Biggest Disappointment?

[wojownik]

S&W 5906. Loved the look and feel of the pistol. Just did not suit me at all - came to hate the trigger after a session or two at the range, and I was just not accurate at all with that piece.

 

[Joshua M.]

Tommy 1927-A1...
Had to have one, although it had a really high cool factor, and it was fun to shoot, just really had no purpose for me. Sold it for what I had in it, but it did make me stock up with .45 acp ammo, and now I have a whole bunch, and only 2 pistols to shoot it all.

 

[gearhead]

Beretta Cougar in .40S&W. I thought the weight and rotating barrel would tame the snappiness of the cartridge but in reality it was just a heavy, bulky handgun that fired a snappy round. Probably a good duty gun but it didn't fill a need for me. It was a beautiful gun with great workmanship, I wanted to like it but I just didn't.

 

[arspeukinen]

GSG-5 2ndgen model. Everything in it broke one part after another. It still has some broken parts (bolt carrier frame, bolt carrier).

 

[chris in va]

Glock 21sf.

Nothing 'wrong' with it, just very disappointed. Terrible mush trigger, aircraft carrier-wide sight plane, disturbing grip angle. I had such high hopes for this gun.

Or maybe the EAA Witness 45.

Perhaps the Sig 220...sigh.

I always wanted a SAA 45 Colt, until I fired one. Talk about a high bore axis!

Now that I think of it, the Ruger 22/45 6" bull barrel was absurdly top heavy. Just not fun. The Mosin M38 was pointless too.

 

[hemiram]

There was about a 5 year period where almost ALL the semiautos I bought were duds. New, used, it didn't matter! One after another, FTFs, stovepipes, etc. It was like I was jinxed. Revolvers were another story completely, I had a bunch and they were all great. I had a lot of free cash to buy guns and the bad streak never seemed to end, .45, 9mm, .22, POS after POS. Three good ones came out of that period, all made by Beretta. The first was a 950 I bought as a backup gun, after many .22LR disasters that included the FTL Auto Nine, several PPK clones, and more than a few others. The other winners were a Beretta 84, and a Browning BDA 380. Pretty much perfect. The other duds ranged from an almost OK PPK, to a Browning HP that was a better club than a gun, a Colt Combat Commander that was pretty useless, an AMT Hardballer that never saw a round it liked, an AMT back up 380 with a trigger pull that exceeded most people's ability to pull it, to LLama and Star 1911ish turds that limpwristed constantly.

Weird thing is, it all changed when I started buying lots of guns again in 2006, I haven't had one bad one. Not one. Most have been in better condition than I had thought from the pics on the auction sites I have bought most of them from. Revolvers, semis, new, used, it doesn't matter, I've had great gun after gun, and I keep wondering when the winning streak will finally end.

 

[Redlg155]

Kimber CDP Pro. 45

This was a great looking pistol with the contrasting slide/frame color. Never had a malfunction and was very accurate. What irked me was the crappy finish that was not on par with a 1k priced handgun. It started to wear after carrying it a couple of times. The soft feed ramp area was also an issue as the magazine follower would "peen" the area, leaving numerous marks. This was solved by going with a Wilson mag follower, but by then the stock Kimber mag had done a good job leaving dings on the feedramp area of the soft aluminum frame.

If I ever buy a new another Kimber it will be a steel frame model.

 

[CZ223]

I have 3 I can think of

1) Colt 1911 Jam-eO-Matic I think it was a parts gun. It was beautiful but nevr worked right.

2) Colt 1991A1 I bought this right after number one and it too was never reliable. Worst part of this story is that I traded a beautiful S&W 625-5 in 45 Colt for it. Never should have sold that gun. This is the reason I went fifteen years without even considering another 1911. I now own a bunch.

3) Springfield XD40 I just could not get used to it. Bought it brand new and sold it a couple months later. Traded it for one of the most accurate rifles I own.

 

[itsa pain]

Smith & Wesson 329PD. I expected the brutal recoil. What I didn't expect was the occasional cylinder spin and internal lock engaging under recoil.

My first 1911, a used Colt Government Model Series 80. I saved forever to buy that gun. I had wanted one for years. This was 1986 and I still remember the serial number. Total jam-o-matic. Paid a 'gunsmith' to fix it, sending good money after bad. Finally gave up and traded it for a Sig P220. Still have that gun all these years later, and it was a long time before I bought another 1911.

