What Was The Worst New Firearm You've Ever Bought?

[Frank237]

I've gone through a LOT of guns since 1960 when I got my first.

A few lemons stand out.... In the early 1970's a Ruger mini 14. So inaccurate it made my M1 carbines look like Target rifles. GI fmj, Remington 50, 55 gr, handloads, didn't matter.

A Walther P22?? Their little, mostly plastic pistol. TOTAL garbage. Sent it back a few times, they replaced mags, finally got it to work OK.
BUT a very LUCKY pistol as I traded it to a kid who WANTED one badly. Got a 1970's, SS sights, 4" M-66 in trade! LOL.

 

[pawngal]

Beretta Bobcat, could shoot around left corners, it was that far off. Returned it to the distributor for credit for something? else.

 

[CajunBass]

I started to say I'd never bought a bad one, because I buy so few "new" guns, but I just remembered a Uberti 22 Single-Action I bought a couple/three years ago. You'd think I'd remember one that recently, but I don't think I ever actually fired it. The entire thing would lock up when I cycled the action. I'd cycle it a couple of times, and it would lock up.

I figured certainly there was a piece of metal floating around somewhere, and not wanting to force it, I sent it back. It came back still locked up. Sent it back again. Worked the action a couple of times when it came back, and it locked up again. That was enough. The shop gave me a full refund.

Beautiful gun though. I really wanted to like it.

I'm sure it was a fluke, but it sort of soured me on Uberti's. At least new ones.

 

[JaPes]

A Umarex "Colt" M4 Ops .22lr. Horrid piece of junk.

 

[JcMack]

Colt Double Eagle 5" 1911

 

[KalamazooKid]

I bought a Taurus once.


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[Loyaljeeper]

I had a Kahr CW45 that was a complete ****. It was a great training aid because it would present to you all three types of malfunctions in one magazine.

 

[GTBL]

Taurus Judge. Was new to Guns and just didn't know any better.

 

[John F.]

There've been so many...

but the all time worst (except those which simply wouldn't fire), was a Colt Mustang .380. Bought new, within less than 100 rounds, the plastic recoil spring guide rod broke. Had local gunsmith make me one from steel. (Mind you, this was years before two 'smiths formed a custom shop that specialized only in making Colt Mustangs and their kin operate correctly...)

Safety did not "click" into place; it just slithered on and off effortlessly, posing a hazard. Back to the gunsmith, who installed a spring/detent to make it work correctly.

Trigger pull was a smooth ~ 1 lb, with no hint of when it would actually fire. Ok on a target piece, scary on a defensive pistol. Back to the gunsmith, who fixed that. Also, disconnector didn't work correctly; I forget the details on that -- he fixed it also.

Slide stop would fall out if you racked the slide with it canted to the left, leaving you holding one half in each hand... By now, you can guess what comes next...

Accuracy was hideous. With several types of good ammo that shot tiny knots in a 1920's Colt .380 Hammerless Pocket Auto at 12 yards, it literally went from corner to corner of a standard NRA 25-yard pistol target replacement center -- about a foot, in other words.

Intermittent malfunctions. Gunsmith looked at that, but never got it to run reliably.

I tried to like it... I really did... but it was just accursed as it came from Colt. It probably had "666" stamped on it somewhere!
John

 

[uberdaddy]

worse gun ever......

I've had 2...The first two I ever bought on my own. The first was a Taurus 66 .357, fired 4 rounds before cylinder locked up! I was still at the store I bought the gun from..they cleared the gun..loaded and fired 2 more rounds before locking up again! Sent it to Taurus...they "fixed it"..I don't know if they did, I never trusted it, so I traded it for an AMT hardballer .45...JHC what a piece of garbage!!!! This gun NEVER worked and was a danger to anyone to even pick up! I swear every time I shot that *** I put it down and I was bleeding (if it even actualy discharged) I pawned it for a pre model 10 M&P S&W...still have it...still shoots great! Lesson learned..

 

[JiminyCricket]

The worst new firearm I ever bought was the "Mighty Mouse" Colt Junior .25 ACP. The round is worthless. Sold it and replaced it with a Colt Detective Special.

