I’ve been hanging out with Top Shot alum, Gun Nuts blogger, and South Dakota cop Caleb Giddings. Caleb revealed his blog’s most popular post: 5 Most Overrated Guns of All Time. As I don’t do spoilers (Rosebud is the sled), click on over to see Caleb’s choices. Suffice it to say, Springfield XD.
I totally disagree, the XD is to GLOCK what a BMW is to a Mercedes. (That’s a defense, BTW.) My choice for an overrated gun: the Beretta 92 FS. Some folks reckon any gun used by cops and soldiers must be top drawer. I can’t think of a mainstream polymer handgun I wouldn’t rather have instead. OK, you go . . .
This is opening a can worms…. but I would say glock. I know a lot of people love them. But the glock 19 I had was a pile of junk. On the other hand my xdm has been absolutely flawless.
Actually maybe not (a can of worms), most Glock people seem to like them for purely utilitarian reasons. I personally like them for carry because they’re so damn ugly that I don’t get the urge to take them out and admire them. Hiding my M9 like that would be a lot harder for me. 🙂
So, if the Glock is like a Toyota Camry – utilitarian, not too pretty, a safe buy, then the Beretta 92 is a 70’s muscle car. Sexy and fun to shoot, but not necessarily the best tool in the box for mundane purposes.
I agree. I’ve given glock more chances than I should have. Owned: 3 / Failed: 3. I’ve never managed to get one that would “just shoot.” They’ve all required work to even cycle properly.
I’m curious about the failures you guys are seeing. I’ve literally never seen a Glock failure that wasn’t due to ammo (and I’ve had 8 of them in various calibers).
ETA: I’d seriously like to see an article describing the failures. Pretty sure TTAG would jump at the chance to publish a “Why Glocks suck” article 😀
Jamomatic, can’t get through a magazine without a FTE or FTF.
Yeah I gotta see this to believe it. I have never seen a Glock that would not work. Grip angle, trigger, appearence, not being a 1911 are all arguments for another time. I have just never seen a Glock that does not work. I have seen stuff break. I have seen Ammo that was poorly loaded. I just have not see a Glock not function as it should provided there was not damage. I own a Glock, I hate shooting it, but it works. It works damn well. I have spent enough time as an enthusiast, trainer, and contractor to observe Glock pistols in a variety of conditions. I cannot imagine someone buying 3 Glock Pistols and all 3 messing up like they were Kimbers.
For me it just seems to be ‘If I actually own it’.
I can shoot my friend’s G17 and G22 all day without issues. My 34 apparently thinks it is above those things.
I think my 19 was made on a Friday at 1658.
🙂
I won’t say all glock suck. I just had a bad one. But it was bad enough that I won’t buy another one. Multiple ftf and fte. With all different types of ammo. Recoil spring broke after about 400 rounds. The bottom of one of the mags popped off during a range session. That was embarrassing. slide fit was not good. Very very loose.
I’m most definitely not telling someone what to or not to buy. Just my experience.
Me, too, and then when I bitch, I’m told shit like “you aren’t holding it right”. How is it that I hold all my other guns, handguns and rifles both, “right” enough, yet can’t seem to get it with a Glock?
I’d have to see what you’re doing. Glocks really are just about perfection, even with the later generations’ more intricate safeties. Old, beat up, neglected, filthy, it doesn’t matter. Fired with every kind of grip and stance, as you’d expect from shooters using rental Glocks, they still work.
There are some aspects I cannot speak to, though. I’m not familiar with Glocks in .40 or the new .380, nor Glocks firing homemade reloads (as opposed to factory remanufactured). Outside of those scenarios, I just can’t see someone having trouble with a Glock, unless it really is that one in a million defective unit.
In that case, one in a million isn’t representative of the brand, especially a brand proven repeatedly in every environment imaginable.
As long as you are in position to iron-wrist it, I’ve found Glocks as reliable as washing machines, and looks about as sexy as the coin-op at the laundrymat.
That said, for me anyway, my personal preference is for a gun that is a little less dependent on my doing things, just so. As highly unlikely as it would be, I know my luck, and if I’m ever shot, I really don’t want to be looking at clearing a stovepipe because I couldn’t lock my wrist completely.
My 12 year old 70lb daughter limp wristed my G19 the first few times she fired it, with her eyes closed. Same happened with my XD9 once she was able to squeeze the grip safety enough to make it fire. Once she got over the fact she was “SHOOTING A REAL GUN”, she did fine.
I think you can do the same.
I have many Glock’s, since the first G17. Many thousands upon thousands, upon thousands of rounds later they all have run with zero issues. I shoot a metric ton of wolf classic 9mm through mine and yes I do get the occasional round that just wont fire, even after I have dropped the said rounds into the gun more than once, or even put it other, non, glock guns.
I did have a friend that bought a Gen4 G17 when they first came out as in the first week. He did have the issue where it would eject back into his face on occasion. Glock sent him a new extractor and recoil spring. When I finally bought my Gen 4’s those parts came in the new guns, probably right around the 1st year mark?
Every maker is going to have some bad made gun’s. That said with the amount of Glock’s in service if they were so unreliable we would hear about that, from the non hater crowd. In reality you have more and more law enforcement and military units adopting them, even in 2016 (FBI, British Army, US Marines…etc….etc)
End of the day haters are going to hate.
Never wanted a Glock–everyone I saw shooting them had problems–neighbor just got one and wants me to work on it because it does run correctly–says he loves it though
Maybe stick with the M&P line. Made in the US with a shit trigger.
The M&P series of pistols has had its Growing Pains as well. I remember some law enforcement agencies in Texas had purchased two pistols for trial. And love the two guns so much in fact they decided to purchase I believe the number was seventeen thousand of them for the Texas Rangers and the Texas Highway Patrol long story short when they started filling the 17,000 gun order they had issues cycling the guns. They Smith and Wesson sent out two of their gunsmith to find out what the problem was. After having multiple guns fail to cycle correctly and jam they blamed it on the ammunition. After trying different brands of ammunition the Texas law enforcement buyers cancelled the order and went with Sig Sauer. That really wasn’t the best gun manufacturer to go with either but they did buy the 2:26 P series pistol which is a die-hard proven design and pretty much a decent firearm if you like Hammer fired semi-automatic pistols. But Smith got their crap together and has been turning out a decent pistol lately. Ion 3 M&P series pistols one of them a 5 inch ported performance series M&P pistol and have had no problems out of any of the three I own. I also own a Glock 42 a43 3rd June 26th antigen 2.5 30 and 45 ACP I call it the 2.5 series gym because it has the finger grooves on the grip frame but no accessory rail it was like the in between Jin series pistol that they released early before they came up with the idea to add an accessory rail to it or during the design of their accessory rail.
@Dave
A buddy got an early M&P 9. At 7 yards he could not get better than 4inch groups. A bunch of us shot it and we all could not do better. Smith and Wesson after a year of him complaining send him (and many others) new barrels that fit tighter and worked better. He to this day can still shoot tighter groups with my Gen4 G17.
Interesting. I guess I must have lived a sheltered life since my two G21s have never . . . yup, never failed in all the years I’ve owned, carried and shot them. And the G17 I carried in Iraq was a flawless performer.
