Because It Was There (Colt LE6920)

[BarryinIN]

There are long dry spells when they are not around at all.

Every time they disappear, I think it may be the last of them- and this is when things are relatively good.

Since I was trading some things...

Sporter? What?

They now come with the Rogers "SuperStoc" (Rogers being former FBI agent Bill Rogers who designed Safariland's better LE holsters). I had heard this early this year, but forgot there was a Rogers SuperStoc at all, let alone that Colt would be using them. I guess with Colt, I figure they show up so infrequenty there is little need to keep up. It's marked Colt Defense on one side and Rogers on the other.

The big claim to fame of this stock is the secondary lock. Forward of the regular latch is a cam lever that is supposed to snug the stock to the tube and hold it firmly in position with no wiggle or rattle. It seems to do that, but so does my VLTOR stocks without needing to fiddle with a second latch. When unlatching to move the stock, you use the normal latch, which then pops the secondary latch as it moves. If you want the extra locking, you have to move the secondary.

I'd rather have a VLTOR (or Magpul, or LMT, or...) but it does beat the heck out of the old crappy Colt M4 stock so it is a step in the right direction.

It feels good. There is a thin hard rubber butt pad, which is nice to keep it from sliding around when propped against the wall or shouldered against cool guy gear nylon.

It seems to be pretty light, which is a plus, and looks rugged enough.

I sure do like having battery storage in the stock though, and this has zilch for storage.

It does have a push button QD swivel in the box, so I don't have to rob one or thread the sling through the slot loop.

It comes the same "silent sling" carry strap they've had for decades. It will get my last spare VTAC sling.

It also comes with two honest to goodness 20 rd mags. Even the ones that came with my 1984 AR were blocked to five rounds.

I got the Nikon 3X P-223 I've been curious about since they were announced earlier this year. The 3X models are little bitty things. I'm not to sure about the need for big adjustment knobs on a close range scope, but they are there so I will take them. The cost (%150 range) would ordinarily have me nervous, but it is a Nikon so maybe it will be OK. The glass is nice.

I have it mounted in a temporary fashion. The short tube between the bells rules out any one-piece I am aware of. I want QD, which limits me more. And it has to be high enough. These are Warne QD rings, and too short. I can use it (as long as I stay low to the stock) and the front sight is not in the way. It would be a lot easier to use with higher rings, and then it would clear the Magpul BUIS I have waiting to go on. I'll probably just get a taller version of what I'm using. Or go back to my usual Aimpoint practice.

[BarryinIN]

Shot it today. Everything fine, shoots fine, works fine, as an AR should.

The scope was doing ok, if perhaps not as good up close and fast as I thought.

I picked it up just now, looked through the scope, and it looks like a kaleidoscope in there. Nothing happened since I put it down 15 minutes ago.

It will be going back to Nikon.

[BarryinIN]

[BarryinIN]

Scope went in the mail to Nikon today.

I will advise how this goes.

[BarryinIN]

I got a letter from Nikon yesterday, advising me it had been received. That's two weeks to the day from when it was mailed.

We will see what happens.

Looking through the papers that came with the scope, the warranty sheet says that their scopes are warranted for life regardless of transfer of ownership. All one has to do is send it in and pay return shipping.

Wait a minute. Pay return shipping? I already paid to send it to them.

The paper I got in the mail said the estimated repose cost was zero, but didn't say anything about return shipping one way or another.

This may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I am not happy already, but will be even less happy if I have to pay to have it sent back to me after repair also. If I had bought it used from a guy who got it from his wife's half-sister's uncle, and it crashed 12 years later, paying shipping costs both ways is reasonable. But when it died within 24 hours of being mounted on a .223 rifle, no, that is very unreasonable. I was a little surprised there was no offer of a prepaid shipping label to return it, but I wanted to get it there asap and didn't push things to get one either.

I have been thinking that if they contact me with a shipping amount due when it's fixed, maybe they can keep it. If they pad the bill and want something like $20 return shipping, they can have it. Its a $150 scope, so it wouldn't take a very high return shipping bill to put my total shipping costs at 20% or more of the scope's original price. I have little faith in it being any more durable when returned, so I'm not sure what I will do with it anyway.

[BarryinIN]

I just checked the status via the online service area I found out about only after receiving the letter.

The status is: Replace Product.

