"What Gun Were You The Most Disappointed With?" Redux

[Styx]

I've had a KelTecs, Taurus', Sigs, M&Ps, etc. and all pistols from all companies have been flawless. The gun I was most disappointed with was the Glock 26. It was the first pistol I ever fired, and I never got what all the hype was about afterwards. The grip was not comfortable for me at all, and I just didn't get what all the hype was about. I'm glad I shot it befor I bought one. I ended up getting a XD.

Funny how people have problems with Kahrs, Rugers, $700 Sigs, S&W's, Glocks, etc, but when people have issues with a budget gun, they never want to buy from the company again.

 

[rhinoh]

XDs in 45. After two trips to Springfield, and a lot of work and expense on my part, it never ran.

Amazing the variability in individual guns- I have 2 of the XDs .45's and they have been perfect!
Of course I have 2 Kahr CM9's also perfect but Kahrs seem to be universally hated....

 

[ACP]

"It ain't the arrow, it's the Indian."

Thanks, MCGunner -- that's what I was going to say.

I've NEVER had a revolver that I was disappointed with; quite the contrary, I let too many winners get away. The semiauto problems are legion. And I've been at it for two decades.

 

[Tallball]

In my entire life...

My very first semi-auto was a cheap 380 (can't remember the brand) that was junk. I replaced it with an FIE 380 that was junk. My father-in-law sold me a S&W 12 gauge pump shotgun that wouldn't cycle properly (he only wanted $50 and was unaware of its issues). I have had two Rossi revolvers, and both had problems. One of my twelve or so Taurus revolvers chewed up its own ratchet thingies on the star extractor. The Sig Mosquito was the most disappointing because it was a BRAND-NEW SIG!

The other 50 or so firearms have been great.

 

[Normandy]

Ruger LCP. For me, they have the worst trigger pull since the old Russian Nagant. LOooong trigger pull, way to strong. I sold mine and bought a Taurus TCP, and love the little thing. Much, MUCH nicer trigger. Accuracy is better because I'm not fighting that godawful trigger.

 

[Zerodefect]

Ever consider it might be YOU that can't shoot and not the gun? I've owned quite a few snubbies from Rossi to Smith and Wesson and have yet to meet the snubby that can't but five shots into 3" off the bench from 25 yards consistently. With practice, one can run the 8" plates with a snubby at 25 yards off hand about as fast as with a service length revolver. Hell, I have a Kel Tec P11. That thing puts 10 rounds into 3.5" to POA at 25 yards. It's a service gun in a pocket.

It ain't the arrow, it's the Indian.

I agree completely. Just keep a shot timer handy for such drills. If you can keep up with a mini pistol with poor sights, then so be be it. Sounds like a great solution. But only the best shooters I've seen can rock a J-frame as well as a normal pistol.

I was terribly slow, as were my peers when we finally decided to run 2 courses of steel plates side by side. One side an normal pistol like a G23, the other side our CCW's. It illustrated exactly what we were leaving on the table as far as speed and performance. And the addition a week later of a steel dualing pistol tree sealed the fate of our tiny CCW's. They never won a duel against a fighting pistol.
http://www.jumpingtargets.com/colle...uelling-tree?gclid=CIzr2YSQjMMCFVc1aQodo6QANw


Overnight our CCW selections increased in size. The biggest difference in our thinking was: If we had to use our CCW, would it be a crazy guy with a shovel, or a guy with a pistol?

I still keep a Kahr P380 around for deep concealment, but I consider it as useful as a pocket knife. Maybe I'll try upgrading it's sight with taller Dawson sights. But for now, it's one of the most disappointing pistols I own, along with the S&W M&P 380 J-frame.

 

[VFRMac]

I had to have a Glock 21, way back when they first came out. The gun made two trips back to Glock, both times with broken firing pins. The second time, they threw in the salt water upgrade, no charge. No jams, no ftf's. It just plain broke, twice. Great customer service, but traded it away.