So . . . no, Glock doesn’t get my vote as the most over rated.
That is bizarre, or possibly fictitious.
I’m a sig guy and I have literally never encountered a glock that didnt’ function exacxtly as it’s supposed to other than when people were clearly limp wristing.
I’ve seen plenty of Glocks fail. A couple during reviews for this site, which have pics and witnesses. During one of the last courses I took, the instructor claimed 30k rounds without fail for his G17. It had 4 failures during that 800 round course. He said it was the magazines, not the gun. Everyone makes excuses, but they’re just imperfect machines.
Same My XD 40 has been running for 20 years and 10000 + rounds nothing has ever happened.
No hangups, no hiccups, the mag springs are still a bitch to push, no real wear on the slide, rails, no misses EVER.
Grooves look good, even the finish is still holding up. Would not trade it for a Glock glock glockity.
I’ve now spent eight full days training at Front Sight and seen plenty of people have reliability issues with their handguns. None of them were Glocks.
I spent a couple of hours at the range trying out a G17 and G19. Both jammed repeatedly. I ended up having to grip them as hard as I possibly could and even then they were inconsistent. I’ve never had that issue before or after with any other brand of handgun. And that was using multiple types of factory new ammo.
I agree. Glocks are overrated. They work, but they have the ergonomics of a 2×4. Other polymer guns do what Glock does and they actually feel nice in the hand and are easier to hold.
Why was it a piece of junk?
Most over rated handgun………Kimber, all of them.
Someone said it before I did! Yes!!!! Kimber is overrated and agrivating. I have personally attempted to get 5 different Kimber Pistols to function and had to send them back. These were guns that belonged to customers of our shop. These were primarily new guns. They just did not work worth a damn.
Have observed exactly the same with Kimbers–joke was they brought out an overpriced revolver this year to have one gun in their line that did not jam, but I have my doubts
As much as I love autoloaders, when it comes to personal safety, I’ll take a wheel gun, with a couple of speed loaders.
Any gun can have issues, but an autoloader depends on too many things that must go right, to be able to function correctly.
Yep, I’m right there with you. Any modern semi-automatic handgun that requires a specific brand of ammunition to cycle properly is simply unacceptable.
A smith told me that some of the problems with Kimbers is that they are built too tight, and have an extended break in period. Maybe. Mine went back, but the trip did not improve its temperment. After about 75 rounds, it would fail to go into battery, requiring a tap at the back of the slide. Finally, after 1400 rounds, I bought a replacement recoil spring directly from Wolff rather than from Kimber–and it has worked flawlessly since.
A well-known trainer hates Kimbers, especially the 3″ subcompacts, claiming that not a single one can make it through a weekend without failing. He traces the issue to the timing of the recoil being too fast, resulting in many stovepipes.
Simple, the one YOU own.
S&W M&P series. Good guns, not great guns.
I have to disagree about the S&W M&P. My .40 is a great firearm. Very accurate, very reliable and superb ergonomics. And then we consider the price point too. At under $550, it is indeed a GREAT firearm!
Glad your guns works for you. But your post highlights what different people think of as accurate and reliable. The M&Ps I’ve shot have been accurate enough, but just average. 4″ groups at 25 yards is ok. Not great, but ok. As far as reliable, I’ve seen them be pretty inconsistent. Some great, some not. I think zero failures with 500 mixed rounds and no cleaning is the first check on reliability. I wouldn’t consider something “very reliable” until well past 1,000 rounds of no cleaning and no malfunctions. I haven’t seen an M&P get there yet.
Again, good guns. But the numbers just don’t add up to great. At $550 per gun, I think you are getting your money’s worth, but you’re not getting any kind of a great deal.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/jon-wayne-taylor/model-comparison-highlights-excellence-of-smith-wessons-new-mp-trigger/
Why on earth would you put 1000 rounds through a pistol without ever cleaning it? That’s like never changing the oil on your car. Guns are machines, and machines like to be clean to perform their best.
I’ve gone 1000, or more, rounds without cleaning a gun. Some guns can handle it, some cannot.
Mark N, lots of courses have this many rounds of fire. But the point is, “very reliable” isn’t the same for everyone.
Worst triggers ever, and worse than Glock….
The 1911 pistol was very, very advanced for its day. It served for 70 years. It deserves respect. But some people act like it is still top of the line and recommend it as a first choice handgun in 2016. I would say it can be overrated.
This very much, except I’m not sure it was “very, very” advanced. It’s a great design that served its purpose, but technology has moved on from those times.
I wouldn’t recommend a 1911 as a first hand gun either, but that does not detract from the basic pistol itself, but rather to its caliber (assuming .45) and the complex field stripping procedure (for a novice). For a novice, I’d recommend a 9 mm plastic fantastic wonder gun with no less than a 4″ barrel, as the small ones are much harder to control. Until one master’s a basic grip technique, pocket pistols and large caliber guns are just asking for trouble.
The problem I see with the 1911 platform is that the only way you can carry it safely, with a round in the camber, and the hammer back, is to have the safety on, and some will argue against that.
Myself, I prefer my autoloaders to be double action. This way, you can have a round in the chamber, with the hammer down, and be able to get a shot off without fumbling with a safety.
I honestly thought I would be the only person to say this, so thank you. But anyone who has ever field stripped a 1911 next to an xdm understands that technology has advanced in so many ways. Not saying that I don’t want a few $2-3k 1911s in my collection…or that I wouldn’t absolutely want to have one in a gun fight…
I’d rather have the 16 rounds in the mag of John Moses Browning’s very next handgun design – the Hi Power.
But I know, if the .45 fired from a 1911 merely whizzes past your head, it’ll suck your soul out through your ear or something like that…
The Hi Power is an awesome gun.
If I was a solid steel kind of gun guy, it would be on my short list.
I bought the FEG which is based on the Hi-power but has a single/dual action trigger and a decocker. I bought it when I didn’t have much money and my state was enacting a magazine capacity limit. It is the most under-rated gun I’ve come across. It has fed everything I’ve ever put through it flawlessly and it is as accurate as I am. I’ve stumbled across a couple of other folks who’ve owned them and their experience was the same.
The 1911 is the most over rated gun hands down for modern defensive uses. Great with handball but shouldn’t have to spend a boatload of money to get one that works…flame on
My Pa;s old Model 1927 made in 1945 is a tack driver and 100% reliable,
dint cost a fortune until i bought some cocobolo grips from Esmerelda…
lol
Rifle submission here. Warsport LVOA AR 15. Parts gun with a high speed, high drag “operator” rail for the low price of $3K. Total waste of money when excellent options exist for half that price.
