In the video below, YouTuber Moonbase Alpha rips the Smith & Wesson 329PD a new one. He finds the Smith’s quality galling. Literally. I don’t tend to keep many guns, or keep the ones I have very long. So I go for quality. But my gun safe does shelter a $387 Hi-Point 4595TS Pro Carbine TTAG bought for review — and awarded four stars! Still, it IS one fugly gun. What’s the worst gun you own or, if you don’t have any POS firearms, have owned?
https://youtu.be/ReCaA56OYRI
Remington 870. Front sight fell off, action locks up, starts rusting at the hint of moisture. Won’t touch another Remington firearm.
Got rid of mine when I discovered that the barrel was canted a good 2 or 3 degrees. Also won’t buy Remington ammo, after a shell refused to extract without the use of a pry to pull out the brass, and a ramrod to eject the hull.
I recall a pair of cops in uniform showed up at the range to test a new 870 riot gun. They were shooting slugs at a target 50 yds. away and it was printing 8″ low (!) I told them the barrel must be bent. They said they had sent it back for repairs once already but Remington insisted there was nothing wrong with it.
Same here. Failure to extract, even after 4 trips back to Remington. Chamber was so rough it felt threaded. Sold it at a big box store and bought the wife a .22 pistol.
I see stories like this and it always reminds me if how lucky I am. Back in my dumber days (2014) before I actually followed what was happening in the gun industry I bought a brand new in box 870, which I overpayed for. However, I have never had a single issue with that gun, after around a thousand rounds of target loads, field loads, turkey shells, buckshot, and slugs from all different companies. I’m not trying to defend Remington, because I know they have been putting out really bad garbage for years, however I just seem to have gotten the one good apple left at the bottom of the barrel.
Same here. Have had an 870 20 ga. youth model for 20 years. Never a problem.
Intratec cat 9 hands down. Im aftaid to shoot it
“Sig” Mosquito. Overly complicated (it has a decocker, manual safety and a mag safety. Plus an LCR). It is not particularly accurate. (And it is not a Sig at all, but a GSG.) Unlike others, I haven’t had reliability problems, but I really want something that I can use for target shooting, like the Ruger or the Browning Buckmark. No dealer in town will take it off my hands, because no one wants to buy them.
I was tempted more than once into buying a Mosquito or Firefly, but something in my gut always told me to stay away. After doing some research, turned out to be a good instinct. A Ruger SR22 or Walther seems to be the go-to for a .22 pistol that mimics a carry or duty gun. I’ve never messed around with Walthers too much, but the SR22 has always done well for me.
Had a SR22, sold it and bought a Walther PPQ .22. Great gun. The size of a full-caliber PPQ and not toy-like like the Ruger.
My wife had a mosquito. Total jam-o-matic. Sold it on GunBroker for a case of beer. The new owner later emailed me to let me know how happy he was with it (sarc).
EXACTLY the same story with my wife. Ran for me, NEVER for her. We sold it all but immediately.
Actually it ran pretty good with the Mini-mags Sig recommends. Remy Goldens worked 97% of the time. Winches ter white box jammed every third round like clockwork.
Also the finish didn’t seem very durable.
CCI Mini-Mags, yeah i remember reading that in the Mosquito manual… whenever a maker recommends only one specific load for a gun it makes me nervous. Kinda like the Kimber Solo that wouldn’t run with anything lighter than a 124 grain loading.
As for me, I once bought the first generation Smith Sigma in .40 s&w… not that it didn’t work, it just didn’t really fit me all that well and the price was too good to pass up, made a decent profit from the sale.
I just assumed Sig and CCI had the same parent company or something. Took it out to the range with a big box of WWB and found out otherwise.
“Sig Mosquito, because they are small and they suck.”
The guy that runs my LGS told me that after I brought it back. I never got through a full mag of any ammo.
Currently, a Norinco 1911 .45. Shoots so low with factory irons that if I’m aiming at eye level at 20 yards, the bullet will reliably strike the ground ten feet in front of the target.
Previously an also-Norinco 12″ double barreled 12 gauge. Came with slag splashed on the barrels where the sight rib was welded on. The wooden stock began to crack behind the trigger after six rounds of birdshot. Had it exchanged after that, and the replacement came with a deformed muzzle on one barrel and a loose, barely functional safety.
Maybe you should pop for some aftermarket sights on that 1911. Shooting low should be easy to fix.
File down the front sight? That’s what I had to do with my 1955 Ruger Standard 22.
My Norinco 1911 hits where it aims, but tends to stovepipe the last round. My Norinco SKS is fine in all respects.
Worst gun I have is a BSA Enfield No1 Mk3* with a burned out bore. Does anybody rebarrel these anymore?
Since it sucks for you, I’d like to take it off of your hands to replace mine that was stolen! 😉
I don’t own enough to have any bad guns. Dad has an old 22LR Iver Johnson that can’t complete a magazine without choking no matter what he does to it.
If its tube magazine the tube might be slightly bent, usually just in front of the stock, ive fixed a couple that where like that. Put shims between barrel and mag tube, c if that helps
I don’t typically buy bad guns, and I enjoy all of mine. However the one that I would classify as the “worst” really isn’t the gun, itself but rather the ammo. I love Stars and own a couple of them, one of which is a 1949 Star Modelo Super chambered in 9×23 aka 9mm Largo. That’s an already difficult to locate caliber, and is getting more and more rare, and more and more expensive to purchase. The going rate at gunshows for a box of CCI Largo is $35 (and who knows how old it is). It sucks having an otherwise great pistol that you can only fire so sparingly. Oh well, I guess it’s a good excuse to get into rolling my own, the cases seem to be readily available.
Also, since Star no longer exists, finding replacement parts can be a bit of a drawn-out, expensive challenge. But I love the little buggers and they are great, quality shooters that can be had for not a lot of money.