Ruger ranch rifle. 10-12" groups even with premium bullets. Wouldn't even shoot "hour of angle", much less minute.

Kahr P45. I thought it would be the perfect carry gun, but the trigger hurt my finger and every shot was like high-fiveing a cheese grater.

AMT hardballer. Loved the idea of a stainless 1911 back before everybody was making them. It was the most ironically named gun I have owned: a gun named hardballer that wouldn't even feed hardball.

Elkins you bought a gun with many problems just like the ones here that guys got rid off. Personally I will send it back to the maker and I do not care how many times it takes before palming it off to someone else

 

[HexHead]

That would have been my Beretta 9000s in .40 S&W. Beretta's first polymer gun, designed by the Italian industrial designer Gugliaro, it was beautiful. I just hated it. The controls were very stiff. Very, very stiff. The slide was removing the bluing from the barrel. I spent $75 sending it to Beretta, they returned it saying that was normal. Really? None of my other guns did that. I also found I hated three things about that gun that influenced all my pistol purchases since (it was my 3rd handgun, all made by Beretta).

I hate .40 S&W.
I hate slide mounted safeties that you flip up to fire.
I hate DA/SA triggers on pistols.

 

[76shuvlinoff]

Springfield MicroCompact or was it (UltraCompact?) V10 (ported) 3 5/8" 45acp.

Without ear muffs this pistol taught me to flinch. Evil Evil Evil. I could not sell it fast enough.

 

[redneck2]

Without ear muffs this pistol taught me to flinch.

Ditto on the Springfield V-10. I can't even begin to imagine shooting without muffs. I doubled up and it was still painful to shoot. It went away after the first 50 rounds

3rd Gen SAA in .44-40. Wife worked vacations and overtime to buy me that gun. Absolutely gorgeous. Put it on lay-away a week before Colt announced they were going to be discontinued. Every time I'd shoot the cylinder would lock up and not rotate. Afraid I was gonna knock it out of time trying to get it unjammed. Got more than we paid. Good-bye.

Had an Uberti copy of a Golden Boy in .44-40. Never shot it because it was too pretty to get scratched up and it left when the Colt pistol went away.

 

[Noah]

So far I've not bought a firearm that I hate, but I only own a few and I research and research and research and handle and try to shoot any firearm before buying.

Noah, that's to bad about your Tantal. Glad you like your S&W. Which model is it if you don't mind me asking? The sport has caught my eye, just not to sure if a AR is for me (like wood on a rifle) and at that price point I might get one.

It's the S&W M&P-15 Sport, 650 plus tax at my LGS. It has shot great so far, zero malfunctions and 1.5-2 MOA groups prone with a loop sling.

The Sport is basically one of their more expensive guns, but with no dust cover or forward assist. Comes with a Magpul rear sight and Pmag.

 

[luzyfuerza]

Glock 36. Carried it and used it in IDPA (thinking I should compete with my carry gear to build skills) for two years. Thing experienced a lot of stovepipes and other FTEs, but I am grateful: I got to be pretty good at malfunction resolution. Three times the gun broke cross pins and went belly-up. I got to be on a first-name basis with my local Glock armorer.

Noticed that the folks at IDPA shoots who used Springfield XDs never seemed to have problems with their guns. Made the switch and have no regrets!

 

[SpentCasing]

HK USP Compact 40. I wanted to like it. I really, REALLY, tried to like it, but I just didnt. Ergos were goofy, paddle mag release was akward, trigger was horrendous, and muzzle-flip was bad. Every few years I also try to give 40 another chance but I just dont care for it. For DA/SA I much prefer my Beretta 92 and for poly I much prefer my G17/G19. It was very accurate for me though but it just didnt fit.

Ended up kicking it down the road for a LNIB (backup) Gen4 G19 with a ton of extras. Then traded that G19 without extras for a NIB Gen3 G17. Couldnt be happier, but man I really did want to like that HK.

 

[J-Bar]

Marlin 39 .22 LR. It shot small groups but the lever and trigger were terrible. Things did not improve much with a gunsmiths action job. I intended to use it for cowboy action practice. I replaced it with a Henry Golden Boy which is just as accurate and silky smooth.

 

[Guns&Religion]

My worst disappointment was with a Taurus 94.