I have to agree I have seen the quality control in all major handgun manufacturers and rifle manufacturers by the way drop over the last let’s say 6 to 10 years. I’ll give you one that’s an overrated piece of junk anything Sig Sauer makes. When Sig Sauer was made and manufactured produced in Germany they built one heck of a awesome handgun. Now that they’re made in the United States they’ve cut the quality of materials in which they use especially their barrels are complete garbage. I personally have seen come in our store 3 6 hours in the last year-and-a-half that the rifling was completely blown out of the barrel and these are new guns not ones that have been shot thousands and thousands and thousands of rounds through. Crap I still have a 1984 Sig Sauer P220 that has West German made stampings on the stamped slide that will shoot a one-inch group at 28 yards all day long not even a problem I know 28 is a weird number to throw up there that just happens to be the range from my back door to my target post in my backyard. Butt as I was saying little things Breaking Inside the pistols like the takedown lever Springs they seem to pop off all the time now and let’s the slide come right off the gun once you remove the magazine during a clearing drill. Absolutely hilarious when you drop the magazine and go to rewrite the slide and the slide falls off the frame into the dirt in front of you period and dealing with those people on the phone is like dealing with Nazi Germany. They blame everything on the ammunition and nothing on their quality of craftsmanship.
odd that you’ve had that experience. I own and shoot, and abuse, a whole lot of Sigs, and have never had any QC issues with them.
My older Sigs are tanks (or alloy cockroaches). Nothing kills them.
During the big Sig production run up of years ago I picked up two different Sig pistols and had…issues. I thought they had been made by a completely different company it was so bad. Both were back to Sig more than once and they never ran right. Eventually they gave me older CPOs (at my request) as replacements and those have run without issue since.
I’ve seen two different M&P bodyguards stove pipe or fail to eject on Tulammo. Something to be aware of if you carry one, not that your cheap ass should be carrying with that cheap crap. Know of one M&P compact .45 that had one compressed spring in a mag after carrying for about one year and decompressing to 70% for night time or rotated mags. Otherwise guns are good and God is great.
I’ve shared the same experience with my Legion.
toss up between kimbers and kahrs.
Well, I certainly concur that Kahrs are POS, but nobody ever “overrated” them for me. I liked Kimbers in the shop, they have never let me down other than the color changing when left in the car, really weird but still shoots fine. Bought a Kahr just once, walked out to the range and pulled the trigger and it did not fire. Like a total fool, I tried it again instead of demanding my money back. Second time, it fired, so I now owned it. After that, it failed to fire once or twice in every mag, on examination very light primer strikes, sent back to factory (what a pain in the ass) to be told it was an early model (what, they’d never built a gun before?) and the firing pin hole was a couple thousandths too tight, no worry, we’ll fix it when we get around to it, turned out to be several months. Finally ready to shoot, emptying a mag caused my hand to ache, while my Sig in the same caliber I could shoot all day. Gave it to my kid brother, who reported a few years later that he had no problem with it hurting his hand, but then he had never emptied a mag in just one day before, either! And he can shoot in his back yard, 80+ acres of woods. Takes all kinds.
I have had two Kahrs. The CM9 shoots fantastic without one problem in 900 rounds. The CW380 on the other hand is crap. Even after the break-in shots of 250 it still has a FtF every magazine. Sending it back didn’t help. Even though the CM9 is great I will say Kahr is the worst due to their customer service. They must have the motto “The customer is always wrong”. I cannot even get rid of either gun to the local dealers. They won’t touch them.
The second-worst customer service experience I’ve had with any product or service ever in my lifetime was with Kahr. They are the Comcast of guns. Oh and Kahr is second-worst only because I used to have Comcast.
Whenever I see a Kahr gun on a “top 5” guns list, I vomit a little in my mouth.
I too have a CM9, and it also has been virtually flawless, and the one bobble in the first 200 rounds may have been user induced. Definitely not crap, and for under $400, hardly “overrated” or “overpriced.”
I’ve read stories similar to yours, and I was fearful when I had to return my Kahrs for service.
I bent the slide stop spring on my old P9—Kahr had me send it back for repair and to update the frame to the Torx-retained spring. I was sent a prepaid mailing label, shipped it out on a Friday. They received it on Monday, repaired it, and shipped it out a day later. I was without my gun less than a week.
My CW380 was giving me trouble even after 300 rounds. Same story—free shipping both ways, repaired it in a day.
Kahr’s customer service is the best I’ve ever experienced.
That’s my biggest disappointment with Kahr. Mine shoots like a champ, I’ve got probably 5k rounds through it and its one of the guns for my daily carry. And yet, I’ve shot others that absolutely suck. I’d love another one, but with the consistency issues, I’m wary.
Modern Glock.
MIM extractor/ejector with reports of breakage.
Consumer “Beta” testing new models (G43, G42, Gen 4 spring, G17M recall)
New finish with many reports of rust.
Erratic ejection issues.
All while raising the MSRP, and resting on the laurels of single design that they have somehow become worse at making.
I totally agree with you sir. Glock is one of the handgun companies that I am referring to when I say they are making money off of their name alone they prove themselves early on with quality and we’ll manufacture designs now they’re going the cheap route so they can make more money end of story. And it really is a shame that Glock has cut Corners like they have but as I was saying before it’s pretty much across the board with all major handgun and rifle manufacturers have gone cheap to make more money and I blame this on the bean-counters running their company instead of gun people running their company. You’ve got a bunch of accountants that could care less whether the gun goes bang and ejects the cartridge correctly, all they care about is how many nickels they can stick together off of 1 product. You see this with the pre-release of the 43 to 42 and the 36 all of these guns were released prematurely before adequate testing could be done. Glock is a big company that used to do a lot of testing in house and with special operation units and police now they do all their testing in the public another words they release a product they let a couple hundred thousand people in America buy that product and if it works great if it doesn’t then they go and try to fix their problem. Instead of making sure the product works as intended before releasing it to the public law enforcement and Military. This is a horrible way to do business in the gun industry and if we’re not careful we’ll be the death of our industry completely by a bunch of these Bean counters making decisions on product engineering when they are not engineers bunch of bags of wind that say they can run the company cheaper and more efficiently and turn out s*** pistols. And rifles.
Wilson combat 1911
J/k
Or the Wilson Combat 9mm AR thing.
Yep, the WC is a high quality gun but it doesn’t do anything that a Springfield MILSPEC won’t do. I can see buying one of you are a competitive shooter but other than that it isn’t worth the money.
Anything the leftists want to ban.
Oh, no shit! I don’t know what you were specifically referencing, but anybody who bought a gun believing that it was capable of spraying 30 clipazines of certain death per second without human assistance was SORELY disappointed! You cannot get more overrated than that.
Any Glock. Any firearm that doesn’t forgive a little limp-wristing isn’t “Perfection”.
That said, I still love shooting our 42 and 19.
The M249. A lot of people who weren’t in the military put the SAW on a pedistal. My experience with them involved a lot of jamming and at one point I witnessed a SAW bolt get sheared in half while it was shooting. The magazine “feature” never worked reliably either.
Amen brother I was an M249 saw gunner in the 82nd Airborne in Baghdad and I had the exact same opinion on FN with their so-called all-in-one squad automatic weapon the magazine feature that is a big joke amongst the military community you can basically fire the rifle semi-automatic charging the book each time to make the magazine actually work. In my opinion that was an afterthought so we can jam this on here just in case just in case what it sucks doesn’t work. Plus the gun is so damn loud if you’re firing it out of a vehicle or under slide cover or in a room you will not here for two days all you’ve got is a ringing in your ear they made the barrel so damn short that it’s like shooting a short-barreled rifle but it’s a belt-fed fully automatic machine gun loud with a capital l. Plus I agree I have had major failures with the bolts in those guns cracking I’ve never seen one shere in half butt where the cracks were in the bolt I could definitely see that happening. Definitely is no M240 Bravo.