Try hunting around locally and then expand your search. There’s a place in Denver that sells big spam cans of Largo. I didn’t even know such cans of Largo existed until I almost tripped over one (literally). Guy can’t move it so it’s cheap. See if you can find something similar.
Alternatively you can have a Largo rechambered to 9×19. Lame I know, but at least you can shoot it.
I love Star pistols but you’re right about both ammo and parts. Whenever I see parts online for a decent price I buy them immediately.
Thanks for the tips Strych- I keep my eyes and ears open at gun shows and looking around online. A Largo spam can sounds a bit like a unicorn, I’d almost pay just to see it. Happen to remember the name of the place in Denver? I’ve considered the idea of having the thing re-chambered just so I actually can shoot it without getting worried about ammo availability; but I go back and forth on that. On the one hand, who cares, why not be able to shoot it regularly with readily available ammo? However, the historian in me hates to alter it from it’s original condition, as it was manufactured and issued during Franco’s reign.
The jury is still out on what course I’ll take. I have close to 1K rounds of Largo now, and I do shoot it sparingly both because of ammo availability, and the fact that I don’t know how it was treated the preceding 60 years before it came my way. I’ve heard of people firing 9×19 and 38 Super out of their Largos, and this very well could have happened to mine before I got it, so who knows how weak the internals may be? Luckily the only part I’ve had to replace so far is the barrel bushing (the original had a hair line crack in it). I’ve seen modern day replicas of like firing pins and extractors for sale online as well, but these are typically limited in quantity and I can speak to their quality.
Anyway that is where I find myself in my own personal Largo saga. Luckily, I do have a BM from the mid-80’s that is stellar, so I am still able to scratch my Star itch. Funny how one can become enamored with one company, especially one like Star!
I’ll find the place, I have to hit that area in the next few days anyway. It was an odd store in an odd place. Stokey’s… or Shocky’s or something. I just happened to notice it while exiting a bar when my buddy and I went to a really sketchy bar after I dared him to find one with the highest likelihood that one of us would randomly get stabbed. (It’s a running joke with us.)
As for the rest, if it’s not steel cased I’m seeing a good excuse to buy some dies if you have 1K rounds of Largo…. if it is steel cased, I’m still seeing a reason to get the dies… and be a bit more careful with your reloads.
I also would go out of my way not to have it rechambered and stick with the BM for 9×19. I love my BM, though mine was made, IIRC, in ’76. Great little 9mm, that. The history of the Star B (which I assume is what you have) really is pretty epic and it would be a shame to deface such a pistol, especially if it was made during the time of Franco.
It is indeed funny how people become enamored with Star. IMHO, there are two groups of people: Those who love Star pistols and those who have not yet had the pleasure of shooting one.
Hmm, I’ll have to scour the net for Denver area gun shops. The biggest hit I ever had was here in NC at a gunshop who bought a few hundred rounds at an estate sale. Imagine that, some little old lady with a few hundred rounds of Largo…probably got the boxes for pennies on the dollar! Unfortunately all the Largo I’ve ever found is steel-cased, but I have heard of brass case being available online.
Anyway, my Star 9×23 will probably remain in 9×23…I do have the BM after all. As for the model, it does not contain a model letter, Super is simply what the butt says. I think it is either an A or B, but I believe the B may have only been chambered in 9×19, while the A was exclusively 9×23…there is a lot of conflicting information out there, as it seems Star was a little erratic throughout the years. I’m sure you’ve seen these sites before but they are interesting:
http://star-firearms.com/index.html
http://www.9mmlargo.com/
I’d also check with Dragonman in the Springs. He occasionally had surplus 9 Largo, but it’s been years since I’ve been there.
It’s a toss up between my 188 series Mini14 and my Henry .30-30
My 176-series stainless folder Mini-14 dented the brass on the shoulder on ejection…
Ruger sr9… sometimes action closes when it is locked open, also is prone to jams.
Sucks…sounds like you may have gotten a lemon; in my personal experience, I have shot the 9mm and .40 cal version of the SR series, and both functioned flawlessly over hundreds of rounds. I sold my SR40 to fund another purchase, but my friend still has his SR9, and like I said, performs great.
I have similar experience with my SR9. No problems, and easily the most accurate “factory” gun of my 9mm collection. It beat out the CZ75, Tanfolio Witness, 92FS, and Steyr M9. It’s closest competitor was surprisingly the compact witness.
Not to pile on, but I have an SR9 that has been utterly reliable and a pleasure to shoot and own.
Is there peening happening on the slide lock or something?
I will pile on….
SR9C is my EDC and I haven’t had a single hiccup in the last 1500 rounds. I do remember one time at the range if I slammed the magazine home it would drop the slide and chamber a round fairly often, no idea what was causing it because it hasn’t happened to me since.
Have the SR9C & 9E; both have been totally reliable with no issues. You know Ruger will fix your problem if you let them know, don’t you?
WTF happened to my first response?
DPMS G2 Recon, jams constantly, every 8-10 rounds. Sent it back for repair, came right back with a note that they fired 20 rds and worked fine. Took it out again and still jammed constantly. Next trip will take camera and record jams before clearing, send those to DPMS and see if they can come up with a better answer.
Those 308 Nato/7.62 x 51 designated weapons sometimes choke if you run 308 Win. thru them. They’re not supposed to be different by enough to matter, but . . . https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/7-62-nato-vs-308-winchester-ammo-whats-the-difference/#axzz4vK7NNCWd
I’ll wait for the comments to the contrary. . .
All ammo I have used was 7.62 NATO right out of the can.
I’ve encountered several 7.62×51 ARs which didn’t like .308, but never anything chambered in .308 which wouldn’t run on 7.62. One of those ARs might’ve been an earlyish model DPMS, but that was some years ago so I can’t remember for sure, and another came with two alloy magazines which jammed halfway through no matter what.
