Guns You Love But Didn't Work Out

I loved my Glock 17. My first polymer. I even liked how it looked. And the idea that if it fell and hit cement or got beat up, it was always just a utilitarian type of firearm. No deep blueing or sentimental value with my Glock. Just a rugged tool.

That said, it didn't work out. As much as I practiced, I just never got used to the trigger. I did the aftermarket path a smidge. Even bought a book on "customizing" Glocks.

I'm back to single actions. I owned a Sig p320c that I shot well enough. Sold it off for a Blackhawk. Those polymers sure are sweet...in other people's hands.

Op, I loved my two polymers but I just couldn't get used to them. I'll try again one day.

Delta Elite. Really the only one. The unsupported chamber on a thousand dollar gun is just unthinkable. If the barrel was different I would have been beyond enamored, but I considered that to be an unsafe design flaw, and colt had no intentions of changing it at all, so away it went.

I love the sleek lines of the R51, but cannot bring myself to buy one after Remington released it for a second time, but reports indicate it remained unreliable.

Taurus instant packup (enough said right there)
Glock 32 handgrenaded on me
Taurus M9 clone literally fell apart as the first magazine went through it, sent it to them for their lifetime customer service and they just sent it back in pieces saying they no longer make that model.

Boy, where to start.....

First would be my S&W 908 I bought from a brother in law. Shot decent, looked great, felt great in the hand. Downside, empty shells constantly hitting my forehead, magazine would not fit just right, sometimes popping out, just didn't work out..

Second, that would be the Chinese 213 I had for a while. Fit my hand perfectly, very accurate with everything I shot through it. I do miss it off and on...but, with the good, there is the bad. The "safety" would wobble back and forth on its own, couldn't trust it, and empty shells hitting me in the head was another no-no, so it had to go.

Third, my favorite by far, was my Colt Officer ACP in 45. ACP. Fine looking gun, shot well, almost new looking. No empties hitting my head this time. Now the bad. The little recoil spring plug was made of aluminum, and as I shot it, I could see it would go flying soon. Funny thing about those, you can't find them anywhere, and expensive to boot. So, I traded it for a Glock 30 (had that for a little while, tried hard to like it, liked the USGI M1 Carbine I found in a gun shop a lot better).

I won't go on, but safe to say, I have had my fair share of pistols. Sticking to my Star's though, love them best.

Labguy47 said:

Taurus instant packup (enough said right there)
Glock 32 handgrenaded on me
Taurus M9 clone literally fell apart as the first magazine went through it, sent it to them for their lifetime customer service and they just sent it back in pieces saying they no longer make that model.

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But you loved those pistols?

Ruger sp 101. I've probably had at least 6 of these, snub, 3 inch, DAO, just about any flavor, all in 357. I've taken them apart, buffed, stoned and shimmed them, tried different spring combos. Different grips. They are IMO one of the best looking guns Ruger makes. But I cannot for the life of me, shoot them well or least to my satisfaction. And so they get traded or sold, only for me to see another at a great price and the story begins again.

Oooohhh boy, where to begin?

Sig P230- reliable, sexy, accurate, and would fling brass into my forehead every time.

Interarms/Ranger .380 PPK- gorgeous, perfect machining, would jam constantly and couldn't get the slide off no matter how hard I tried.

Flawless FACTORY nickel .380 Colt Pocket Hammerless- the most elegant gun example of gun art Ive ever owned, and a hopeless jam-o-matic.

Beretta Tomcat .32- reliable, neat and easy to carry, until the frame cracked......

Armies Jaeger .22 M16 clone- hands down the most accurate .22 rifle I've ever owned, though it had its fair share of jams. Then the firing pin snapped and spare parts for those are unobtanium. I managed to grind down an industrial nail as a substitute, but ignition was iffy after that. Goodbye....

