What turned out to be the worst gun you've ever owned ???

[nutsforsmiths]

S&W Sigma 380. Fit and finish left a lot to be desired. Disassembly was a pain in the rear. Had a problem with stove pipes when I first got it. Sent it back and S&W fixed that problem, then had feeding issues with different brands of ammo. Sent it back again and S&W fixed that as well. Then I sold it.

That is the only S&W I have ever sold.

 

[andyo5]

Kahr CW45. Ruger P97. Olympic Arms remake of the Whitney Wolverine. Custom "Green River" Hawken (beautiful "nonfunctional" rifle.)

+1 for the Kahr CW45. I was impressed by the small size and light weight, but it was very finicky as to overall length and would jam on rounds that were below a certain length...1.260" I think it was. The jam would lock up the slide and required disassembly. Also, the slide stop would regularly work itself loose.

 

[i1afli]

Ruger LC9, can't sell it, trade it and my kids don't want it either !

+1
Mine pierced primers and plugged the striker hole with copper so it would rarely fire, and when it did I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

 

[i1afli]

A couple of years ago I bought a 1950's-vintage Baby Browning in which the firing pin would hang-up on the top round in the mag...you'd pull the trigger and just hear a soft click, then when you released the mag it would fire. Fixed it and it performs flawlessly now.

 

[WPWarhawk]

Worked all summer as a kid (40+ years ago) to buy a real deer rifle. Myself and 2 cousins all bought Winchester model 100s in 308. Mine was absolute junk, after two trips back to the factory my uncle made the shop take it back and I got a shotgun instead. My 2 cousins still have theirs, and they have always been good guns.

Diamondback DB380, first first round fired locked up the gun, couldn't get it open for love nor money. It went back with a fired case in the chamber locked up tight. I never shot it when it came back.

Taurus used to make a copy of the Sig 220, stupidly I bought one. Complete garbage.

Colt 22 single action. The cylinder split, the 22 LR cylinder!

There have been others, but these few stand out in my memory.

 

[policerevolvercollector]

No question about it....The worst pistol was the Walther (S&W) P22. I never got a full mag through it without FTF/FTE issues. I tried every type of ammo I could find.Total garbage!!

Worst rifle: Winchester 190 .22lr. Mine was basically a single shot. It wouldn't feed anything.....

Ironically, I bought a Jennings .22 auto from a friend who needed money once for $20. The little gun would shoot respectable groups out to 25 yards and I could not make it jam.

 

[BillBond]

Ruger P85
It was purchased new by me and would jam at least 5 times per 15 round magazine even though it was sent back to Ruger twice.
The second time they charged me a handling fee since they thought there was nothing was wrong with it.
I sold it at a big loss to a guy that was willing to mess with it.

 

[eveled]

I don't understand why you guys don't like your Jennings J-22 Jam-O-Matics ! They are pretty guns. I think someone had a conversion kit for them to turn them into cigarette lighters, but they didn't work good for that either.... Shoo

I got my Jennings for a trade 25 9mm cartridges. Funny thing, it has never jammed.

 

[Stevie]

S&W Sigma 40 S or V or E or whatever the model letter was. Bought new and started out promising enough...but after maybe 300 rounds or so the trigger got worse and worse until the pistol would not fire!

S&W 'fixed' it for free of course...but subsequent shooting of the repaired Sigma left me feeling like the trigger was starting to fail again. I traded it off for something else while it was working

 

[Marshwheeling]

Walther P-38, one of the alloy-framed postwar ones. Let's be clear. I don't dislike it one bit; it is a very cool gun. It works perfectly, and is fun to shoot. I just can't hit anything with it.

It has gotten better over the years. I can sometimes get six rounds into a decent group, but there are invariably a couple of flyers.

Of course there is a school of thought that says it is nothing to do with the gun...

 

[shooboy]

I've had fun sitting here having my Sunday morning coffee and rereading some of these responses, so I thought it would be fun to hear more horror stories. I guess my newest crappy gun was from a brand I absolutely love, CZ. I've had several and all worked flawlessly, that is until I bought a Rami model in 40 S&W caliber. I bought the 40 because I absolutely loved the Rami 9mm. It was a total jamomatic. I polished the feed ramp, sent it to CZ for service and they polished the ramp and other stuff, but it jammed on everything I fed it. Just never got it to run. Maybe a good thing because I've grown to not like anything in 40 S&W. My first was an H&K USP 40 and I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that darn gun. Had to be the gun, couldn't have been me !!! Lol. �� So, what was your nightmare gun ??? Shoo

 

[swagmeister]

A Browning Challenger II .22 pistol bought brand new in the box in the mid 1970's. Not the earlier Belgium made pistols, but made in Utah if I recall correctly. From the very start, it would not get through a single magazine without some type of jam. Tried several different magazines and different ammo but no luck. Sent back to Browning twice by the local dealer I bought it from. Came back the first time with no changes in its performance or lack thereof. After its return the second time, there were still no changes in the problems. For whatever reason, they could not fix it. The dealer who I bought it from graciously gave me my money back and took it back in. Soon after that, I bought a 4" Model 66 S&W from him at a very good price at the time (they were extremely hard to find during that time period).

