What is the most unreliable semi auto you have shot ?

My H&R pardner was a POS when I first bought it. Shells would get stuck in the chamber and the feed latch was out of spec so at random times it would fail to chamber a round when racked. I sent it back and 1 month later it came back and works 100% now. They polished the chamber and replaced the feed latch (as I recommended). It sucks getting a lemon, but sometimes they really can fix it.
If that is the most unreliable gun experience you have had your pretty lucky.:D

1911

AMT Backup 380!
amt 380 backup was my jam-o-matic... sold it

Late 80s vintage AO 1911 and a Colt Mustang Pocketlite. Both were couldn't fire a full magazine w/o some sort of malfunction even with ball ammo.

A Para-Ordnance LDA single stack .45 ACP. I still have it. Its SD role- give it to the bad guy, while he's trying to figure out how to get it to shoot, crack him in the head with a stick

Wow, mine is different than yours. I bought mine used. It has been near perfect so far. The only issue was the original recoil spring assembly would loosen up after about 100 rds. A call to Para got me a new one for no charge in a couple of days, fine since that. My wife has a Tac Four that has been 100% perfect since day one. She loves it.

The absolute worst semi auto that I ever owned/shot was a Sterling 380 auto. Yeah, I know most have never heard of, or owned a Sterling. I traded a friend out of it back around 1984. He had bought it new a couple of years before, and put about 100 rds of S&W 380 ammo thru it. Yes, Smith used to have/sell ammo under their name. Anyway, if I used any other type of ammo, it was about 75% light strike rate. On day while firing it the safety lever broke off. I was shocked at how porous the part looked. I ordered a new part from Numrich. Sterling had since gone out of business. After I put in the new part, I traded it to a different friend who knew the total history of the pistol. He didn't care, he wanted a small 380.

If that is the most unreliable gun experience you have had your pretty lucky.

I've been very lucky. That said I rarely buy any gun that is not name brand, even though they of course turn out some lemons as well.

Beretta M9. Newish Army-issue POS with dust-prone everything.

Any AMT!!!

Poor AMT! It seems they only accidentally made a decent firearm! :D
An LEO friend of mine probably still curses the AMT Backup that he bought sometime in the 90s. (I can't remember if his was the .40 or the .45.) He thought it was going to be the perfect backup companion for his main carry weapon, his Sig.

If I were a newbie I would give up on Semi-autos alltogether and get a revolver. :scrutiny: Also, I should probably sell my 5 Kimbers, 2 LCPs and 2 Glock 23s. I should probably sell all of my other 1911s especially the ones under 5 inches since this is the platform that is most complained about. That would leave my two Taurus PT 1911s which have not one single complaint on this thread. This would be okay with me since they are incredibly reliable and accurate which is the reason that they are my only full sized 1911s that I have kept.:evil: take that all you Taurus haters.

There are a couple facts about guns that seem to be ovelooked here and seem to the reason for many of the problems. All guns need to be kept clean to some degree to be reliable. Most Guns need to have springs changed on occasion and basic maitenance needs to be performed on them once in a while. A lot of the problems mentioned have been with range guns and other peoples guns. It would not be a stretch to assume that many of the problems would be due to lack of maitence and unfamiliarity.

Another truth, 1911s are finicky, it is for this reason that I went without one for over 15 years. It is also the reason I never recomend them as a first gun. If I didn't know a good gunsmith I wouldn't own one.:evil: But, If they are maintained they can be very reliable. Allmost any 1911 can be made to run well by a good smith. I have a KImber and a Rock Island that both needed adjusting. The Kimber is a constant companion and the RI comp Tac rides along on occasion.

Despite some "evidence" to the contrary, I believe that Glocks are pretty near perfect. They are, in my opinion, the most reliable gun out of the box. I had some initial problems with my Ruger LCP but after a good cleaning and polishing the feed ramp, it has been flawless since. It is so good that I bought a second for my daughter. If she would carry a Glock, I would buy her one of those as well because of how reliable they are.

My worst guns were both Colt 1911s. A new 1991AI and a mixmaster. They were the reasons I didn't own a 1911 for 15 years.

I don't see this thread as bashing semi-autos at all. It shows how every maker puts out a lemon now and then. If you see a consistant pattern with a certain gun you can draw your own conclusion. I feel that most who have posted here own reliable guns and maintain them. This asked your most unreliable semi ever. I've found this thread informative but I haven't seen much brand bashing.... just honest answers from people who actually know what they are talking about.