Iver Johnson Target Sealed 8- really nice old .22, but the ratchet had one bad tooth which would cause the timing to skip to the point of being unsafe and a new cylinder was more than the gun was worth.

Rossi "Princess"- super cool 7 shot copy of the original Ladysmith and would have been a nifty pocket gun, except the Zamak frame suffered catastrophic flame-cutting after about 100 rounds!

So many more......

Taurus G2c I bought this spring on a lark for $199 brand new.



Probably the most ergonomic handgun I've had; just fit my hand perfectly and pointed very naturally. I love the size and it is remarkably compact for holding 12 rounds of 9mm.

Shooting it at 7yds it get's great groups and has never hiccupped on me.

But, the trigger drives me nuts. And it won't shoot better than 5" at 25yds. The trigger has a catching sensation that I can't figure out. It's like the trigger safety lever isn't getting released in time and the trigger catches about 1/4 way through the travel.

I still own it since it's not worth anything to sell or trade. Maybe somebody like Apex will come up with an aftermarket solution to the trigger issue.

Both my Glocks a model 22 and 19. Don't know why but could not shoot them well and they just never felt right for me.I wanted to like them it just didn't work out.

For me it's my Browning Hi Power. It's the "Tactical Model" in .40 S&W, ambidextrous safety, bigger sights etc. The gun feels fantastic in the hand is accurate and I shoot it well. Unfortunately it is very picky about ammunition. Even after having a couple of well respected smiths work on it, it refuses to reliably feed anything but a couple of brands of expensive hollow point. It makes practicing with the gun either expensive, if I use the ammo that works, or frustrating dealing with malfunctions using ball.

CZ75B.

I know I may be just about the only person in the world that doesn't care for this pistol. I really wanted to love it, but never got there.

It shot okay, and the trigger was okay, the ergo's we're okay, the finish was blah, but there was just something about it that didn't work for me.

Lever actions. Off the top of my head, I have owned two Marlin 336s in .30-30, one of them a straight stocked Texan; two 1894s in .44 magnum; and three 1894s in .357 magnum. I have slicked them up, installed Happy Triggers, played with tang sights and scout mounts. I've tried microgroove and ballard rifling. I like the way they look.

I just don't enjoy shooting them.

Springfield V-10 (IIRC). Cool little .45 acp. Ported so there was little muzzle rise. Problem was it directed the muzzle blast back at the shooter. It was like getting thumped in the face with a real hard pillow with every shot. Put two mags thru it and traded it back in less than two weeks

Taurus 709 Slim. My first poly pistol. It was reliable, carried well, actually grouped very well, but nothing I could do would keep it from shooting low left. It was that terrible trigger. I hated it. Just about traded it on a Taurus PT111 G2. It felt great in the hand, but then I tried the trigger. It had the same horrible trigger as the PT709.

I bought a Taurus PT111G2 earlier this year also. Couldn't trust the mag release, seems like it caught by just a hair and any contact with the button and the mag would exit, earthbound. It also had the weird trigger thing going on but it was accurate enough for me. Traded it for a spikes lower and never looked back.

S&W Airweights-- specifically, a 642 and a 438. Loved both, carried both, and then discovered I just couldn't shoot them anymore. I think my wrists became older than the rest of me somehow. Bigger grips would have helped, but then they'd be less pocketable, so off they went.

Ruger #1Manlicher in 7x57. Bought this rifle in the 80’s. I couldn’t get it to group less than 6” inches at a 100 yards off the bench using all kinds of factory ammo and handloads. I sent it back to Ruger. They told me it had a burr at the crown, said it was fixed and sent it back with a nice 3 shot clover target. I took it back out to the range, best I could get was 4 inches at 100 yards. I had to let it go.

Iroquois said:

Ruger #1Manlicher in 7x57. Bought this rifle in the 80’s. I couldn’t get it to group less than 6” inches at a 100 yards off the bench using all kinds of factory ammo and handloads. I sent it back to Ruger. They told me it had a burr at the crown, said it was fixed and sent it back with a nice 3 shot clover target. I took it back out to the range, best I could get was 4 inches at 100 yards. I had to let it go.