 

[Gene L]

Some horror stories here. The 2 I owned that disappointed me were a 700 Remington in .223. It was horrible by 1900 standards, but it wouldn't group for me. I gave it away. Second would be a Ruger No 1, that I spent some money on, and it still wouldn't satisfy me. While I bedded the 700 and it still wouldn't shoot, there's not much you can do to the No 1...fore end work. Tried that too, no joy.

I've been pretty lucky, I guess, or not as demanding as some people. Mini 14s? My Sheriff's Office where I worked bought them as patrol rifles back in 1999 or so. The rifle had the reputation for being inaccurate and I didn't expect much, but they were patrol rifles, not sniper rifles. We trained on them at 75 yards, all we could get at our range, and they surprised me. Even new rifle shooters had no problems hitting all rounds in the sweet spot on a sillhoutte at that range. Which is good enough for a patrol rifle and new shooters.

When my agency switched to ARs, the sheriff offered to sell them (the Minis) to deputies at the price we paid for them back than and I bought one for $300. It ain't no varmint rifle, for sure.

 

[AJ]

About 40 years ago I bought a single action .22 from a guy for $25. It was a RG 66 made in Germany. Whenever you shot it no one could stand beside you as it spit lead shavings out the side. It also had a curious habit of if you loaded one round in the cylinder and spun it and cocked it the round came up under the hammer. Gave it to a friend who knew it's aliments.

 

[CheyenneBodie]

AMT "Hardballer" 1911 .45 auto. One of the first stainless steel 1911s and hyped up by the gun rags-- nothing but a Jam-O-Matic. A real good gun to practice malfunction immediate action drills.

 

[GypsmJim]

A Mossberg semi-auto .22 rifle. It functioned fine but the groups looked like it was a shotgun.

I was always proud to own Mossberg shotguns exclusively because their catalog always had a USA flag on the cover. This .22, however, was not USA made.

I sent it back and it was returned in short order, with the explanation that they changed the extractor. No improvement. I explained that it was accuracy, not function, and sent it back.

Three more times back insisting that they replace the barrel. The last time they said they did, but they did NOT. Obviously, they failed to recognize my little self made ID mark....LOL.

One of the return letters had the name of their repair dept manager so I gave her a personal call. Her English was so bad that I'm sure she didn't have a clue about what I was saying.

Traded it on a new 15-22 (a tack driver btw) and was happy to get rid of it. I DID tell the dealer why I was selling it, and he adjusted the trade-in value accordingly.

 

[AJ]

AMT "Hardballer" 1911 .45 auto. One of the first stainless steel 1911s and hyped up by the gun rags-- nothing but a Jam-O-Matic. A real good gun to practice malfunction immediate action drills.

A Sgt. that worked for me bought one of those in the late 1980's. He had a heck of a time getting it to run. He tried everything we could think of from polishing to lubes. Finally I was kidding him and told him to try 30 wt. motor oil. Well, he did and the darn thing worked like a champ.

 

[CajunBass]

A year or so ago, I bought a Uberti S/A 22. I forget what specific model now, but it was brand new, in the box. Took it home and just picking it up and working the action, it would lock up. Take the cylinder out, and it would start working again, but lock up after three or four action cycles. Back to the dealer. They sent it back to the factory. About two weeks later it's back. I take it out of the box and thumb back the hammer a couple of times, and it locks up again. Back to the factory. Rinse and repeat. The third time it comes back and locks up again, I said to heck with it. Just give me a store credit and I bought something else.

Never even loaded a round of ammo, much less tried to fire it.

 

[Pisgah]

My worst is a 3-way tie: Sterling .380, Hi Point 9mm, and believe it or not a Colt Gold Cup 1911 that despite numerous trips back to the factory never was able to fire more than 3 rounds without a jam. The Colt was the purtiest, and also the best boat anchor...

 

[Drm50]

Charter Arms Police Bulldog 4". Trash, the only new CA revolver I ever bought new. I've taken a few on trades but after checking for function they go down the road. Far as I'm concerned CA is second rate firearms.

 

[Gene L]

One post above mentioned the AMT Hardballer. I had one that was iffy, I think. It didn't last long.

But the worst AMT I ever owned was the "Backup." A 380 that jammed once each magazine, sometimes more than once. I've never seen a positive review of this Not That Small pistol. It was early SS.

 

[Buford57]

Can't believe I missed this the first time around.

Hard to choose between a Sterling .22 auto, a RG-14 .22 and a S&W 469, all for different reasons.

I inherited the Sterling, along with 2 bricks of CCI Minimag HPs from my F-I-L. I soon learned that those were the only rounds it would feed reliably. I already had a deep hideout I liked and sold it, with an ammo warning.