I personally wouldn’t try mixing 7.62/308 in any AR, but honest CETMEs are a different story.
Jennings J25, few times I shot it, the linkage inside it would get discombobulated and lock up. My LGS took it apart tweaked a pin or two and it now works great. Oh I also have 3 Kel-Tecs, a KSG and Sub 2000 9mm S&W, and a PMR 30 while I really like that zero-recoil fireball maker I know many would say Kel-tecs are the worst.
My dad bought a Raven .25 and left it in his drawer for 20 years and asked me to fix it for him. I cleaned it, disassembled it, and put it back together. Everything looked in order, but pull the trigger, no bang. We finally figured out you pull the trigger all the way to the rear, then yank it a little more to shoot it. A self defense nightmare.
A Cobray M11 that I traded back a Rossi .357 for, because the latter had sentimental value for the recipient. I’ll grant that it’s quite reliable; I couldn’t make it hiccup no matter what, but it’s not comfortable to hold because of the massive grip and sharp edges on the trigger guard, and the huge, top-heavy bolt makes it hard to control without using a barrel extension. It’s both fun to shoot and not fun to shoot at the same time.
Another I’m on the fence about is my Taurus PT92, because it’s suddenly picked up the habit of throwing hot brass right in my damned face unless I use the center axis relock stance. Might trade it in towards a new Ruger GP100 to replace the Rossi.
Hmm. You now I was always a bit interested in the MAC clones myself. But when I bought one in carbine form (was I was 18 at the time) it became the bane of my existence. It would fail to feed half the time, fail to extract the rest of the time, and then started to even have slam fire problems. Sent it back a time or two, but it never worked right.
I don’t know, perhaps I just got a rare lemon.
Rem 710 in 300WM. Utter garbage.
Bersa thunder 380.. anemic cartridge, low capacity, heavy for what it is, hurts the hand, jams ALOT…. I have a 329PD. I like it fir what it is. Light weight, big rounds, always fires, accuate. Feels like a .500 s&w. But its all about weight savings, which is why I bought it.
Ditto on the Bersa. The most impressive thing about that gun is that they managed to get such a small caliber to hurt the hand.
Savage A17
S&W M&P22.
Just wildly inaccurate with almost all 22LR I’ve tried, with horrible factory 3 dot sights. Gets dirty and jams after maybe 100 rounds, far less reliable than my Ruger 22/45.
I’d feel bad selling it to some sucker.
S&W M&P22.
Some jerk sold it to me.
lol
Zastava M88A. The mags are made of such soft steel that they rounded off after a couple hundred rounds and they just fall out. Mag issue aside, the grip sucks, it’s inaccurate, and it only holds 8 rounds even though it’s a full size 9mm.
I have the same gun. Thing is awful. The sights fell off of mine and the magazine release was too long so mags fall out every time you pull the trigger. It cant even get 6 inch groups at 10-12 feet.
Zastavas can have issues. An inexpensive EZ40 I lost in a firey boat wreck, looks like a Sig product, and has a metal frame and hammer, and some features I wish Sig thought of, but it ain’t a Sig, and won’t ever work like one.
My EZ40 is currently my worst (most unreliable) gun, but unfortunately it is also my most accurate semi-auto pistol (since I sold my Kimber, and not counting my Ruger MkII). So I am determined to make it work. Magazine spring orientation makes a difference, that solved the failure-to-feed-last-round issues. The gun was defective from the factory with a right side decocker lever pivot not pressed into the frame correctly. EAA, the importer at the time, was no help at all, as has been experienced by everyone who ever tried to deal with them. I pressed it back in but can’t get it to stay very long, so I’m going to try Permatex 64000 on it. Before I do that I need to figure out which way the spring seat is clocked on the pivot. I think I know what that spring does and where it is supposed to go but I want to be sure before I permanently fix the pivot to the frame. If anyone can send a photo of a EZ9/EZ40/CZ999 with the right grip panel removed it would be extremely helpful.
It’s amusing, the few Zastava M88A owners I know gush over how much they love their pistols, even though they run like junkys’ bowels, have similar cosmetic durability, and somehow turn any flavor 9mm into a drunken supersonic bumblebee (which auger-in without a howitzer-like holdover). Yet they’ll disparage my Norinco 213A as being a junk Tok clone made from Chinese pot-metal, even though it’s never jammed, dropped a magazine unbidden, and has held it’s finish through constant hard travels & weather.
I’ve had an older Hi-Point carbine in .40 for years. Aesthetically it’s awful. Functionally… It’s never given me a problem.
I don’t generally sell guns, I collect them, but functionally the 1st Gen LC9 from Ruger was a POS that I got rid of after 100 or so rounds. My wife wanted it, got it, hated it.
Right now “the worst” is probably my Taurus 85 Ultralite. It’s reliable but I just don’t favor wheel guns, especially 5 shot ones.
I’ve been tempted by the Taurus 85’s now that the rebate is going on and you can get them online for like $165 after MIR. I’ve pretty much decided against it though, not out of any hate for Taurus or snubbies or whatever, but mostly because I know I wouldn’t even be excited about it…and who wants a piece you can’t wait to run?
Glock 19…sits in my safe as an excuse to buy Glock mags to use in anything besides it.
*prepares popcorn*
The half a gun I own but can’t shoot because I need to save up to buy the other half. :p
I’ve got a stainless Sig p232, given to me by a family member who no longer wanted it (and probably didn’t take very good care of it). I’ve never had a problem with any of your more typical Sigs, but this one wasn’t particularly reliable when I got it, and within a year it developed an unwillingness to return to battery after every shot. I’ve messed with it for hours and replaced several parts, and I still can’t get it running right.
It’s heavy for size, so I think it would make a decent first-timer handgun for smaller hands, and maybe something classy to keep in an office desk. But it’s not particularly exciting to shoot and I don’t want to spend the money to have a gunsmith check it out.
