This article is being wrote after a few conversation's with some new and old firearm owners, this last weekend. At a banquet I attended we discussed our favorite topic "firearms". This lead to us discussing some thing's to do after purchasing a firearm. We was having a nice conversation and I kept hearing them talk of having some issues. I finally asked them, "what did you do when you picked up the pistol?". They laughed and said they went and shot it. I then said, "no, from picking it up at the store, to shooting the first round, what did you do?". They had quizzical look's on their face, and looked at each other, then one of them said, "I read the owner's manual". I said that is good, and said "anyone or anything else?" There was silence, then they started asking me what I did and how. Which lead me to offering advice and they all said "I never thought of that" and it ended with a few saying I should write an article on it. Which now bring's us to the point we are at. I will keep this short as possible as much of it is common sense, but I want to share with you what I do and have done (and lessons I learned the hard way) for bringing a firearm home and before putting first round through it. In a later article I will likely describe what I do and found that is best on a defensive pistol being deemed confident reliable. But for now, lets look at some do's, that will save you issues.
You purchased your firearm and are picking it up and are excited (as well as you should be and we all are). You go back, they have it ready for you, some final paperwork and they walk you out the door with it (which is mandated by policy). You shake hands and off you go. Well, let me give you a huge tip, do not do that. You spend your valuable money and time on a firearm so why not savor it. A quality firearm store, will take the firearm you purchased and open it and show you the contents. Yes it is pretty and you are excited, but as much time as you took to pick the right one out, take a little time and inspect it. I will pick up the firearm and handle it (keep in mind, many times the one you have is not the "show" model), I want to make sure there is no issues with it, that it functions the same way. I actually picked up a firearm and handles it to notice that it did not have the safety I wanted (as some models come either way), I have picked one up and there was a burr under the slide which caused it to hang up. So you want to make sure it is the pistol you bought.
Next, I will go through all the contents. I will ensure that the magazines that it comes with are correct for the pistol (as many come in different calibers). I will insert the magazines into the firearm and ensure that they fit as they should and drop as they should (which let's me inspect the magazine release as well). I will also, inspect and check the follower of the magazine and the spring tension. There has been a few times, when the manufacturer shipped wrong magazine in the case. I will ensure that the firearm comes with all contents it should be with it. I will ensure that is has an owner's manual, which it should have. You want make sure you are getting what you are paying for. I even inspect the case, one time the case had a nice deep scratch on it, I complained and said wanted a refund, they upgraded me to a nice pelican case for free. Remember, like a car, until you take it off the lot, the transaction is not done.
Now that we have accepted the item, we take it home. Once at home, what do you do next? Your correct answer should be, READ THE OWNERS MANUAL. Yes, I know that they can be boring, but the information in there can give you important information, such as caliber, proper cleaning and field stripping technique. Not following the owner's manual, can void your warranty, so follow it. If you are new to a particular firearm, I strongly recommend reading it twice. The next thing it to ensure you keep it with the firearm, in case later on need a reference or assistance, do not just throw it away. I am quite confident in my ability with many firearms, but I still read through the owners manual. Since you are reading it, once done take an ink pen and write down on the manual the date you purchased it, I even keep the receipt with it. Since, you have the ink pen, why not fill out the warranty card, or go online and activate your warranty. You want to do this so the manufacturer knows when you purchased the model number in case of recall. Then they will contact you (usually email) if there is any issue. Once I have read and understand the owners manual, I do another function check, to ensure that it all works (understand that some do not recommend dry firing rimfire caliber, why I always us a dummy round snapcap). I will especially ensure that all the safeties work properly.
Now that you are done with that, you want to sit at a table, with a towel or cloth down and disassemble the firearm according to the owners manual. You want to become intimate with it. Think about this, it is brand new, you will likely be the only one to be able to see the condition it is in now. Why? Because later if an issue arises and an instructor or gunsmith will ask "was it like this before?" They hate hearing "I don't know". You want to inspect and/or look at each part and understand how it works. Again, you want to ensure you know and/or refer to the owners manual, because doing somethings in the state it is in at this point could damage it.
Now that we have it apart, Why not clean it? Many people think it is ready to go out of the box, this is so not true. Manufacturers do one of two things. They will either have storage lube on it (to prevent rust as they do not know how long it will sit), or they will have them dry (no lube). In either case, you want to sit down and clean it. There may be shipping residue as well. So, just clean the pistol as you was taught or according to the owners manual. Almost all firearms are shot before they leave the company, so there may be residue there too. During one of these inspection/cleanings, I found that the maker left a plastic "plug" in the barrel, that is a good find before any ammunition went down the pipe. Which of course you should have no ammunition around when cleaning. Once you are done inspecting/cleaning you want to do a function test again, one of the reason's I do not want ammunition around. For the function test, I want to make sure it works as it did, if not I want to identify the issue.
After I am done with this, I will then use my dummy rounds, and I will do some dryfire practice with the firearm. I want to again become very familiar with it and how it functions. I get to check the extractor and how it ejects. How it feeds and cycles, as well as, the trigger press. If I am going to use any accessory I will try it now, such as a holster. I will cycle not one but all the magazines (you did buy a spare right?). This allows me to become comfortable with the pistol and any issues before I but live ammunition in it.
At this point we should be confident in how the firearm works and functions. We now know, that it is lubricated properly and ready to go to the range for live fire (I will go over how I confident check a pistol in another article). Keep in mind that many firearm makers recommend at a minimum 200-500 rounds of proper ammunition to get it "broke in".
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