I have to say something about customer service at J&G Sales in Prescott, AZ

[Dapper Dave]

Backstory required - when I was a young lad in the 80s, I was strangely taken by the Star 28/30/31 series pistols, but kids right out of high school don't have much money, and I wasn't even old enough to buy from an FFL yet. Flash forward 42 years...and the Star 30M pistol is all over the place another stash located, probably the last ones, since production ended in the very early 90s. I am no longer young, but I am also no longer broke!

So I bought one, shipped to my FFL from J&G Sales up in Prescott - Forty knows them well. Nice people. I have been VERY happy with it! Even bought more magazines, (OUCH!$$$), and holsters. Yes, I carry this Spanish tank sometimes.

 

So, with the absolute lack of spare parts, (I think I got the last spare firing pin from SARCO, just kidding), and the killer pricing on these, I decided to do something goofy - I bought a second one from J&G as a parts donor gun. Something breaks, I have a spare.
This one is actually a year older than my shiny one...and it did not have the same charmed life. My first one was never issued a unit crest, and I think it was babied, shot a little and then stored lovingly away by a master craftsman on a Wednesday morning. 

This one? Not so much.

This is after much cleaning, and there is still something in that bare circle where the unit crest was ground off. All surplus handguns are a pig in a poke, and I realize that, but this one was readied for storage by two hung over Spanish privates on a Friday afternoon who just wanted to head out to Madrid and get hammered. The bore was...well, you tell me. This is after cleaning with 5 different more cleaners and much hard scrubbing. The whole bore looks like that.

 

Now this IS a used gun, buyer beware, etc., and I fully completely understand that. J&G Sales did NOTHING wrong, not one bit. But I did e-mail them and I started off with I don't want my money back, I don't want to return it, and I don't want freebies, I just want suggestions on how to clean this bore, since this is a gun they are quite familiar with. I also asked it this qualified as a "dark" bore. 
The reply was interesting, as they said no, not "dark", but "frosted" which comes from corrosion. I shoulda guess those Spanish peacocks were using corrosive ammo. Great - you can scrub it until the cows come home, but no joy. It was shooting shotgun groups at 10 yards. But remember, I bought it as a parts donor...
Then they blew me away.
They pulled a nicer barrel off another pistol and are sending it to me as I type this, asking if I would like to swap?
Well, yeehaw and giddyap, durn tootin' I would! 
Never asked them for a thing, and they could have walked away saying, gee, too bad, and I would have still purchased from them, but they didn't. They even put a return stamp on the package, after I said I'd be happy to cover return shipping. It will be nice to have two guns that shoot straight. Now maybe, if all goes well, I might upgrade it to backup carry...winder if Mernickle would like to do a two gun rig for Star 30Ms? 🤠
Looks like J&G Sales is gonna get more of my money...

 

TL/DR, J&G Sales has excellent over-and-above customer service. 

 

 

[J-BAR #18287]

Always nice to know who the good guys are!

 

Thanks!

[watab kid]

i agree with J-bar , good to know who to buy from , 

 

my "odd man: out is a brazillian P-35 [browning hoi-power] , i have others that i like but this one has been a favorite since i bought it on a whim , lets me keep my two inglis pistrols as collectibles and the belgian with less ware 

[Dapper Dave]

Came in today. The contrast is very stark.
The old barrel has a blued finish and is on top. The bottom barrel is the newer one with a different finish. Interesting thing is, the frosted barrel has no serial number stamped on it, but this one, being SLIGHTLY later production, does have a serial number one it, and that's also funny, cause they are less than 79,000 numbers apart.

Edit to clarify, the serial on the new barrel and the serial on the Evil Twin.

 

 But that bore...now that's how a good surplus barrel should look, eh? That's with no cleaning, right out of the package.

 

Again, they didn't have to do anything, but they went way over and above. They just sent me another "sale" email, and for some reason, my wallet is whimpering...shush...

Edited Saturday at 02:58 AM by Dapper Dave

[Eyesa Horg]

Superb Dapper Dave 👍

[Stump Water]

'Preciate you posting this Dave.  Attention like this is rare these days.  It gives one some hope.

