How many lemons...

New guns, I'd have to say just one. a little Taurus .22 pocket auto. Took it to the range, found it shot over 12" to the left, and not even a good group way over there...also wound the mag release button was very lightly sprung...I took the gun out of my pocket and the mag just dropped right out. This is not something I desire, so I took it back to the shop and got something else in trade...Don't even remember what.

I have had several used guns that were not gems, either, but as far as bad design, the one that stands out was an AMT Backup .380 Single Action auto.
Worst gun design I have ever seen, could never get through an entire mag of ball. Had it repaired and checked by a very good pistol smith, still did not work. Traded that one, too...


mark

None. 7 guns.

2 berettas
ruger, kimber, kahr, browning, taurus

All have been either flawless, or any issues were attributable to ammo.

You could say I am lucky but I bet it is more the norm than anything. Having a true "lemon" has got to be pretty rare. Like you said, the internet is biased.

DB380, I really wanted to trust Diamondback and love that little guy...but he had about 50% FTE, stovepipes and double feeds and all kinds of fun...and with no slide lock it was a pain in the %&$# to clear those malfunctions...traded it towards my Stoeger Coach Gun that has run flawlessly.

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Four.

1) A Colt Mk IV Series 70 Jammamatic. Went back to Colt's repeatedly and they made no attempt to honor their "warranty" and FIX the junker. Vowed never to buy another Colt.

2) Bushmaster rifle. Barrel wasn't indexed right. Bushmaster had the upper picked up, they fixed it properly, and had it back to me inside of 2 weeks. No more problems in a couple of thousand rounds.

3) DSA rifle. Same story, except in this case, they replaced the entire upper.

4) Kahr P9. Numerous problems, went back repeatedly. Eventually, they replaced the gun. (I traded the NIB replacement for a G26 which isn't as neat a package, but it actually WORKS.)

Also have an S&W 686 that was fixed under a recall, though it never malfunctioned.

I've had a few, but I've owned a lot of guns and used to shoot the heck out of them.
Taurus PT-709 - went back twice and was never fixed
Walther P22 - barrel was replaced
Kahr CW40 - slide locked back and wouldn't close. Frame was replaced.
S&W 351 (repaired twice) - the lip on the cylinder fractured. It was repaired twice and broke again.
S&W 317 - cylinder was binding.
Sig P238 (2 of them) - one wouldn't cycle anything (barrel was replaced and new mag sent). The second had similar issues. I gave up.
Remington 597 - couldn't get a full mag through it even after it came back.
Kel-Tec PF-9 - front sight was way off-center. I can't remember what they ended up doing.
Kel-Tec P3AT - wouldn't even feed ball. It worked when they sent it back but I traded it for an LCP.

Taurus Tracker 44

I bought a used Remington woodsmaster that has tiny rust pits in the chamber. Dumped that one real quick. I have bought 2 kel tecs, both have been a nightmare. Over the years I have bought some real cheap guns, Hi Points, cobras, Jimenez, even H&R break down pistols. I got them shoot in a few days. I have yet to figure what the weak link is in a Kel Tec.

Almost forgot . . . I used to be a member of a gun club that opened to the public before deer season for sight-in days; I frequently worked as a range safety officer at those exceptionally busy times, so I got to see a lot of guns come through the range. It gave me a chance to see what generally worked - and what didn't, with a large sample size.

Because of that, I will never buy a Taurus PT92 pistol or a Remington 7-series autoloading rifle.

3 different Taurus
NAA 32
Colt 9mm


I never keep a weapon after it is reurned from the factory, except a charter arms 44 bulldog

Ruger Sr40c for failures to eject. Had a 60% failure rate out of the box. Ruger fixed it and paid shipping both ways.
Ruger Sr9c for the cam lock pin backing out of the frame during fire. Again Ruger fixed and paid shipping cost.
I love Ruger but, their qc seems spotty at times. Guess that's why there customer service is so good.
So 2 out of 37 hand guns had to go back.

A bunch, actually. Most of them were 1911's. Two of them were Kahrs.

KJS said:

I've seen so many stories of Taurus' that have made numerous trips for repair & come back still not fixed. One must wonder if they simply do nothing but ship guns back till a customer gives up.

Taurus isn't exported; it's deported from Brazil. The only thing they do well is make great ads to fill every firearms publication, so no publisher can say "they suck."

Click to expand...

Great quote on Taurus, I may steal that one.

