Brazos Botched my Spartan again.

[Leadslugga]

Ok, so I've been having endless issues with my STI Spartan .45, and I don't know what my next move should be. Here is the story:


Ordered the Spartan from Brazos Custom Gunworks about a year and a half ago. After lots of research, I had decided that it would be a great choice for a first 1911. Since I was ordering it from Brazos and because I intended to use it for USPSA Limited-10, I decided to go ahead and have him do a trigger job on it, which ran me an extra $100. I was very excited about it.


The gun arrived, and I took it to the range. At first I was pleased with the crisp trigger pull and the gun shot very accurately. But then a problem. Bang bang stop. I thought at first that I had a failure to feed, due to the gun not being broken in. However, when I examined the gun I saw that the hammer had not locked all the way back, but instead was at half-cock. A round had chambered, but the hammer had slipped from full cock to half-cock. I have never heard of this before. Fired a few more shots, and it happened again, so I stopped shooting and called Brazos. Explained the problem, they said ship it back. They re-did the trigger job for free, but it cost me $70 in the ridiculous next-day air shipping requirement.


Fast forward, got the gun back. Shot it a few times, everything seemed ok. Then I ran out of money (I just finished law school), so I didn't make it to the range for a few months. Then last sunday I took the gun to the range with 200 rounds to finally get to shoot it a bunch. I was again excited, because the gun is fun to shoot. Shot twenty rounds, everything was great, until on the third magazine I was surprised to fire a three-round burst. This is something I HAVE heard of, and it is definitely the result of a trigger job done wrong.


So now I'm left with a malfunctioning 1911. I've sent it back once to get it fixed, only to get it back with a more dangerous malfunction. I can't shoot the gun, especially not at a USPSA match, if it is going to unexpectedly go full-auto.


What should I do? I don't have any money right now because I haven't found a job yet. However, when I do get the money together, do you think I should send it back to Brazos AGAIN, paying another $70 in shipping (I don't think I'll convince them to cover it), or should I just find a good gunsmith locally to correct the problem, which will probably be a little more money, but at least if anything goes wrong with a local guy I can just return the gun in person.


I'm really mad about this. I thought Brazos was a professional company. How can they consistently screw up a 1911 trigger job?

 

[Leadfoot]

I would call them. Tell them the entire story. Have THEM pay the shipping and have them return it to STOCK.

An unsafe trigger job is like playing Russian Roulette IMO.

When it's returned stock, shoot it. A lot. And forget about the trigger job. It will improve on its own with use.



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[scooterj]

Did Bob change out the hammer and sear? Or did he work the factory parts?
I still have the factory hammer and sear from my Spartan in the safe. You are welcome to them to get you up and running. I should be in Thibodaux both Saturday for steel match and Sunday for USPSA.

 

[scooterj]

I would call them. Tell them the entire story. Have THEM pay the shipping and have them return it to STOCK.

An unsafe trigger job is like playing Russian Roulette IMO.

When it's returned stock, shoot it. A lot. And forget about the trigger job. It will improve on its own with use.



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You don't know Bob, do you?

 

[Hitman]

Do you still want a Brazo 1911?

I'd have a serious talk with them about the contract you paid for that is not being fulfilled. They have failed to give you what you paid for, so until then I'd take this very serious, as in they owe you a GUN! I wouldn't trust the 1911 you have now at all and request a completely new gun as you ordered.

If they refuse you can go from there.

 

[Leadfoot]

You don't know Bob, do you?

No sir, I don't. However, what I would do probably wouldn't change.

But since you have prior knowledge of the company and it's owner, I will defer to your advice to the OP on the subject.



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[gmshooter]

call Bob and explain what it is doing again. Yes he should pay shipping to fix this (insist on him doing this). I have 2 custom guns from him. It should not be falling to half cock and definatly not shooting 3 rd. burst.

 

[Gus McCrae]

They would make it right on their dime.... not mine.

If they won't, I'd probably talk with STI about it (just so they knew). I might let a few forums know about the issue. I'd then take it to Loyd Landry to fix.

Sorry about your expensive lesson.

 

[Gus McCrae]

Honestly, after hearing that you sent it once, it makes me want to just ditch them and take it to Loyd.

 

[Sin-ster]

I would be SERIOUSLY shocked to hear that Bob didn't make this right, ASAP, without further expense to you.

There are tales of... eccentricities on his part in odd circumstances, but in this particular case, I don't see how it could go unresolved.

There are several dozen guns of his in the hands of members on this board, and I'm guessing they'll all tell you the same thing. I had the pleasure of chatting with him a bit at Double Tap this year, and the one thing that stood out was that he's a stand up dude and definitely knew WTF he was talking about.

 

[kcinnick]

Call and talk to them, they have provided great service to me, even tracking down when/what work they did on a gun I acquired secondhand. They seem like a fair bunch to me, I think I dealt with Ian.

 

[gmshooter]

INGY (SP) is his wife.

 

[bs875]

It may be cheaper to have an FFL ship the gun back to them via USPS Priority Mail instead of doing it yourself by private courier Air. You can get an FFL transfer as low as $15 around BR so even with Priority Mail charges it will be well under the $70 you're paying now. Remember to get insurance. Just an idea.

 

[FreedomGunworks]

I've had a little experience with this as well. Both sides, once from being a former Brazos customer and from the gunsmith with a failing Spartan trigger job very recently.

I've noticed poor quality in the leaf springs on the Spartan in recent months. I just had a gun come back to the shop for the same issues you're having. When I took the gun out of the box I noticed the trigger was much lighter than the 2.75 lbs it left here with. My first course of action was to tension the left leg of the leaf spring which actually contacts the sear. Checked the gun by dropping the slide from slide lock on an empty chamber a few times and it tested ok. Took it into the range to fire the gun and after about 5 rounds the hammer started to follow. I then inspected the leaf spring again and found it to be the root of the problem. It wasn't holding tension. I immediately replaced the spring with a Dawson Precision Enhanced Sear Spring, applied the correct tension for sear pressure and trigger return, and assembled everything back together. Same tests as before then back into the range for live fire testing. I fired 4 mags through the gun and then did the safety checks again and everything performed and functioned correctly. The factory leaf spring wouldn't hold tension for nothing so it went in the trash can. I didn't charge the customer for anything as the trigger job was my responsibility.

Contact Brazos and explain to them your concerns with the gun being unsafe due to the work they performed on the trigger job and let them know you've already returned it once. Explain to them the costs out of YOUR pocket with having to return the gun and kindly ask that they send you a return shipping label. They should willingly do that.

 

[FreedomGunworks]

BTW, I NEVER ship anything USPS. By the time you pay for the insurance and tracking registration it's just as cheap to send it UPS or Fed Ex and with the contract couriers you can track the gun. You only have to have something lost with USPS once and you learn how difficult it is to file a claim. In the process, you've just involved another party (the FFL shipping it for you as you left it in their care) making them partially responsible for the contents of the package.

 

[Sin-ster]

Cool insight, Bobby-- thanks for posting.

 

[kcinnick]

INGY (SP) is his wife.

That might be it, however they were very helpful.

 

[ShipWreck]

Update?

 

[Leadslugga]

I've been busy starting a new job and I'm going to be out of town all next week, so I won't be able to deal with it for a while. I'll update when I've made some progress.