Bob Marvel Custom

[SharpestJim]

Here goes with my first "real" post:

I just took delivery of a brand-new Nighthawk - a Bob Marvel Custom. The first thing I wanted to do is make sure that I was comfortable field stripping it. I own a Kimber Ultra Covert II which I purchased in late-2014. The Kimber was my first .45 ACP 1911 "style" pistol (with apologies to the 1911 purists). I experienced all kinds of frustration with the Kimber, specifically reinserting the slide stop. I was able to find someone locally to show me the trick and I've gotten pretty good at taking the Kimber apart and putting it back together. A 1911 Ultra Tool helped me a great deal.

So the day after I received my Nighthawk, I decided that I should give field stripping a whirl. With the full-length guide rod, the takedown procedure seemed very similar to the Kimber. I got the slide off just fine and put it back on. As I tried to reinsert the slide stop (here we go again), it looked like the barrel link had shifted out of position. So I removed the slide and moved the link slightly hoping to get a better alignment to get the slide stop back in. As I was doing this, the slide bound up. I tried tapping it ever so gently on the dining room table with a towel for padding. I did not want to break my brand-new Nighthawk. No dice.

I've been able to move the slide slightly aft. My problem may have something to do with the guide rod as the takedown tool slipped out of the hole and fell to the floor. So the guide spring is still captured.

I tried e-mailing Nighthawk Friday but I assume that they were closed for the holiday weekend. I plan to try calling them Monday morning to see if someone at the factory can help me.

What the heck did I do? Is it likely that I caused any damage? I certainly did not get heavy-handed with it at all. I'm hoping that I do not have to send the gun back to Nighthawk - especially since I haven't even fired it yet. But if that's what I need to do, I certainly will, of course.

I'm not looking for someone to help me resolve my problem (although that would be very cool). But I especially want to make sure that I do not repeat whatever it is that I did.

Thanks in advance for the advice!