Based on what the customer had told us last night we agreed to replace the pistol at no charge. The pistol was given to him by his wife for his birthday, he loved the pistol and told us it was the most accurate pistol he had. Mark Stone, owner of Nighthawk, questioned him about the possibly of a squib load or an over charge and he told us to his knowledge everything was normal. We believe based on his knowledge he told us the truth. Mark told him that we could not explain what happened based on his answer. We would not disassemble his pistol, we would use it for a display piece.
This morning pictures and blog content started appearing online and at that point we decided to investigate further due to the photos on the blog showing pictures of the pistol in a different condition than we received. Our customer did not put these pictures online. The pistol that we received had been pried and beat open. The owner of the pistol said a gunsmith had done so to remove the spent case. We did not receive the spent case when the pistol was returned.
When we broke the pistol down and examined the barrel, we saw clear evidence that a squib load caused the damage. We have taken numerous photos to document these findings.
Last night we wanted to give the customer a response as soon as possible. Mark agreed at that time to replace his pistol free of charge and we will stand by our word, but we wanted to present these facts.
Here are the pictures.