The absolute WORST pistol I ever came across!

[pawncop]

My story involves a Whitney Wolverine. I located one and purchased it for $300.00. It too was basically a single shot disguised as a self loading pistol.

It looked so cool, and the history of the gun was incredible, but I was never able to shoot a magazine without some type of jam, failure to eject and/or feed.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

This is all very funny to me! My worst gun ever was a kel-Tec 9mm that I sent back to the factory. Supposedly they fixed it. Jammamatic. So I took it to the range. Still jammed. I could not unjam it and long story made shirt it's history a long time ago.

 

[Muley Gil]

When I was 16, I found a new Ruger Bearcat at Monkey Wards. Price was $40. I didn't have that much. When I did get the money, the Bearcat was gone. One of my mom or dad's friend, can't remember after all of these years, offered to sell a new .22 single action "just like the Ruger." Well, it wasn't. It was a Kimel that looked a bit like a Ruger Single Six. It was one that if you were in a barn and fired it, the bullet probably wouldn't hit the wall it was pointed at. I looked at the rifling and it was so light, I was afraid to clean the barrel, in case the rifling just disappeared. All pot metal and later the frame cracked, above the cylinder. Should have kept it and waited for a gun buy-back.

 

[S-W4EVER]

I made the mistake of buying a new Winchester 94AE .45 Colt with crossbolt safety back in the ‘90’s. After firing a few rounds the crossbolt fell out. The LGS sent it back to the factory twice to correct this problem. Less than a box of ammo through it and 25 years later it’s still in the back of my gun safe.

 

[BC38]

I'm the guy that you might've heard of.
I traded my S&W model 65-3 with a three inch barrel for a Kimber Solo at a gun show.

I knew nothing of their somewhat problematic reputation. The idea of a 9mm pocket gun might have played on my hurt feelings over the AMT Backup from years earlier.
I loved the way it felt in my hand and after all, it was a Kimber....right?

My first clue came when I stopped off at the range on my way home. I really didn't want to admit what I had done. So I fired up the Kimber Forum when I got home.
OMG. The more I read the the dumber I felt.

Imagine the look on my son's face when I pulled it out of my pocket and tied it to the trout line on our next fishing trip.

Another one where I got really lucky I guess. I got one 2nd hand and it fed and it shot 115gr RN, 124gr HP, and 147gr HP without a hiccup. Maybe yours was an earlier one and mine a later version?

 

[hkcavalier]

I liked my Kimber Solo but it's not very forgiving. If you grip isn't solid---and a few other things go just so---it won't function. I traded mine off for a Glock 26, which won't misfeed even if I completely limp wrist it. When I need a gun the size of a Solo I just carry a J frame.

 

[nutsforsmiths]

The worst pistol ever is the Clerk's 1st. The one on the bottom. It sold new in 1972 for $15! One might get 75 rounds through it before the firing pin gets deformed and will no longer function. There's a seam down the top of the frame where the two sides are.pressed together. It makes the RG 23 above seem like a well made pistol!

 

[BC38]

I liked my Kimber Solo but it's not very forgiving. If you grip isn't solid---and a few other things go just so---it won't function. I traded mine off for a Glock 26, which won't misfeed even if I completely limp wrist it. When I need a gun the size of a Solo I just carry a J frame.

Yeah, I think a weak grip or "limp" wrist are the cause of a lot of people's problems with small guns. Especially ones where you can't get more than a couple of fingers wrapped around the grip - like the Solo. A lot of people have the same issue with 380 pocket pistols.

I have never had that problem with any gun I've owned or shot. I have a very stiff wrist and a firm grip. Probably due my stiff joints - all of my joints including my wrists - and thick sausage-like fingers.

 

[BC38]

The worst pistol ever is the Clerk's 1st. The one on the bottom. It sold new in 1972 for $15! One might get 75 rounds through it before the firing pin gets deformed and will no longer function. There's a seam down the top of the frame where the two sides are.pressed together. It makes the RG 23 above seem like a well made pistol!

I always thought those Clerks looked like a toy capgun.
The fact that they are cast potmetal (not even close to the quality of Zymak) and derived from a starter pistol tells you pretty much
all you need to know about them.

 

[Drm50]

I’ve been a gun snob since big enough to set on old mans knee. He pointed out to me at an early age the characteristics that define a good gun. In my early years I dickered in single barrel shot guns, 22 rifles and military rifles. Most handguns I got were low end 22s and the usual break top H&Rs, ect. But I knew what I was getting and never had interest in shooting them. My worst gun was a SIG Mosqito 22lr. This is when they were 1st out and $400. I had to have one, and extra magazines. Those were a stain on SIG and pretty soon everyone was complaining about them. I believe price dropped about half and shops couldn’t sell them.

 

[Seven High]

I once had a Rossi 3 inch 38 spl in stainless steel. It looked good but shaved lead . The cylinder could be wiggled while locked up for single action fire. No one would attempt to repair it. The dealer that I traded it to sold it for parts.