The RG I bought for $5 as a tacklebox gun. It failed to fire on 2 random chambers per cylinder. When it was stolen I debated driving 20 miles to get it back, but did and later sold it to Jesse Jackson when he offered to buy it "back" for $100. It looked like something he would carry and must have had sentimental value.

The 469 was one of the beautiful Ashland specials: satin nickel with blued controls. It fed flawlessly with anything. I just could not hit anything reliably at more than arms length. I managed to qualify with it, but decided 8 shots out of my 39 had a better chance of ending a fight than 12 out of the 469. The officer I sold it to had an AD while showing it off a week later, penetrating a file cabinet and barely missing a pregnant records clerk. I think it was cursed.

 

[shooboy]

I just love these stories. I love S&W's also, but believe it or not my only carry gun right now is my Taurus 709 Slim 9mm ! Always goes bang, trigger safety and flip safety, second strike capability if you have a hard primer, and eats everything I feed it. Plus at 3/4" thick I can just slip it in my shorts pocket. I might carry my Sig Pro 2022 9mm again at some point, who knows. I'd like to carry my Dan Wesson 45 1911 Commander Bobtail but it's a little heavy. It is an absolute tack driver though and I got it or a trade on a model airplane. The guy got it from had $2200 into it, beautiful gun....Shoo

 

[Skeet 028]

I've had a few...way back I got an import Arminius 22 DA revolver. mag cylinder and adjustable sights . Accurate too BUT put the mag cylinder in and the first round I shot the barrel landed about 20 ft away. I replaced the barrel pin(many times) and it would maybe last one cylinder and off again. After a month or so of trying to get it fixed I was driving to work over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge ir was about 0530...stopped at the top and chucked it over the bridge in the shipping channel..and I had a Taurus PT 92? and I shot tighter patterns with cylinder choked shotguns. Sold it to a friend with the pattern info...He told meit was my fault..yeah right. He wasted 5 boxes of ammo on it and sold it to someone else. Of course it really didn't seem to matter with him..he IS a great rifle shot...numb from the neck up...put a semi auto handgun in his mitts....oh my... the target stand is in dire straits...even with my superbly accurate Wilson Combat 45 or one of the S&W 41s I happen to have...his nickname is Goob

 

[wraco]

When I was quite young, in the early 1970's, I bought a collection of firearms, older Winchester shotguns and rifles, and in the group was a H&R Defender 5 shot break in 38 S&W. This thing was the worst excuse for a revolver I ever saw; loose, stripped thread, out of time. Was able to sell it as a parts gun and good riddance to it.

 

[Ruger 13]

Probably the worst revolver was a Ruger Match Champion........I had to have one when they first came out. They were supposed to have a slicked up action with a tuned trigger. Mine had a 30 pound DA trigger pull and the barrel wasn't screwed in all the way! Sent it down the road for what I had in it 8 days later! Good riddance.

 

[quikdraw67]

The biggest piece of absolute garbage that a I ever owned was an Auto Ordnance Tommy Gun M1 type. Rear sights were screwed in instead of riveted. Would get loose no matter how much Loctite was used. Ditto the front sight.
Would jam constantly. This was a West Hurley gun, right before A/O got bought out by Kahr.

It went back 3 times for service. After the 3rd time back with no improvement, I DEMANDED a new one.

I got it. A Kahr manufactured one

Just as big a piece of **** as the 1st one.

Traded for a Bushmaster AR, took a bath on it but was like " Good riddance "

I will never buy another Auto Ordnance or Kahr product ever.

And their office and showroom are about 1/2 an hour away from my house.

 

[lihpster]

Worst I've ever owned is an Ithaca single shot .22 that I believe has missed the earth on a couple of occasions. Worst I ever bought was a Rossi .22 pump that "just needs a magazine tube". Got it cheap. Needed more. Had been dry fired and peened the breech and bent the pin. Massaged the metal to resemble a breech face and replaced the pin with a Winchester I modified. Couple of other parts missing. Stock refinish and some cold blue work. Parts and time I'm in it for more than a new one. Take it to the range and it's a shotgun. 8" groups at 50 yards. Looked OK though so I gave it to a buddy to give to his nephew who was just learning to shoot. I wasn't gonna get my money out of it and this seemed like the only way I'd feel any good about it.

 

[pawncop]

A Whitney Wolverine, 22 caliber, one of the original. Turned out the frame was cracked in two places, I could only get about five (5) rounds to cycle before it jammed.

At I can say I owned one, knew it was not a commercial success, and I know why now.

 

[kaaskop49]

Probably the worst revolver was a Ruger Match Champion........I had to have one when they first came out. They were supposed to have a slicked up action with a tuned trigger. Mine had a 30 pound DA trigger pull and the barrel wasn't screwed in all the way! Sent it down the road for what I had in it 8 days later! Good riddance.

Just found this thread: awful lotta angry folks here! Maybe this poster bought the Ruger MC I returned to my LGS after 1 (!) week. Figured it would be even better than the Wiley Clapp model I still adore. Wrong. Felt foreign in this wheelgun guy's hands and would not shoot. Adios muchacho.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103