I think all of us at one time has purchased a new handgun to find out it was not what you were expecting or just didn't work and you felt it wasn't reliable, etc. For me I would never buy a Para Ordnance (before it became Para USA) and Kel-tec again.

Now for some of you folks you probably like these 2 brands, but for me I had nothing but issues. Maybe I just got a lemon or 2.

I'd be curious to hear what you would not buy again.

Cheers!
CS45Fan

Walther - could not fire an entire magazine successfully. Didn't matter which brand of ammo, shooter, or magazine.

I avoid Para, had a Canadian made wide body in .38 Super to shoot IPSC many years ago and it was fine, after some radical tuning, but my more recent experience with the Para and their off the shelf handguns have been less than desirable.
Try to avoid trading for one unless I can own it cheap and trade it off asap.

This one's real easy for me: RIA. I sent my Rock Island Armory 22TCM back to them Feb 5 because I would not function with the 9mm barrel and spring(the gun comes with 22 TCM barrel and a 9mm barrel). Emailed them yesterday asking them when it would be returned. A guy actually called me and told me it had been delivered to my ffl on 2/29. Just returned from my ffl dealer....he did not get the gun. So I have emailed the them back to tell them of the situation and will probably have to wait until Monday to see what thy have to say. I am mad because they returned the gun without emailing me, so I could have known sooner that it was missing; now, its been missing for almost a week and nobody knew until about an hour ago. I think I'm done spending my money on RIA guns.

Benelli B76.. couldn't hit a thing with it. Made for a great trade though.

Glock (or any other polymer gun). Great gun, but it's plastic. Just couldn't warm up to it. Sits in the safe waiting for a new home.

Smith & Wesson did the same thing last year. I came home and there was a tag on my fence telling me I missed a package.

I had just talked with them a few days earlier and was told my gun wasn't even in PC for the estimate.

I had to drive an hour round trip to retrieve it. Fortunately it was there to be picked up, and is was done for free.(That part was cool.)

Case knives. Had a small 2 blade pocket knife, pen blade and a larger clip point. After a few years, the larger blade wouldn't completely open or close, wasn't safe to use. Sent it in for service, got it back several weeks later with a letter saying it couldn't be fixed due to lack of parts or excess wear. No replacement, no discount coupon to buy another. Just a "You're out of luck" letter. About the same time, I sent two knives back to Swiss Army. I got two brand new knives of the same model back from Wenger, no questions asked. Much as I'd like to do business with an American company, it won't be Case.

Glock, guns should be made of steel.
AMT, had a Hardballer. It was nothing but trouble.

Kahr. I had their lightweight, polymer framed model (CW45, I think) and had three separate issues, each of which rendered the gun inoperable without disassembly. None of my other autos had any of these issues.

Colt - that prancing pony on the side costs too much, and there doesn't seem to be anything else especially impressive about their guns.

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Now go make God proud...

Taurus...I've only bought two, one OK and the other NG. In addition I've seen shooters at my club have pieces break and fall of their Taurus guns. Taurus has a lifetime warranty and people I know said it takes a lifetime to get it back once you send it for warranty work.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

Had a few problem Taurus's, but I won't beat that dead horse.

Worst was probably a stainless steel Llama sub compact 1911 in .45acp, purchased new in about 2002. Something like $279.99, on close out. Didn't really take a good look at, as I was in a rush, and figured for the price, I'd give it a try. I had owned several Llama's in the past that worked well.

Got it home, and managed to cut my hands in several spots field stripping it. Seems like all the machined metal edges were razor sharp, with no burnishing. Cleaned and oiled it. Went out on the back porch, and tried to put a half dozen assorted magazines of Rem and Win hardball thru it. Never got more than a couple shots off without some sort of malfunction - failure to feed, eject, fire, slide locking back, you name it. Literally buckshot patterns on a silhouette qualification target at about 10 yards. Thought about it, started to disassemble it, cut my hand again, and said the hell with it. Back in its box, and sold at my local club for $200 with the warning - new, but unreliable, needs work-

Larry

Are you sure it was the guns fault? Larry

In handguns, no Taurus or Rossi. You get what you pay for, the
prices on these have closed in to near the price of a 1st rate gun.
I would rather buy a good used gun. There are several guns sold
under the big brand names that are also second rate stuff. They
are actually made overseas. Buy American.

