These would be guns that weren't only disappointing, they were beyond awful.
For me, it was the EAA Windicator and the Keltec SU-2000. Both had horrible triggers. Shooting the Keltec at 25 yards, I could have made a better grouping by throwing rocks.
Back in the day, Gun Tests shot a Wondernine that was so bad, they showed the tester holding the gun as if to throw it at the target. I don't remember the name of the gun.
So.. what's on your list of worst ever?
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I didn't own it, just shot with a friend for a few hours, but easily the Taurus PT145. I didn't have a charitable view of Taurus before that, but this gun was literally shaking itself apart with pieces flying off as we shot it, and jammed almost every round. I felt bad for my friend who was clearly proud of it and didn't say anything but god damn.Originally Posted by Stephanie B
State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan
Kel Tec P11. Bought it as an NPE gun in 1998 or so. It took then-plentiful preban S&W mags, and was serviceable in most regards -- certainly a lot easier to shoot than the G27 (I had one for two months; around 2000 rounds it broke its RSA rendering the gun inop. I later learned that's a common failure, which got me over the 'Glocks are always reliable' phase).
Round 49, S&B 115 FMJ, broke the trigger bar. Sent it back to the factory, unboxed it at the range, round 48 (total 97) broke the trigger bar. Sent it back, sold it upon return.
Well, I saw a SU-16 crack in half at carbine class. About Taurus, I was in a WA state LGS back in the 90's and a guy came in with a new Taurus 9mm, not their Beretta clone and said that Gun Tests said it stunk. He wanted his money back. Store said NO! Tough!
Worse for me was a new, first wave G42. Out of the box, it jammed so solid on the first round, that I couldn't move the slide. Later, it jammed on everything, all the time and fired out of battery (scaring the crap out of me, seeing flames, smoke and sparks coming out of the ejection port).
Had a Cobray M11/9 back in the day. Terrible, terrible gun. Could see it being fun on full auto for a few mags, maybe suppressed, but that's it. Sights were vestigial at best and the trigger was like cranking a hi-lift jack. I got it in middle school mid-ban and spent forever tracking down a stash of the high-cap Zytel mags.
Fast forward to 2005, I sold it to Ben Stoeger's buddy at a pistol match in Wisconsin. Ben was just a newbie hotshot making waves in the local scene at the time. And I had just discovered uSPSA after moving up there.
--Josh
“Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.
My first handgun was an Auto-Ordnance 1911 that I purchased in 1989. I was a follower of Chuck Taylor, and convinced that 1911's were the pinnacle of awesomeness. Having just graduated HS, I couldn't afford a Colt, so I found something "just as good" and it was every bit as crappy as you'd expect a $200 1911 to be.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I later mounted an officer's length slide and barrel (a.k.a the Auto-Ordnance "Pit Bull" kit), to make it "better" for concealed carry. At best, it would sometimes make it through a magazine of FMJ without a stoppage.
At least my early dremel gunsmithing didn't destroy anything valuable.
I was once in a class next to a guy who was shooting a pinned and recessed Model 19. It must have been made on Friday at quitting time, because it was a pile of dog shit. He'd bought it new in 1975 and had only shot about 200 rounds. It really was a pristine looking gun. It started shaving lead about 250 rounds into the class, I know, because it was spitting lead at me. Then it started having trigger return issues. A field strip and careful cleaning didn't do anything for it. The inside had machining marks that looked like it was fitted up with a chainsaw file. Finally, the gun was deadlined when the firing pin nose broke. And he switched to his backup gun a Model 10 that was janky looking but ran like a top.
I ran into that guy at another class a few months later and inquired about his Model 19, he said he had replaced the hammer nose and fitted a new hand to correct the timing. Then went out and put a box of 158-grain Gold Dot maggies through it and cracked the forcing cone...It's for the better that thing needed to be a wall hanger. Just goes to show you, the veneration of "pre-MIM" "pre-lock" Smiths is a lot of nostalgia. Sure, I've seen plenty of shitty Smith revolvers from the Lock-era, but I've also seen an almost equal number of shitty pre-lock guns. About the same time Colt and Harley Davidson made shit products (i.e., the mid-70s) Smith and Wesson did too.
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Against his own instincts, my dad once bought a Lorcin .380 at a gun show. I want to say it was like 90 bucks or something. That was pulsating sack full of fail. It never once made it through a whole magazine without a malfunction. 'Extraction' was weak and inconsistent. Feeding was inconsistent. The magazines were more dangerous than the gun, because they had razor sharp feed lips and sharp corners. He ended up trading it away and got a Winchester Model 25 shotgun in exchange. I still have the shotgun and it's a damn sight better gun (just a non-take down version of the Model 12 and it has a slick ass action).
Another one my dad had was an early Kimber Series 2 1911. The chamber wasn't reamed properly and the gun was very inconsistent in feeding (well chambering). If you had a round at the longer end of the OAL, forget it. Thrice it went back to Kimber without being fixed. Finally, dad took it to a local smith, who quickly diagnosed the short chamber, reamed it out and the gun became a paragon of proper function. By that time he'd just grown to hate and distrust it, so traded it off for a Remington 700 in .243*. I swore off Kimbers for a very long time and until I bought the TLE I have now for five benjamins, I didn't think I'd ever have one.
The Remington 700 was a very nice BDL Deluxe Model with a great trigger and excellent barrel. It would shoot MOA @100 with an old 6x Simmons scope on top. The problem it had was it was built pre-recall for the safety issue. The only ND I've ever had was an AD, I released the safety and the gun went off. Fortunately, it was pointed down range on a hot range, no issues. It went back to Remington to fix the issue and was quite a nice gun, but didn't get much use. Dad sold it to a buddy and used the money to buy his last 1911, the Officer's model I still have. Which despite being someone's cobbled up, chopped down, Officer's, runs.
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My friend who collects machine guns, because he's a bigger nerd than me, once bought a late-50s era M2 Carbine. WOW what a piece of hot garbage. That thing sucked on so many levels. Extraction, feeding, despite being an op-rod gun on full auto it tended to gas you in the face. IF you could get through a 15-round mag, the rate of fire was so high, you couldn't hit much with it. The receiver on that gun was a converted late-war Harrington and Richardson and it showed. Machine marks were every where the bolt looked like something a Khyber Pass apprentice gunsmith would make. Even after an extensive rebuild and tuned magazines, the gun would only run about 40% of the time.
Charter Arms Bulldog 44, terrible trigger, extremely difficult to shoot well, impossible to manage recoil with full power ammo, out of time in under 500 rounds. The company has gone bankrupt more often than Larry King has been divorced.
AMT Backup, defines terrible trigger, failure to feed malfunctions, and stainless steel galling between the slide and frame. Plus how can you make stainless steel that rusts in a month of just being in the atmosphere.
Interarms PPK/S
My dad bought one of these years ago. He had always wanted a PPK. It sucked. Bad.
Modern 9mm carry guns are so much better.
Survivor bias is a thing.
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Not another dime.
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