Sorry to hear about your problem. Having worked in places on both ends of the situation, the "most likely probable" senario is that the pistol arrived at your dealer's place just fine. But then some jerk who works there, maybe even the manager of the department or store manager (it is unlikely anyone else could get the pistol out of the store without being noticed) decided to "try out" your new firearm. After all, he'll probably never have another chance to "try out" a Coonan. So he takes it out of the safe-room, or wherever they keep the firearms not on display, certainly without logging it out because he intends to bring it right back. So he gets to the place he is going to try it out and fires off a few rounds, but that's not good enough for him. He really wants to know how good these "things" are, so he tries a few +P rounds. That goes pretty good, so he decides he's really going to "test it," so he loads up some +P+ or hot handloads to really give it a work out! That's when things go bad. A couple of round might have worked fine, but after a couple of the hottest things he could get his hand on, the pistol begins to malfunction. He immediately stops and rushes home. He takes it apart, if he can get it apart, and discoveres the damage he has caused. More panic. He decides that he can fix it or knows someone, most likely one of the other "good" customers who can "fix it." So after some grinding and other fine craftsman-ship, this guy cleans it up as good as he can, puts it back in the box and then takes it back to the store where he slips it back on the shelf, confident in the knowledge that no one will ever detect the damage and if they do, well, he'll just blame the manufacturer. Why do I suspect this was the case? Had it happen at least three times at stores where I worked. Once again, sorry about your problem, but if there is a "moral" to the story it is -- Do not allow any firearm that you order to sit in a store for more than a few hours and, if possible" always insist that the outer box and/or wrapping not be opened until you arrive. Now, some ffl will not agree to receive an item if you insist on this last one, but if they refuse, just walk away and find another ffl who understands the issue.