I work at the gun counter in a large outdoor sporting goods store part time. I've had two Taurus single shot rifles returned, for striking light and not firing. One went to Taurus twice and they still didn't get it right. I can't tell you how many Judges I've seen with frozen cylinders, some with rounds still in the chambers.

I've sent one gun back, I picked up a Ruger LC9 for summer carry (used) and the firing pin spring broke the first night when I got it home and dry fired it. I sent it back to Ruger and two weeks later it came back with a new firing pin and spring assembly. It shoots fine now, and does what its supposed too.

I've owned two Kimbers, a Ruger M-77, H & R Slugster, four Glocks, and two Bushmasters so far no issues besides going to heavier springs Wolff X-Power in my Kimber CDP Pro main carry. Before the springs it was a bit picky on ammo ejection with some ammo.

A lot of experience with many guns over the years and the only "lemon" I've had to deal with was a Llama full size 1911 .45. Bought well used at a gun show so I didn't have factory CS as an option. Maybe I'm lucky, but it explains why I have like zero patience for the Taurus et. al. stories.

My experience has allowed me to expect 'em to work without fuss.

P.S. Including 1911's, like my current Kimber II Target.

Ruger mk III

Just got my first mk III, after first outing I notice the rear sight notch is milled almost 60 thousandths to the left, and the gun consistantly shoots to the left. Guess with Rugers super high volume now the quality control is slipping, I'd rather be backordered for 6 months then have to send it back, I'm contacting them on Monday well see how my first foray in ruger customer service goes. This is gun 12, third ruger, and the first with problems. I'll post a follow up when resolved.

A few lemons

I've bought about 10 guns new. I've had to send back 4 for issues. 1 each S&W (model 19, locked up 1st time out ) , Browning Bolt action rifle (Recall for safety) Ruger bolt action rifle (Chamber was too rough to feed rounds) Colt 1911 (rear sight fell off, retailer fixed it) Also sent Glock to have steel sights put on after plastic front sight came off. I'd had the gun for more than 10 years. (by the way, Glock will do this for free, all it cost is one way shipping)
All repairs were handled quickly and done well, never any other issues with any of the guns. 40%, guess I'm not very lucky.

none

1 for 6

Taurus 44SS4

Front sight flew off, they fixed it.......

But a high monkey with a rasp file could have left a better finish.

No more taurus for me.

I had a dan wesson commander bobtail that i had to send back for repair. was shooting defense +p rounds. pulled the trigger, round fired, but the slide was still about a half inch back from full chambered and the rear sight was about 1/2 inch left off the slide.

I had an early Ruger Stainless Security Six that was terribly inaccurate. Sent it to Ruger. They replaced the barrel, and it shot very well after that. Wish I still had that one. This happened back in the mid 70s

Had a Marlin 39 Take down version that would not feed. Sent that back and they fixed it. Early 80s

Had a Llama mini max 45 that was the biggest POS I have ever owned. Owned it about 3 weeks and traded it back to the LGS where I bought it with full disclosure of my experience with it. No where to send that one back to the factory. About 3 years ago for that adventure.

The other 100 plus guns I have bought and traded over the years have had no problems that I couldn't take care of myself.

1) Colt Series 80 Government Model. The rear sight dovetail was oversize. New slide.

2) S&W Model 625-3. Hand broke on first shot. S&W replaced the hand, took 6 weeks.

3) HK USP. The gun would pattern, instead of group. HK replaced the barrel. 6 weeks.

4) Ruger P85, recall on first issue guns.

5) S&W Model 19-4. Gun wouldn't eject after the first four cylinders full. S&W "reamed cylinder". 4 weeks.

6) S&W Model 617. Cylinder locked up in less than 100 rounds. They sent me a new gun. 5 weeks.

7) Sig P229. Slide cracked in under 75 rounds. Sig replaced the slide. 6 weeks.

8) Springfield 1911 Champion. The hammer was hitting the interior of the slide so hard it was gouging it. The slide-stop was oversize, and required two men and a boy to get it to release. Factory "adjusted" both. 6 weeks.

Rifles? Oh, more than a few. Shotguns? Please.

One thing that I have noticed is that my Taurus handguns, some over 25 years old, have never been returned for a defect. They are also some of my most shot guns.

I also act as an RO. I've seen more problems with the AR platform than any other type of rifle. Handguns are pretty evenly distributed between RG, Phoenix, S&W, and the rest of the cheaply made guns like that.

Honestly, with the way guns are being put out today, to satisfy an overwhelming demand, it's surprising that ANY of them function well.

FYI, Taurus owns Rossi, but it's Rossi that makes the single-shot rifles.