That sounds like a fault with the caliber, not the gun itself.
A friend of mine and I did some testing once with a 25 acp pistol and 4 different brands of ammo. We got 4 widely different results in terms of accuracy and penetration. One brand literally just bounced off a 2X4, another brand made it look like swish cheese. One brand had a large group at ten feet, with extreme keyholing, but another brand at ten feet had an almost one hole group, and no keyholing. The good ammo's group was half the size at 68 ft than the bad ammo was at ten feet! So when a 25 fails to do the job, I wonder sometimes how much of it is the particular ammo used versus the caliber itself.

The absolute worst gun I ever bought was a Jennings 9mm, a jamomatic. The second worst was a Glock 17. I'm not sure which was really worse, because when the Jennings failed, I didn't have a high expectation and didn't pay much. I had very high expectations of the Glock and paid a premium price because I didn't get the LEO discount. In fact when I told a co worker of the problems I had with mine, he insisted that I must've been limp wristing it, and that "Glock's don't fail". When he went to the range with me and tried it himself, he was stunned, couldn't figure out what the problem was. He then said it was my ammo, so he tried his, same problem.
To Glock's credit, they did fix it quickly, and it worked great for a few hundred rounds, until a part broke on it. then they fixed the new problem.

I once had a DA/SA P9R that had a DA trigger that was so stiff it must've designed by Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi. It had a pull weight of 20 lbs! Despite this, I can't say it was the worst gun I ever owned, because you could just pull the hammer back and cock it. It was tolerable in SA, and unlike the Jennings or the Glock, it at least functioned reliably and was accurate.

 

[Drug Store Cowboy]

Just received a Ruger Mark IV Hunter. The lans and groves at the end of the barrel were botched. Sent it back and found out there was a recall for a defective safety (talk about beta testing). One of the screws on the barrel before the back sight came loose, tightened it up, then the barrel would not retract. Ruger said to back the screw off until the barrel would retract. It will now probably come loose again, even with blue Loctite...we will see.

 

[Drug Store Cowboy]

I for got to say, it is one of the best looking pistols I have ever seen.

 

[625-7]

Ruger P89

Pull trigger, stovepipe, repeat.Not a full magazine through it and off it went to Ruger. Replaced it with with a Colt series 80 1911.Don't want to here anything bad about the series 80 cause it likes to spit out the empties as fast as i can pull the trigger. Liked it so much I ordered up a new series 80 380 govt that I rotate in my CCW

 

[Ed Fowler]

Another of my big disappointments was Colt Gold Cup. Not extremely accurate but nice to shoot until it started doubling, then tripling then four at a time. At first it was kind of fun learning how to control the unexpected, then one day (I cannot recall touching the trigger) it just went off as I level to target.

I sent it back to Colt, got it back and after 100 rounds or so it started doubling again. I sent it back to Colt. This happened a third time and again it doubled.

I had a friend who really liked that pistol, he bought it from me for full retail figuring it was special. He was a good hand with firearms and knew what he was getting into.

 

[washerman]

That PF9 is a real hunka. Every time I've been on a range and someone pulls one out to shoot it jams. How do they keep selling them?

i have a keltec pf9 and have had no issues at all....have it a year and got 500 rounds through it. it kicks pretty good because of the light weight, but quality has been good and i like it. like all gun makers, once in a while you get a lemon. guess i lucked out with mine

 

[Penmon]

SIG Mosquito,Jammatic Special,Works fine with CCI Mini Mag and thats about it.

 

[Muley Gil]

My worst was a Kimel Industries copy of the Colt Frontier .22. Could't hit anything with it. The rifling was barely present. Mostly potmetal.

Surprisingly, I had a Jennings .22 that shot & feed extremely well. A Marine Corps buddy came by to visit and I was renting a house on 5 acres. There was a 100 yard range on it. My buddy, who had shot on the Navy/Marine Corps ROTC pistol team in college, took that little Jennings and hit a gallon plastic milk jug, at 100 yards, 5 times out of 5 shots! I was amazed. I owned several other Jennings over the years that didn't feed worth a hoot.

