What is the most unreliable semi auto you have shot ?

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Ruger Mark III. The pistol club here at MTU has 8 of them, and I've never seen anything jam more than these. I really don't think that it's the guns' fault in this case though, because a good half of the failures can be attributed to crappy (deformed, misshapen) ammo. I think that a good percentage of the rest of the failures are due to the fact that they hardly ever get cleaned, and when they do, it's with Hoppe's #9 which seems to react with the soot the ammo leaves and turns into coat of gunk. I'd really like to see how one of these runs when cleaned properly (ie, after every shooting session)
 
One of the Astras that looked like a SIG. I cannot remember the model number but the thing would jam on round number 7 each and every time, no matter what mag i used
 
Try changing the extractor spring. there was a known problem on some .40's
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Yeah, another fellow advised that when it first started malfunctioning.
So I had a gunsmith do just that, but it didn't make any difference at all.

I traded the gun.
 
It's funny that I own more than one or two guns mentioned here. Over the years and after working on many guns I have learned a few things. Cristcorp hit it right on the head.... European gun likes European ammo and vice versa.

Some guns require a break in period and some don't. That's how it is and I've read so many posts about guys getting upset because their new gun didn't run perfectly right out of the box. They feel the factory should be able to iron it out before they ship it. The tighter the tolerences the bigger the chance it needs to break in to be 100%. Most owner's manuals state there is a break in period but I'd bet a lot of guys don't read them because they've been around guns their whole life.

I have a Llama .45 1911 "clone" that I'd put against any 1911 out there in the under $1000 range. I also own a Kahr PM9 that has been flawless for nearly 1500 rounds. I also have a Ruger LCP with 1000+ rounds thru it without a hiccup. My HP22a was a finicky little guy until I found 10 mags that it likes, after I worked the base of the mags on the back side because the mag spring would hang up at times when it was compressed. When you load the mags you can almost feel which ones will give you feeding problems at the range. They are harder to load round 7-10. That's a mag spring bind. Last week I had 10 mags and I fired off 98 rounds without a hitch and the 2 that didn't fire had the cases hit with the firing pin but no go. I blame that on the cheap .22 ammo. If you get a FTE then you should save the casing and most often you see a hairline crack in it that caused it to expand in the barrel just enough to make it tough to extract. Also, the recoil springs in the .22s need changing more often because they are smaller and thinner. Neglect those and you get your FTEs, FTFs and stovepipes.

Most .22s are ammo sensitive. HP range ammo is silly in the .22LRs. Most .22s like the RN ammo. It's just simple mechanical symmetry.

My Raven .25 has eaten over 1000 rounds without flinching. They are also mag sensitive and a clean mag is all this little workhouse asks for along with fresh recoil springs after 500 rounds.

It amazes me that we'll spend $800+ on a nice handgun and then spend $30 on a mag and complain that the gun is garbage when it won't feed properly. 85%+ of feeding issues in the semis are mag related whether it is the lips, follower or the spring itself. If you have a gun that is a jam-o-matic then sell it to me for cheap. I'll have it running like a clock in a week or so and I'll sell it at 3x what I paid for it.

Oh, the original question. I've worked on a lot of Llamas and the .380s seem to have the worst percentage of issues. I've narrrowed down the reasons but if I tell you guys here I'll lose a source of income! They keep me busy. Sorry for the long post but as I kept reading I kept shaking my head thinking "if they only knew".....
 
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Very interesting series. I'm surprised to see the Sig P220's mentioned so often? I have the ST. It is by far my favorite range pistol. Never jams. However, the ergometics made me change my grip as my thumb in the straight forward position rode the slide release and it wouldn't lock back on the last round. Solved that problem with a new grip.

I was dumb enough not to read the directions on my Ruger P345. Dry fired it one night w/o a mag in it and wrecked it. Ruger fixed it for free - took 2 months. I like the ergonomics but if I slam a mag home.....the slide will release about 20% of the time. I don't like that. Plus, I think that Dry Firing sensitivity is a major design flaw for any pistol. Very accurate. Good price. I enjoy shooting it. (Adjusted the rear sight.)

The Ruger MK III's are not for everbody. Field striping is involved. Mine jammed all the time. Then I went to the a Rimfire Forum and got a great tip about rounding the edge lips of the mags with a Dremel Tool. That simple tip did it. My MK III never jams now and thats with 3 different modified mags I use. However, field striping still involves going to a Web Site to review the correct order of steps. Wish it field stripped easier...then it would be perfect.