Out of the box, the hammer spring was not strong enough to ignite the 22lr primers about half the time. I sent it back to the factory and it came back with a stronger spring, and a VERY strong DA trigger with a bad snagging problem. I sent it back to the factory, and it came back in pretty much the same shape. When I called Taurus, the agent told me the trigger pull had to be hard like that for the spring to be strong enough to strike the primers. He then told me there was nothing they could do to fix the problem. In frustration, I put the infernal gun away, until about a year later when pulled it out again and decided on a "more radical repair"

I had read on a Taurus forum, a post from an owner with a similar problem. What he did was to open up the side plate of the revolver, and fill the inside parts with metal polish and replace the plate. He then proceeded to pull the trigger about 500 times. After doing this, he opened the plate again and cleaned out the polish and re-oiled the trigger. He claimed this fixed his problem.

While I would have normally never done anything like this to a gun in a million years, the truth was I hated this 22 revolver with a passion and I though I would give it a shot, after all, I had only spent $230 for it brand new. I opened up the side plate and squeezed the gooey blue, toothpaste looking metal polish into it and put the plate back on. I then put spent 22 cases into the cylinder to protect it and the firing pin and began dry firing the gun.

I got to about 230 dry fires (double action) and the trigger seized up completely (what a surprise LOL). I then proceeded to open the plate and spray WD-40 into the trigger compartment and clean out the polish. I then put a few drips of gun lubricant in the trigger compartment, but to no avail. The trigger was frozen and done for.

I decided about a month after that to call Taurus again and see if they could look at it. All I told them was the trigger was frozen, I didn't mention any details. They had me send the gun back, and when it returned, it worked fine. It still has a heavy DA trigger pull, but it is fairly smooth and consistent.
I use it now as a trigger finger exercise device at the range.

I suppose it was a disappointment for a while, but with a happy ending.

 

[gdcpony]

Here is a review of the Savage MKII I did.

http://www.shootersforum.com/rimfire-rifles/49754-mark-ii-review.html

My daughter loves it so it is still around.

 

[Cee Zee]

I bought a Tec-9 mostly for giggles but I was pretty disappointed in it even for that purpose. First off a round dug into the ramp and put a major burr in the ramp. I had to send it to the factory to get it fixed and they were pretty slow about it. But it did work when I got it back. Mainly though, it wouldn't hit anything you pointed it at. I would have been happy with even minute of man at 10 feet but I don't think it was that accurate.

It was a nice party favor but as a weapon it was a waste of ammo. Still it was fun to rip off 25 rounds if a few seconds. I sold it after just a few months (after getting it back from the factory).

 

[1911 guy]

Several years ago I bought a brand new Para Ordnance fullsize 1911. That's when I discovered that the Para of today is NOT the Para of a decade or more ago. While mim parts are common, I didn't expect plastic. Where sometimes a lemon leaves the factory, I do expect CS to be willing to at least attempt to address it, whether I wind up completely satisfied or not.

 

[fredg]

Ruger LCR 22 What a piece of junk! It had a limited edition olive drab finish that started flaking off the moment it was handled. The cylinder was way sloppy and after a few rounds it broke free and would just spin... while closed in the frame.

Took it back to my dealer and got a Rossi .22 revolver, I was hesitant because of the Rossi name but it has been a solid nice shooing gun and 100 times better than the Ruger!

And it is all steel! Unlike the plastic Ruger.

 

[marv]

I may have avoided disappointment. I bought a new .22 auto pistol by phone from a dealer. Before I could go pick it up my bride vetoed the deal. Later one of my buds said he has the same gun and can't find a big enough piece of cardboard to see where it shoots.

 

[TennJed]

Ruger LCR 22 What a piece of junk! It had a limited edition olive drab finish that started flaking off the moment it was handled. The cylinder was way sloppy and after a few rounds it broke free and would just spin... while closed in the frame.

Took it back to my dealer and got a Rossi .22 revolver, I was hesitant because of the Rossi name but it has been a solid nice shooing gun and 100 times better than the Ruger!

And it is all steel! Unlike the plastic Ruger.

hate to hear that. I love, love, love mt LCR 22lr

 

[1911junkee]

The only Ruger I was ever truly disappointed with, the LCR 22, what a P.O.S.!

 

[guyfromohio]

Is Ruger quality deteriorating since the Bill's passing? The P series and Mark IIs were legendary for their durability and reliability.