Kahr MK9, carried for years of great service, till it started jamming one day at the range. The slide cracked below the recoil spring opening in front. Sent it back to Kahr, and bought another to carry while it was being repaired. The replacement, and the original, are both unreliable for carry now. Kahr suggested break in period? BS. I have tripled that on both pistols. I am at the point of swapping parts to see if I can get one to run out of the two I have. More than $1500 worth of disappointment.

 

[JB357MAG]

kel tec pf9.

ftf, fte, stove pipe jam, mag falls out
trigger pinch, and it beat the crap out of my hand

1 clean mag out of 100 rounds.

Other then that it was fine.

Jimmy

 

[Tony k]

I'm sitting around being lazy. FIgured I'd tally the results. So far, in no particular order.

S&W
Bodyguard
340ct
Sigma-2 votes
MP40
Mod

Sig
Mosguito-5 votes

CZ
75b

Walther
P22

Charter Arms
Mag Pug

AMT
Hardballer-2 votes

Glock
17-2votes
19
22
26
36

Colt
Gov. 380
1911
Combat Elite
Mustang

Arcus
98dac

FN
FNP45

Springfield
P9C
XDs 45

Browning
Hi-Power- 2 votes

Ruger
GP100
LCR
LCP

Taurus
TCP
.357 Revolver

Helwan
9mm

Heritage

Auto Ordinance
1927

Diamond Back
DB9

Keltec
P3AT
PF9

Kahr
CW45
P380
Mk9

Handguns only since this is a handgun subforum. Probably not a perfectly accurate count.

Don't think I'll be buying a Sig Mosquito anytime soon!

 

[HankB]

Colt 1911 Government Jammamatic. Even after going back to Colt's repeatedly for their laughable "warranty service" it remained a Jammamatic. Swore never to buy another Colt thanks to their NOT fixing this bad product.

Kahr P9. Numerous problems. To their credit, Kahr TRIED to fix it, ultimately replacing the gun; I traded the unfired replacement for a G26, which isn't as neat a package, but it WORKS well.

S&W M41. This may be an ammo issue, but when I first got it, it worked fine; it STILL works fine with some of the old .22 ammo in my dwindling hoard. But with any brand of current .22 rimfire ammo I've tried . . . it jams. Frequently.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Dad bought a Russian made (Izmash) Makarov in 380, bulged cases from an overcut chamber made it spooky.

Nothing wrong with the design, just that example had me worried we'd get a burst case. Returned and replaced with something else.

 

[Monac]

The worst pistol I ever bought new was a 9mm Browning BDM (BDM = Browning Dual Mode). At the time I bought it, I was shooting quite a bit, and it was the least accurate pistol I had (until I bought a used Vektor CP1). Poor trigger, and finicky about ammunition. There was one type of 9mm ammo (Fiochhi 147gr JHP) that would not even chamber fully.

The Dual Mode feature was a screw on the slide that could switch the trigger mechanism from conventional double action to "revolver mode", which was like a DA revolver - firing the pistol did not cock the hammer, but you could thumb cock it. It turned out to be "the answer to a question nobody asked".

Strangely, my experience with the Colt 2000 All American was good. I must have got the only decent one they ever made. Compared to the Browning BDM, it was a dream. The trigger was weird but manageable, and mine fed JHPs well. I stopped shooting it because of all the reports of short frame life. Oh, and the grip shape was excellent, whereas the BDM grip was on the low side of mediocre, IMO.

I was surprised to see that someone who had both an AMT Hardballer and an AMT 45 Backup put the Hardballer on this list. I don't think I ever heard a good word about the 45 Backup, whereas quite a few people liked the 380 Backup.

 

[Winkman822]

Worst I've had were both Kimbers...an Eclipse Target II and a Custom Royal II. Both had severe reliability issues. They were ammo picky, mag finicky, had poorly fitted extractors, and the ejector on the Eclipse broke within 1500 rounds of standard 230 gr. ball (Remington UMC, Federal American Eagle, and the occasional Black Hills). My Springfield 1911's on the other hand are about the best mid-price point 1911 pistol's I've ever owned or shot, function-wise they're as reliable as my Wilson Combat CQB, accuracy wise, they're close, but they fall far short in the finishing and assembly department.

