From what I've read on another forum, I get the impression that stainless is a tricky material to make guns from. The alloy and heat-treating has to be just right. Not as forgiving as regular steel. On the other hand, there are millions of stainless guns in the world that don't blow up.
I really believe the way Beretta/Sako/Tikka is handling this is criminal. People are being maimed (e.g. a boy in Sweden lost a thumb), yet Beretta et. al. is trying to keep the whole thing low-profile. If this had happened to Ruger, there would be ads in all the gun rags and a prominent mention on the web site. Beretta, on the other hand, acknowledges there is a recall on their phone message, but won't return calls or emails or really do anything proactive to warn their customers who are at risk. They should have a list of serial numbers on their web site or an interface where you could type in your serial number and get an answer. Instead, I'm stuck with a gun I'm afraid to shoot. My serial number is about 200 numbers away from one of the blown-up guns. Even if they call me and tell me the gun is safe, I'll always have doubts.
I will never buy another Beretta/Sako/Tikka product again. Not because they sold a few defective rifles, but because of the way they are mishandling the situation. I can point you to threads on other forms where a lot of other people feel the same way. Too bad for B/S/T. They are really screwing this up.
|