 

Understand the "ouch" on the mags.  ONE for my Star PD was $50 a bunch of years ago.

[Dapper Dave]

Mags aint cheap, $65 apiece.  But I have enough to keep the old girl running for a while. 😉

It's important to remember with these surplus guns, that whatever is out there is all there is, and ever will be.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Way back in 2005, I bought a few things form J&G.  I found them to be reasonably priced and very efficient.  What did I buy?  If memory serves, I got at least one of my Nagant pistols from them.  

But more recently when I tried to get something they had that interested me, they said, "Sorry, we won't sell to Massachusetts on a C&R anymore."

Never been back,

[Dapper Dave]

State law changes can catch you in mid bite sometimes. I'm sorry about that, sir, Massachusetts was the birthplace of American freedom...and look at it now. Dang shame. 

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

Back in the early 2000's and friend and I bought each bought a surplus 8mm Mauser for something like $100 each from a local gun store. At that time, J&G always advertised in Shotgun News and they had 700 rounds of surplus 8mm for something like $75. We split the cost and when we went to divvy up the ammo we found about 10% or so had cracked necks and loose bullets. There were also a few bullets in the box with corresponding empty brass and powder spilled. I called J&G and the guy said he would send me a couple hundred rounds to replace the bad ones. No shipping. We were very pleased with them.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

12 hours ago, Dapper Dave said:

State law changes can catch you in mid bite sometimes. I'm sorry about that, sir, Massachusetts was the birthplace of American freedom...and look at it now. Dang shame. 

Yeah, I get it.   And in a way, I don't blame some of these places.   But the truth is C&R guns are specifically exempted from a lot of our stupid laws.   I know of one well known store, Sarco, that will even admit that they KNOW this and there is no reason why they can't legally ship those things to Massachusetts.   They just don't care, and won't.

[Texas Joker]

They know, they care. I figure it's a form of protest along the lines of Barret not fixing things for LEO that aren't legal for the general public to have.

 

Or just trying to keep themselves from having to defend sales of 'prohibitted' items cause even proving you did nothing wrong costs time and money.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

59 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

They know, they care. I figure it's a form of protest along the lines of Barret not fixing things for LEO that aren't legal for the general public to have.

 

Or just trying to keep themselves from having to defend sales of 'prohibitted' items cause even proving you did nothing wrong costs time and money.

 

Actually, there exact words when I asked them about it were in fact, "We know.  We don't care." 
 

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

I've long heard good things about J&G.

These specific examples only enhance that impression!

Thank you for this firsthand testimony!

[Utah Bob #35998]

I have used them. Never had any problems.

[Dapper Dave]

Update - new barrel break in. All targets shot at 10 yards, two hand standing, single action only. Yes, an odd collection of ammo. The wife wanted to come along just to hang out. I'm good with that.

Started. Yeah, it's better.

Since I was also trying to drift the front sight on my 1873 44-40, (different story),I had to stop and take the wife to brunch, Karavelas Mexican and Peruvian food, "wet burrito" meal for your viewing pleasure and my burping pleasure. I highly recommend the place, never had a bad meal there.

 

And then home so she could rest. Well she's been up since 3 PM yesterday. worked all night, but she wanted to come out with me this morning. Did I mention that I love my wife?
So fiddling around at home, I discovered three things. 

1, The rear sight is adjustable with a screw driver.

2, The supplied mini screwdriver with the gun is made of pot metal - it shattered. Seriously. 

3, My Chinesium ratchet screwdriver I was gifted over 30 years ago works perfectly. So, since the range is only a few minutes from the house, off I went again. 
I noticed that the barrel is settling in, new part has to wear in a little with the old parts, every mechanic knows that...except me, I am not a mechanic. 

 

Getting there.

 

Called flyer;

 

Final. I will TAKE it! 

 

So, upgraded means upgraded. The Evil Twin is now promoted to the Good Twin. 

And thank you to everyone who put up with me during this little escapade.