Taurus, I've had a 22 revolver (forgot model) and my wife wanted and acquired a .380 TCP. Needless to say, both are long gone.

Anything Para . . . .

I never blamed the gun. We just didn't get along.

Guns are like Baskin Robbins to me, so many flavors 'ya just got to try them all.

Kahr. Had a Poly 45 that would not run. Also, did not like the trigger pull. Just did not like the gun but that is just my opinion.
Frank.

Taurus and Weatherby

I bought a Glock 26 gen 4 on a whim with ammo. I had it for a week, holding it, dry firing it, and field stripping it everyday. Even changed the mag release to lefty. Never took it to the range. Just could not warm up to it. My LGS took it back because it was unfired and I ordered a Colt Defender 45 that same day. I could not warm up to it either and sold it for a loss here on this forum. More of a revolver guy so far, although semis keep calling me... Kinda like the Remington RM380 and the Seecamp 380. I held the RM380 last Sunday but I want to handle a Seecamp before I make up my mind. Moving slower now...(with purchases).

Stay safe, John

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Luke 23:34

Colt, bought a Gold Cup, sent it back to the factory twice and gave up, kept wanting to empty the magazine with one trigger pull.

Other than the name they have not made anything that impressed me.

I do like my Swenson and Crull conversions.

I guess its the luck of the draw when buying a gun - like any other product (car, dishwasher, etc). I saw a number of posts on the Kahr. I had a different experience with a Kahr PM9 I owned for 12+ years. Feed everything thru this little gun and probably put a 1000 rounds thru it. Never had an issue until I needed to replace the recoil spring - somewhere around 800 rounds. Sold it last year for no reason other than to use the money to buy something else.

Charter Arms. I've had 2 new ones, one just never quite felt durable enough for carry, one was a .22 that would up at the cylinder face and forcing come from heat expansion after a few cylinders of even weak .22lr... Got it fixed by Charter, still spit lead when I got it back, got it fixed again and sold it. Either might make a great practice gun for someone, just not for me, ever again.

a Walther made in Germany before WW2?

Taurus PT 111 & M&P Shield = hated triggers.

Dittos on Para. I have a Hawg 9 that is a wonderful gun to shoot, but I bought it for concealed carry. I have had TWO catastrophic failures with it, so it is useless for the intended purpose.

Erma .22 Luger. Jam-o-matic, ammo didn't matter.

Larry

Won't buy another polymer Kahr, had 3, all 3 were lemons...One was really bad.
if a MK9 comes by, might snatch that up. The metal ones seem to be free of the problems the polymer ones have.

Won't buy another Charter Arms. Had a bulldog pug. I had it apart a few times and was dismayed by the flimsy internals and design. Shot it loose(er) within 500 rounds of medium .44 special loads.

Springfield XD.
I know, the later ones were better. Didn't like anything about it. If there weren't numerous other options, I might try it again, but since that is not the case, sorry, XD.

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Fight socialism. Never stop.

Oh, and tried a couple of Taurus at the LGS. Wow, I think the trigger/hammer/sear was hacked out of pig iron and roughed up with an old file.

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Fight socialism. Never stop.

Taurus nonthing in their semis. Do your homework on their revolvers too.

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Spin The Wheel

Heritage rough rider. Rough indeed...

This topic is very subjective. Its like talking about cars that you would never buy again when in reality all of the brands have issues at one time or another.

None of the Taurus guns ive used or owned ever had issues, They've come a long way and their revolvers are honestly just as good as smith.

Not everyone is in a position to spend 800 or 900 dollars to help ensure smith maintains its 65% profit margin on its guns.

I agree about Colt, what the heck is so special about their guns that they are higher in price than smith?

For that matter I will say that smith could do well to lower some prices and see how fast their guns fly.