A cheap little 5 shot “Secret Service Special” marked .38 S&W break-top revolver. I got it for like $50 off someone as a project gun, the timing is off and it shaved bullets, that was two years ago and I have yet to look in to fixing it.
Second worst gun is a Bryco Jennings 48 in 380, I got for $80. It goes bang every trigger pull, but the ability to shoot it accurately at 5 yards is laughable. I still kinda like it though.
the 329 IS NOT a scandium alloy, it is an aluminum ally with scandium in it as one of the alloys in the mix. it is TOO LITE for a 44mag and should have only been made in 357mag, 44 spec and 45acp and auto rim. any really lite gun chambering a heavy caliber ( like the 12 to 25 once 357’s out there) is going to be a little hard to shoot. the all steel j- frame types may be bearable, and some may say it does not bother them , but for most these guns are too lite for the caliber. and if you have one of those small ruger or j frames you really need a big set of rubber grips on them. and for the record, I am lucky to say I have no worst guns in my collection.
I don’t personally own any bad gu ns, but my wife inherited 4 weapons from her brother (well, they were gifts by permission of the court) and among them was a S&W Sigma series 9mm. Worst trigger pull I’ve ever felt. Pretty damn ugly to boot. I’d sell it, but her brother still thinks he’s getting his record expunged or something and will someday have his rights restored. Probably be lucky to get a case of beer out of it.
Umarex MP5A5 22lr. Jams multiple times per magazine and at 7 yards shoots 6″ low. On top of that, its my safe queen. Got it right before the great 22 shortage of ’14 and didn’t want to use up my precious stash of 22lr.
Gonna try and sell/trade it on a 10/22.
Spanish Mauser in 308. Every time I would fire it the floor plate would come loose a drop whatever remaining rounds in the mag. A 1985 vintage Charter Arms Off Duty revolver the cylinder release screw screws in and wont allow the cylinder to be released. Nail polish works for a while.
Objectively and practically, my Colt 1903 that I got for $150 because of the terrible shape it was in. Never seen a recoil spring bent into a dog leg before that one…
But I love the damn thing. I wish .32 wasn’t so pricey, its the perfect sidearm for incidental game when I’m wandering the woods. Even managed a couple clean kills on smaller hogs with it.
Small hogs with a .32, so much for the ” mouse gun” debate. I can c the gun forums now,” Is a .32 good for hogs” ..
Not unpossible, just dislikely; unless witnessed by someone on the intrawebs. Hell, I’ve taken the turkey with a .25. Truth!
It’s definitely not a recommended hog stopper, but if you’re a good stalker and can get within 15 yards behind a hog, an old 1903 will pretty reliably put a round in its brainstem
Lorcin L25. Grandfather gave it to me when i was a teen. That’s the only reason I keep it.
Before the tragic boating accident, I had a Jennings .22 pistol. It had a cable lock through the action. I lost the key, but it was more useful as a flail anyway.
+ 1
I donated a jennings .22 to the Ohio river.
I might have been angry at the time.
A buddy owed me some money that he couldn’t pay back. I agreed to take a Jennings 22 in place of the cash even though it wasn’t a fair trade. Couldn’t get a single flawless cycle out of it. Traded it at the pawn shop for a used DVD.
Good deal, if it was a good movie.
Then again, if someone came into my shop with a Lorcin and/or Raven, I wouldn’t trade an old scratched Sweatin’ Dick Simmons DVD for either/both.
In no way would I want the class of my cabinets sullied by such riffraff.
Yeah, I probably wouldn’t make it as a pawnbroker.
Mossberg model 50 .22 that I “mercy bought” form a starving artist I know. Very accurate, but won’t fire 2 in a row without intervention.
1917 Remington M1891 Mosin Nagant. War worn as hell, broken (Arshin) rear ramp sight spring, bolt looser than a two-cent whore, but sexy as hell above the mantle. Now if anyone has a 1917 Remington (not Eddystone) Enfield (.303 Brit) for sale equally war worn, I’m your man.
For those interested it does bear the Czar’s Armory mark (pre revolution) and Finnish markings which implies it was captured during the Winter War 1930.
Worst I’ve owned was a Sig P290. Sucker had a trigger which you started the pull on Saturday and the gun went off on Sunday. Forget follow-up shots. Saving grace is I sold it for more than it cost me.
In high school and college I owned a CHEAP 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. (I do not remember the manufacturer, which was some obscure off-brand probably imported from somewhere). The action broke after shooting maybe 200 rounds of standard 2 3/4 inch shotgun shells.
Right now, I have a lever-action rifle in .44 Magnum that will not chamber cartridges properly. Several different .44 Magnum loads and manufacturers will NOT chamber no matter how slow, soft, fast, or hard I operate the lever. Even worse, the manufacturer wants something like $140 to fix it. I don’t know which is worse: the fact that it did not function properly out of the box or the fact that the manufacturer wants $140 to fix it.
Sounds like you got your hands on one of those Rossimarlinhenry rifles.
The lever-action rifle is definitely one of those three brands!
Well I own a Marlin, want a Henry and well the other is Taurus. I wouldn’t put it past any of the three though. Marlin’s quality (if not there customer service) seems to be on the rise (and it had a lot of room to do so) and Henry’s seems to be on the decline.
Some lever guns do not like the lip on the cartridge, but work just fine if you are using lead bullets and crimp, aka Cowboy loads. Crimping also prevents setback. My Winchester in .45 Colt prefers crimped, but will run OK with regular rounds.
Mark N.,
The only cartridge that my lever-action rifle will reliably load into the chamber are brass .44 Special cowboy loads. It will not chamber .44 Magnum cowboy loads, nor aluminum cased .44 Special hollowpoints.