LOL. Go figure. There are posts in this thread in which Glock 22s and 23s FTF and many 1911s go 'click'. But I have two $200 KelTec 32s that I have run over 500 rounds through without one single hiccup. Life's just not fair. :D

LOL. Go figure. There are posts in this thread in which Glock 22s and 23s FTF and many 1911s go 'click'. But I have two $200 KelTec 32s that I have run over 500 rounds through without one single hiccup. Life's just not fair. LOL.

Well snakum, we're part of the same club. I have one of those too and probably have a similar number of rounds through mine without a hiccup. I don't fire the little B$%^%$ that often because she kicks like a mule!

Lorcin 380
My buddy bought a Lorcin 380 from another "friend" for $50. It was a jamomatic for him. I cleaned and oiled it good, tried a new magazine, tried partially full magazines, and different types ammos and nothing made it shoot reliably. I recommended he sell it to a pawn shop or pitch it in the middle of the lake.

colt pocket 9, fell apart in my hands during its first firing

colt pocket 9, fell apart in my hands during its first firing

A 1911 made up on a junky Fedord frame. Remington slide, miscellaneous parts. Frame was so badly made that parts were loose, ramp angle was wrong. Would feed hardball about fifty percent of the time. Found an Essex frame, transferred the parts and got a hundred percent reliability.

Kahr PM-45. Couldn't make that sucker feed reliably, even after a trip to the factory.

Throwing my 2cents in here, back around 1995 or so ran across a pocket pistol that in my opinion was not worth the time it took to throw in the trash. But because of the history of manufacture the little thing was very collect able and valuable. Called a Detroit, was a copy of Walther's but the people that started making them failed to get clearance and only 50 were ever made. I do not think it ever fired more than 2 rounds at one time without jamming or worse going into auto fire where it would fire every time the slide came forward.

Llama Omni .45. Accurate, but wouldn't feed hollowpoints and most swc's until a couple trips to the lgs. Still have it, still accurate but haven't spent enough time to with it to master the sa/da trigger. Too many other guns to shoot.

Remington 597. did nothing but jam from the first time at the range. sent it back to the factory (which i had to pay shipping), they replaced some parts. shot better, but still jammed, so i pawned it and bought a 10/22.

I don't want to pile on too much but Smith and Wesson really messed up with their Sigma. I had a .40 and that gun was so bad that I'll never buy another S&W auto and I have no interest in ever owning another .40SW either!

My Taurus Pt-145 had a few mag problems but I got them resolved pretty easily with the help of a friend with a pair of calipers and needle nose pliers.

Another friend of mine liked it so much he decided to buy the bigger 24/7 pro ds. THAT my friends was the WORST piece of crap I have ever put a bullet in.

It had just about every failure to feed or eject that you could imagine. I was looking at the mags for it and mine, realized that the mags on it were just a longer version 12 round capacity instead of 10 like mine, slid the plastic bottom cap off one of mine slid it up inside his grip and proceeded to put 10 rounds down range in a rapid fashion without a hitch. Did it a couple more times, pulled out the pliers and calipers and matched one of his mags to mine. Bang, jam, jam, jam, bang, bang, click, scratch head pull back slide and see empty chamber, release slide, jam, bang, bang, bang, jam, bang. Curse and scream, reload mag, stuck in my pt145 and put 12 down range fashionably, picked up his other 2 mags and did the same. Tried it a couple more times and one of his mags seemed to magically start almost working if you only loaded 9 rounds in it. That was the magic number 10 or 8 and it would have problems. Quickly figured out numbering the mags was a good idea. Sent it back to Taurus, it came back with a new extractor and the same problems. Sold gun with semi working mag to some gun shop and i give him 20 bucks for the other 2 mags and use them in my pt145.

Shot a mag thru a new glock 9mm that was another guys and it seemed fine until he started the second mag and it blew the magazine out the bottom of the grip and cracked the frame (kb'd). He was uninjured luckily.

Rohm 22 revolver. I know not a semi but... It seemed to shoot ok after I oiled it up but I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from inside with that thing no matter what kind of ammo I used. I had a better chance hitting the target throwing the gun at it blindfolded.

