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46 Posts
This is a funny story in retrospect, but the consequences could have been serious.
I got a hold of a new striker for my 5" XD 9mm, and installed it. The old striker looked a little threadbare after 20K rounds. I thought the new one looked a bit wonky, but figured it to be a factory change and thought nothing more about it. I function tested the striker (as I always do) and discovered the stiker did not actually protude from the striker hole, and would never even touch the primer.
I took the striker out again, put the old one in, and called my source. He tells me that what I have is a DISPLAY striker that renders the gun inoperable, so it can be put out on display at the SHOT Show, for instance (SHOT Show requires all guns to be rendered inoperable). He sent me a new striker FOC, of course, and all will be well in a few days.
The good news is that I did not attempt to carry the gun with the display striker in it. That would have been MOST amusing to any goblin who decided to have it in with me that day. Click! Tap-rack-Click! Tap-rack-Click!
The moral of the story, always function test everything after smithing. It be a heck of a bummer to get to the range w/ 400 rounds and discover your gun is inoperable. But it would be incalculably worse to need the pistol for self-defense and end up with a 2.5 lb plastic club instead of a working gun.
-Zett
I got a hold of a new striker for my 5" XD 9mm, and installed it. The old striker looked a little threadbare after 20K rounds. I thought the new one looked a bit wonky, but figured it to be a factory change and thought nothing more about it. I function tested the striker (as I always do) and discovered the stiker did not actually protude from the striker hole, and would never even touch the primer.
I took the striker out again, put the old one in, and called my source. He tells me that what I have is a DISPLAY striker that renders the gun inoperable, so it can be put out on display at the SHOT Show, for instance (SHOT Show requires all guns to be rendered inoperable). He sent me a new striker FOC, of course, and all will be well in a few days.
The good news is that I did not attempt to carry the gun with the display striker in it. That would have been MOST amusing to any goblin who decided to have it in with me that day. Click! Tap-rack-Click! Tap-rack-Click!
The moral of the story, always function test everything after smithing. It be a heck of a bummer to get to the range w/ 400 rounds and discover your gun is inoperable. But it would be incalculably worse to need the pistol for self-defense and end up with a 2.5 lb plastic club instead of a working gun.
-Zett