The symptom with .44 Magnum loads: the lift plate brings up the cartridge and stops with the cartridge at a slight angle pointing at the chamber and the bolt is only able to insert the cartridge at most 1/4 inch into the chamber. At that point the cartridge binds up and I cannot move the lever forward.
I have taken it apart and polished appropriate surfaces to no avail. My best guess is that the lift plate isn’t quite lifting the cartridge high enough. Why that would be, I have no idea.
Weirdly enough, the only gun I’ve ever had an issue with has been the venerable USP. I fairly frequently have failures to return to battery with it, requiring a gentle (or not so gentle,) tap on the rear of the slide. It may well be an ammo issue, but none of my modern semi-autos have anywhere near the level of pickiness of this USP. I love its aesthetics and seeming reliability, but I feel I may have gotten a lemon.
Try replacing the recoil spring. I had that problem from the git go with a Kimber compact (4″). Polished the feed ramp, sent it back, no change. I finally bought a Wolff spring (from Wolff, not Kimber), and that was the end of my issues.
Mark N.,
I had a cheap 1911 that would also fail to go completely into battery. I never even thought to install a new/stiffer recoil spring. Good call.
I don’t have any bad guns however my Browning 1911-380 no longer fits into my “system” so it sits in the safe. I hang on to it because some day I will be old and too weak to wrack tbe slide on my 9s and 45s.
A M88a, aka the Baby tokarev.
The thing is absolute garbage. Its a gun i really wanted to love but, cant. Ive always thought the old soviet pistols looked really neat and it actually feels really good in the hand. Plus i love the idea of a really cheap gun i can leave in my car or stash away. However, the sights fell off the first time i shot it, the magazine would fall out after each shot, the muzzle crown was really knicked up, and there was a scratch in the barrel. I was getting 6 inch groups with the thing at 10 feet away. I got it off gun broker a couple years ago for only $200 after a transfer and shipping. I was able to fix the magazine drop by filing down the magazine release and locktited the sights in, but its still ridiculously inacurate and stove pipes about once every 30 rounds or so you put in it.
I just cant believe theres people out there who actually carry these things.
Zastavas, no doubt. Romanian Tokarevs are better.
But my first carry gun (and first pistol) was a Polish TT33, probably the nicest Toks ever made, reliable, and very comfortable to carry. It’s replacement & my 2nd pistol was a NWB Norinco 213A (9mm) I picked up for less than a hundo. It actually has a real safety that my thumb can work, and being all stainless is perfect for bush-hogging and yard work.
I like the thing now, but my Stag Model 3 required a lot more money to be thrown at it than I expected to get it running to spec:
New trigger (POF 4.5# curved)
New buffer (Spike’s T2 tungsten heavy buffer)
New buffer tube (somehow, the rifle that I ordered was made to New Jersey spec with a pinned stock and muzzle device, despite the fact that I’m in Texas)
New stock (magpul MOE)
For all of that work, I’m still not thrilled with the Primary Arms Advanced Microdot sight that I put on it (required buying a $30 riser for that, as well, rather than working out of the box) and need to figure out what I’m going to do about it (probably eventually going to grab something like an SWFA or Burris 1-4 or 1-5 etched-glass scope for it) because of astigmatism. Also, probably going to wind up replacing the barrel with a faster twist rate sooner or later, in part because the muzzle device is still pinned, which will cost another several hundred dollars. During that process, I’ll probably fix the gas-length, as well, which should solve some of my earlier complaints.
Is it a bad rifle? No, not really. Reasonably accurate out of the box, completely reliable, works. Just not suited to my preferences from the factory in many more ways than I would have preferred.
Mosin M44. Shoots a huge fireball, recoils like a starlet from Harvey Weinstein, heavy for a carbine but more fun than a barrel of monkeys. It’s the “worst” gun I own and I love it even more than my Mosin 91/30.
You want to clear the spaces on either side of you at the range. Bring out the model 44.
The poodle shooter shooters can’t handle that flash and blast. They leave.
I enjoyed setting off car alarms with a ’42 M38 up on the old Rampart range above the Springs (now closed due to an IGOTY-induced death). Others sometimes did not, and other regulars with such systems would good humoredly move their vehicles further from the firing line stairs when I showed up.
Got an awesome nighttime long-exposure photo with it too. The fireball & lighting is….. impressive. The rifle had a sewerpipe bore with a decent BLO & matte urethane refinish, but just for the lulz it was totally worth the marine binos I traded for it.
1 of my many gun regrets is not buying the Polish version of the m44. They were manufactored and while still new and unissued went into storage. They were absolutely pristine with some wood that was blondish in color. Very nice.
At the time they were 169 bucks and you could get a dinged Russsian version for less than 75 bucks. I got 2 of the Russian type.
At that time, even in CA, they were treated as C&R. Fill out a 4473, pay your money and walk out the door with them.
“recoils like a starlet from Harvey Weinstein” -Awesome.
Henry lever action .357 rifle. Pure jam-o-matic, no matter what brand of .357, flatnose , 158 grain, brass cased ammumition you use.
It looks amazing, though…..
That is real disappointing to hear.
“am you mission”, should you wish to accept it, is to have imperato make it right.
what is your aversion to getting it rectified?
Taurus 65 4″ .357. Damn thing looked up while dry firing! Before I’d even shot it. Off to Taurus, 2 weeks later it was traded for the S & W 686. Only Taurus I’ve ever bought, will never be a second.
Taurus Judge!
It’s basically my birdshot sprayer now. Buckshot groupings are silly bad. 45LC groups look like buckshot groups, and the little spring on the transfer bar fell out after a few shots, so now it rattles around. POS – but a blast to spray 50′ wide blasts of birdshot!
If I can’t fix ” worst guns” I turn them into the cops for a Big Ole Feel Good—–_NOT
Professional Ordnance AR-22 ban-era gun.