1) As expected, it's not worth it to them to bother cracking open a $150 item. US labor would cost as much as the scope. I imagine it will go back to the Philippines where it was made for repair or into a dumpster.

2) Maybe a the next one will be better. I doubt it, but I can hope.

3) If they are replacing it, I wonder if they would be open to applying it's purchase price toward another product? The next-higher lineup M-223 1-4X would be better for my purposes and should be better period. Or, they have some neat compact spotting scopes. I have always loved my compact Nikon binoculars, but they are getting long in the tooth.

I'll call them Monday and see what can be done there.

[wwillson]

That's too bad about the scope and the fact that Nikon is asking you to paid the shipping both ways. Hittman and I both have the Nikon Coyote scope, which between the two of us, we've a couple thousand rounds without any troubles. The Coyote is about a $400 scope, but I still wouldn't expect any Nikon to break the first time out.

Wayne

[BarryinIN]

They haven't actually asked me to pay return shipping yet, but everything I see on the paperwork and website says that is the way they do things, so I expect it. I would hope they might make an exception for a day-old scope.

We will see.

[BarryinIN]

Oh, and-

The more I think about it, the more I want to call them in the morning and see if I can swap for a 1-4X M-223 if I pay the difference in retail price since they have to get me a new one anyway. It would be a better scope for my uses really. It's not near as cute though.

[BarryinIN]

I called Nikon and asked if I could pay to upgrade to a different model since they were replacing it anyway.

No.

Why not? I don't know. Because they never have, I guess. OK, thanks. Whatever makes the customer happy. Unless it requires something big like putting a different item in the box.

I realize my tiny business is small potatoes in comparison to the smallest corner of Nikon, but if a piece of my Kydex gear broke after one day's use and the customer asked to spend MORE and get a different item, the last thing I would do would say no.

She didn't ask for return shipping payment, but she was just reading from a script most of the time, too.

Fwiw, a shooter at the club range today had the 3-9X version and said it's been doing fine.

[BarryinIN]

Email sent to Nikon HQ that summarizes the purchase, failure, and return, ending with my honest surprise that I was willing to give them more money for another product after that but was refused.

[BarryinIN]

Scope problem may be solved.

I bought a used Leupold 1X Prismatic illuminated reticle scope earlier today.

[BarryinIN]

I got the new/used Leupold Prismatic from him today. This scope comes with a mount that has a couple of spacers to adjust the height. On a typical rifle, you leave them out. On an AR, you use one or two to get it high enough.

He can't find the spacers.

I am having the best luck with scopes.

[BarryinIN]

Leupold is sending two spacers. They only charged a $5 handling charge.

Preliminary comments on the Leupold Prismatic coming soon in another post. There is almost zero info out there about it, so I thought I'd post something. It's not for everyone, but is a pretty nifty little scope for those who need it.

I got the new/used Leupold Prismatic from him today. This scope comes with a mount that has a couple of spacers to adjust the height. On a typical rifle, you leave them out. On an AR, you use one or two to get it high enough.

He can't find the spacers.

I am having the best luck with scopes.

[BarryinIN]

I got an email from a service, asking me to "spare just one minute of my time to rank my experience with Nikon Customer Service".

It took more than a minute.

"We welcome your comments." Mmmm, no, I don't think you do.

Using the provided 0-10 rankings, they got a zero, since I still don't have my scope or it's replacement.

It is now 26 days since they made the decision to replace it.

Twenty six days. In the last week, I bought a used Leupold, called to buy spacers lost by the previous owner, and got them sent from Leupold for $5 shipping and handling.

[BarryinIN]

The spacers for the Prismatic came from Leupold today. Five days after asking how I could buy replacements (including a weekend), two spacers show up in my mailbox.

I ordered a mount for the Leupold Prismatic from Larue Tactical this morning. I got an email within a couple of hours with a tracking number. By noon it was on a UPS truck coming my way.

And from Nikon... nothing.

Not even a reply to my email from yesterday asking where my scope was.

[wwillson]

This is getting pretty embarrassing for Nikon.

[BarryinIN]

I'm not sure what I'd do with my scope after it's fixed or replaced, because I'd have zero confidence in it. I'm afraid it will sit in it's box after it gets here and never be used. So for now, I'm probably getting more use/entertainment out of it by dogging on Nikon every other day. It doesn't get me a better scope, but It might warn someone off from them.

