new pistol, same ol' problems
by: wartsanall
Just bought my new nitehog, impressed with the size and lightness of the pistol, excellent fit and finish, and it felt good in my hands. I hurried to the range to try it out.
Things went bad right from the start. Before I go on, a little about me: I am primarily a 1911 shooter - I own several. A former employee of Kimber Firearms, I've competed in practical matches for years and recently completed DTI's defensive pistol course. In short, I'm aware of how these things are supposed to be handled...
It immediately jammed with several FTF's on ball ammo, usually on the last round which would get partially into the chamber and lodge there. THAT necessitated a tedious fix - drop the magazine and jack the slide until the cartridge fell out of the magazine well.
Initially the gun also failed to chamber several rounds during firing - the round would chamber about 90 percent of the way into the barrel and stop. Pounding on the back of the slide solved the problem twice, racking the bullet out solved it more often.
The pistol would not, initially, chamber a round when the slide was released on a loaded magazine. The FTF would stop the bullet at the magic 90 - 95 percent of the way into the chamber.
After several magazines with mixed loads - factory and reloads, the gun began to function more reliably.
Muzzle flip was extreme with this light gun, but accuracy was quite good at 7 and 25 yards. The night sights were easy to acquire.
The shortened grip and the straight mainspring housing took a toll on the palm of my hand - it was painful after a few magazines of full-house 45s.
I'm hoping the gun will "work in" and become reliable after the 300 round break in period - I was only able to fire a hundred or so before my hand gave out. Its a good looking gun; if only it becomes a good gun...
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