 

[ShivasIrons]

My worst was a Kimel Industries copy of the Colt Frontier .22. Could't hit anything with it. The rifling was barely present. Mostly potmetal.

Surprisingly, I had a Jennings .22 that shot & feed extremely well. A Marine Corps buddy came by to visit and I was renting a house on 5 acres. There was a 100 yard range on it. My buddy, who had shot on the Navy/Marine Corps ROTC pistol team in college, took that little Jennings and hit a gallon plastic milk jug, at 100 yards, 5 times out of 5 shots! I was amazed. I owned several other Jennings over the years that didn't feed worth a hoot.

You know any good sea story such as this starts off "This is a No Sh---er"

 

[one eye joe]

MY WORST PURCHASES NARROW DOWN TO ONE BRAND---TAURUS ! ! ! I FELL VICTIM TO THEIR RELATIVELY LOW PURCHASE PRICES, AND THEIR EYE PLEASING APPEARANCES.......

MY GOAL WAS TO ARM MY WIFE WITH A SMALL REVOLVER, FOR HER PROTECTION THAT WOULD NOT SCARE HER, AND THAT SHE COULD GAIN CONFIDENCE WITH. HAVING NOTHING IN MY ARSENAL OF COLTS AND S&Ws, THAT WOULD FILL THE BILL , I SETTLED ON A SNUBBY TAURUS REVOLVER IN .22 MAGNUM FOR CARRY, AND ITS CLONE, IN .22 LR FOR PRACTICE.......

TO MAGNIFY MY TACTICAL ERROR, AND ON A WHIM, I PURCHASED ONE OF TAURUS' NEWLY DEVELOPED / RELEASED, SNUBBY, "TOTAL TITANIUM" REVOLVERS IN .357 MAGNUM. MY IDEA WAS TO USE THAT AS A "KNOCK AROUND" GUN, THAT COULD BE THROWN INTO A TACKLE BOX, OR PAIL, ON BOAT CAMPING / FISHING EXPEDITIONS, WITHOUT MUCH CARE AS TO BANGS AND DINGS, OR EXPOSURE TO FOUL WET WEATHER.....

I PURCHASED ALL THREE OF THESE GUNS, DURING THE SAME VISIT TO MY LGS, WHO HAD RECEIVED THEM IN A SHIPMENT EARLIER IN THE WEEK. BOTH HE AND I WERE HAPPY CAMPERS. AFTER THE WAITING PERIOD, I TOOK THE TRIO HOME......

IT TURNED OUT THAT I HATED ALL THREE OF THEM. THE FIT AND FINISH WAS NOT BAD, BUT THE TRIGGERS WERE HEAVY AND GRITTY---NOTHING LIKE THE S&Ws AND COLTS THAT I HAD BEEN SHOOTING FOR DECADES. I REALLY WAS DISAPPOINTED. I TOOK THE 3 OF THEM TO A HIGHLY RESPECTED GUNSMITH / GUN BUILDER, THAT I HAVE USED FOR ALL OF MY WORK, THROUGH THE YEARS. I INSTRUCTED HIM TO START WITH THE .22 LR MODEL, AND SEE IF HE COULD TURN IT INTO A GUN THAT I MIGHT LIKE. I PICKED IT UP, A WEEK LATER. ALL THE GUNSMITH WOULD SAY TO ME WAS, "JOE, THESE GUNS ARE JUNK. DON'T WASTE ANY MORE MONEY ON THEM". I RUSHED OFF TO THE RANGE, EAGER TO TRY IT OUT......

WELL, IT TURNS OUT THAT HE WAS RIGHT. ALTHOUGH THE TRIGGER WAS SOMEWHAT IMPROVED, I STILL DID NOT LIKE IT. IT SHOT NO DISTINCT GROUPS, AND WAS ALL OVER THE PAPER. WHEN I RETURNED TO THE 'SMITH TO PAY HIM, AND PICK UP THE OTHER TWO GUNS, HE SIMPLY ADVISED ME, "JUST SELL THEM"......