Yeah I agree the 240 is a different beast, that is a quality machine gun that can take some serious abuse and keep spitting out death
Yet another vote for the 249’s general suckiness. We gave ours to our terps. We figured that, even if they turned on us, it wasn’t likely they could get many rounds off before it jammed anyway.
The 240 is an entirely different matter. How can one company make both, suck at one, and excel at the other?
What is your opinion of the Negev?
The Negev makes me feel funny down where I pee. Smooth shooting, easy to operate, even shoulders well.
Desert Eagle in .50.
Cool? No doubt. But it doesn’t have the utility to match its status.
Being the owner of a DE in .50, yes.
Fun range toy but it weighs more than my AR…
the 357 and 44 mag version of the DE are a big pleasure to shoot however!
“the XD is to GLOCK what a BMW is to a Mercedes”
No. An XD is to a Glock as a Yugo is to an AvtoVAZ.
Go Sig Sauer and you’ll never go back.
Note: to people who cannot discern humor on the internet—please relax, this post is H-U-M-O-R just like the original article was. I choose my firearms carefully and own firearms from several manufacturers including Sig Sauer, Ruger, and Glock.
So let me get this straight you find humor when a company charges you 5 to $600 for a product and when you get it and start shooting it it breaks right off the bat and these are supposed to be self-defense handguns? I claim a big b******* on that one brother. These guns are used by law enforcement and military personnel alike along with men and women in this country depending upon that firearm to save their life I don’t find that funny at all I find that downright disgusting. What happens to the new shooter who buys a brand new Glock Sig Sauer XD or what have you and isn’t trained on how to clear a stove pipe or a double feed and dies because of their lack of training but basically because the weapon itself brakes. You cannot claim to make a self defense firearm and use cheap products to manufacture it and hope for a good result to come from it. And they’re not making the guns any less expensive to the public actually raising prices in some and most instances. For an inferior product. Makes my stomach upset.
When I started shooting again in 2011, I asked a few gun shops what was the most accurate and dependable pistol, and they all said SIG.
Sooooooooooooooo, I have stuck with SIG and I am very happy with it. Have 2 – 226s, 1 – 229, and 2 – 232s.
226s have 28,000 and 6,000 rounds on each, and have never had a fail to “anything”.
I am a little curious about a good striker fired gun, only for the 15 & 25 yard distances. Anything closer, I don’t feel the DA/SA difference when running on a timer.
Yeah, I certainly went Sig Sauer twice in my life and the only thing going back were the 556XI and the P226 to the factory repeatedly because they were piles of junk. Never again.
I had the same experience. 2 new Sigs, 1911 scorpion and a p320. Bought new, 3 trips a piece to the factory, terrible customer service, then sold. I own all Glockenspiel now and in thousands of rounds fired in caliber they make, not one malfunction of any kind. I do not shoot steel case in them, and I use factory magazines.
Anything in .45?
XD and anything Charter Arms, plus Sig…what a ripoff
I’m not sure anything out there is that amazing.
Over-rated ….Hmmmm
1. HK
2. Sig
3. FNH
My opinion is based on price for what they accomplish and how they approach the market.
These are all quality marques but they are too pricey for what they deliver.
I’m not a Glock fan for personal use but they work well considering how many there are. Not over-rate and certainly not under-rated by the fanboys.
Ruger is generally my pick based on their wonderful Cust Ser in the few problems that I’ve had. Interesting that I’ve never had a problem with the old-school steel frame Ruger but have had some with their polymer pistols and revolvers. (Mainly the LCR – 2 issues – same part and the LC9 – firing pin spring). I’ve had no problems with 2 LCPs and 2 SR9 model.
I also think the Walther PPX is one of the most under-rated pistols based on price and performance.
As from everyone else – this is my opinion – YMMV.
I agree with you on the PPX. Really great trigger and the least expensive handgun I’ve ever bought. I’ve owned three Glocks, never had a problem, but sold them all. I think my Lionheart LH9N is under rated but that’s just my opinion.
Yep. Got mine from CDNN for 269.
The Lionheart. Don’t see those often. The modern rendition of the old S&W platform. They were dandy guns too. I have an old 6906 that does home duty. Carrier well and was more accutate than given credit.
The LH is a little slicker and smoother from what I’ve seen.
Don’t know about the PPX but the PPQ has one of the best triggers and resets I have ever run into. I basically bought a trigger pull. Only a few hundred round through it but no problems at all.
Got disgusted with every gun I had except for Rugers–never a single problem of any kind with them; rifles, revolvers, semi autos, old tech or new tech–tried to make malfunctions & could not; only loading a dud round from pushing a fired FMJ back into a casing worked–knew people that caused their own problem & Ruger still fixed it free–sold everything that was not a Ruger–also 100% American Made
Huge Ruger fanboy myself, and I love their guns……buuuuuuut, the stock trigger on the SR series is the worst trigger I’ve ever felt in a Tupperware wonder 9. Seriously, the M&Ps have better stock triggers.
When was the last time you tried the trigger on a new SR? The originals don’t generally get favorable reviews, from what I’ve read. The SR9c supposedly improved on that trigger significantly, and I believe the later SR9s got the improved trigger that came with the SR9c. Now just about every gun reviewer rates them as better than Glock and M&P factory triggers and rates the SR9c as one of the better triggers of the striker-fired world.
For rapid fire, I find my SR9c to be much easier to shoot accurately than any stock Glock trigger I have tried. They don’t have the hard speed-bump that Glocks do. I find that to be a slight disadvantage if you like to stage triggers in slow-fire bullseye mode, which is easier with a Glock, but for quick shooting, the Ruger’s trigger is great.
I recently came into possession of a like new SR45 and a NiB SR9 full size (a friend of mine is going through a bad divorce and is selling everything that isn’t nailed down). Both guns=shit triggers.
My SR9c is hurt by your comments…at least it would be if it could read or even had so much as a brain stem. But what it does have is probably the best stock trigger I’ve ever pulled.
In the interest of an honest argument, no gun does it all. You’re not going mudding in a Ferrari, your not doing aerobatics in a Lear Jet. The XDm is to Glock as Chevy is to Hyundai.
The rest are interesting, but if it’s not a Beretta 92/96 “crappy trigger (as in if it’s safe/functional enough to take to war)” your just trying, and there is no “try”.
Sig Sauer is 2nd. Cost makes it an also-ran.
Gun Nuts Media’s list of the most overrated firearms is so incredibly dumb that it can’t be real. Taking some of the greatest firearms in history and calling them overrated is the among the most stupid clickbait posts in Internet history.
My choice for overrated — the Glock 19. It’s a good gun. It’s simply not in the same class as the immortal Glock 17, despite what the obsessive Glock fanboys say about it. And it still feels like a brick.
Come on, they provide such solid, well-researched evidence as “No, you fedora wearing neckbeard” and “everything would be better if we all just went back to the 1960s so we could hit women and get day drunk at work.”
Nobody told me we couldn’t do that now.
You left out smoke like a chimney at your desk and in the restaurants.
