ted_dent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
Long story as short as I can make it, I already own 3 SAM 1911s (Stainless Enhanced Commanders in 9mm & 45 & an Omega 6 in 40 S&W all bought from Wolverine). All three are well fitted, well finished and shoot like champs plus none of them cost me over $600. I have recommended SAMs to my friends who have been similarly satisfied. For this reason I did not hesitate to order a 9mm stainless Thunderbolt even though it came in at almost $950 without shipping.
Anyway, it arrived and upon stripping it down to clean it I found the following:
1. one of the barrel lands actually had a chip out of it
2. the extended magwell fit poorly
3. when I removed the grip screws one of the bushings came out with it
4. worst of all, the chamber on the barrel looked like it had been cut with a rat tail file. It was actually that bad, with gouges and scratches the entire length of the chamber
I immediately contacted Wolverine and was told to send it back, which I did at a cost of $38.
Shortly thereafter I received an email from Wolverine stating that "You were right about the barrel, it is awful. We were going to give you a
replacement, but that proved to be troublesome as well. 1st pistol selected had a crack in the feed ramp, and the 2nd had issues feeding practice shells. On the 3rd one, our gunsmith could not find any issues as found in the first 2. Transfer on that firearm has been started."
Shortly thereafter the second gun arrived. Upon stripping and cleaning the gun I found that, once again, the barrel chamber was incredibly rough (even worse than the first one). Again I contacted Wolverine, explained the situation and told them I was still interested in the gun if they could get me one that did not have this problem. They opted to refund my money, stating "In this case, we will ask that you send us back the handgun, and we
will completely refund your purchase."
I explained that I did not blame them for SAM's poor (non-existent?) quality control but couldn't understand how their gunsmith could have missed the rough chamber on the second gun given that was the major problem with the first one.
Yesterday I received my MasterCard statement and found that all I had been credited was the original cost of the gun ($834) + tax ($108) but not the original $30 shipping or my extra $38 return shipping. So after all that time and effort I ended up with no gun and out $68 in shipping costs. To add insult to injury, because the Thunderbolt has an odd rail size I had ordered a custom holster for it (from Solely Canadian, great holster & company, BTW) which set me back another $104 for a gun I now don't have.
So this little adventure with SAM junk cost me over $170. I recommend that if you buy a SAM pistol you examine it very carefully because it appears that their quality control has gone in the toilet and don't expect to get your ancillary expenses like return shipping back from Wolverine either, even if none of the fault is yours. MAJOR disappointment all around on this one.
Anyway, it arrived and upon stripping it down to clean it I found the following:
1. one of the barrel lands actually had a chip out of it
2. the extended magwell fit poorly
3. when I removed the grip screws one of the bushings came out with it
4. worst of all, the chamber on the barrel looked like it had been cut with a rat tail file. It was actually that bad, with gouges and scratches the entire length of the chamber
I immediately contacted Wolverine and was told to send it back, which I did at a cost of $38.
Shortly thereafter I received an email from Wolverine stating that "You were right about the barrel, it is awful. We were going to give you a
replacement, but that proved to be troublesome as well. 1st pistol selected had a crack in the feed ramp, and the 2nd had issues feeding practice shells. On the 3rd one, our gunsmith could not find any issues as found in the first 2. Transfer on that firearm has been started."
Shortly thereafter the second gun arrived. Upon stripping and cleaning the gun I found that, once again, the barrel chamber was incredibly rough (even worse than the first one). Again I contacted Wolverine, explained the situation and told them I was still interested in the gun if they could get me one that did not have this problem. They opted to refund my money, stating "In this case, we will ask that you send us back the handgun, and we
will completely refund your purchase."
I explained that I did not blame them for SAM's poor (non-existent?) quality control but couldn't understand how their gunsmith could have missed the rough chamber on the second gun given that was the major problem with the first one.
Yesterday I received my MasterCard statement and found that all I had been credited was the original cost of the gun ($834) + tax ($108) but not the original $30 shipping or my extra $38 return shipping. So after all that time and effort I ended up with no gun and out $68 in shipping costs. To add insult to injury, because the Thunderbolt has an odd rail size I had ordered a custom holster for it (from Solely Canadian, great holster & company, BTW) which set me back another $104 for a gun I now don't have.
So this little adventure with SAM junk cost me over $170. I recommend that if you buy a SAM pistol you examine it very carefully because it appears that their quality control has gone in the toilet and don't expect to get your ancillary expenses like return shipping back from Wolverine either, even if none of the fault is yours. MAJOR disappointment all around on this one.