You guys can say what you want, but ive never had any problems with more budget friendly brands like Taurus and to a certain degree springfield. We all love smith, which is why we're on a smith forum, but still.

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Smith all the things

Why?

rd

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"That is all!"

Any Taurus semi-auto, except their copy of the Beretta 92, but then again, I would not buy the Taurus copy of the 92 either because the "real deal" M9 or 92F by Beretta is better in terms of design (the enlarged hammer pin and its corresponding groove in the slide to prevent a broken slide from taking out your teeth or eyes as one example, and there are locking block improvements, and all sorts of little things improved based upon military service) and re-sale value, among other things. I would not buy any Taurus revolver either. I have had many products over the years from Taurus, and all but one had "issues." Their lifetime service policy fine print apparently reads "send it in and we usually will do nothing and tell you it is fixed."

Although I have not had trouble with the little Kel-Tec .32, there are now better choices, so I do not believe Kel-Tec is on my "buy" list either.

Kimber is also on my "never again" list. I have never seen one that does not "snake eye," which is printing two distinct groups because the pistol locks up in two slightly different places. As long as they have been doing 1911s, you would think they could fit them by now.

Maybe it is easier to say what I will buy. I would buy some models from any of the following: Astra, Beretta, Browning, Colt, CZ, FN, Glock, HK, Manurhin, Ruger, S&W, Star, Walther. If you cannot find a pistol you like from one of those, you are too picky.

Mauser HSc, the 1970's one. Jammed a lot. Blocky in the hand and pointed low.

As for the guy who had problems with the Case knife, did you ever oil the joints? Clean it out with a pipe cleaner?

FYI, Swiss Army Brands imports Victorinox knives. The Wengers were handled by a firm called Precise, I think. But both would probably replace a bad knife or repair a favorite.
Only Victorinox is left. Wenger was bought by them, but they discontinued the line after a few years.

I've had excellent relations with both the Vic. factory and with Swiss Army Brands. Good knives, good service, good prices. But my few Case knives were also good. They just need routine maintainance, like all pocket knives.

I still have a really nice Case stockman, but seldom carry it, as I always need some tool on a Victorinox.

I guess I've been lucky and, more importantly, had a lot of good solid advice. I don't think that as an adult I've ever bought a gun, knife, fishing rod or reel that I wouldn't buy again.

Had some guns I traded away for something I thought I wanted worse at the time, but they were all okay.

We won't even talk about knives I've been given by people who don't know knives.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Remington 597 .22 LR. Just never was reliable with any ammo for an entire magazine.

On the other had, since someone brought it up, I bought a RM380 last week and am impressed, so far.

RG

Sterling (worked fine with CCI mini-mags - wouldn't feed anything else on a dare)

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I need ammo, not a ride.

Any gun made by Taurus......my experience with them has been they would lock-up or the action/triggers felt like they were full of sand.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

I got a Para 1911, but I factored in a gunsmith re-work,

with Wolff springs, and I replaced that garbage ambi safety.

I got it for @ 1/2 retail, so after the

work it cost just under full-price. Now it shoots well, but

I knew, when I bought it, they were ****, straight out of the

box. The company changed hands, hopefully for the better.

Out of curiosity what was your experience with Weatherby?

I doubt I'll get another Kel-Tec. Just not very tough guns.

I won't buy another blued Ruger. Their bluing is poor IME.

Which model or cal? I know a guy who knows a guy......

BG 380, I will stick to steel and wood wheel guns....

À sig mosquito

The worst gun I ever had was a Kel-Tec PF9. Under 200 rounds the gun totally failed. Kel-Tec replaced just about the whole gun. I sold it after getting it back. I wasn't going to trust it for a CC.

Good point. WORST trigger on any gun I ever shot.

I have their Turkish made shotgun. Shoots well but very part time when cycling a new round. Sent it into Weatherby and they said could not find a problem. And I know a few other people with this issue.

Where do I start?? Bottom line - buy cheap, get cheap and that goes double for optics. Do your homework. Since Al Gore invented the Internet, there is no excuse for buying a bad product!