Well, after playing tag with Fed X for a few days, i was finally able to get my new Niksan Ozark TS. After unpacking it, i gave it a complete inspection, and found all screws and bolts nice and tight, with no visual damages/blemishes. The tank had air, so considering the time and distance traveled, I considered it leak free. So far, so good. Next I ran a few patches down the bore, all seemed well there.
Next I put a couple of pellets into one of the 4 included mags, intending to test fire the gun.... but the mag would not fit into the breech....that is unless I used both hands, and all the hand power my 6'3" frame could muster! Even then a pellet could not be chambered because of misalignment. I tried ALL 4 of the included mags, both loaded, and unloaded..... none worked/fit. It was as if the slot in the breech had been milled several thousandths too small for the mags. NUTS! Felt like I'd take a chance on a "new" brand of airgun....and got hosed.
I went online and sent a message, along with pics to the seller, and to their credit, I got a phone call within only a few minutes. After trying a few solutions/actions, the mags still did not fit/work. They soon emailed me a return label, and said that once the gun got back to them, they would "inspect and try to fix it, and if we can't fix it, we will send you a new gun." I thanked the individual and told him I would appreciated whatever could be done to satisfy the situation.
That's admirable, and the bare minimum I would expect from any reputable seller... but inside the case with the rifle I received was a full inspection sheet....completely blank, with no check marks and no initials/signatures.... meaning to me that nothing about the gun was checked prior to shipping. And because of that, there's at least an extra unnecessary couple of weeks before I could be shooting a fully functional gun. And possibly more if we play the "tag" game of having to send the gun back multiple times.
Had I been asked, what I would have liked to have seen is that upon being notified that the return had been shipped, a fully inspected and fully functional NEW gun be shipped to me. Had that been the case, I would be singing praises now, versus questioning motives.
Why even have/include an "inspection sheet" if it's going to be blank, and show the customer what should have been checked/inspected....but wasn't?? Was it fluke? An isolated incident? Does the seller even know/realize that there is an "inspection sheet" included with each of these guns, and what is that saying to the customer who receives a non-functional gun, with a totally blank "inspection sheet" in the case/package?
I'm new to knowing the major players in the airgun world, and maybe not fully aware of how things are done within the community...but in this case, it seems that things could have been done a bit differently to better serve the customer.
I sincerely hope it all turns out for the best, and I receive a fully functional gun with as few hassles as possible. More to come.