I live in California, and I bought it in 2001 during the ban. Thought it was so cool, sitting next to all the Remington 700’s and Mini-14s at the shop. With a heavy stainless no feature barrel, and a polymer receiver that gives it awful balance. The receiver set has almost no compatibly with real AR’s, it’s just a misfit of a gun. At least it’s kind of a collectible since Professional has been dead for a while, and Bushmaster doesn’t care to make them anymore.
Just like when I bought it, it is for pure novelty.
Had several bad from a Colt 1911 that always bounced brass off my forehead to an AMT Skipper (1911) that would jam so tight I had to beat the slide closed with a chunk of wood to free it. Wrote off 1911 type pistols for more than 20 years before getting the Kimber that runs fine.
A Kimber that runs fine?
Cool story, bro.
¶-;
Question: Is that Mauser Turkish? I ask based on the wood…
Kel tec p11 or something, chambered in 9 Luger. Trigger pull was awful, super heavy, and super long. The poly frame was small and light, but that meant it kicked hard when the aforementioned trigger finally broke. It was impossible to aim, hard to load, gave me blisters after twenty rounds, and was uglier than my Hi Point. I traded it for a Savage Mk II bolt action 22 and never looked back.
Same for me. Mine also broke on 2 occasions. Don’t remember what it was that broke, just that it was a piece of junk. Traded it at a pawn shop + cash for a older Taurus model 65 in 357, which has turned out to be a great gun.
I’ve thought about getting a PMR 30, but just can’t get over my first horrible experience with that brand.
Yup to all that. Polished the trigger bar and lightened the hammer spring but the trigger pull was still heavy. Trying to get used to it by dry firing ended up breaking the firing pin. KelTec sent a free replacement. Only bought it because I wanted a sub compact to carry when I can’t conceal my bigger pistols, but now I just don’t trust it.
Surplus Norinco SKS. Great design, but this one in particular had a very rough chamber that would cause the case to drag on extraction, which meant the bolt would lose enough velocity to stove pipe at least once per magazine. Sometimes the case wouldn’t extract at all, requiring me to mortar the rifle to get it out. I’ve since polished the chamber, but haven’t test fired it yet. It’s unreliable untill proven otherwise.
Did you check the gas port? You can also check and make sure the piston area is clean.
Especially with surplus rifles, I’d also check the piston extension & spring. I’ve made it a habit (when possible) if I run across a tempting SKS; this ever since being given one that acted in a similar manner, and finding the extension/spring was crusted with old cosmoline & commie-filth. Not enough to stop functioning completely, but could be relied upon to FTE at least once every 10rds.
Though the chamber was indeed rough & cases would sometimes stick when hot with some varnished rounds, the gummed-up extension would soak up whatever extra inertia was needed to overcome the crusty bolt friction & cases dragging.
Beretta Pico
It’s just too damn small. It has a slide that is too hard to rack. Trigger pull is long and heavy. It was so tight at first that it wouldn’t cycle target ammo reliably, many FTE and failures to return to battery.
I am a pocket gun enthusiast. Have quite a number of them. The Pico did have a upgrade that made racking and the trigger pull lighter. I have a size large hand, and have no problem with handing. Just a matter of spending some time shooting. The racking now is as easy as any of my small guns. The trigger is only about 8lbs of pull and smooth and deliberate. And both of the two I have, are totally reliable. One now has over 4,000 rounds of flawless shooting the other 1500 rd. They have a beautiful build quality. All stainless steel, barrel, chassis etc. and best sights in class. Just a truly wonderful little pocket gun. However, it is not a gun for beginners. Spend a little time with them and you will reap huge rewards.
Hot glue gun.
Squeeze the damn trigger when it’s hot – get hot glue out the scalding end. Let off the trigger – get hot glue out the scalding end.
NRA and LaRue tactical are thinking of filing an Amicus Curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the UN to have me stoned for owning a bump fire glue gun.
Meme worthy. TTAG’s 2017 “thing”; the new “boat anchor” hotness.
Binary trigger AND a bumpfire stock on your hot glue gun?
I think we just found the most dangerous man in America.
Alas, I am found out.
Jesus Campos asked me last week to go to Belgium with him and a few friends of Hillary Clinton. Why I didn’t take him up on that I don’t know.
Jennings J-22
At best this stupid 22 can fire one round without a failure. But that one task is few and far between. I have been amazed by the variety of failures that this tiny pistol can deliver from just one little magazine, including firing multiple rounds with one trigger pull.
Got this piece of crap for free and I paid too much!
same for me. Damn gun is horrible….
Chiappa 1911-22. Without a doubt.
In fact, it’s the only bad gun I own, and was a fantastic lesson in not buying guns– even brand new ones– off the Internet, among others.
I’ve bought a number of guns off the internet, just not Chiappas. I think that’s where you went astray. For me, the only problem is that I had to find a table top FFL to process the sales, since the local shops demand $75 to do a transfer, plus tax, plus $25 for the California DROS. And this is even if it is a gun they do not sell. That $75 really takes the value out of on-line shopping. But if you buy from them, magically the transfer fee is just the DROS.
I have owned a fair amount of firearms. The only bad one I ever had? A S&W Model 48. This is the K-frame .22 Mag. 8 3/8″ barrel. If you fired a cylinder full, the unburnt powder would seize the cylinder by filling the cylinder gap. Had to get rid of it.
An old webly I inherited. It is one ugly gat.
Beretta 3032 Inox. It’s a modern version so it’s super slabby (the originals were slim and concealable but the slides would crack so they chubbed them out ridiculously). Crappy cartridge, spongy trigger, weird controls and even though the firing pin WILL break if you dry fire it more than a few times, the slide doesn’t lock back on empty.
I love it.
LCRx .22LR 3″. Horrid trigger, horrid inaccuracy. Moved it along.
Taurus Millnium Pro .45ACP. Couldn’t hit paper at 15 yards, 3 trips to factory. Moved it along.