THIS ENDED UP, EASIER SAID THAN DONE. AFTER LEAVING THEM ON CONSIGNMENT IN A FEW LGSs, AND BEING UNSUCCESSFUL, EVEN ON THE TAURUS FORUM, I ENDED UP DRIVING THEM UP TO THE "KITTERY TRADING POST" IN MAINE, AND SELLING THEM ON THE SPOT, AT A SIGNIFICANT LOSS. THEY WILL BUY ANYTHING, AND I WAS STILL GLAD TO BE FREE OF THEM.....

MY PERSONAL LESSON LEARNED, THE HARD WAY---NEVER BUY A TAURUS ! ! !

 

[one eye joe]

My worst was a 6.5 inch Blues Taurus Judge. The hammer/ trigger just barely worked at all then I got it new. When I disassembled it and cleaned, it was just caked full of steel grindings, and abrasives and looked like someone had literally dumped a teaspoon of motor oil inside it. Then I found the hammer was only partially formed on the bottom, part of it was literally not casted. It made two trips back to Taurus. The first time they did nothing to it, even though I had told them the hammer was the problem and to replace it. When it went back the second time at their cost, I exchanged some some really nasty words with their service department. It returned the second time with a new hammer. After I did a good polishing job on the internals it now shoots like a fine instrument. Have known others who have had similar issues with Taurus weapons. I am keeping this one, but not buying any more of them.

I HEAR YA, VINNIE. IMHO, THEY ARE JUST JUNK ! ! !

 

[JGR_LV]

Like Mr. Tompkins, I tend to buy things of my own vintage, so definitely far from new. Of the new items I've bought, I can't recall any real lemons. That would include a Walther p.1, a post-64 Winchester Model 70 in .300 Win Mag that is probably the most accurate centerfire rifle I'll ever own, and a Ruger Convertible Single Six. About the only other new-new items were a S&W 28 and a S&W Model 19 Deuce & a Half. Both of those are still my favorite wheelguns. The worst new-to-me critter has to be one of those Romanian bolt action .22 trainers. Among other things, the spring for the bolt catch is too weak, so if you get enthusiastic about working the bolt, it comes clear out. I keep promising myself to fix that and then see just how bad the rest of it is, but it keeps getting shoved to the back of the list, something to do with how much work I'm willing to spend on a $50 rifle. Someday, when everything else is caught up, I'm really bored and the weather is too nasty to shoot...

 

[JGR_LV]

...as opposed to a fairy tale...

You know any good sea story such as this starts off "This is a No Sh---er"

...which starts with "Once upon a time..."

 

[Bat Guano]

Ruger P97; from day one it was cursed. Somehow or other, in the feeding cycle it would just flip a loaded round from the mag out the top of the gun. Never could get through a full mag no matter what--any mag, any ammo. I was determined to figure it out. Even graphed the type and frequency of malfunctions. Pestered Ruger about it, sent it back twice, no improvement. Fought that thing for a year .Ruger finally said they would give me another NIB if I sent the accursed thing in to them for destruction. I took them up on it, then immediately put the new one on consignment without ever shooting it. Needless to say I don't buy P-anythings from Ruger.

Had a retro remake of the old Whitney Wolverine .22 pistol from Olympic Arms. Great looking gun, also couldn't get through a full mag with ANY ammo. Lousy customer service, as Olympic couldn't care less. The company is now defunct, which makes sense.

Kahr CW45--similar to Post #128 above. Nice shooter, but it rarely could get through a full mag. Every time I thought I had it fixed it would do something else wrong. Put it on consignment. It took a year to sell; apparently the word was getting around about Kahrs.

I will only fool with a lemon so long; last one was a little Beretta 950 in .22LR the wife liked. Went directly to the range where it too would not feed. We turned around and the wife marched back to the salesman, saying that "My husband refuses to work on this gun and I want my money back". I think she owned that gun about three hours. Three hours too long...

 

[Jaymo]

Did I mention that Davis .380?

