Buyers remorse. This is a great range, but I had a really poor purchase experience there. I bought…read morea new gun there and later found that it was jamming about 5% of the time. I brought it back in, and the guy at the counter tested the gun and said I need to be using 147 grain ammo. He said the problem was that I was using 115 and 124 grain ammo before. The first sales person didn't say anything about that, and I actually had purchased a 1000 round case of 115 grain ammo. I think there's something wrong with the gun because I did an Internet search and it said this gun has no problem with 115 grain ammo. I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with the gun and I have to use a hotter ammo to solve the malfunction. The original sales rep said if I have any problem with it just to bring it in and made it sound like they would take care of me. But the second guy who is extremely well spoken had me half convinced I need to use (more expensive) hotter ammo. I'm certain there's something wrong with the gun and now I have to call the manufacturer and deal with them.
Update 6/27/25 (two months later):
Shortly after my Google review was published, James, one of the managers reaches out to me. He apologizes about the employee that said I needed hotter ammo - he shouldn't have said that. He encourages me to bring the gun in and they take a look at it. Several of them shoot it, it works fine, but it jammed once while I was shooting it with them. They blame it on my grip; my grip is not tight enough so the slide can't operate properly. I'm thinking that can't be right -- I've worked with an instructor, a former professional competition shooter, and he taught me a proper two-handed thumbs-forward grip. I've shot all the major brand handguns, including high-end race guns like Staccatos, and I have never had a problem with jams. I insist my grip, while not pro-grade like these guys, is not the problem.
I tell them I want to return the gun. I'm offered a meager trade-in, good for another gun or store credit. I expected they'd stand behind the product, as an authorized reseller for Canik, that they'd take it up with Canik, but they 'stuck to their guns' that the gun was fine, and they could not improve upon their offer. I decline their offer and say I'll send it to Canik. At this point, as if I had some really original idea to do so, THEY offer to send to Canik.
Canik, who has a location in the US, still took the better part of two months to send it back to me (it felt like it was being sent off to Europe or something). Canik replaced the slide spring. I get it back, test it, it works fine. But by this time, I've lost my taste for Canik and this whole experience, so I want to trade it in, and get a gun that I've owned before and trust, a Smith & Wesson. I asked my point of contact there, Tyler, what it would cost after the trade-in and adding a red dot. I never did get a reply. I emailed Tyler and James a couple times, called a couple times, can't reach anyone. Ghosted.
I feel that the way this should have gone down was that as soon as I had a claim the gun (under warranty), was defective, and if they were not able to fix it, that they should have offered to send it to the factory for repair. Rather than inconvenience and embarrass me, with claims I needed different ammo, or had a bad grip, they should have stood behind what they sold, and offered to get it resolved via the manufacturer.
I will probably continue to tell people that The Range West is a top-notch gun range, but I would not recommend purchasing a gun there, as they don't seem to want to stand behind what they sell.