 

[merrill]

Kel-Tec PF9. Long trigger reset. Failure to eject. Just felt cheaply made. I sold it for a loss just to get rid of it.

 

[Bullseye]

I have to say it was the Ruger Stainless Blackhawk with a 10 1/2" barrel. Had a square trigger guard that hurt me middle finger if I didn't wear a glove. Heck of a gun but I got rid of it since I didn't enjoy shooting it.

 

[joem1945]

OP: My father got me a 5 shot Taurus 357. I don't remember the model. The cylinder got jammed at the range with live rounds still in it. The range officer had to pry the cylinder out and we sent it back to Taurus. It came back from the factory with the timing way off. Never again will I buy a Taurus."

I had a dealer tell me that the repair facility in FL would bring people in from brazil and they couldn't read english on the repair ticket. Therefore they would put a few rounds in and if it fired they would send it out. My experience with taurus was less than satisfactory to say the least.

 

[just for fun]

Massive disappointments in 2 different gp100s. Both functioned flawlessly but were slightly worse than abhorable on accuracy but we it oversized bore in one and chattered barrel in the other it's easy to see why. I know I got lemons but it ruined me to the gp100 and I won't consider an sp101 either now.

Had A 51/2 inch Redhawk when they first came out-Mid 80's had chattered rifling! shoot it for an hour and clean it for three! sold it.

 

[Storm_Shadow]

Glock 33. I just could not get comfortable with it. Traded it for a security six and haven't looked back.

 

[wojownik]

S&W 5903. Nice looking pistol, did not like the trigger, and could never shoot worth a dang with that pistol.

Ruger p-89. Just too beefy for my hands. All the ergonomics of a cantaloupe.

 

[cheesebigot]

This came up in discussion recently, but the Sig P6 is everything I love in a gun along with everything I hate. It was so close to being something stellar.

Great ergonomics, good (enough) trigger, good (enough) sights, good chambering, terrible capacity, terrible inability to feed JHPs, and terrible proportions for a single stack 9.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Only one that gave any trouble. That was a Rossi Puma .454. I needed a cowboy action lever gun and this one was the only one available. Finally got it to shoot by using starline brass. The rims were thicker than the Remington factory new brass I purchased first. After I started loading the starline .45 colt brass or .454 everything was fine.

Another barrel that gave me trouble was a 14" contender barrel in .22 LR. Groups were 4 to 6". All other 14" and carbine length barrels were tack drivers.

 

[Ray P]

Hungarian PA-63 in .380; went bang every time and it hit pretty accurately. But all the little aluminum flakes I'd find in the action during cleaning bugged me.

Oh, and an Iver Johnson stnls stl M1 carbine. The gas block was brazed to the barrel, and started to separate at the joint before I got rid of it.

 

[Edcnh]

Ruger SR9c
It was accurate at 15 yards but like a shotgun beyond that distance. But if being used for a carry gun I never had a jam of any kind in the couple of years I owned the gun. I should have bought a full sized for my needs and eventually traded the Ruger towards a Beretta 92FS. The SR9c was the only Ruger I was ever disappointed with. I have three Rugers now and they are all great guns.

 

[WardenWolf]

Handguns, my first Rock Island Armory 1911. Horrible accuracy issues and the nickel finish was degrading because my sweat was interacting with the copper base coat. But Armscor made it more than right. They paid for UPS to pick it up, and hand-selected a brand new gun for me in my choice of finishes. My new parkerized 1911 is a very nice piece.

 

[CajunBass]

About the only gun I was disapointed with, was a cheap knock off of a Colt "Navy" revolver I really bought as a prop for my sons Halloween costume one year (He dressed as a Confederate Cavalryman). I really shouldn't say I was "disapointed" because I never planned to shoot it, and it had served it's purpose as a holster weight, but we did run a few rounds through it later on. It worked and hit what we shot at, but it broke soon after that. Only gun I ever had break. We didn't bother to fix it.