them involve detail stripping and should be performed by the unit armorer or a gunsmith.

The first step is to observe Safety Rule Number One- All Firearms Are Loaded. As soon as you open the box or case with your new weapon, clear the weapon. Most firearms come from the factory with a chamber block of some sort in place, but even if they do- clear them!

I took delivery of one rifle fresh from the factory. The box still had the factory tape sealing it. I removed the rifle and opened the action and out popped an unfired cartridge. Surprise, surprise! It wasn’t a proof load and the weapon appeared not to have been test fired. I called the factory and they seemed as surprised as I was. Fortunately, no harm was done but, take no chances and clear that weapon.

Next, inspect the weapon for any gross visible defects. Cracked stocks, loose sights, or misaligned barrels happen from time to time. Check the finish. Problems with the application of the final finish may occur at the factory, or damage may occur in transit. I once received an entire shipment of rifles, from a distributor, that had apparently been stored in a damp area. Every one of the rifles was spotted with rust. Naturally, they got sent back.

Check all visible screws for looseness. Don’t try to tighten them yourself unless you have a set of fitted screwdrivers. Simply note them and have your armorer or gunsmith tighten them up. Some screws can be over-tightened and cause the mechanism to bind so don’t get overly screwdriver-happy.

Examine the barrel and chamber for damage. I had an AR-15 come in with extraction problems. A chip of metal had gotten into the chambering reamer and scored a neat groove all the way around the chamber. The groove was sufficiently shallow to grab only certain brands of ammo some of the time. The factory was happy to send me a new barrel but a visual inspection would have caught the problem immediately.

A badly drilled or rifled barrel will often show up in a visual inspection. You may need to run a patch or two through the barrel if the factory or armory uses a preservative grease.

The next step is to do a basic function check. Make sure the action works easily. Make sure the hammer or striker falls when the trigger is pulled. Feel if the trigger pull is especially bad. Test all the safety mechanisms. Make sure the disconnector is functioning correctly. Check to see if the magazine followers move easily. Examine the feed lips for burrs or damage.

Do a function check with dummy rounds. Action proving dummy rounds can be purchased from Brownells (www.brownells.com) or you can make your own. I prefer to make my own as I can then exactly match the overall cartridge length and bullet profile of my duty ammunition. To make a dummy round I drill a large hole clear through both sides of an empty casing to insure that no powder can find its way into the round. I will generally seat a fired primer in the primer pocket and seat whatever type of bullet I want to use in the case. Besides the fired primer, I also paint the base with a permanent marker so that I can’t mistake it for a live round.

Load each of your magazines to capacity with dummy rounds. The vast majority of magazines are best carried loaded below capacity but you must know if they will cause major problems when filled all the way up. See if the rounds are too long or short for the magazine. Feel for binding as the follower moves down. Look to see if the top round on a fully loaded magazine sits at an odd angle. Make sure the magazines insert easily when fully loaded. Find out if a fully loaded magazine will lock into place with the action closed. Tug on the magazines to make sure the magazine catch is engaging fully. Find out if a fully loaded magazine will drop free of the weapon. Cycle the action to check feeding and ejection when hand-cycled. When you have cycled the entire magazine, check to make sure an empty mag will drop free. Carefully note any problems.

The very first 1911-A1 I purchased came with two magazines. One of the magazines worked just fine. The other one hadn’t been properly welded along the back seam. I could load six rounds into the defective magazine. If I tried to load a seventh round, the seam would separate and the whole seven rounds would spit out onto the ground. Needless to say, that magazine got sent back. Weapons with fixed magazines need to be tested, as well.

It’s a good idea to number your magazines so that if problems occur, the faulty mag can be identified and isolated. I will generally use a scribe to number my mags but, at this point, a permanent marker or a bit of tape on the baseplate will work just as well and won’t void the warranty.

Now, field strip the weapon. Disassemble the magazines and inspect the baseplate, follower, spring and interior of the mag body. If the magazine body has a welded seam, check to see that the weld is solid and has been polished smooth; especially on the interior.

Clean all the factory preservatives off the weapon and visually inspect the parts you now have access to. Look for rough machine work, metal chips, cracked or broken pieces- anything that may indicate trouble down the road. Clean the weapon with particular attention to the bore, chamber and magazine. Lightly lubricate the weapon where necessary. You’re going to do a live fire function check next so you don’t need to have the weapon in the same condition you will when you deploy with it.

For armorers, it’s a good idea at this point to make sure all the major components are keyed to the serial number on the weapon. While many parts are interchangeable on most modern service arms, it’s much better to be safe than sorry.

One year I took in a batch of rimfire target rifles from the local Boy Scout troop for maintenance. Most of the rifles were the same model so, of course, the bolts had been switched around. Virtually every one of the rifles with the switched bolts had headspace problems. After considerable trial and error, I managed to get most of the rifles matched to bolts. I immediately engraved the serial numbers on the bolts. That didn’t stop the Scouts from mixing and matching the next year, but it made things much easier for me when I got the rifles back in.

Head to the range with your eye and ear protection, a notepad and your duty ammunition.

Try to arrange something so that the ejected brass can be easily recovered without damage. A large blanket, tarp, or piece of carpet or cardboard will work. Otherwise, some sort of shell catcher such as a box set next to the ejection port can be used.

