The absolute WORST pistol I ever came across!

[RGPM1A]

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

Same experience with with one of the early Auto Ordnance 1911s. Couldn't get through a single magazine w/o a failure of some sort or a part failing.

Another poor excuse for a firearm was a Walther TPH I had. First time out the DA trigger action broke ( a small pawl or hook on the hammer broke off). Got that fixed and then the SA started not working (sear broke). Gave up.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Some cheap-*** .380 I took away from a female friend a year or so ago before she got hurt with it. She had a partial box of 9mm ammo someone had given her to got with it (wrong ammo, obviously). I discovered the thing was loaded, and the magazine wouldn't even come out. I managed, with great effort, to run the rounds in the mag through it to get it unloaded. Still haven't been able to get the magazine out of it. I need to take a smoke wrench to it and fix it so it can't be a danger to anyone.

 

[Old Corp]

Mentions of the Clarke and/or RG revolvers sparks more recollections....

No, I never owned one, but do recall as a young officer taking one off of a thug along with a quantity of drugs.

Don't immediately recall if it was an RG or Clarke, but it was a .22 cal. model.
Except - some ghetto 'gunsmith' had opened the chambers just enough with a drill to accept .22 WMR ammo, and the ammo therein was that with the bullets cut off with what looked like wire or side-cutters in order to allow the cylinder to turn.
Heaven only knows what would happen to it should it have fired.

And it had the near-mandatory-for-the-time electrical tape wound about the grip frame holding the cracked little plastic grips in place.

As my years on the street went by, stuff like this was replaced my Bryco, Jennings, Haskell (forerunner of Hi Point), Lorcin, Jimenez, Llama and then an occasional Taurus and real Hi Point thrown in. Rifles, especially when SKS's were cheap, were abundant.

 

[Ed Fowler]

"Drese" 32 cal auto, brought back from WWII. Even with the safety on it could go off. Was given to me by a cop friend who shot himself in the leg with it. Made me promise not to load or shoot it. Naturally the next day I tried it and it about got me. I was 14 at the time. Still sits around as a conversation piece.

 

[LVSteve]

"Drese" 32 cal auto, brought back from WWII. Even with the safety on it could go off. Was given to me by a cop friend who shot himself in the leg with it. Made me promise not to load or shoot it. Naturally the next day I tried it and it about got me. I was 14 at the time. Still sits around as a conversation piece.

The parts to fix a Dreyse may be at Numrich.

 

[medic15al]

Good morning....Happy Thanksgiving to all. Covid restrictions have our very large family doing no traditional gathering at our house this year...so just wife and I (and the turkey of course).

Anyway...cleaning out some old photos of sold guns, long gone and ran across a couple of pics of a late 1980's 45 acp that a guy wanted to get rid of before divorce took everything anyway so I bought it for $50 according to my old records.

It was a Llama (Spanish I think) which turned out to be a real piece of junk..could not get thru a single range session without stovepipes galore, Failure to Feed issues and it was not ammo related as any factory brand acted the same. One frustrating day I had it at a local police range, when it stovepiped on the third round and I just yelled out..."anyone with a benjamin can have this piece of junk." An off duty local detective 2 lanes over jumped on my offer and we both left the range satisficed. I think that was 1998/1999 or so.

Anyway..I don't know if he ever did some spring replacement or whatever to get that gun to function, or if it became trade fodder, but I did hear that Llama went out of business around 2005. Good riddance in my opinion.

Fast forward to 2017 or so and gun writers are praising away at the "new" Llama Max-1 1911 Handgun for just under $500.

Me?.....Not interested at all, but I wonder.....what was (is) YOUR worst firearm ever and why?

Just some turkey day ramblings, I'm not really into gun bashing but found these old picks and remembered I should have put the money towards the animal instead of the gun.

The MAX-1 I had ran more reliably than any others excepting my Colts,

I did use Colt and Wilson magazines so that may have been a factor.

 

[garddogg56]

Did you contact Glock Customer Service ?


Did you contact

No I bought them used.

 

[oink]

Some cheap-*** .380 I took away from a female friend a year or so ago before she got hurt with it. She had a partial box of 9mm ammo someone had given her to got with it (wrong ammo, obviously). I discovered the thing was loaded, and the magazine wouldn't even come out. I managed, with great effort, to run the rounds in the mag through it to get it unloaded. Still haven't been able to get the magazine out of it. I need to take a smoke wrench to it and fix it so it can't be a danger to anyone.

My brother managed to jam up a gun that way. I was able to remove the floor plate and take out the magazine guts and cartridges. The magazine then had enough give so that I could pull it out, but with difficulty. I don't remember what it was although I think it was some old communist bloc pistol.

 

[Pisgah]

For me, three guns stand out -- and they were at opposite extremes of the handguns scale. One, a Sterling 400 Mark II -- never fired more than two shots without a jam, even after 3 trips back for factory service. No big surprise, really....

But the second one I still can't explain. A box-stock Colt Gold Cup .45 I bought second-hand but as-new. Got it for a good price, and then I found out why -- it was no better than the Sterling, and even though 2 trips back to Colt improved it a little, and it was quite accurate, I never could rely on the darned thing to feed. I've had all manner of cheap-o 1911 Gov't Model clones, and every one was better than this Colt was.

The third was another 1911-based gun, Springfield's first version of the Officer's ACP. It lacked both reliability and accuracy, and the takedown procedure was a royal pain.

 

[jag312]

1979 Department issued model 59. Whole lot so bad two deputies have FTF ISSUES and were saved by their BUGs. Sheriff demanded S&W refund money for 1200 weapons. Instead we got 4” model 66s.

Same exact thing happened with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department in California

 

[Ed Fowler]

I have never had much love for Colt revolvers, my friend purchased a real nice looking 22 in what looked like a detective special, 2 inch barrel. It would not shoot 5 shots in a row, group size about 6 feet at 10 yards. He tossed it into a lake after trying to shoot a can that was floating about 15 yard off to the starboard,he could not hit it! 20 years later went to a gun show in Nevada and there was a brand new one in the box for $2,000, all tied up with plastic ties so you could not work the action! I asked why so much money? The Colt Collector said "they did not make very many so they are rare"! I can see why.

 

[Drm50]

I sold a lot of guns to Law agencies. Many of the chiefs and sheriffs had been on the job since returning from WW2. One thing they all would mention was the arms race they were in with punks. Up into 70s the cops would take lots of junk small revolvers and 25acp autos from street thugs.
Then they shifted to Ring of Fire , Tech 9 type junk. Now there is so much money in dope the bad guys are running Glocks and assault rifles. What is worse is they have no hesitation to use them.

 

[LVSteve]

I sold a lot of guns to Law agencies. Many of the chiefs and sheriffs had been on the job since returning from WW2. One thing they all would mention was the arms race they were in with punks. Up into 70s the cops would take lots of junk small revolvers and 25acp autos from street thugs.
Then they shifted to Ring of Fire , Tech 9 type junk. Now there is so much money in dope the bad guys are running Glocks and assault rifles. What is worse is they have no hesitation to use them.

...and they'll look you in the eye and say, "It's not personal, just business."