I purchased a new SA 1911A1 in about 1985. On the 27th round down the pipe, it broke :cuss:. I took it to a 'smith that upon disassembling it found that the interior of the MSH had a burr of metal inside that jammed the mainspring. After repair, I sold the weapon and have not owned another SA product since.

Les Baer 1911, swapped it for a Hi Point..

I love CZ's but the NEW CZ P-07 SUCKED!!!! It was eating up the guide rod , chewing it up badly , it's trigger would not reset , and the mag would not eject and drop free wheather full nor empty . This happened to a lot of them . All other CZ's are GREAT!!!!
CZ sent me a whole new gun and I appreciated it , but could not trust my life to it after all the defects it had . I am LEO and was gonna use it as an off-duty gun , but no way after that all that crap , plus many others were having the same issues . I took my new P-07 sent to me unfired and traded it in on a NEW Springfield Armory XD-9SC . It is AWESOME .
CZ is great but they need to refine their polymer guns I think .

Charter Explorer II .22 Wouldn't feed even the first round from the magazine, much less any other.

High Point C9

Nearly brand new when I got it 5 years ago and you couldn't get through a mag of any kind of 9mm without at least one failure (and yes, it was properly cleaned and lubed). Since it was my first pistol and was given to me as gift by someone dear, I could not bring myself to sell it.

After I put around 200 rounds through the pipe it stopped jamming, and has since been 100% reliable with both FMJs & HPs. Shes a fun little range toy now. Its great fun to surprise people with how accurate it is. I suspect it just needed to be worn in.

P.S.
The grip feels 7 times better with a Hogue handall on it :D

NIB Ruger P95, biggest POS ever:barf:

My sig p228 with a promag in it!?

Probably a tie between and Erma .22LR and a Ruger Mark III Hunter.

I think I got the Erma fixed. The constant feeding issues with my buddy's Ruger prompted me to buy a Buckmark instead.

But really the worst was probably the Tec-9.

My sig p228 with a promag in it!?
Do you think the problem is with the pistol or the magazine?

The least reliable autos I have shot are the Kel-Tecs we fired while looking for a gun for my wife. So I never bought one. Least reliable auto I have personally owned was the Walther P22 I bought on impulse when they first came out. The one that came with two different barrels .

The most garbage pile o junk ever shot Hi point .40 cal slide was machined way off had to line up the out side edge of the rear sight w the side of the front sight.

complete crap my buddy sent it back twice till the slide was replaced.

now its just a crap pistol his father in law gave it to him and i told him to turn it in the next time the sheriffs office has the gun hand in they give you a hundred buck as incentive.

that he could use for another pistol...

Kimber Pro Carry II, though they were good about the warranty work.

Walther PP in .32, had three of them, they all stovepiped at least once every other magazine.

This thread is hilarious... I've owned and shot LOTS of ammo through almost every one of the guns that are listed as jam-o-matics, and never had a problem with them. I've sent a couple of guns back to the manufacturers when I did have problems, but evidently you guys are either expecting miracles from every gun you buy, or I've just been so lucky that I got all the guns that worked.

Beretta Tomcats work fine with CCI stingers, but are a little testy with some Remington loads... but as for being a POS... nah...

SR-9... only problem I had was being without it for two weeks while they fixed the trigger. Runs like a Swiss watch.

Tanfoglio Witness and TZ-75... never a hiccup. A small problem with one slamfire in the TZ, but it was an anomolie, and never re-occurred.

Baby Eagle .40 cal... never a burp. One of the most accurate guns I own.

Llama Minimax and Micromax... a few hiccups in the .380, but nothing that wasn't fixed with a little cleaning and polishing the feed ramp. The .45 ran like a clock.

Smith and Wesson 4006, Model 39, Model 19, Sigma... never a problem with any of them.

I carry a Para P-12 (which has saved my life), and own six other 1911 platform guns that all go bang every time I pull the trigger... no problems at all... both regular and high-cap.

Springfield XD-M, 1911, never a problem...

The only gun I ever really had problems with was a FEG Hi-Power clone that constantly stovepiped. I have an FEG .380 that the extractor pin flew out of when I was cleaning it, but it ran like a watch during shooting... I'm still looking for the pin...

Since I work in a gun store now, I'm really loving hearing that the Kimbers and Glocks are junk too... I have to set aside time every day to listen to the customers come in and moon over the Kimbers and Glocks like they were women, and then show up three days later (after buying them) to trade them off.