The day after they posted the “most over-rated guns ever” article GunNuts posted a “greatest guns ever” article with the same exact guns. Clickbait, yes. Serious, not a chance in hell.
Come now, Ralph, don’t you know about the magic of positive affirmation? You can apparently turn a lame junk article into brilliantly clever gutbuster simply by sticking the word “HUMOR” near the title. Think on that while I hop in my cherried-out vintage Camaro (a 1996 Honda with “Camaro” drawn on the body in crayon) and swing by Mickey D’s for some nice kobe filet.
This; Ralph has got it right. If it shoots and doesn’t jam then GREAT! I have nothing against Glocks, they have worked well when I fired them, I just don’t like their ergonomics. My XD .45 compact has never failed, no jams/stovepipes, nothing. It is not a sexy gun, but it is my goto for home security. I am real fond of the newer Walther PPQ series also.
My first pistol was an XD9, which I have since passed on to my son. It has been utterly reliable over the last ten years or so. The one thing I did not like about it was that for my body build, it is too FAT to carry.
Hands down: Keltec, any model I’ve owned. I know they mean well and design some cool stuff, but I need to offload my Keltecs.
I’ll take em
I’ve got about a 50% success rate on USA-made SIGs. I had a M11-A1 that couldn’t get through a mag without malfunctioning at least twice. Very disappointing.
I’d disagree with the author’s assertions as to the AK and Mosin, both are outstanding rifles for what they are intended to be. The AK is a dirt cheap and easily serviceable platform that delivers a powerful round and will withstand fairly extreme abuse while the Mosin is basically the bolt action equivalent of a brick shit house. It’s not meant to be accurate, it’s meant to be easily useable by an illiterate Russian peasant who drags it through the mud and pisses in the chamber to clean it.
As for the most over-rated guns of all time?
The MP5 / G3 and all their plethora of clones. Average sheet metal guns that have plenty of issues. (Try getting an MP5 to cycle with light weight fangible as well as heavy sub-sonic ammo without changes to the gun.) But if you hear H&K fanboys talk about either gun, (in between the faping and the heavy breathing) you would think these guns were the ultimate in German tactical engineering. (Even though the G3 only existed because the Germans were too cheap to pay those pesky Belgians the licensing fees needed to adopt the FAL.)
Your immediate kneejerk defense of the AK is exactly why these “overrated” lists are written.
It’s hard to overrate the most popular assault rifle on the planet. The problem with AK fans in their blindness to the AKs significant weaknesses, not the inherent design of the rifle. You can’t make an AK SPR, the platform and round just aren’t designed for it. The “overrated” claim for the AK comes from people seeing fanboys try to fit the AK into niches it’s not supposed to go in.
I didn’t mean to disagree with your points, they’re certainly valid. My point was only that “overrated” is applied to guns that can’t be critiqued without a defender jumping in to the conversation. Thanks for a well thought out reply to a slightly trollish comment. 🙂
I think both of you are missing the point of the article. You don’t have to make a claim as if it were scientific fact or religious scripture. You just have to say, ” I think X is overrated”. It’s just someone’s opinion, everybody relax.
The only thing the Mosin has over other bolt actions was that it was cheap to buy and shoot. Now, I can buy a K31, Yugo Mauser, or Lee Enfield for around a $100 bucks more than the Mosin.
(and the ridiculous simplicity of the design) there’s a reason why you never hear about function issues with Mosins.
“Sticky bolt” is a function issue. Shooting surplus ammo often requires slapping the bolt open and closed after about 30-40 rounds. I have never seen this happen with any other common surplus rifle design regardless of ammo.
Try shooting brass ammo. It’s an ammo issue, not a gun issue.
““Sticky bolt” is a function issue.”
A sticky bolt is almost always an ammunition issue, and one that can be reproduced with any bolt action rife. If you experience this, it is likely an overpressure round. For a reloader, it is one of the signs that your rounds are a bit too hot.
But is the Mosin-Nagant any easier to operate or maintain than the far superior contemporary bolt actions from other nations? Is the Mauser, Lee-Enfield, or Arisaka some sort of firearm Rubik’s cube? Mosins are popular because they are cheap, and not for any other reason. This was the point of why they can be considered overrated.
As a matter of fact, yes. The Mosin bolt and receiver assembly has far fewer fiddly bits than the Mauser (and Arisaka, those that’s a member of the Mauser family) design. Don’t forget, that a Mosin bolt detail strips into a grand total of six parts (With no removable parts being left in the receiver.)
I own examples of all three rifles and the Mosin has the fewest fiddly bits of all of them.
Not completely sure but it probably has the letter “H” and the letter “K” in front of it.
I’m with ya!
Taurus Judge.
I just recently purchased one, not because I thought they were the greatest thing since beer, I simply just wanted one. I got the 3″ cylinder because I had a couple boxes on 3″ 410 shells.
The accuracy is pretty dismal with the 45 Colt, but this weapon was never intended to compete. You gotta admit it looks kinda scary, with the 3″ chamber. I call it my B.A.I.M.F. gun. (Bad Ass Intimidating Mutha F……
probably glocks. i carry one, and theyre fine, but theyre neither magic nor “perfect”. theyre just a gun.
SIG Mosquito. Not sure just how highly rated it was, but I was excited for a .22 trainer that closely mimicked the real deal–but the thing shot so poorly and jammed so frequently (yes, even with mini-mag ammo) it was worthless for training.
I got the .22 conversion kit for the P226 and it worked flawlessly for the first 26,000+ rounds, then broke. Called SIG, and they gave me a new one (for free). To compensate for weight, i added a 1″ flashlight holder on the rail stuffed with quarters. The slide on “real” gun (steel) and .22 (aluminum) are about 8 ounces different.
Lots cheaper than 9 or 40 when you can get .22
Never saw a Sig Mosquito that could get thru a full mag without jamming–owners would bitch about ‘bad ammo’, leaving live, damaged rounds on the ground–I would pick up the DAMAGED rounds , load them in my Ruger SR22 Pistol & fire them all with them watching that just to rub it in–saw same results (jamming) from the Walther P22
All 1911’s and the Beretta 92
The 1911 is a superior military grade firearm and wonderful for self-defense. However you cannot mass-produce 1911 and hope for a good result. The gun was never intended to be mass-produced on an assembly line. It was designed to have each part hand fitted to the gun. Requires a real gunsmith to assemble the firearm correctly not a gun tech that have replaced all the gunsmith and now stand on a huge assembly line doing one or two features on the gun and then passing the basket down to the next gun tech no you need to have someone who is skilled in assembling Firearms a real gunsmith put 1911 together using quality American Steel and you will have no problems with that firearm other than training someone how to use it and clean it. LOL
The 1911 was designed to be mass produced just like the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine.
Where mass production is a problem is when manufacturers try to replicate custom guns with mass production methods I.E. Kimber. If 1911 could not be mass produced they would have not ever been much of a factor sidearm for a military. The original 1911’s actually had much more slack in their tolerances. Which makes sense as the original intension was not to be a match grade bullseye shooter. It was a combat handgun.
It funny how it seems the more you spend on one of these pistols the worse it runs. Case in point Rock Island Armory makes one of the most inexpensive 1911 on the market, but they run like a sewing machine.
