JMOFO:
I never give a one year warranty on a quality pistol a second thought..
IF a firearm has problems right out of the factory they should show up relatively immediately. Certainly in less than a year. If a problem WITH the gun shows up after that one year warranty, and the factory understands, and recognizes it to be a manufacturer problem, and not an owner abuse, or owner used hand loaded ammunition problem, you can bet it will be repaired under warranty, and should be.
Walthers are not KelTecs.. (Down KT owners, I have a P11 and P32 myself). Walthers come from the factory right, and very seldom have a problem of any sort. I've had a PP/P1/P5 (all surplus), and have a P99c/AS and P99/AS and have never had a bobble out of any of them. KelTecs are not expensive, and it seems the vast majority of KT fans have no problem with having to "fluff 'buff
" their pistols, or have them fall apart, or break at any time. Yugo's require more maintenance than Mercedes.
For example the recently released KT PF9 came on the scene in the early models with many problems. The problems were found one at a time by owner "beta-testers" (accidental beta-testers) and fixed under warranty by KT. That's why KT HAS a lifetime warranty policy.
When I bought my P99/AS I could have purchased a S&W99 for less money, with a lifetime warranty, but I didn't want a S&W. I am a Walther fan, and that's what I bought.
Any warranty, or any needed repairs after the warranty period expires is only as good as the company backing the warranty. For example Taurus has a lifetime warranty.. But you are constantly hearing nightmare stories about the horrid service and unreasonable delays with Taurus warranty claims.
On the other hand I bought a Nickle Colt Detective Special from a gentleman in Texas a couple of years ago. The revolver was "like new", but the seller could not verify if it had been fired or not. I should think "not", because when I took it to the range it shot Wayyyy high and off to one side. I had other snubbys and shot them head to head with the DS and it was obvious that the DS had accuracy problems..
I called Colt, they told me to send it in and they would evaluate the problem and notify me of the expected repair costs before doing any work. Shortly thereafter I got a nice note saying they had received the gun, evaluated the problem, and the barrel "indexing" was incorrect, (probably from day one) and they fixed it, no charge, and even "tuned up" the DA trigger pull, no charge.. Colt paid for the return shippinig too. Now this was a firearm manufactured in 1974.. So, Colt repaired the DS 30+ years after it was sold because the problem was factory related. Kudo's to Colt & Colt Warranty folks.
I think if you have a legitimate complaint about a pistol/revolver you own produced by a quality, major manufacturer, out of warranty, that can be traced back to the factory it WILL be repaired, regardless of the fact that the warranty has expired.
For example Seecamps are a wonderful little mousegun. Seecamps come with a one year warranty. But Larry Seecamp says on the
www.seecamp.com forum that up until NOW no ower has ever been charged a fee for repairs that were manufacturer related. Additionally any Seecamp that needs repairs because of abuse, accident, whatever are repaired at a very reasonable fee.
I'm planning to buy a PPS myself as soon as the all black models hit the stores in any quantity..
Best Wishes, and YMMV
J.Pomeroy
