The absolute WORST pistol I ever came across!

walnutred said:
My worst pistol should not have been a bad pistol. It was a Norinco 213 with both 9mm and 7.62 barrels. This was a proven design and China can make reliable firearms. The problem was the safety, not part of the original design, was so loose it would move randomly while firing.
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I know what you mean.... the original Tokarev design only had a simple half cock safety. To be imported these guns had to have a manual safety installed, these Chinese ones were hastily thought up and were total junk. Really messed up a simple, reliable design. Later imports from Russia, Poland and Romania had similar cocked up safeties installed. I removed the add on safety from a couple guns, plugged the holes and just went with the original half cock when I carried one around the farm.


As to picking my own worst gun that's a hard one to narrow down. I've bought a few that were not very accurate no matter what I tried, a couple semi-autos that didn't feed reliably but were fixed by a new magazine. Did have a Taurus and a Llama (both in 9mm) that shot incredibly low (fixed sights) and would only shoot to the sights with 147gr ammo. Filing down the front sights on either was out, would have filed down to the slide to get them on target.
 
CZ-52. Oh, it fired every time you pulled the trigger. It also fired when you engaged the decocker. :eek:
 
Hawes Western Marshall .357 made by J.P. Sauer & Sohn. It would shoot .38 Spcl all day but put a .357 in it and it would jam. You had to take the cylinder out, cock and release the hammer to get it to fire again. Total piece of junk. The store gave me my money back and I bought a Ruger Blackhawk .357/9mm convertible.
 
WORST THING EVER INVENTED Chauchat (Sho Sho) Label Round, Never worked right...sold to a Class 3 gooo-roo who said he could get it working.... this was 1988... 2009 he was still trying to get it to work.
 
Ingramite said:
I bought a AMT Backup in .380.
What it really was is a single shot cleverly disguised as a semiautomatic. I never fired 3 rounds without experiencing 2 jams.
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I had exactly the same experience with an AMT .380 Backup. I got rid of it toot sweet. It was a real piece of ****. Next to the Nambu 94, it gets my second place winner vote.

John

 
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Definitely the Amt backup, heavy trigger pull, ftf, fte. Then there was the makarov in 380acp. It had to have had 20lb double action trigger pull and the safety required you to use both hands. I traded it to a gun shop for my 696. It was stolen from the gun shop in a dynamic break in. When it was recovered by the police. The poor detective just could not understand why I didn’t want my gun back.
 
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I have owned almost every handgun talked about mostly several examples. The AMT Backup stands out to me. I had two and never found them to be reliable enough to carry, BUT the manager of a local armored car company carried one for years. I ask if they needed to qualify? 4 times a year! SO, I knew he was a good shot and we were plinking one day, I tried his AMT. It was magnificent! The stainless was polished to a mirror finish, some areas were jeweled. The serial number was a hand stamped 3! (I believe the commercial offering start at 101 or 1001.)

My personal worst handgun was a Beretta 76', Target 22 Semi auto with exposed hammer. Every shot pealed lead from the bullet and threw it in my face. Went to the mother ship in Virginia twice, always had the same problem! My opinion was the chamber and extractor notch overlapped. It probably needed a new barrel, but they would "coin" and polish only! NOT THEIR FINEST HOUR!!!

Ivan

In all fairness, A part time cop/gun salesman who knew everything, would not allow me to fill out the repair tag so Mothership probably never heard what the issue was!
 
hkcavalier said:
CZ-52. Oh, it fired every time you pulled the trigger. It also fired when you engaged the decocker. :eek:
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I had one that did the same thing. Shot went down through the carpet, ricochet off the slab and out through a wall in an old wood framed house I used to have.
My friend was in my yard and said he heard the round whizzing off in the distance.
Quickly got rid of that ****.
 
Winner: Webley MkIV

WAR FINISH emblazoned on the side. Unused gun as far as I could tell, looked pristine.

The gun was constructed of such poor materials that the cylinder stop just sheered off when checking the lockup. After that was repaired it shot for a hundred or so rounds before going out of time and started shaving lead.

A friend of mine was shooting it when it started to do this, I was down the firing line. I felt something sting my lip, blood everywhere. Shaved lead had entered my lower lip, about dead center, and traveled about 4 teeth over, and embedded itself in my face, below my lip.

Always wear your eye protection!


Runner Up: H&R 929

The gun was unused when I bought it, looked like it had maybe been fired once and then put away.

This was because it was so bad the DA pull was impossible. I could barely squeeze hard enough to get it to fire, only 2 other guys I handed it to could shoot it DA at all, the rest didn't have the hand strength. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with it, it was brand new. The internet told me that the main spring could be modified to fix that issue, I did that and it only helped ever so slightly.

So the gun was effectively Single Action Only. So what's the point? I sold it, bought a 3 screw single six, haven't regretted it for a single second.
 