The AR-15.
Oh that’s easy… Glocks. If for no other reason that it’s a gun that’s sold as ‘Perfection’ yet everyone has to add a half a dozen upgrades to get it there.
I’ll point out that the post is listed under “humor”.
That said, were one to actually create a list like this that wasn’t humor I’d want to know what the criteria were going to be.
And not to be a stickler, but I do find the “humor” designation works a lot better when it’s attached to things that are actually funny.
I’d have posted it under “dumb” but that’s just me.
Regardless, how does one decide what’s “over rated”? Fanboy status real or perceived? Sales? Price vs. what you’re actually buying? You’d need to develop a matrix for this.
Probably some 1911 variant.
People jack their wieners so hard about how fantastic they are, yet there’s always that ‘My firearm is picky when it comes to ammunition.’
My XD is far from good looking, but eats anything and everything without fail.
I REALLY dig my 1911, but… 1911s. The cheapo types run but aren’t spectacular and the spectacular types cost used car money and require break-in and sometimes gunsmithing to run. Also, Springfield XDs. I just don’t get fan-boying over something Glock-like with stuff added to be less Glockish. Like a grip safety. See also 1911.
I was going to say the 1911 as it’s a heavy single stack pistol that is outdated even among JMB designs thanks to the Hi Power (no, he didn’t make the finished Hi Power, but he also didn’t make the finished 1911 either so…) but then I saw Brick’s post.
I have to agree with him. It’s definitely one of those Hollywood/Video Game guns that’s never used in the real world like the Desert Eagle, Jackhammer, G11, OICW, Bizon, Mateba, Webley-Fosberry, SPAS-12, or CAWS.
Did you just claim that the 1911 is never used in the real world?
No. He said he was going to say “a 1911,” but then he realized there were all those weird Hollywood-featured guns that are never used in the real world. A bit ambiguous, sure, but that’s clearly his meaning.
Every gun that I can’t afford is over-rated.
CZ 75 and variants.
you take that back ;.; *feefee’s hurt*
in all seriousness, as a rabid CZ fanboy I can say that they do have a reputation that supercedes them. They are not bad guns by any stretch of the imagination, but one should understand the inherent weaknesses too 😛
I hope you get cat AIDS. The CZ75 is the most underrated gun on the market.
Let’s be honest here, the finishing on it can stand to be improved. I’ve got CZ Customs guns and they have some spots that are questionable when it comes to machine work, but nothing too critical.
22/45’s
Springfield Armory XD Series- what a stoopit gun. Let me say, I love SA 1911s and love SA M1As, and would own a few of both if I was rich. But the XD series is a joke, and if you own one, you’re a joker and not cool and are in fact the opposite of cool and a joker. Just FYI.
Glocks. Their selling point is reliability, and basically forfeit every other category. They are reliable, but not significantly more so than M&Ps or any number of guns competing against them.
*disclaimer-I am not a fanboy*
I wouldn’t say they forgo every other category. They’re kinda ugly and they are a bit on the thick side for CCW. Their accuracy is just fine and their trigger reset is solid. It’s designed to be a combat firearm, not a wonderracetoocoolforschool pistol with a super light trigger.
It does what it’s meant to do. If I were shooting competitively I’d use something different, but for actual self defense use going bang every time is the most important aspect.
Glocks were designed for police work. Just because garrison military forces use them doesn’t make them combat pistols. The UK is the first military force that deploys to use them.
Actually you’re wrong in the early 1980s Gaston Glock being a man that helped design and perfect polymer Plastics heard about a contract from the Austrian government for I believe the number was 50 to 60 thousand handguns they were looking for a new design more reliable more robust in the 9-millimeter cartridge size. He designed the Glock 17 and presented it to the Austrian military and they accepted the design it was actually the first large military sale or any sale for Gaston Glock. It’s how it all got started. That was the first contract the first glock gen 1 offered and it was in I believe 1981 possibly 82.
1911’s are the most over-rated gun, also the most over priced in most cases. That being said, I do carry one every day.
Glocks, period.
Not really. I just want to be like the other cool kids and shit on Glocks. ?
Just curious.
How would you know if you shit on a Glock?
I don’t know how do you know if you crap on a clock? Please answer us. My thoughts on Glock are as follows yes they have cut back on the quality that they once had. Yes the gun is ugly. Yes the grip frame is a little uncomfortable. But I really don’t think Gaston Glock cares what we or anybody else thinks of his Plastic Fantastic. There a tool simple as that and even though I’ve seen more problems in the last few years then I’ve seen since 1984 when I got my first gen 1 g-17 I still think as far as reliability goes they are one of the better polymer pistols.
1911 – too heavy, Beretta 92 – ugly and heavy, Sig Sour – too heavy and hammer drop safety, HK – we hate you, Shield save us from rust, Glock – UGLY, XD? – we are ugly too!, Walther CCW – need a tool, Walther PPQ – does this come in something other than black?, Ruger – itty bitty ok when it works, oh you meant the too big ones, CZ – which one of these things is the real one again?, Taurus – fake versions of classic Smith revolvers, Kimber – fake Colt ok if you get a good one, Kel-Tec – mine use to extract not so much now.
If I missed irritating someone it was completely accidental. Owned, still own, or have at least shot all of the above except the Beretta 92 which I just could not make myself shoot the one time I had an opportunity.
What was the problem you had with your Shield rusting? Was that the problem you hun? What part of it was resting the slide or the barrel? Just curious.
I really didn’t want to like the Beretta 92, but the first time I picked one up I shot it well. Really well, better than guns I’d owned a long time. Still didn’t buy one…
Not a Glock Fan, but related to two in the house. Two of us also love our XDs. One won’t have one, which isn’t a problem. Love my Sig and Ruger, too, both 1911’s.
Most of these have been mentioned before, but here’s my list:
-1911s : Just outdated. Low capacity, dicey reliability.
-FN Five seveN: without the special military- only ammo, it’s really just another rather unimpressive semi-auto.
-Desert Eagle: Just because you CAN build a handgun around around a gas piston, it doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
-Intratec TEC-9: While not “overrated” among knowledgeable gun people, gang bangers seem to love this craptacular pistol on looks alone.
Hey the Desert Eagle has plenty of “tactical” applications. Counterstrike can’t have been wrong for decades. /sarc
Counter-Strike junkie LMAO
92. Mostly cause there’s enough gun there to make a hi cap .45 and they went with 9mm instead. It’s a lard ass of a gun for not enough caliber.
1911. Why not just get a SAA and be done with it?
Sure, but which SAA? Dragoon? Walker Colt? Freedom Arms? Linebaugh?
It always seems like I’m one range trip away from selling all of my automatics and just going back to wheel guns.
Ruger Super Blackhawk. Duh. 🙂
With lead cast bullets, for added heft.
Well you’ve gone and done it now. Look, stuff I like is never over-rated. Let’s get that straight right away.
1911
I could probably make an overrated arguement for any gun, caliber, vehicle, appliance, power tool, etc.
Hell, I could probably make a decent overrated arguement for big chested, independently wealth, mute nymphos, if I tried hard enough.
