What make and model gun have you owned that were NOT reliable (second part to my post from the other day😊).

[Capn Jack]

AR Industries AR7. Seems mine bucks the trend, but 2MOA is the best you can expect, and 4MOA is more realistic.

Minute of Beer Can at 50 feet with the early AR7 was more like it.

The best time I ever had with mine was when I told a Female Canadian Customs Agent I had a .22 Semi-Automatic Rifle onboard.
She thought she had caught a terrorist and demanded to see it. The disappointed look on her face when I brought it out, and her asking, "Is that all there is to it?" were priceless.

 

[JRuby]

s&w / walther PPKs in 380, I have had two and though they are beautiful pistols they do not feed worth a darn. I have had much better reliability from Bersa Thunders for less than half the cost.

 

[P7M13]

Minute of Beer Can at 50 feet with the early AR7 was more like it.

The best time I ever had with mine was when I told a Female Canadian Customs Agent I had a .22 Semi-Automatic Rifle onboard.
She thought she had caught a terrorist and demanded to see it. The disappointed look on her face when I brought it out, and her asking, "Is that all there is to it?" were priceless.

Hitting beer cans at 50' is no problem.
What I had hoped for was something I could take camping and hit critters at 100 yards in one shot.
Packability, and reliability - awesome. Accuracy, so-so.
The Henry is a no-go because of all its plastic. I want a 22 to feel like more than an air rifle.

 

[P7M13]

s&w / walther PPKs in 380, I have had two and though they are beautiful pistols they do not feed worth a darn. I have had much better reliability from Bersa Thunders for less than half the cost.

Never had a Thunder, but my PPK/S has always been flawless. 1974 Interarms stamped pistol.

 

[E4mafia]

(Full Size) Sig P250 45 acp.

Looked and felt pretty good in hand, but also had a DAO trigger-pull a mile long.

Off topic:

I seriously wish the 250 would've been DA/SA no clue why SIG didn't do this....

 

[moose]

I've heard that story so many times with Taurus; some issue with one of their guns, it gets sent to them, and they can't/don't/won't fix it (sometimes repeat/rinse a number of times), and finally they offer a replacement, but it is rarely the same model as they stopped making it (usually due to too many problems with the model so they moved on with yet another model). They seem innovative, and try to make it out that they are innovative, but really they are just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it will stick, plus their QA/QC sucks.

When it came time for me to go with a lightweight .44 mag I considered their titanium revolver, but right out of the gate it had two strikes against it; my experience with their titanium .357 mag, and the fact that their cylinder was not long enough to handle really heavy hardcast bear loads - like the 300 grain SWC hardcast loads. So I paid twice as much for a S&W 329PD in order to have something with a semblance of reliability and that would handle the loads I wanted to use.

I had one of their SS 6" M44 revolvers that a friend traded to me for a Glock, and I liked it; it was one of those Taurus unicorns that had an excellent trigger and there was nothing wrong with it. I don't know if all of the Taurus M44s are that good, but I doubt it. OTOH - maybe that product line has some good people on it.

I have 3 Taurus's, a PT-92FS, M-62, and an M-63, and all do well. I don't know if I just got lucky though. The M-62 is one of my favorite guns and very well liked by anyone else that shoots it. They are all clones of guns made by other companies so there was less to screw up, I guess.

Sig Mosquito- probably the worst .22 ever made by a reputable manufacturer.

Mosquito is another fav of mine. I suppose I'll start seeing hate on my MKII next

Hitting beer cans at 50' is no problem.
What I had hoped for was something I could take camping and hit critters at 100 yards in one shot.
Packability, and reliability - awesome. Accuracy, so-so.
The Henry is a no-go because of all its plastic. I want a 22 to feel like more than an air rifle.

If I shoot a magazine, big IF too, thru my AR-7, the barrel liner starts creeping out the end of the crown, it's so freaking cheap.

 

[slyfox]

yeah, mine did the same. try replacing the slide stop. took it to the shop and found that the slide stop was the problem. replaced it and it working fine now.