 

[desi2358]

Interesting posts throughout this one! Some guns get a bad reputation they deserve (RG, Davis, Clerke among others), some seem to suffer from highly variable quality control (or lack of!). In the years I spent working in gun shops we had issues with some brands, got to the point where certain guns were listed as "DO NOT BUY" if someone brought one in.... if an employee wanted to take a chance on it they could go outside with the customer and make their own deal.

I bought a few that way myself, mainly as cheap trading material for gunshows. Always test fired them though, didn't want to sell something that didn't work and must have been lucky as most worked okay. If they didn't they went in the parts gun box with known broken guns I picked up for parts or possibly to repair. Still have a stash of parts and projects to keep me busy whenever I do finally retire lol.

Reading through these reminded me of a gun I forgot to mention in my earlier post. I like to play around with derringers and as others have mentioned the cheap Davis and Cobra ones are known for horrible trigger pulls. I always attributed that to hasty (built to a price) construction and have worked on a couple I owned to get the triggers down to a manageable weight. Even so they weren't much more than close up range toys, maybe useful as a last ditch, "get off me!" hideout in a pinch. While I could get them to group after some work I had one in 38 that absolutely would not stabilize a bullet out of the top barrel..... It came out of that barrel so unstable it was either tumbling in flight or would go sideways upon impact................ In retrospect, for a hideout gun, it might have worked better that way.....

 

[oink]

I had the original single action AMT Backup 380. It was reliable with hardball. I later got the newer double action version. I don't think it ever fired a magazine of anything without a jam of some type.

A little Charter Arms 22LR snubbie. It would keyhole at 3 yards with anything.

A Charter Arms 38 snubbie. After shooting one cylinder it would jam on the second. Just lock up.

Davis 32 derringer. It actually fired but it was just too scary being so obviously cheaply made out of pot metal. I don't know how accurate it was because I can't imagine anyone expecting it to hit anything beyond 5 yards.

645 - totally unreliable. I bought it as a duty gun but it never served. I traded for a 4506 when they came out thinking it would be better. Nope! They were both very early models of both versions so maybe they got better. Their Gen 2 9s always worked well for me.

There was a really cute 22 rifle that looked like a 30 carbine that was horribly unreliable. I don't remember who made it. But that wasn't a pistol.

I imagine there were more I don't recall at the moment.

 

[woodsltc]

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.

This describes almost exactly the very worst gun I've ever owned: Taurus M-94 22LR, horrible trigger pull--extremely heavy, gritty--felt like gravel was in the action. Traded it off ASAP!!

Don

 

[Kenny D]

Worst Gun Ever

I nominate my H&R 22 caliber Premier 2nd Model. Bought it on an internet auction so I had no idea how small it was. The trigger guard is so small your finger always get caught when you fire it. The trigger pull is so hard that a good shot is impossible in SA or DA. I keep it as a reminder to do better research before any purchase and especially when buying on the internet!

 

[bananaman]

OK, my worst pistol was an Auto Ordnance 1911. It would not function right FTF, FTE, you name it. Changed ammo types. I put a new extractor in it. changed recoil springs a few times. Well, it started running good! I sold it, and bought a Sig1911.
Worst revolver was a Charter Arms Pitbull .40. Cylinder starting binding when firing. Sent it back to them. It was sent back to me supposedly fixed. Was a little better. Sent it back again. They finally sent me a new 1. Was better, but not good enough. So, I decided no C.A. for me. It went BYE-BYE! Bob

 

[dthughes]

Pretty much any Jennings, Bryco, Davis etc., pot-metal masterpiece blowback .25s or Derringers from the 80s. Had a lot of them come through when I was working in gunshops BITD... absolute garbage.

Agreed. I inherited a Jennings/Phoenix from my fathers estate. Wouldn’t feed, when I navigated past that the trigger would not release the hammer, but cocking the hammer would. It’s in my junk drawer waiting for a gun buy-back program.

 

[TTSH]

Hahahaha, if we go only by this thread, AMT Backup is the worst gun ever made, hands down!

No question about it. I, too, was suckered in by all the ads in Shotgun News and the fact that the MA State Police were issued them as back-up guns for a while. I bought mine brand new from Lew Horton's Southborough MA warehouse for chump change via a "kitchen table FFL" friend of mine.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I never got to try it out before economic disaster hit me in the form of divorce and 25 years of A&CS.

Now, in the age of modern pocket plastic, I just want to get rid of it... but no one wants one... not even an unfired-in-box time machine version. Every shop in MA has at least one used one in stock that hasn't sold in 10+ years.

So I'm waiting for a good, lucrative moonbat gun buyback. It's either that or dump it on GB with a large warning: NO REFUNDS!!!

 

[Rafterman]

Another.....

Kimber....Solo. Jam -O- Matic. Different magazines, multiple types of ammo, replaced the recoil spring, doesn't matter. Bought it in 2013 second hand. Always meant to send it in to see if it could be fixed but it's still sitting in the back of the safe.

 

[Donn]

I laugh at you all.

I buy quality guns

So there.

Doesn't always work out that way. I bought a brand new S&W Bodyguard 38spl. It was a stinker right out of the box. Timing issues, wouldn't lock up. Trip back to the factory, no joy. It was worse when I got it back. Finally, the owner of the LGS said it wasn't fixable. Took a bath, but traded it in against a Model 36.