That said, I am not a huge fan of pocket sized revolvers. I used to carry a Charter Arms snubby, it was my first carry gun, but I didn’t really like it much.
The cyclinder bludged in my pocket or stuck in my side fat on my waistband, and I’m not a big guy. I couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn without easing on the trigger slowly. And even with low recoil Hyrdashocks it kicked like mule.
And everyone says it’s a great woman’s gun, but I’ve only known exactly two women who actually prefer revolvers, most I’ve shot with (probably dozens or more) couldn’t stand shooting them. Like flat out hated shooting them, even if they carried one. And I tend to agree.
And don’t get my started on the .38 cartridge, especially out of snubby barrel. I’ve heard guys dog on the 9mm’s ballistics, but carry a .38 snubby, which baffles me.
Anyways, like with most things, experiences differs, and you get exactly what you pay for, and usually no more. You can find anything to bitch about if you try hard enough, and some people hardly have to try at all to piss and moan about everything (See: my ex-wife, who was a big chested nympho, but unfortunately not mute or wealthy.)
Well of course women don’t care for revolvers, snubby or otherwise. The revolver is a Man’s gun. Only Real Men carry revolvers. Women and metro men mince around with their glocks and sigs. 🙂
Do you keep yours in your man purse?
Lady Smith with pink grips, right?
It’s a manly man’s gun. It’s got skate board tape wrapped around the grips. With razor blades welded onto the butt in case I need to hit a fool with it.
Anything less is pussyfied.
I’m late to comment but I’m going to say hk as a whole. Their pistols were always expensive and never offered anything superior. Horrible ergonomics too.
Their older rifles are a head scratcher. Not that I think they look bad. I think hk delayed roller blowbacks are sexy just not mechanically necessary. Fluted chambers? Needed for timing in a delayed roller system that is dirty and makes the user have to pay attention to roller/bolt gap. Unnecessary engineering for the sake of being cool and different.
After working in the gun industry here’s some brands that bug me.
Sig: this company is slipping in qc. But still wants too much. I have other complaints dealing with them business to business wise. Company hires unhelpful people. I’m also bitter about my lemon 320c. Lol.
Glock: I loved the third gens. I still don’t trust a 4th gen. I feel their qc is finding ways to be cheaper. Great example is their thread protectors. Soft plastic covers that fall off. Its the little things that say they don’t care.
Finally…noveske and Danial defense. after working for an ar15 manufacturer and having the ability to have my opinion heard and changes actually made, I looked at other companies like those two as a slap in the face to Americans who aren’t wealthy. For a grand, the same 3 grand rifles from noveske could be offered to buyers. Nope…gotta get that nose up and think your stuff is gold. I don’t care if a rifle was cheap or expensive; if the parts were in spec it was to be assembled perfectly damnit. That was my job as a man standing behind a product. No one should charge extra for a service that should be included with the product.
So I should go ahead and get one of those gen 3 Glock police tradeins?
If you can find one at decent price.
Shops want way too much for them, IMHO, and most are near beat shit on the exterior.
There is always some one on Texasguntrader.com looking to off load a good condition, Glock safe queen with hardly any round through it.
Holster wear and nicks and dings on the outside mean nothing to an x cop gun. My s&w m10 looks beat all to hell. It rode in a cops duty holster for decades. But like a lot of cop guns it was fired very little and it still locks up tight and shoots like a champ.
Completely agree. My carry guns are all banged up and have the finish worn off on the high points.
However, all of the shops near me want 4 bills for a police trade in Glock.
Why get one of those banged up guns, when I can get a hardly fired safe queen for $450 bills?
I like to budget my guns purchases, but $50 isn’t going to rock my world.
I believe their third gens represents glock in its prime. I have seen to many 4th gens with parts fitted poorly that caused malfunctions. My first glock was a 2nd gen that went off to get new internals. Then I had to many 17’s to remember. All ran anything I fed them. From corrosive Egyptian to wolf. Thousands of rounds with no problems. Maybe I was lucky but I never questioned a third gen 17.
Have owned several makes and models of various manufacture some have been junk, some are mostly to take to the range but my Glocks maybe ugly, bulky and not the best ergonomics. Glocks are the ones I will carry because they fire every time with quality ammo.
I’m not really experienced enough to comment. Funny how many say “GLOCK”. Almost sounds like ragging on Taurus or Keltec. And arguing with 40 yr gun owners that they are ” doing something wrong “. Maybe perfection is a lofty goal…
S&W Model 41. Great accurate pistol, love the trigger but everyone I know that has one has trouble getting them to run. I still want one.
The “smart” gun….
10/22’s. All of them.
Worthless round, won’t rip the soul out of a bad guy. Customization’s a joke. Narrow product line. Jam’tastic. Every other company does this category better. Rotary mag’s just a passing fad. Just living on their old, useless reputation. Ugly, just flat ugly.
Have to tie a Pokemon Go game around the trigger guard to trick any kids into trigger time.
Dude, they were the sidearm of this country In a war that required mass producing a lot of guns really fast (WWI). my grandfather had a vintage one made during the Great War, and it was a rattle trap. They all were. They weren’t meant to be custom grade. Their accuracy was horrible. But they were loose and the fitting allowed mass production parts in a mass production gun to swapped out easily. They were reliable war dogs, not 1″ groups at 25 yards guns.
Sig 357.
I’m not saying everybody who likes Glocks are douchebags, but all the “tacticool”, mall ninja, operator douchebags I know are rabid glock fanboys. We all know the kind. Wears a lot of 5.11. Uses a lot of military lingo but never even thought of enlisting. Drives a brand new crew cab F150 but lives and works in the city (and it usually has tacky-ass rims).
H&K products, any but the VP-9. They’re cool, but not $800-900 cool.
Glocks – they’re a good reliable gun, and that’s it. Folks don’t wear Camry and Corolla T shirts, but I see plenty of Glock brand gear.
1911 – I dont’ think they’re overrated because they seem appropriately rated at this point in history – an old battle tested design that is accurate and can have a bonkers trigger – that’s also heavy and needs more maintenance than modern service pistols.
Sig – Hammerfired P series. They’re outclassed by many other designs, even hammer fired/alloy framed variants.
I do not feel Springfield XD’s are overrated because they don’t seem to get much rating period. They’re OK, and that’s their reputation i feel like.
“Glocks – they’re a good reliable gun, and that’s it. Folks don’t wear Camry and Corolla T shirts, but I see plenty of Glock brand gear.”
I see plenty of Ford T shirts, though.
Glock is of more of a base model gasoline engine truck than a grocery getter compact car; they are cheap mules, build for work and nothing else. It’s the gun equivalent of the cheap work truck.
My brother-in-law has an M&P. Piece of junk. I know that a lot of people are fans of them, but it’s the only M&P I shot and it jammed every couple of rounds. Considering how ugly it is, I’m in no rush to vindicate it by trying others.
Well, I agree on the AK. I bought one, shot it twice and swapped it immediately for a Finnish Mosin.
Agree also on the Springfield and the Luger. But the Mosin and the M14 are fabulous milsurps. I love shooting my Mosin and have shot and appreciated the M14.
Also the FAL is nice, but I really prefer the M14.
Better sights and looks as good as.