 

[BC38]

Ruger P97; from day one it was cursed. Somehow or other, in the feeding cycle it would just flip a loaded round from the mag out the top of the gun. Never could get through a full mag no matter what--any mag, any ammo. I was determined to figure it out. Even graphed the type and frequency of malfunctions. Pestered Ruger about it, sent it back twice, no improvement. Fought that thing for a year .Ruger finally said they would give me another NIB if I sent the accursed thing in to them for destruction. I took them up on it, then immediately put the new one on consignment without ever shooting it. Needless to say I don't buy P-anythings from Ruger....

Dang! I wish I had read this a few days ago. I just won the bid on an auction for one. Hopefully it is better than yours was!
I have a P94DC that has been fine. Hopefully this P97DC will be too...

 

[BigBill]

A local sports shop had a 59 anniversary of the Remington 1100 12ga shotgun. For $159. Right out of the box the first one jammed while trying to assemble it. The second one jammed the sameway. The third one jammed on the salesman, the fourth one functioned at the range but do I trust it for hunting bird in Blackbear country. They wouldn't give me my money back. I took the loss and pawned it.

 

[Rpg]

Many years ago I bought a little 4 shot 22 mag North American Arms revolver.

Took it out and shot it. Cylinder pin worked its way out in a shot or two. Only way to make it work for 4 shots was to tape the pin in.

It was also the most miserable thing to shoot I've ever experienced: torn web between thumb and forefinger.

Couldn't hit the side of a barn from inside the barn.

Slow as molasses.

My cousin took a fancy to it and still has it. He's fired 5 or ten rounds through it in the last 30 years. Still carys it.

 

[model70hunter]

Like Stevens I like buying used guns.

On new guns, right after my divorce I was gun less after selling all for the child custody lawyer money. I bought a new Rem 870 express in 20 NIB at a lgs.

Took it rabbit hunting that weekend with my bro and uncle with their beagles. The dogs ran a rabbit around I. A long multiform rose briar patch. The rabbit finally made a long jump between my bro and i, stopped by a clump of grass 10 yards in front of me. I aimed out past his nose and got a click it did not fire, thinking a dud I chambered anothrr, click chambered the 3rd and got a click. Took rounds out of my pocket and all went CLICK! The rabbit never moved. I picked up o e off the ground and got a boom and a dead rabbit. It fired every time after that, but each time I was expecting a click. Traded it back to the lgs for Win M 12 and was happy.

Right after I got married I had sold my deer rifle to defray honeymoon expenses. Saved up money and bought a Rem 700 BDL in 270 at the above lgs. The extractor broke on 1st shot, sent it back to Rem, they replaced extractor, it broke. Rem said I was at fault, I said you can see the extractor grove is not cleanly machined out. The lgs took it back, I got a Sako 270. The lgs leaned on his supplier who got a new gun from Rem.

I have owned many Rem 700 since but all were used. No problems, same with 870s.

I prefer Win m 70s or FN Mausers.
I currently have 2 700 a 243 and a 22 250 and like them.

I've owned many, many guns. I've bought some that were broken and fixed them. I've bought rifles that would not group and glass bedded and found the right ammo.

I ended up liking flawed guns for the challenge of fixing them . Most often the flaws were from a big hammer shade tree smith. So I've owned many worst guns on purpose. I was snooker ed in a trade 18 months ago, traded nice Moss berg 2p for a clean old Ithaca m37. It was trash, should have known someone had been inside by the booger ed screws. Was able to get parts from the new Ithaca and fixed it. Found a like new full choke bbl on ebay for 50 or so bucks, cut it to 20" and made a riot gun. Still have the original full choke bbl which is good on doves.

My list of worst ones is long but I enjoyed every minute.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Way back in the '70s I decided I needed a really nifty back-pocket gun, and being a callow relatively youthful and inexperienced guy at the time, I thought that one of those really compact AMT Backup guns in .380 caliber would be ideal.

I had another think coming. Turned out to be a jam-o-matic with anything I tried to feed it.

I sold it within a month, telling the guy that bought it that it could stand some reliability "tuning" with some ammo. Well, really, not "some," just "all" ammo. Piece of ****.

John