I suspect it's that too, but I haven't shot it in while now and at time finding a replacement was impossible colt was going bankrupt and shut down the emails, calls etc. they told you to to go brown ells who had non in stock. also I dont feel I should have had to pay to fix my brand new $900 gun.

 

[slyfox]

The vast majority of 1911 problems are tracked down to the mag , try using Wilson combat mags

Ive used bunch of different mags it happens with all of them. I think the slide catch is too short and getting bypassed causing the mag to then get kinda stuck. but it works fine otherwise and I dont carry it, so I just put up with it.

 

[oa98pistol512]

AMT automag in 22mag

 

[Ruger Rich]

I've heard many such stories about Taurus service. You buy a gun that doesn't work. When you send it to them for a repair under warranty, after months of waiting they don't fix the gun. Nor do they send you a new gun of the same model. Instead they send you some other gun in that caliber, sometimes a much less expensive gun. Its not obvious why they take so long since they don't repair the gun. Maybe they don't have any gunsmiths at all and never repair any guns, and make you wait so long so you'll just give up and accept any gun they give you as a substitute. After all, they are in Brazil, so its not like you have much recourse.

Apparently some of their individual guns work, but the odds aren't great. Hence the much-repeated "Friends don't let friends buy a Taurus." Some people apparently get a good one. Including at least some people who also own SWs, rugers, or Colt so do have some idea of what quality guns are like.

I've heard many such stories about Taurus service. You buy a gun that doesn't work. When you send it to them for a repair under warranty, after months of waiting they don't fix the gun. Nor do they send you a new gun of the same model. Instead they send you some other gun in that caliber, sometimes a much less expensive gun. Its not obvious why they take so long since they don't repair the gun. Maybe they don't have any gunsmiths at all and never repair any guns, and make you wait so long so you'll just give up and accept any gun they give you as a substitute. After all, they are in Brazil, so its not like you have much recourse.

Apparently some of their individual guns work, but the odds aren't great. Hence the much-repeated "Friends don't let friends buy a Taurus." Some people apparently get a good one. Including at least some people who also own SWs, rugers, or Colt so do have some idea of what quality guns are like.

You hit the nail on the head. Your thoughts were exactly the same as I had when I finally received the replacement.
Additionally I had to pay and go through the background check BS as well for the replacement gun.

 

[gmerkt]

It seems to me like we've had a similar thread like this before. But I'm okay with that because some of these stories are so entertaining.

I've owned hundreds of guns over the years, a great many of them used articles. I think your chances of getting a bad one are greatly amplified with used guns. Yet just the odds involved with so many guns have it that there will be some bad ones.

Worst ones come to mind quickly and easily. At the top of the list, S.A.M., which stands for Shooters Arms Manufacturing, a 1911 "Clone" in .38 Super, easily the worst and most poorly made (in the Philippines) firearm I've ever had. Which I bought new. I have placed the word clone in parentheses, because it implies an exact copy of the original. It wasn't. It was bought on price point that included lots of hidden defects.

Another 1911 "Clone" was a Auto Ordinance in .38 Super. It was a bad one, with lots of problems of funcionality. Which I finally traced down to it having a slide that was machined wrong. What is the learning curve on making a 1911 slide??

There was the Hungarian 35M rifle that had the extractor break. Which turns out was the weak link on this design, even in 1968 this part was almost non-obtanium.

I've owned lots and lots of German Mauser (1910, HSc) and Walther (PP, PPk) "pocket pistols" over the years, and they are not all perfect. A 1910 in .25 ACP, I traded it to a friend and on his second or third shot, something in the frame broke and it immediately became a parts gun. Many years later, I was shooting a Walther PP and the frame broke, looked like a defect in metallurgy. I'll say this, there aren't many guns that you can realize quite a bit of money for parts but the PP was one of them.

Let's see, I had a Colt 1911 Series 70 that had the exterior of the slide made wrong, it was a visual thing that was hard to see but I missed it when I bought the gun.

There was also the Colt 1911 Series 70 in .38 Super that wouldn't shoot right, but that was because it was made with the old style chamber which was later acknowledged to be designed wrong. And corrected in later production. After I put a Bar-Sto barrel in it, things were looking up but not without incurring more expense.