Jennings .22lr……… Its a horrible for many reasons
Amen. Owned one for week. Went through 5 different brands of 22 looking for one that would work.
We would have killed for an LCP in the 80s.
Life is good now
only gun i ever sold was pretty yintzy, a davis p.380.
gave the w. richards (not westley) welded barrel (damascus looking) sbs 10ga. to a guy with a wild west themed saloon. it came with the house as a wall hanger, and serves the same purpose there. kind of fun to pull the double triggers with both hammers back, but that’s as adventurous as i got.
i was gifted a cbc (brazilian) nylon66 that sort of fires when it wants to. pretty crappy. i can’t even teach youngsters to shoot with it.
Beretta Neos. Got it to teach my daughter to shoot and used it for steel challenge.Shot fine and accurate for about 400-500 rounds then started to jam. Wouldn’t hold magazines tight inside of the mag well caused feeding problems. She would have to clear at least 2 mis-feeds per mag. Very discouraging for her. Then the rear sight vibrated off, lost the screw and spring. After that went to a Ruger 22/45 with no problems.
The Neos Inox was a so-so gun for me too. Mushy, numb trigger. Picky about ammo, but the stuff it liked worked well: Federal Auto Match and Mini Mags probably worked best. My rear sight also worked loose, wouldn’t hold adjustment. I slapped a cheapo red dot on and transferred it to my nephew as his first handgun…I just hope it doesn’t turn him off shooting!
Walther CCP. Failed on the 3rd round, brand new. Waited 6 weeks for Walther to fix it, sold it the day i go it back. Total POS
Many years ago, I purchased a Taurus .38 special 5-shot compact revolver. It was stainless steel, with wooden “banana” grips. Sent it back to the factory twice, but to no avail. It was horrible. I’ve stayed away from Taurus since then.
I like all my guns. None of them are a POS. Some of them I acquired in rough condition or non-functional. All they needed was some TLC and all are running top notch. Even guns people think are low quality POS get TLC at my place until they run top notch. I’ve done work on new guns and old guns and like them all. They weren’t a POS when I got them, and they aren’t a POS now. Maybe the manufacturer did a POS job, but his product wasn’t a POS. It was an almost complete excellent firearm that I finished. No POS around here.
Mossberg 464 rimfire lever action. Weird feeling trigger, loose fitted trigger, no aftermarket stuff, and no way to mount a scope without replacing the rear sight or drilling the receiver. Worst gun ever owned? A Taurus .38 revolver. No rear sight and instead of advancing one round every trigger pull the cylinder would just spin and spin and spin. Kinda scary to shoot cause you never quite knew where the round would touch off.
Rossi single shot 12 gauge shotgun, it goes bang every time but it won’t eject the fired shells a 100% of the time.
My next single shot shotgun is going to be a Henry, no doubts about it.
Mosin Nagant M91/30. Like most, I bought them because I didn’t know/couldn’t afford better. Worst shooting mil-surp I’ve ever owned or fired. I sold all but one for double what I paid, and would sell the last one if not for the prices continuing to rise (inexplicably). It has the worst trigger of any mil-surp, none that I’ve ever seen can group better than 6 MOA, and has the least smooth action of probably any fire arm in history.
The thing about Mosin’s is that the quality varies so wildly, due to both manufacturing and the fact that most of them are hella old. Sounds like you got a dud.
If you can pick up a good one they are a blast.
I got an 1927 Izhevsk. The stock is worn in some places but the gun shoots like a dream. I am a speed shooter, I can put a bunch of rounds in a relatively small target quickly. Precision shooting is not my thing. But I can hit about a 1.5 inch group at 100 yards with mine with open sights.
The worst guns I own are the ones .gov knows about.
Saiga Sporter in 7.62x39mm.
Stock is cheap, hollow plastic.
Front sight is on crooked.
Trigger feels like it’s been playing in the sandbox all afternoon.
Stamped metal. Cheap, cheap, cheap and indifferent build.
Yet one of my favorites to shoot.
Ruger LCR-22. Purchased a “his and her” set, mostly for shooting snakes when we go camping.
The build quality was actually pretty good. And it’s a good-looking revolver. But the length of the trigger pull from here to eastern Jerusalem. And really gritty to boot. Inconsistent reset point.
Sold ’em both off within 12 months of purchase.
My First Edition SIG P290. It has the traditional light strike problem which that particular model is known for. I’m holding on to it because the serial number is XXXOOOO16. I don’t know if that will ever make it valuable but I’ve never owned anything with a number that low.
The “worst” are probably:
PTR 91
There is nothing wrong with it, it’s well built, reliable, and I like it a lot. Fantastic gun! But it’s a 60’s era battle rifle with all that entails in terms of weight, ergonomics, and accuracy and a charging handle that takes iron will to move. This and the MP5 are like guns of a certain era. . . like a carb’d, lope-y cammed classic muscle car in a new era of high revving DOHC sports cars. They have their charms and I like them a lot.
Springfield SAR 8 (sold ages ago)
Bought it a loooong time ago back when I didn’t know much about guns. Back during the days of the Clinton AWB. Seemed cool. Little did I know of the problems with the alumni received SAR 8’s. Until I tried to sell it about 12 years later. It never gave me problems but I never shot it much at all, which was the main reason it was being sold.
Robinson M96 (sold not that long ago)
Liked the rifle a lot and never had any trouble with it. But Robinson never finished developing the promised belt feed system and only made 500 top feed bren kits for it. On top of the rifle being a low production gun no longer supported. Didn’t feel like I wanted to hang on to it long term as parts become hard to come by in the future.
Though, if this is the “worst” I’ve had I’m not doing to bad.
There have been other guns I’ve sold. Not because they were inherently bad, just that I didn’t shoot them anymore and they were a rescued I could sell and fund new purchases.