My S&W M&P .40 was a fine SD or carry pistol. Never jammed or FTF. Good price and accuracy. I sold it as I wanted a Range Gun in .40. With the heavy trigger pull design in Mass.....it's not a fun range gun. Plus, after firing 50 rounds....it really gave a bad trigger bite. But.....for SD or Carry..... great value & reliable pistol.
 
XD 45 mid size-BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAPOLA!

jammed constantly (ftf) with FMJ ammo. the accuracy was horrible too.

noticed too, that as the barrel heated up, the accuracy got noticeably worse.

only gun i owned for only a month and will never own another xd-anything, ended up replacing it with a sw mp 45 compact-great gun!

now i know why almost 400 police departments issue the m&p, but exactly ZERO issue an xd!!
 
Ok, I counted them:

Bersa 2
HK 3
Hi Point 4
Raven 4
CZ 5
Tanfoglio 5
Kahr 6
Glock 7
Sig 10
Llama 11
Para 11
Jennings 12
Taurus 12
Springfield 13
AMT 14
Colt 14
S&W 15
Beretta 17
Keltec 17
Ruger 17
Walther 22
Kimber 25

I have excluded in this list any manufacturer mentioned only once. I did not include posts that only included the name of the manufacturer and a pejorative. Ex: keltek yuk :rolleyes:. I tried to separate posts with experience from simple bashing. I might have miscounted a few, but the trend is there. Even if I over- or under-counted 2 Kimber posts, Kimber still has the highest number of complaints. I skipped a few manufacturers that are out of the mainstream (Daewoo, High Standard, etc).

A few things stand out:

Good luck finding a reliable .22 pistol. Many of the Walther, Beretta, and Sig posts referred to .22.

Variants of the 1911 make up more posts than any other design. See Colt, Kimber, Para, and Springfield. Yes, I'm sure that it is due to tinkering with JMB's design. Don't shoot the messenger.:cool:

I couldn't find a source that lists quantity sales by manufacturer. That would be helpful in determining likelihood that a particular design would fail. You could compare sales numbers to failure numbers. However, one example where you could safely guess would be Ruger vs. Keltec. I imagine that over the years Ruger has sold many multiples of the amount that Keltec has sold. Since there were the same number of complaints, you could surmise that Rugers are several times more reliable than Keltecs. Another point that could be made is that Glocks have become so ubiquitous in the last couple of decades that finding them among the least complained about guns on a major gun board speaks volumes for their true reliability.

Just saying. Draw your own conclusions.:D

In the interest of disclosure, I own a Ruger and a Keltec only. Yes, the Ruger is more reliable.
 
Kimber Pro TLE II. UGH! :fire: Waste of time and money. 3 trips to Kimber and still was not reliable. Apparently, they spend more on magazine ads than quality control.
 
Beretta 21 Bobcat .22 auto. Man I wanted to love that gun. Very tempermental and just not reliable enough to keep.
 
Apparently, they spend more on magazine ads than quality control.
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LoL! They do have some fantastic magazine ads.

It seems this thread will keep on going until nearly every make and model is mentioned. What I take away is that they all make some lemons, though some more than others. I haven't had an unreliable gun yet, but I have only been a gun owner for about four years now.
 
RG model 26. Never got through an entire mag without a jam. I was going to clean and lube it well, but when I learned the slide was made of zinc I put it away forever lest it one day embed itself in my face.
 
Colt Officer's Model. Thing stovepiped at least twice on every mag. Shot this thing over 20 years ago and have never wanted to own a Colt since.
 
I had a CZ 27 that was 100% perfect with FMJ's

It ALWAYS hung-up on the second hollowpoint

Great little gun though
 
S&W 457

Failed to feed at least once per magazine, sometimes as much as 50% per magazine.

I feel this was a lemon because 457s I've shot before buying it worked fine. Probably I got one of the worst of the worst.

Traded it for a new revolver many years ago.
 
I had a Taurus PT 22 that would fail to feed and fire with various ammo... Damn thing wasn't even heavy enough to throw at somebody and inflict pain. I'm not a Taurus hater either, I love my pair of Taurus wheel guns. Traded it for a Smith 622 and love it.

I also built a pair of 1911's and bought quite a few parts from Numrich which I believe were Para Ordinance parts. Most of those parts failed, and the ones that didn't I threw in the trash before they did.
 
I've actually considered buying some of the cheap guns on this list I see over and over just to use as a tool to drill failures. Good idea? Knowing my luck it will be one of the few reliable ones.
 
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