Just learned the hard way, buyer beware...

[TJay74]

Nice to find out that once you buy a gun from the retailer that they are ok with washing their hands of any assistance for you after the sale.

Short story, bought a Tristar semi-auto 12g shotgun around Christmas from Walmart. Yes those of you are going to say why didn't I buy a Remington 1100/1187 instead, well cost. This one was $300 and the same in a Remington was $800+. Took the shotgun out last month, ran almost 200 shells thru it and it wont cycle correctly, shell hangs up in the ejection port. You have to manually cycle it at that point to clear the shell.

I took the gun apart, cleaned every piece of it that could be touched and lubed and assembled it. Did a function test and made sure hand cycled correctly. Took it back out the next day, tried to put another 300 shells thru it with the same issue.

Next step, call Tristar as it has a 5yr warranty. They say send it and we will fix it. This is where I get frustrated. UPS will only ship it next day air, in a unmarked box with signature required and only from the hub, that cost is $100. FedEx uses the same requirements and is close to the same cost.

Call Walmart, they pretty much tell me to pound sand with any type of assistance. We didn't want to return the gun, only to have them handle the shipping process since they are the FFL. Nope, they will not do anything to assist at all.

Then try to call a few local gunsmith's, get told they don't work on Tristar guns. So seems I threw $300 out the window at this point, I guess next step is to pawn it and get what I can out of it and find a Remington 1100/1187.

 

[tyromeo55]

As long as it is going to a dealer or manufacturer you can ship long guns USPS.

 

[0311]

A pawn shop would be a fantastic place potentially to get a good trade on a shotgun you might like. I'd check it out.

 

[okla1911]

UPS will ship ground, you stated their handgun policy. I've shipped many rifles this way. Go to the Hub on S Portland & bring the FFL. $25-35.

 

[Glocktogo]

The shipping companies will always try to give you misinformation. I just got the attempted runaround when shipping ammo earlier this week.

Call the company back and see if they will send a Call Tag for you. It's cheaper for them to pay the freight than an individual.

 

[uncle money bags]

Dude, the lesson is you took a chance on a $300 auto loading shotgun. For what its worth, my bro has the same gun and it has functioned flawlessly, even with the mag extension mod. Ate everything from light bird rounds to 000 buck.

 

[RKM]

How many rounds did you run before it malfunctioned? 300 continuous shotgun rounds is going to cause a lot of fouling and heat.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Ship it back to the factory, let them fix the issue, enjoy it while it lasts. Not every firearm can be perfect out of the box, and it's certainly a test on ones self, but once you get back a full functioning firearm, you'll be ok.

 

[beast1989]

Nice to find out that once you buy a gun from the retailer that they are ok with washing their hands of any assistance for you after the sale.

Short story, bought a Tristar semi-auto 12g shotgun around Christmas from Walmart. Yes those of you are going to say why didn't I buy a Remington 1100/1187 instead, well cost. This one was $300 and the same in a Remington was $800+. Took the shotgun out last month, ran almost 200 shells thru it and it wont cycle correctly, shell hangs up in the ejection port. You have to manually cycle it at that point to clear the shell.

I took the gun apart, cleaned every piece of it that could be touched and lubed and assembled it. Did a function test and made sure hand cycled correctly. Took it back out the next day, tried to put another 300 shells thru it with the same issue.

Next step, call Tristar as it has a 5yr warranty. They say send it and we will fix it. This is where I get frustrated. UPS will only ship it next day air, in a unmarked box with signature required and only from the hub, that cost is $100. FedEx uses the same requirements and is close to the same cost.

Call Walmart, they pretty much tell me to pound sand with any type of assistance. We didn't want to return the gun, only to have them handle the shipping process since they are the FFL. Nope, they will not do anything to assist at all.

Then try to call a few local gunsmith's, get told they don't work on Tristar guns. So seems I threw $300 out the window at this point, I guess next step is to pawn it and get what I can out of it and find a Remington 1100/1187.

It sucks but it is standard operating procedure to take it up with the manufacturer, whoever you buy it from is just a middle man. Fortunately when i went through this with a Beretta missing one of the back straps they just mailed me another at no cost. I also bought a mossberg 590 that was having magazine tube issues, Mossberg sent me a prepaid shipping label and the labor is free as well.

 

[COBrien]

IME, big boxes wash their hands of firearms as soon as you walk out the door.

Only a LGS will actually let you bring a warranty repair in and ship it back for you.

A trick I learned with Ruger once -- might help you. Call the manufacturer, make it clear that you intend to send it back under warranty, and have them e-mail or fax you a prepaid shipping label. If they're a legit company with any hope of having a decent reputation, they'll eat the shipping cost for you.