Load and fire one factory new round. Note how and where it ejected. Recover the brass and examine it. Check the sides for unusual marks from the chamber. Check for any bulges where the casing was unsupported by the chamber. Check the base for unusual breach-face marks. Look at the firing-pin indentation on the fired primer. Is it generally centered? Does it seem shallow? Did the firing-pin drag? These may not always indicate problems but should be noted. For example, virtually all .40 Smith and Wesson caliber firearms show some firing-pin drag.

The next few steps are only for auto-loaders.

Load two rounds and fire one. Hold the trigger back after the shot breaks to insure that the disconnector is functioning correctly. If both rounds fire with a single pull of the trigger (on non-selective fire weapons or selective fire weapons set on single), stop and take the weapon back to your armorer or gunsmith. Occasionally, a brand-new auto-loader will fire a couple of rounds full-auto until it gets broken-in. You have to decide whether you want to continue test firing the weapon- hoping the problem will work itself out- or take it back for inspection.

Examine the fired cases, again. Sometimes a round in the magazine can interfere with an extracted round or vice-versa, causing ejection or feed problems.

Now repeat the test with three rounds in the magazine. If the weapon is designed to lock open on an empty magazine, insure that it does.

The rest of these tests apply to any firearms.

Fully load all your magazines to capacity. Factory rounds should drop into a revolver’s chambers loosely enough to rattle. You probably won’t carry your magazines fully loaded but you have to know how they’ll work if, just by accident, that extra round or two manages to find its way in there. Fire the entire magazines and make note of any problems. Describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Make note of where the ejected brass is landing and if it’s landing together. Identify and isolate any problem magazines. If a revolver has one chamber that’s sticking, try to identify which chamber is giving problems.

While you are testing the fully loaded weapons is a good time to check your zero. At this point you don’t want to adjust your sights; you only want to check for any major misalignment that may need correcting at the factory. I bought one fixed-sight .45 pistol that hit almost 18 inches low at 15 yards. I shipped it off to the importer and they replaced the rear sight with one that was almost twice as high as the original. All the subsequent examples I’ve seen of that model have had the higher rear sight.

You precision rifle shooters need to note the number of rounds you’ve put through the barrel for future reference.

The next steps should be conducted by the unit armorer or a good gunsmith. Don’t detail strip any firearm unless you have the correct tools and training.

The weapon should be detail stripped, cleaned, and inspected. The parts should be checked for premature wear and stress. Factory preservatives and lubricants should be removed. The weapon should then be re-lubricated. Follow factory or armory specifications when lubricating your weapon. In general, I like the Teflon based light oils for most lubrication and a molybdenum disulphide grease for high-wear, high-pressure areas.

At this point I will usually over-lubricate the weapon and work the action by hand to allow the Teflon and moly particles to work into the steel. I will then remove most of the lubricants but still leave more than I would usually use on a carry weapon. When I prepare a weapon for deployment I will remove all but the barest minimum of lubrication. It’s much easier to over- than under-lubricate.

Now it’s time to head back to the range and finish test-firing the weapon. This portion of the tests should be carried out by the end-user. This is also a good time for the end-user to re-zero the weapon, if necessary.

Load all your magazines as you will carry them. With most magazines it’s a good idea to load anywhere from one to three rounds short of the factory stated capacity. Use the ammunition you intend to deploy with. Fire at least 200 rounds of your duty ammo. This will allow the working parts to mate fully and smooth out some of the rough edges.

With the auto-loaders, fire a few rounds free-recoil to see if the weapon will function with little or no resistance to recoil. Use one hand to fire a few rounds from your handgun for the same reason. Also try firing your weapon with the ejection port up, down, and to either side to see if that has any effect on ejection.

The full-auto function of selective fire weapons should be tested now. Don’t overdo it! It’s easy to burn up the barrel on a brand new firearm. Just check that the selective fire works.

Make careful notes on any malfunctions or problems and save the fired brass. Note which magazine was in use when the malfunction occurred. The more detailed your observations the easier it will be to diagnose and correct the problem. Bad magazines or ammunition can both cause malfunctions in an otherwise good gun.

If any weapon related problems occur, get ‘em fixed under warranty.

Now it’s back to the armorer for a final detail strip, cleaning, and inspection. The weapon should be correctly (lightly) lubricated for deployment. Any screws that are showing a tendency to come loose should be staked or Loctited in place. Apply permanent identification to the magazines.

If you really feel the need to modify the weapon, now’s the time to do it. When the modified weapon comes back, you should repeat the whole evaluation process. Even minor changes such as different grip panels may cause problems. With minor or cosmetic modifications, you may wish to skip some of the preliminary steps.

The final step is to field strip, clean, inspect and lubricate the weapon in the same fashion you should after every shooting session. Maintain the weapon periodically even if it hasn’t been fired. Dust, lint, corrosion and so forth can build up on a firearm even without use. Lubricants can dry out over time and should be replaced with fresh. At least once a year your armorer or gunsmith should do a detail strip and clean. Make sure you function check and test fire any weapon that’s been worked on.

Most modern firearms come from the factory ready to go with no problems. But, if you’re going to bet your life, or the lives of others, on the reliability of your weapon, you should take every opportunity to insure that reliability is there. Catch the problems early and in an environment where problems don’t hurt. Give the manufacturer or custom gunsmith a chance to correct any problems. Finding out that a weapon is flawed in the field can be more than just embarrassing.