I asked them to check if it had been registered before when I dropped off the MI registration, but nothing came up. The gun could have come from anywhere. When I went in to williams the next day I honestly thought they would be angry that a used gun was shipped to them as new. My guess was that they just checked the serial number on it and gave me a call. In my past experiences I thought they would take a look at it and actually help me get a new one, but nope. I just got lectured by the "gunsmith" about how they couldn't have remained in business for 90 years by selling used guns as new.
Now if I had waited a week before bringing it back in I would have told myself to get bent too, but it was the next day.
When it came back from Ruger it was polished in a couple spots but the finish is a mix of matte, scratched, perfect, and pits on the frame. Kinda reminds me of an old rusted beater chevy with bright new shiny spinners on it.
The bore is now clean, I shot 104 rounds through it on Friday just so I could say I did. After coming home it took the usual amount of cleaning. Couple wet patches and about 30 strokes of the bore brush to get a clean dry patch with a hint of crud on it.
I'll be checking with Ruger to see about what can be done with it but I suspect I'll be sol. Since it shows all the signs of an idiot trying to "improve " the action, which means I will never trust it to be reliable, I'll do one of the following with it;
1. Do a cool video to see what it takes to blow up a Ruger New Vaquero. I have all sorts of powders I can overload it with.
2. Run a shit ton of black powder rounds through it and never clean it to see how long it takes for it to disintegrate.
3. sell it for a big loss. My guess is $300 worth of loss.
4. Use it to learn how to replace barrel, cylinder, bolt, hand, and whatever else I can learn.
Kinda sux too that i won't be dealing with williams again. I took hunters safety there in the 70's and they have a decent selection of new and used guns, and are pretty close to home. I do like driving and listening to music cranked to full blast so I guess the drive to Saginaw or Dundee won't be too bad whenever I want particular firearms that aren't stocked by the locals.
So all it took to lose a customer for life and have that customer no longer recommend them is not admit that their supplier screwed up and sent a beater as new. Wasn't williams fault that they received a used beater, but the lack of assistance to resolve the problem and failure to admit that the firearm was used (when it wasn't their fault) while telling the customer that spends a lot of money on firearms, bullets, powder, etc to get bent, that is the problem.
If I pulled crap like this where I work I would be fired instantly. I suppose that is why the company I work for is solid, steady, and growing like a field of weeds.
I almost forgot, it did come with the yellow disc, but when it came back from Ruger it had the polishing cloth that did not come with the gun originally. I don't recall a tag through the trigger guard. It wasn't in the box when I put it up yesterday so my guess is no, just the plastic bag it was wrapped in. I keep all that stuff along with receipts in the boxes that my new guns come in. Don't know why I do but I do.