Extended takedown lever taking a beating

[Richo877]

Recently bought another SD40VE for my wife since mine has been reliable. I got it used and it's in really good condition, nearly like new. Previous owner had upgraded sights, lighter trigger spring, swapped guide rod for steel with (feels like) 20# spring just like mine, and an extended takedown lever. Overall, really happy to find it because I would've done it anyway as I have with the other one. Saved me a little time and money to find one already worked over. Anyway, went out today to take it for a test drive and it started having, what I thought was feeding issues. Same ammo in both guns, no problems with mine. Hers was grinding and sticking pretty badly in action. After inspection, came to find the takedown lever was beaten hard and bowed pretty badly. Took some effort, but got it out with pliers and was able to bend it back straight against the table relatively easily. Initial thought on this, there is no way the metal should be that malleable. We stopped shooting it after that. After bringing it back home, I threw the factory takedown in it from the other gun and it feels smooth as new.
Is there something more serious that would cause the takedown lever to take that much damage, or was it just a cheap metal? I've never had that problem before and the other gun is essentially the same build without problems.
Thanks for any input

Read More

 

[Stomper]

Recently bought another SD40VE for my wife since mine has been reliable. I got it used and it's in really good condition, nearly like new. Previous owner had upgraded sights, lighter trigger spring, swapped guide rod for steel with (feels like) 20# spring just like mine, and an extended takedown lever. Overall, really happy to find it because I would've done it anyway as I have with the other one. Saved me a little time and money to find one already worked over. Anyway, went out today to take it for a test drive and it started having, what I thought was feeding issues. Same ammo in both guns, no problems with mine. Hers was grinding and sticking pretty badly in action. After inspection, came to find the takedown lever was beaten hard and bowed pretty badly. Took some effort, but got it out with pliers and was able to bend it back straight against the table relatively easily. Initial thought on this, there is no way the metal should be that malleable. We stopped shooting it after that. After bringing it back home, I threw the factory takedown in it from the other gun and it feels smooth as new.
Is there something more serious that would cause the takedown lever to take that much damage, or was it just a cheap metal? I've never had that problem before and the other gun is essentially the same build without problems.
Thanks for any input

Try shooting it with the takedown lever you put in from the other one and see if it happens again, then you'll know if you had a faulty part or that something else is going on that needs further probing.

 

[Richo877]

Try shooting it with the takedown lever you put in from the other one and see if it happens again, then you'll know if you had a faulty part or that something else is going on that needs further probing.

I plan to give it another run. Just curious if anyone else had experienced this issue or knows of another reason why it would happen.

 

[solv3nt]

What did you pay for it out of curiosity? My buddy has one that he's thinking about selling.

 

[Richo877]

What did you pay for it out of curiosity? My buddy has one that he's thinking about selling.

$270 with shipping on gunbroker

 

[Richo877]

Update, seems like the factory takedown lever is holding up just fine. Don't know how old the extended one is, or what material it was made of, but it's trash. I know it's a budget gun, but it's still meant to work properly. Why would they make those parts out of soft metal? They're only like $20 at best.