Top Firearm Issues You've Experienced

[canoliman]

Glock, H&K, Sig, CZ, Smith and more...What are the issues you've experienced with your firearms? What were the most surprising issues?

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[Andy54Hawken]

Most of my firearm issues haven't been with actual firearms but with...
Firearm laws , bans , restrictions , requirements and the like.
Many if not most ...perhaps all of them....are about as useful as a football bat.

As far as for firearms....

Quality control issues after a company has been bought out. , or changed hands / management ..
Looking at you Winchester... Remington...Marlin ....etc....
I understand wanting to make as much profit as you can...but cutting corners on machining , assembly , fit and finish can be taken too far.

Mechanical safeties on lever action firearms. , with an external hammer....
Unneeded...and can make it slow to shoot , if used.

Huge billboard sized safety warnings on firearms...damn unsightly....and ugly.

Granted the above two can be seen as a personal dislike , rather than an actual issue....
However both have kept me from buying a firearm.

Many , if not most , production muzzle loading replica rifles arms...having the correct rifle twist...
But no where as deep as was done on the antique arm they are copying.
This can promote fouling quickly.
Some custom rifle barrels also have this issue.
Along the same lines....using a coil spring as a main spring lock.
A huge PITA to time and tune if needed.

And the issue. of..
My pesky work schedule interfering with my shooting and hunting activities....
Andy

 

[Stomper]

Most of my firearm issues haven't been with actual firearms but with...
Firearm laws , bans , restrictions , requirements and the like.
Many if not most ...perhaps all of them....are about as useful as a football bat.

As far as for firearms....

Quality control issues after a company has been bought out. , or changed hands / management ..
Looking at you Winchester... Remington...Marlin ....etc....
I understand wanting to make as much profit as you can...but cutting corners on machining , assembly , fit and finish can be taken too far.

Mechanical safeties on lever action firearms. , with an external hammer....
Unneeded...and can make it slow to shoot , if used.

Huge billboard sized safety warnings on firearms...damn unsightly....and ugly.

Granted the above two can be seen as a personal dislike , rather than an actual issue....
However both have kept me from buying a firearm.

Many , if not most , production muzzle loading replica rifles arms...having the correct rifle twist...
But no where as deep as was done on the antique arm they are copying.
This can promote fouling quickly.
Some custom rifle barrels also have this issue.
Along the same lines....using a coil spring as a main spring lock.
A huge PITA to time and tune if needed.

And the issue. of..
My pesky work schedule interfering with my shooting and hunting activities....
Andy

Then mix all that in with all the "honey do's" constantly thrown at you from the wife......



As mentioned about the billboard sized "safety warnings".... at least Ruger has (for some time) moved all that crap from the left side of the barrel to the bottom edge of the barrel lug of the GP & SP revolvers where it's not an eyesore.

 

[P7M13]

Operator error.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Glock, H&K, Sig, CZ, Smith and more...What are the issues you've experienced with your firearms? What were the most surprising issues?

Only issues I've had is when I was very young I bought crap guns. Since then I only buy quality guns with no whiff of unreliability. Quality does not mean expensive. Have many a $300 and even a $200 gun (new prices) that are quality and never a malfunction. Quality is quality irregardless of price. Likewise unreliable crap is crap irregardless of price.

 

[orygun]

S&W 329PD that has light firing pin strikes. It's like a gamble when you pull the trigger. Will it shoot, or not? I sent it back to S&W and it came back repaired, so they said. No difference from my perspective.
S&W 500 that was out of time. At least this one was fixed when it came back.
Ruger Blackhawk that was also out of time. Fixed by them, even though I bought it used.
Para-Ordnance P12-45 that the FPS failed and the gun wouldn't fire consistently. They fixed it. (also the reason for my distrust of the "Series 80" style firing pin safety)

Seems to me that Quality Control was better in the olden days...

 

[JeremyK]

My current firearm issue: I can't ever have enough…

 

[NeoBlackdog]

My wife's Glock 23 (Gen 3) would not run right with factory ammo and a TLR-1 light attached. It would run great with some powder puff reloads I had for range use, but wouldn't strip rounds when using factory ammo. Turns out that adding the light stiffens the frame enough to cause the slide to run too fast and it would fail to strip the next round. Adding +10% Wolff springs in the magazines fixed the issue.