But I judge as a milsurp enthusiast, not for the real efficiency and reliability on the field. Just for the fun and feeling shooting them at the range.
The most over rated? In my book it’s the AK47. I carried them at times in Iraq, own one (I like it) and have had them fail when I needed them. So, they aren’t a bad gun, but they are certainly over rated by the internet AK fanboy crowd.
Colt Python. I’ve shot a couple and while they are great looking revolvers, they are no more accurate and the actions/triggers no smoother/crisper than S&W revolvers of the same or earlier vintage. So NOT worth the $2,000 and up that people pay for them.
The M1a
AR’s are more accurate, reliable and lighter. InrangeTV did a mud test to prove reliability. Most are cheaper too. And if I was looking for a combat .308 I think I’d take a FN FAL first.
The AR-15. The media loves to overrate them and call them fully automatic weapons designed only to kill as many people as possible with their high capacity 30 clip magazines.
The media knows nothing about guns, so anything they might say is pure crap. Any question of an over rated gun has to rely on the opinions of people who at least have shot a gun in their lives.
Without doubt, anything made by Glock. They are a simple, rugged, and cheap design, made to be as simple and easy to train with as possible. The same philosophy that led to the Volkswagon Beetle and the original Fiat 500. Something cheap to make and easy for the masses to use.
All well and good, so far, but I don’t know of anybody who would claim that the beetle or 500 were the greatest, fastest, and best car around. There are, however, plenty around that make that claim for the glock.
That is just as big an error as claiming your beetle is as quick and fast as a Ferrari. It simply is NOT, and such is quite obvious, if one has a bit of background knowledge. If one has never driven anything other than a Volks, though(or never had other than a golck…), I can see how that error would be easy to make.
The follow up question of the day will be what gun is the most underrated. The funny thing is that GLOCK will be at the top of both lists.
Glock
I have to say Glock, for the following reasons: 1) They are highly rated by so many people, so it’s easy for them to be over-rated. 2) They, and their clones, are the source of the most NDs on the planet. Any gun whose safety manual of arms seems to consist only of “Keep your booger hook off the bang switch,” does not deserve as high a rating as it has. I mean, you have to pull the trigger to strip one. Who thought that was a good idea? 3) They are incredibly cheap to produce, yet they are not the low priced line, so they are a financial rip-off. 4) Glock rates itself as “Perfection,” but they are not perfect. 4) Trigger sucks. 5) Grip sucks. 6) They are ugly. I do think they are OK guns, just overrated for those reasons. I would not own one though.
I am a huge 1911 fan, but I would have to say they are #2 as overrated. It’s a great design, it still has some pluses, but it no longer deserves its place of honor besides modern firearms without major modifications and maybe not even then.
#1 underrated gun is any good make of revolver.
Smith & Wessons. Made in America, but with the worst features of any mass produced striker-fired pistol.
I own 3 M&P’s. Features on the M&P are very nice don’t know what you’re talking about what features are used pacifically talking about? Grip angles like a 1911 easily to remove grip spacers to size to your hand ambidextrous Fire Control and magazine ambidextrous slide stop what’s not to like?
1 Remington r51. It was highly rated by the gun press, at least on initial release. It’s universally now considered junk.
2. Kimber pistols for sure.
3. Barretta 92.
4 m1a
5. Almost all Sigs.
The 1911. Overrated 1000% all day every day by dummies.
I don’t know, the M-9 is total garbage. I had six or seven of the damned things when I was in, and not a one of them would feed three rounds in a row. They are basically manually operated. But I don’t feel like it’s overrated, because I don’t know anyone serious who likes Beretta pistols.
I’d say anything by H&K, the USP series if I had to be specific. Horrible, terrible, innacurate, unreliable, ergonomics developed for a platypus, dangerously unfinished and ugly to boot.
I can only speak for first hand experience:
HK pistols (HK45LEM, P30L LEM in 40, USP45LEM)
They have no clue about simplicity and ergonomics. When was the last time you saw a pistol with a beavertail so thick, low, and wide that it grips like a Tokarev? And reliability under adverse condition has been very spotty at least for me.
M&P45 fullsize
They function great, don’t get me wrong. But the build quality, according to my personal experience and my friends’, is no match to XDM or Glocks.
Beretta 92
Function great too. But the ergonomics? Really? Where do I even put my weak-side thumb? I mean, they were properly rated for a while (reliable but handles poorly). But now all of a sudden WilsonCombat, Ernest Langdon, luckygunner, and everyone else on youtube start to shill for this design. Is Beretta spending big bucks on marketing now or what? Trying to create a push for continued military adoption? I dunno. I like its reliability, precision and aesthetics (yes really), but no I just can’t work around it fast enough.
Wilson Combat
I have a safe full of 3k+ 1911/2011s. Among them Wilsons although perfect in every other way, they just jam more than others. EdBrown, Nighthawk or SVI any day.
Btw
I don’t think Kimbers are overrated. They are held with pretty low regards almost everywhere I look, and they deserve it.
Limp wristing is a myth perpetuated by haters of polymer framed pistols.
I can hold my Glock 19 loosely with two fingers and fire it and it cycles.
Another myth is that Glock has a grip angle that causes shots to hit low. It’s your flinch that makes you miss, not the gun.
Another myth is that Glocks are responsible for more NDs than any other gun. The truth is that Glocks are responsible for exactly zero NDs.
Everyone is going to have a story about an occasional lemon that functioned poorly..Glock, XD, Sig, H&K and so on. It’s ridiculous to call one of these tried and true pistols overrated. Some may be over priced but that’s another article. I own 3 XD pistols and they are all excellent. Eat any ammo, never jam and are more than accurate enough for my needs. Great customer service from Springfield as well.
I’d say the Hipoints, except that nobody rates them at all! Strange thing is that the damn things shoot quite reliably, and if it’s all you can afford, and you need a gun, it’ll do.
I know everyone is looking for internet goodies here, but that ain’t me. There are good and bad examples of every make mentioned here. Opinions are like anal openings- everybody has one. I value opinions if I’ve seen them validated. I’m far from a Glock Fanboy. I served as a Glock armorer/instructor for two departments for 12 years, and in all that time saw extremely low malf rates that were not operator induced (not limp wrists) or defective ammo. In those years I repaired exactly ONE (1) pistol by replacing a slide stop lever with a broken spring, and that gun was still shooting. Also during that time, I put over 5,000 rounds through a G22 without cleaning, just lightly lubed the slide rails, and it was still shooting without stoppages. Finally had to clean it to issue it as a replacement. I admire Glock as a reliable tool, no more, no less. Don’t own one, but only because my EDC has been a 1911, including Kimbers, for over 45 years and see no reason to change.
14000 rounds thru my Xdm 9mm, not one hiccup (caveat : I put a powder river trigger kit on it at 1000 rounds)
Ruger Sr9c, 7200 rounds, no hiccups and the trigger only gets better w time
Ruger 9E, own 3 of them, each one has 2000+ thru them all reloads, no hiccups. Best $300 weapon on market, trigger also gets better after time
Glock 19, 1200 rounds, multiple failures to eject, sent back to get fixed 3 months ago…still waiting
Just my 2 cents
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