Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Why Automated Inclusion of Warnings Is Sometimes Unintentionally Hilarious

I searched for tritium night sights for a Firestar 9mm pistol. Amazon has them, but with this warning:
WARNING:CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.
Yes, I can picture lots of people spending $175 for sights for a pistol for their toddler.

9 comments:

  1. Intriguing. I own a 9mm firestar, Although I understand the maker has gone out of business since. Those sights are more than 2/3 what I paid for it though.

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  2. I confess that as much as it would be nice to have better sights on my Firestar, that seems a bit excessive for the pistol.

    I wish that I had three dot white sights on it. I do have a vertical mill; I might go ahead and drill a small recess in the rear and front sights, and use some bright white paint in them.

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  3. Hmmm, mine HAS three white dots. (Assuming we're talking about the same Spanish made Star Echiavara Firestar 9mm, Single column 7+1 Single action....)

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  4. Hmmm. I wonder if those were optional. Did you buy yours new? Perhaps I should look at three dot sights -- they might be cheaper than tritium.

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  5. Yeah, they were original. Mine's the nickel/matte finished version with rubber grips. I don't think they give any more specific model breakdown. I use it as a carry gun, although I worry that being single action, I might forget to cock it in a panic (but being carried in a fanny pack, I won't go condition 1.)

    I may switch it out with a little Taurus 5 shot .38 snubby a friend is planning to sell me when she moves to Israel.

    OTOH, I'd love it if I could get some kind of Crimson Trace grip for it.

    I also disabled the Magazine safety. I'm morally opposed to anything that can stop my gun from going bang when I want it to that I can't work with my hand. Also, it was scratching the mag. (Imaginary scenario, being interrupted in the middle of a tactical reload.)

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  6. What's required to remove the magazine safety? I would guess that it would improve the trigger pull as well.

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  7. In the Firestar, under the right grip, there is a flat bar. At the bottom it's attached to the mainspring pin. Halfway up it has an ear folded over that rubs against an inserted magazine. At the top it narrows to a tiny tab that interrupts the transfer bar from the trigger to the rest of the mechanism (thus, when a magazine is inserted, the bar is pushed outwards, and this interrupter at the top is out of engagement.)

    The fix is simple, cut off the bar anywhere below the ear. I removed the bar/pin to do mine, but getting the mainspring back in place was a pain. Were I to do it again, I'd pull the bar outwards, put something protective between it and the gun, and attack it with a Dremel cutoff wheel.

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  8. Yeah, and it would have no effect on the trigger pull, other than letting you pull it when there's no mag in.

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  9. Oh, and like your Browning High Power video, your magazine will now drop out freely.

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