Masterpiece Arms MPA380-II. It operates flawlessly but is a bear to handle. Let me know if you’d like it and I’ll throw it on GunBroker.
I cannot believe I am the only idiot here that bought a Diamondback DB9.
I knew it was going to be a mistake, but it was so thin, light, 9mm and pocketable.
Dagnabbit, I want a this gun to work!
The winner of the bottom of my barrel is a .40 caliber AMT (American Machine & Tool) BackUp DAO. I can’t think of one good thing or part on it, starting with the mag baseplate and going up to the useless trench sight.
Hardly ever runs, light strikes like a Glock nightmare, has every kind of stoppage imaginable.
A distant second is a Taurus PT145 first gen DAO. Oddly, when it runs right it’s a pretty good self-defense gun: 11 rounds of .45 and really good ergos resulting in excellent control. But another light striker, fractured the grip frame three times, and drops mags.
There’s an old Universal M-1 Carbine that needs a really right star alignment to finish a magazine, too.
Next would be the Springfield Trophy Match .45 I got from a customer and was supposedly a Custom Shop gun. It broke so many things and had so many parts flying off it needed a basket underneath. When it tore the link in two in the middle of the holes, it was gone.
My luck with Springers has been bad, and I’m prejudiced. The Missus has a double brace of custom SAs that are pretty good, apart from having broken three .40 cal slides so far in six years ( and Springer’s not sending replacements anymore- the guns are collecting dust).
I had a Smith 625 that was packed with floor sweepings, had a hammer so far off-center it could hardly get past the frame to hit the primer, and dropped its cylinder on the ground three times during USPSA matches before meeting a fate outside of my ken. It wasn’t very accurate either and spit like a first baseman.
Wow, this could go on for a while…
I still have a first gen Professional Ordnance AR clone. Finicky with ammo. Sometimes great stretches of not jamming. Alot of sudden, jam-o-matic with the same brand. Plus it was the first AR clone to break it’s bolt within 500 rds.
Back in the day – Star BKM. Two boxes of ammo (with 50 jams) and the barrel was peened so slide wouldnt go into battery.
Recent – Diamondback DB 9. Barrel swelled and locked that action tight. Not +P. Federal champion. POS.
Anything by century arms.
Glock 19 Gen 4 broke before the first round was fired. Mailing it back several times cost more than what I paid for it. Unlike others Glock charged me for everything.
The first two i ever owned. A walther p99 and ruger p93. Sold both quickly. Only thing i could rely on them for was to jam.
When my uncle passed away he left me 2 rifles and 2 revolvers. The rifles are great and i still have them. The revolvers were made by a company called rohm. Never heard of them so i asked around. I was told by every gunsmith i asked to not shoot them. Apparently they were made from cheap metal and were known to blow up. Those are safe queens now.
It was a Llama X-A (I think) in .32 ACP. I bought it from some guy in a trailer park off an ad in the local paper back when I was in college. It is the only gun that I ever pulled on someone in self defense. Thank God I didn’t have to fire it, because the thing was a jam-o-matic (stovepipe city!). In 1976 I got a real job, upgraded to a stainless BHP, and sold it to an optimist (thank God!).
Charles
Taurus 709. Light primer strikes out of the box in all ammo save Fiocchi. Trip to Taurus didn’t solve the problem.
Hmm, my husband has no problem with his Taurus 709. I found the slide unusually hard to rack, until recently. He’s put a lot more rounds through it than what our other guns have loosened up, when racking. Usually using Remington or WWB.
That Bersa Thunder 380, I bought it for me, gave it to my husband, who gave it to our son, who never shoots it. Sort of a “Here, it’s yours,”…”No, it’s yours”…situation. Haven’t passed it along to daughter, she’s shot it, doesn’t want it.
Rugar American, Ejector button spring is super heavy and bolt face rim needs chamfering. Bullet case does not always feed correctly into bolt face, from magazine and then bolt has to be jammed hard when chambering.
Call Ruger, let them know. Send it in, it will be fixed.
had a sig 2022 hated it, only had it for about 3 months and sold it. loved the 226 though
Century Arms C93 chokes and destroys brass. Might be salvageable with new rollers and some other work, just dont want to dump money into it when so many other better guns are out there waiting to be had.
NAA Guardian .32 ACP , drops mags all the time even after they mailed me the revised mag release, FTF and stovepipes, only likes American Eagle FMJ. Too bad, its a good looking mouse gun.
Remington RM380 cause they were building it in here in Huntsville and I figured what the hell. Royal Pain in the Ass to field strip and put back together. It works and shoots and, as Doug would say on ‘Forged in Fire’, “it will kill”, but that’s 300 bucks I wish I had back. At least i wasn’t stupid enough to spring for the “Made in Huntsville” edition…
Since I only own Rugers (except for 3 old shotguns), I don’t have any ‘worst’ guns. Every damn one works, and there is a lot of them.
I own a lot of Rugers, but also have a lot of problems as well. Great customer service. But I had to have some totally replaced, bad workmanship on some right out of the box, peening problems, and the LCP is the most over rated pocket gun on the market. Yea, they work fine til they don’t. I had four of them. At around the 1500 rd mark you have to be careful and really examine them for cracks, split rails and on and on.
Remington 7600 in 30-06 that came with .243 parts mixed in!!! Would hand fed a round and fire but nothing else. After much argument when Remington tried to charge me for the repair it was done as warranty.
I can think of two, a gsg mp5 that just never worked. I managed to sell it to some schmuck from 250, it ran terribly and I hated it. On the other hand, I have a Phoenix Hp25, i got it for $50. It is unarguably a terrible, poorly made, badly designed gun that shoots the hugely overpriced 25acp. I would never carry this gun. the manual of arms is ridiculous. seriously, look it up. its absurd. Its terrible, and i love it. its the worst gun in my safe, and probably always will be.
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