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I had the same rifle. Had similar issues. It grouped about 4 inches at 100 yards with its best load. The chamber was so long I had to seat 175 gr Spitzer only about an eighth of an inch in the case. Also the outside neck dimension was so large that you could fit a .308 diameter bullet in a fired case. Being that large it sometimes split the neck. If you were using cases that had been loaded once it split the neck every time. Ruger did nothing for me. Said it was safe to fire and sent it back.

Next one also a Ruger. My brother and I bought matching limited run RSI Hawkeyes in 250 Savage. Neither would feed. Back to Ruger. That issue was resolved. When we started shooting them we discovered that brass was stretching excessively. Obtained a no go head space gauge. Mine would close on it with a layer of masking tape on it and my brothers would close on two. Back to Ruger. Never saw the rifles again eventually they gave my brother a different rifle and I received my money back.

I absolutely love the Ithaca Model 37. The older the better. I love everything about them. But I have yet to find one that I can shoot worth a darn. It’s probably more that I haven’t found one that fits, but it still just simply hasn’t worked out for me yet.

Walther PK380. I liked the idea of a new full size 380 on the market. However, with the obvious modification to make it a single stack, and other annoyances, I just never bonded to it. They could have charged a bit more and made a great, in class, pistol; as it is, it is just OK.

By the way, great thread. I actually looked something up to clarify a term (unsupported chamber). I also love the look and feel of the art-deco R51. I am frequently in the verge of getting one, the reliability reports keep scaring me off. I probably will get one after new year.

redneck said:

Get a nice knife and commit to using it, you won't regret it. Having a knife that holds an edge, fits your hand, and makes a job easier is so much more rewarding than having something fancy sitting in the safe.

I make my own knives, but before I got good at it I carried an expensive knife (benchmade or spyderco level quality, nothing crazy) and I enjoyed it every time I took it out.

I like a knife with a sharp point, that still has a good bit of belly/sweep to the blade. Drop points and clip points mostly. For deer I usually have something with about a 4 inch blade, but 3 is enough. I look for handles that don't have a lot of finger grooves are crazy shapes, as those dictate how you hold the knife. Something with a more organic shape that you can grip multiple ways comfortably is better for outdoor stuff.

Don't skimp on the sheath either. That can be the deciding factor between 2 knives. If you can't carry it comfortably and securely its not going to help you. Having it at hand and not worrying about losing it goes a long way towards using it more and getting your moneys worth out of it.

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stringnut said:

I had the same rifle. Had similar issues. It grouped about 4 inches at 100 yards with its best load. The chamber was so long I had to seat 175 gr Spitzer only about an eighth of an inch in the case. Also the outside neck dimension was so large that you could fit a .308 diameter bullet in a fired case. Being that large it sometimes split the neck. If you were using cases that had been loaded once it split the neck every time. Ruger did nothing for me. Said it was safe to fire and sent it back.

Next one also a Ruger. My brother and I bought matching limited run RSI Hawkeyes in 250 Savage. Neither would feed. Back to Ruger. That issue was resolved. When we started shooting them we discovered that brass was stretching excessively. Obtained a no go head space gauge. Mine would close on it with a layer of masking tape on it and my brothers would close on two. Back to Ruger. Never saw the rifles again eventually they gave my brother a different rifle and I received my money back.

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Sorry for the prior post!

Stringnut:
My experience with the 175gr bullets splitting the case mouths were identical! I had this rifle when I was first starting to handload. I never considered the masking tape, it was before I understood headspace and other things.

I think there's going to be some people that hate me for this but, Colt Python. Great trigger. Smooth action. Accurate enough. I'd personally rather have a GP100, maybe with a polishing job to smooth it up a bit. It just fits my hand better.