Then there was the Smith & Wesson .22 Kit Gun that had a semi-hidden defect in the action, I think that was the result of home gunsmithing.

Another Smith & Wesson story, when I was about 22 years old, I found a Parkerized Smith & Wesson Chief's Special at a gun show. I thought, "Hey, this is probably a rare gun." It wasn't. It wasn't a factory finish, and worse, someone had carefully ground down the butt and grips to remove the original serial number and then renumbered it. It was pretty slick work -- and illegal.

There was the time, not too many years ago, when a former co-worker and pal of mine needed money. He asked me if there were any of his guns (he had about 150 of them) that I fancied. So I mentioned some models he had that I wouldn't mind owning. He rounded them up and we worked out a deal. This guy bought guns for decades and I thought was fairly knowledgeable. So I didn't look at these guns as closely as I should've. I don't think he intended to shaft me, I think he didn't know as much as I (or he) thought he did. He had two or three Smith & Wesson .38/200's, he picked one out for this deal. I later discovered that both the barrel and the cylinder had been replaced, and it spit lead badly when fired. The Smith & Wesson Model 639 that I got from him had a cracked grip that you couldn't readily see. The WW2 USGI 1911A1 that I got from him, the Park on the finish didn't match up all that well, the fit of the frame to slide at the back could've been better. This may or may not have been as-made, not conclusive. The rest of the guns I got from him were okay. I did okay when I disposed of them as he had heavily discounted most of them. One I have since sold back to him.

I've got more stories like this, these are just the ones that come easily to mind.

 

[Unicykle]

It seems to me like we've had a similar thread like this before. But I'm okay with that because some of these stories are so entertaining.

I've owned hundreds of guns over the years, a great many of them used articles. I think your chances of getting a bad one are greatly amplified with used guns. Yet just the odds involved with so many guns have it that there will be some bad ones.

Worst ones come to mind quickly and easily. At the top of the list, S.A.M., which stands for Shooters Arms Manufacturing, a 1911 "Clone" in .38 Super, easily the worst and most poorly made (in the Philippines) firearm I've ever had. Which I bought new. I have placed the word clone in parentheses, because it implies an exact copy of the original. It wasn't. It was bought on price point that included lots of hidden defects.

Another 1911 "Clone" was a Auto Ordinance in .38 Super. It was a bad one, with lots of problems of funcionality. Which I finally traced down to it having a slide that was machined wrong. What is the learning curve on making a 1911 slide??

There was the Hungarian 35M rifle that had the extractor break. Which turns out was the weak link on this design, even in 1968 this part was almost non-obtanium.

I've owned lots and lots of German Mauser (1910, HSc) and Walther (PP, PPk) "pocket pistols" over the years, and they are not all perfect. A 1910 in .25 ACP, I traded it to a friend and on his second or third shot, something in the frame broke and it immediately became a parts gun. Many years later, I was shooting a Walther PP and the frame broke, looked like a defect in metallurgy. I'll say this, there aren't many guns that you can realize quite a bit of money for parts but the PP was one of them.

Let's see, I had a Colt 1911 Series 70 that had the exterior of the slide made wrong, it was a visual thing that was hard to see but I missed it when I bought the gun.

There was also the Colt 1911 Series 70 in .38 Super that wouldn't shoot right, but that was because it was made with the old style chamber which was later acknowledged to be designed wrong. And corrected in later production. After I put a Bar-Sto barrel in it, things were looking up but not without incurring more expense.

Then there was the Smith & Wesson .22 Kit Gun that had a semi-hidden defect in the action, I think that was the result of home gunsmithing.

Another Smith & Wesson story, when I was about 22 years old, I found a Parkerized Smith & Wesson Chief's Special at a gun show. I thought, "Hey, this is probably a rare gun." It wasn't. It wasn't a factory finish, and worse, someone had carefully ground down the butt and grips to remove the original serial number and then renumbered it. It was pretty slick work -- and illegal.