 

[Stomper]

My current firearm issue: I can't ever have enough…

Q: How many do you need?


A: At least one more.

My wife's Glock 23 (Gen 3) would not run right with factory ammo and a TLR-1 light attached. It would run great with some powder puff reloads I had for range use, but wouldn't strip rounds when using factory ammo. Turns out that adding the light stiffens the frame enough to cause the slide to run too fast and it would fail to strip the next round. Adding +10% Wolff springs in the magazines fixed the issue.

Ahhh.... you now have obtained Austrian perfection!

 

[Koda]

For the first time in my life I think I have a gun thats picky about ammo. A custom built Glock 40 clone. Feeds everything except Magtec 180gn fmj. I dont know why.
Otherwise Ive never had any general firearm issues, everything ive owned has done its job fine.

 

[arakboss]

I have found that many of my firearms were too cheap and attractive to resist. I wish firearms were more repulsive and very expensive. I'll deal with the burden though.

 

[red442joe]

Desire, availability, cost...
I want it, found it, now gotta buy it...

Joe

 

[Bobbygun]

Not too many over the years.

Most recently, a few years back I traded into a S&W Victory .22 pistol, and it jammed a lot. I found a Youtube video that easily addressed the problem with a pair of needle nose pliers. Runs like a champ now.

A few years before that, my wife won a Charter Arms Pink Lady .38 Special at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet. She went through about a box of shells before the firing pin broke. I think I spend $65 sending it back to Charter Arms, and it has worked okay since, but I'm leery of that brand now.

I did have some unresolved issues with sticky cases in both a Ruger Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger and a Taurus Circuit Judge in .45 LC. The cases didn't stick that bad in the Redhawk, but enough that I didn't want to apply too much pressure on the extractor. The Judge was a PITA to deal with. I find myself not shooting it very much. The Redhawk I didn't shoot that much because of the recoil. Traded it for a S&W 629.

Long ago I bought a Remington Viper .22 rifle. Probably the most accurate .22 I've ever owned. However, it was a finicky beach. If I used anything but CCI Mini Mags, it would jam. Somewhere along the line I gave it to a nephew.

That's all I can remember at the moment, but I'm old so there were probably more.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

Q: How many do you need?


A: At least one more.







Ahhh.... you now have obtained Austrian perfection!

It worked flawlessly without the light, and the gun was built in Smyrna, GA!

 

[WillametteWill]

I haven't found one that is self-cleaning yet.

(Although I don't mind cleaning guns, just need more time.)

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I haven't found one that is self-cleaning yet.

(Although I don't mind cleaning guns, just need more time.)

While at the 1838 Rendezvous...which is in Riverton Wyoming...where the actual rendezvous of 1838 took place....
I cleaned my rifle.
Well...so what...?

There are lots of shooting matches at that rendezvous....I placed fairly high in the ones I shot in...
Afterwards...I was asked...many questions about my rifle...my loading and shooting methods...along with my cleaning method.

Water...was my reply to what did I use to clean my rifle.
Which was met with some disbelief...to which I then....took my barrel off my rifle....removed the nipple...and....
Waded into the Green River and dunked my barrel into it.....the looks I got were priceless.....
Andy

 

[GrayGoose]

All of mine keep running out of bullets, unlike in the movies.

 

[edzz]

While at the 1838 Rendezvous...which is in Riverton Wyoming...where the actual rendezvous of 1838 took place....
I cleaned my rifle.
Well...so what...?

There are lots of shooting matches at that rendezvous....I placed fairly high in the ones I shot in...
Afterwards...I was asked...many questions about my rifle...my loading and shooting methods...along with my cleaning method.

Water...was my reply to what did I use to clean my rifle.
Which was met with some disbelief...to which I then....took my barrel off my rifle....removed the nipple...and....
Waded into the Green River and dunked my barrel into it.....the looks I got were priceless.....
Andy

May not have attracted as much attention if you hadn't removed your buckskins before entering the river.

 

[tdemore1743x]

Just like @NeoBlackdog said, my G19 was having issues with a TLR-1 mounted. Failure to feed, failure to extract.
Had some light primer strikes as well but I think it's the ammo I was using (PMC bronze 124gn)

 

[Andy54Hawken]

May not have attracted as much attention if you hadn't removed your buckskins before entering the river.

For the record. in regards to "shrinkage".......the water was Cold...
Andy