Mentions of the AMT Backups brought back some memories for me.....
I was in my teens working at a large LGS in the 1970's when they came on the market.
It was something new and different and started selling quite a few.

And then - a whole bunch started coming back, with about every problem you could list, especially misfires from light primer strikes.
Usually didn't matter what ammo was used - that was a seemingly constant problem.
Recall doing a disassembly of the slide and examining the striker spring with my much-experienced manager.
I remember being quite surprised that there didn't seem to be much difference between that AMT striker-mainspring and a spring you'd find in a Bic pen. Not kidding.

I knew some guys that sourced a similar-enough better spring and cured the problem, but can't say I was ever impressed with them after that.
 
I came across a Remington 11 at a pawn shop for $150 OTD It looked OK from the outside. The barrel looked a little short but it was just over 18". There was no bead. I wasn't allowed to take it apart but I bought it anyway.

When I got it home and took it apart I found the barrel ring was brazed on - slightly crooked, there were no rings, and the best of all the, penny was crimped in the magazine tube to keep the spring in(!).

I sold it on another board for what I had in it. I took plenty of pictures to show the issues. I've seen it re-sold, on the same forum at least 3 times in the same condition I got it! Of course the sellers are asking more money and taking less pictures!
 
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I also nominate the AMT Backup. Bought one of the first DAO versions of the .380 that I had seen. Trigger pull had to be 20 lb. Would not get through a mag without a malfunction of some kind. Traded it and some money for a nifty Coonan .357 automatic.
 
Taurus model 94, .22 calibre. Got it in a pawn shop in "as is" condition for $50. Replaced the transfer bar safety and got it to shoot, but had absolutely the worst trigger pull I've ever felt. Gritty, and about 20 pounds, give or take. Single action was around 10-12. Best group I ever got out of the thing was a little under nine inches at 10 yards. Kept it for about three months and was offered $275 trade on a $350 Model 27-2 six inch that looked unfired. Took me all of about 1.2 seconds to agree to that trade.
 
desi2358 said:
Did have a Taurus and a Llama (both in 9mm) that shot incredibly low (fixed sights) and would only shoot to the sights with 147gr ammo. Filing down the front sights on either was out, would have filed down to the slide to get them on target.
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I have a Star Ultrastar like that. I suspect the hole for the disassembly pin is too high in the frame, forcing the rear of the barrel up. It's either that or the slide is out of spec. I tried another barrel and it shot exactly like the old one. The gun feeds, fires and ejects 100%, so just aim a little higher.:p


I have a FEG Hi Power copy that I got cheap over the Web. Pictures did not reveal that the thing was very loose. It doesn't have a slide/frame fit as such. As you pull the trigger you can see the right side of the slide rise up until the slide and the frame engage. Hysterical. It doesn't shoot that bad though.
 
The Davis 22 derringer is worse than the Jennings 22 semi-auto. I can actually hit our 50 yard gong with the Jennings. Can't even see where the bullet goes from the Davis.
 
I had a .380 AMT Backup single action. Worked fine and was fairly accurate. Mainspring would take a set if left cocked and locked. It went away.

Also had an AMT Hardballer. Worst 1911-style gun I ever owned. Factory made unfortunate choices on metals. I concluded that the only fix for the slide-frame galling was Accu-Rails or perhaps hardchroming the pistol. Did not invest the $$ even though I'd replaced the cruddy factory rear sight with S&W K's. With all its other problems I gladly sent it on its way. Likely gathering lint bunnies in the back of the gunsafe its 10th owner.
 
I bought a Kahr PM9 as they came highly regarded by a few people I trust,and one became available. The very first time I shot it the recoil spring came out the front of the gun! I was told a fluke...disassembled the gun..replaced the spring. Within a few more rounds same thing. I sent the gun back to Kahr. They fixed it. The gun made it through about 2 magazines and then started to fail to feed. Different magazine..same issue. Then...the spring popped out the front again. I no longer have it and I won't consider another. Yes...I know,someone has one that runs perfectly etc etc...but mine didn't.

Too many other brands that have never let me down..
 
LoboGunLeather said:
Not unusual for many manufacturers; some of us remember the years S&W was under Bangor Punta ownership and sent out some real clunkers!

My point is that anything manufactured in mass quantities will always result in a few quality control issues. I've owned a couple of cars that qualitied as lemons, too.
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I think I had one of those guns. I bought a Model 624 .44 Special brand new back in the 1980s when they first came out. I wondered why the cylinder seemed to drag sometimes on double action. I suspected that from time to time the cylinder was rubbing on the forcing cone.

Luckily there is a happy ending. I sent the gun back to S&W under warranty. They worked their magic to remedy the cylinder dragging problem, and I am certain they must have gone over the whole gun because it has functioned fine ever since. I still have it and I won't get rid of it until they pull it from my cold, dead fingers.
 
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