I'd like to think it would be a drop in the bucket toward Nikon doing things differently, but I haven't seen any indication they would.

[BarryinIN]

I got a reply to my most recent email (three days ago) asking what was happening. He is going to look into it.

My confidence is overflowing.

[BarryinIN]

Three days later and no response. OK, it was the weekend, so it's only one day of nothing. I did get an email from them letting me know they were having a sale with $80 off some scopes and free next day shipping for Father's Day.

I don't think I'll be taking them up on that.

[BarryinIN]

Six days since the Nikon rep said he was checking for an ETA, which makes it eight days since I asked. I have checked back twice- no response.

Sill waiting.

[BarryinIN]

My most recent response; just sent through their repair status check system:

Enough.

I want a refund.

I have been more than understanding. I got less than one day's use out of this scope. Forty rounds fired through the rifle it was on. You have had it over a month, and the decision to replace it was made then.

I have tried to find out what was going on, and got nothing except one response saying he would check on the replacement. That was over a week ago.

I even offered to pay the difference in retail price to upgrade to a better Nikon scope and got treated like some clown trying to trade-in a 20-year-old scope.

I don't want a replacement anymore. I have zero faith in the scope and the company. I want to wash my hands of you.

The price of my scope was $151.95. Send it, and let me be done with Nikon.

[BarryinIN]

Victory.

Perhaps.

I found the contact info for the HQ of Nikon in Japan, and gave them a synopsis. From talking to a friend with Toyota, Japan getting reports about lack of service from the USA branch can result in bloodletting. Maybe that is what happened because two days later (today) I got a couple of emails.

It sounds like the better scope I was trying to upgrade to is in the mail.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and I guess Leupold wanted to stay one up, because another spacer for the Prismatic arrived yesterday.

[BarryinIN]

Resolution.

Of sorts.

Monday, I emailed Nikon's world HQ in Japan, giving a rundown of what has transpired over the past six weeks.

Wednesday morning, I get two emails from Nikon's USA HQ in NY. I got what I felt was an honest apology (the first apology in all of this) and he asked which model scope I had tried to move up to.

Yes, the temptation was there to push it, be greedy, be vengeful, and say it was some model costing ten times as much as the one I had. I was honest and told him the model I tried to get and gave him the catalog number.

He replied he would take care of it.

I wanted to think he would, but based on my experiences so far, I couldn't be too hopeful.

I have to admit- He delivered.

We came home from kids swim training to find a UPS Next Day Air box from CA. True to his word, there was a new M-223 1-4X inside, with a $0.00 invoice.

Just to clarify, the M-223 is the next higher line from what I had. This particular model is the closest from that line to an equivalent of what I had. It runs around $150 more, or roughly double. It's still one of their lower end lines and made in the Philippines, but has to beat the one-day wonder I had. It didn't come out of the box broken, so isn't worse.

Also in the box was a gift card for $10 at the Nikon Store. I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or scream about that, but I supposed it beat what I had experienced before this point.

Then I noticed it expired May 1, and I realized it was fitting. It's a token representing the entire process.

Am I happy? No, but I wouldn't have been happy if they had sent their top model scope and some shares of Nikon stock.

Have I cooled off? Some, I guess.

Perhaps I will now only tell my Nikon tale of woe when asked about scope brands or Nikon in particular, rather than flagging people down to tell them.

I suppose the thing to do now is to mount this scope on something and try it out to see that it lasts longer than a day. I'm not especially interested in that right now.

[BarryinIN]

The Nikon M-223 scope remains here, unused. I took it out of the box to verify the box didn't contain a lump of coal or anything and put it back. There it sits. It is probably a fine scope, but aftr the P-223 experience I'm afraid to even try it.

Yesterday I'm looking at the SWFA website. I would like to have one of their SS 10X tacticool scopes for my Savage .308, and saw they had a few on their Sample List (used and demo items). I also kept noticing their trade-in program.

If I could trade the Nikon M-223 and get anything close to what I have in it (the cost of the P-223) I could get into the SS 10X for a pretty low outlay of cash. New, these scopes sell for within $10 of each other. So I took pictures, filled out the online appraisal form, and sent it in.

I don't know of anyone who has tried to use SWFA's trade-in program so don't know if they make reasonable offers or not. I will let you guys know what I find out.

I am seeing they aren't exactly fast. It's been 24 hours since I sent the online appraisal in. Maybe they are laughing too hard to respond.