Every problem scenario you presented could be caused by an uncleaned gun.Every gun you buy weather new or used should be cleaned before it is put to use.This would at least rule out one potential reason for your fire arm to fail if a problem arises while shooting.
My Novak sights are very hard for me to see with my 60 year old eyes.They are the ones with the white dots but the white is faded.Do any of you guys have sights you could recommend?Has any body used the tritium sights?Fiber optics?How tough are they?How brite?Thanks