There was the time, not too many years ago, when a former co-worker and pal of mine needed money. He asked me if there were any of his guns (he had about 150 of them) that I fancied. So I mentioned some models he had that I wouldn't mind owning. He rounded them up and we worked out a deal. This guy bought guns for decades and I thought was fairly knowledgeable. So I didn't look at these guns as closely as I should've. I don't think he intended to shaft me, I think he didn't know as much as I (or he) thought he did. He had two or three Smith & Wesson .38/200's, he picked one out for this deal. I later discovered that both the barrel and the cylinder had been replaced, and it spit lead badly when fired. The Smith & Wesson Model 639 that I got from him had a cracked grip that you couldn't readily see. The WW2 USGI 1911A1 that I got from him, the Park on the finish didn't match up all that well, the fit of the frame to slide at the back could've been better. This may or may not have been as-made, not conclusive. The rest of the guns I got from him were okay. I did okay when I disposed of them as he had heavily discounted most of them. One I have since sold back to him.

I've got more stories like this, these are just the ones that come easily to mind.

Funny you've got two colt 70 series 1911s on there. One of my good buddies of the past, dad gave him a colt 70 series lightweight 1911 compact which was a super sweet piece but the most inaccurate gun I have ever shot which is weird because 1911s are usually known for their accuracy but this thing was like a shotgun firing pellets one at a time

 

[Kruel J]

Taurus Tracker in .22WMR. Had issues with lockup/timing and ended up jamming at one point.

Gen 1 RPR in .308, it couldn't reliably hit a dinner plate at 100.

Kahr CW380. Hit or miss if would stovepipe.

 

[gmerkt]

Funny you've got two colt 70 series 1911s on there. One of my good buddies of the past, dad gave him a colt 70 series lightweight 1911 compact which was a super sweet piece but the most inaccurate gun I have ever shot which is weird because 1911s are usually known for their accuracy but this thing was like a shotgun firing pellets one at a time

Yes, I've kinda had one of those too. It wasn't a Series 70, it was made in 1965 ("Watts Riot Special"). But it was a Lightweight Commander in .45 ACP. My experience was the same, I called it my Anti-Aircraft Gun because I couldn't control the muzzle flip well. I didn't keep it long.

Many years later, I had a Series 80 Colt Combat Commander (steel frame) in .38 Super, no complaints about that one. Oh, I forgot, I had a Series 80 Combat Commander in stainless steel, .45 ACP. I only fired that one enough to see if it was functional but I don't remember having any problems with it either. That was another gun that came in the batch from my former co-worker.

My first experience of pistols with aluminum frames was with pre-1945 Walther PP's and PPk's, of which I've had a few. Those were without exception .32 ACP. Of course .32 ACP is a pop-gun, no problems with lightweight Dural frames in the way of shooting. I've often wondered how / why the Germans considered .32 ACP an adequate arm for military issue, but they did. Pictures of the era show officers wearing .32's in holsters yet hundreds of thousands of .32's were acquired by the German military, so maybe there was some issue of necessity. Quite a few went to the police.

Anyway, later I got the occasional handgun with aluminum frame that discharged a heftier cartridge. Like a few Smith & Wesson Airweight revolvers. Those I never liked to shoot compared to the steel framed versions. S&W automatics, I've had several each Model 39's and 59's, those were no problem but I later found out I preferred the 639 and 659 (with stainless steel frames) for shooting. The only disadvantage to me about the stainless steel frames on S&W autos were the sharp edges.

Worst aluminum framed gun I ever owned, it was Hungarian. Supposedly a Walther PP knock-off, but not really. I think it was called a PA-63, they were in 9mm Makarov and came into the country in a batch of imports, they were not expensive. Which was a major selling point, huh? Horrible little gun, way too much recoil for me to enjoy shooting it; it had to go away quickly. It would've been more civilized in .380.

 

[DunRanull]

Galesi Vest Pocket .25... have two "thrown in" on trades. Dunno if it's the mags or the pistols themselves. God forfend I should ever need to use either one in a "pinch". The kind of pistols that are greeted with hoots and loud guffaws when produced in a stand off.. Then again my Baby Browning .25 has never been anything but reliable, being designed of course by the Master, St John of Ogden... ALL my Brownings have been exemplary, even the beat-up ww2 Inglis imported from red China.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Tnw asr

 

[ilikegunspdx]

How many times has this exact question been asked?

Here's a few times I found, last one was in July 2022 so maybe it takes about 6 months to forget about the last one (guessing)? Most of the list below was compiled for the July 2022 thread. If you ever want to learn what guns to avoid, read these threads!

What is the dumbest gun you've ever bought?

Like the title says, what is the "dumbest" gun you've bought? Not "worst" - I'm not talking about mechanical failures or crap customer service or anything like that. I mean DUMB. Like the "why the hell would you own one of those?" kinda dumb. I will extend this to really dumb accessories as well.

www.northwestfirearms.com

Your worst purchase (firearm) ever

My worst purchase so far was a s&w Governor. Dont get me wrong it was really well built but it was huge and only accurate with 45acp. I still am not sure why i bought it as its to big for carry and lacks real power for hunting. I guess it would be a decent home defense gun but i have better...

www.northwestfirearms.com

Just for fun: worst gun you ever owned?

If I remember right it was a FIE aluminum frame 38 special revolver.couldnt hit the western hemisphere with it, out of time, terrible trigger, you name it. I put it on a metal band saw and cut it up in 1/2 long pieces and tossed it in scrap.

www.northwestfirearms.com

What's your "Damn, I wish I hadn't bought that" gun?

He hates 22LR.... he’s weird, he also hates his food touching on the plate. OK, then that explains it. I just bought a second 10/22 this week, and given its popularity, I was surprised by this answer. That’s not the first time I’ve heard about someone not wanting different food portions...

www.northwestfirearms.com

Least favorite gun

Makes mental note about tracers and flour..... ..powdered milk, too.

www.northwestfirearms.com

What's the worst money you have ever spent firearms related?

Wait I got another one... Cheap holosight and .45acp ammo....both from the same gun show. the sight fell apart adjusting it, and the ammo was junk reloads that you literally could not hit a target 25ft away with, out of a Ruger SR1911. lucky the ammo made it out of the end of the barrel. seems...

www.northwestfirearms.com

Guns you're embarrassed to own

This thread could be called "fat chicks and mopeds" and everyone would still know what you're talking about.

www.northwestfirearms.com

What brand comes to mind when you think of a firearm with quality issues?

Kimbers and other Custom 1911s I don’t get... ...spend thousands of dollars on a new custom 1911, and they tell you it has a brake in of 500rds. So you have to spend another $200 on ammo, and more money on trips to the range, all the while fighting the FTF/FTEs. Best case... break in goes great...

www.northwestfirearms.com

Most unpleasant firearm you ever shot?

Eventually most encounter one; vicious recoil, poor ergonomics, badly thought out design, something gonzo for the sake of being so, etc. that results in a truly unpleasant shooting firearm. Which was yours and why?

www.northwestfirearms.com

What guns would make the blooper reel of firearms history?

History is replete with examples; wrong offering at the wrong time, manufacturer misjudged the buying public, good idea but poorly executed, in a weird caliber that never caught on, terrible idea that no one can really explain, cool feature(s) but not enough to justify the...

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[drstrangelove]

Never had a Thunder, but my PPK/S has always been flawless. 1974 Interarms stamped pistol.

PPK is flawless as long as you load the bullets to an OAL short enough to not bind up in the magazine. That's comfortably around 0.936".

 

[JRuby]

PPK is flawless as long as you load the bullets to an OAL short enough to not bind up in the magazine. That's comfortably around 0.936".
[


I tried several different brands of ammo - I am certain that some are outstanding my two were not.

 

[drstrangelove]

I tried several different brands of ammo - I am certain that some are outstanding my two were not…

My observation is that older German/Interarms guns were designed around shorter ammo. Current ammo is loaded longer. If the bullets bind in the magazine stack, they won't be able to maintain proper feed pressure. Trying truncated cone ammo or hollowpoints may help considerably as they are shorter on OAL.