What I've found, for the most part, is that when people have problems with guns, it's a combination of not breaking the guns in properly, not running them oiled or lubricated enough, using bad ammo, or the wrong ammo (nightmare stories there), or simply not educated enough in shooting to know what the hell they were doing with the guns. People trade in guns for all kinds of reasons, and luckily, I can keep playing with most of them until I see if they really have a problem or if it's imagined... but thanks to all you who have bought all those terrible guns and turned them back in so I could get them cheaper... a little TLC goes a long way toward making anything mechanical work, and a gun is just a little machine for making bullets go bang... :D

WT

The first pistol I ever owned, Springfield XD .45 first edition, was my biggest problem gun. It cycled any ammo I gave it. Never had a jam, stovepipe, nothing like that. The problem was that it wouldn't hit anywhere near where I was aiming. I had several people try it, all with the same results. Sight adjustment didn't work, so I sold it off to someone who didn't believe a word of warning I told him. Took that money and bought a Kimber TLE. A lot of people say Kimbers are not that good, but after over 8K rounds mine is doing just fine. I hit where I aim, and it goes bang every time. I guess it's all just luck of the draw.

Llama .380, Colt Pocketlite-

Returned the Llama for a Mustang Plus II- it jammed, too. Mustang Pocketlite was nothing but a bottom-feeding auto-jammer. No more Colts.

Current carry S&W Mod 42 or a Kel-tec .380 or .32. Haven't had any issues with the Kel-tec's using hardball except the .380 had a bad habit of the mag coming loose- sent it back and they fixed it. Did have some jams with HPs, though.

I know its the promag. Only use mecgars in real life.

This thread is hilarious... I've owned and shot LOTS of ammo through almost every one of the guns that are listed as jam-o-matics, and never had a problem with them. I've sent a couple of guns back to the manufacturers when I did have problems, but evidently you guys are either expecting miracles from every gun you buy, or I've just been so lucky that I got all the guns that worked.

Beretta Tomcats work fine with CCI stingers, but are a little testy with some Remington loads... but as for being a POS... nah...

SR-9... only problem I had was being without it for two weeks while they fixed the trigger. Runs like a Swiss watch.

Tanfoglio Witness and TZ-75... never a hiccup. A small problem with one slamfire in the TZ, but it was an anomolie, and never re-occurred.

Baby Eagle .40 cal... never a burp. One of the most accurate guns I own.

Llama Minimax and Micromax... a few hiccups in the .380, but nothing that wasn't fixed with a little cleaning and polishing the feed ramp. The .45 ran like a clock.

Smith and Wesson 4006, Model 39, Model 19, Sigma... never a problem with any of them.

I carry a Para P-12 (which has saved my life), and own six other 1911 platform guns that all go bang every time I pull the trigger... no problems at all... both regular and high-cap.

Springfield XD-M, 1911, never a problem...

The only gun I ever really had problems with was a FEG Hi-Power clone that constantly stovepiped. I have an FEG .380 that the extractor pin flew out of when I was cleaning it, but it ran like a watch during shooting... I'm still looking for the pin...

Since I work in a gun store now, I'm really loving hearing that the Kimbers and Glocks are junk too... I have to set aside time every day to listen to the customers come in and moon over the Kimbers and Glocks like they were women, and then show up three days later (after buying them) to trade them off.

What I've found, for the most part, is that when people have problems with guns, it's a combination of not breaking the guns in properly, not running them oiled or lubricated enough, using bad ammo, or the wrong ammo (nightmare stories there), or simply not educated enough in shooting to know what the hell they were doing with the guns. People trade in guns for all kinds of reasons, and luckily, I can keep playing with most of them until I see if they really have a problem or if it's imagined... but thanks to all you who have bought all those terrible guns and turned them back in so I could get them cheaper... a little TLC goes a long way toward making anything mechanical work, and a gun is just a little machine for making bullets go bang... :D

WT
[Edit= So you did answer the question after you buried it in holier than thou.]

So what's the most unreliable semi-auto you have ever shot?

That WAS the question, not a lecture down the nose.

Phoenix Arms HP-22. Goes bang every time, but doesn't like to eject very much. Getting the spent case out with a knife after every shot is not fun.

Good Grief! Someone said a Sig 220ST! Mine has been absolutely superb. If it had been a POS I would have gone slam off too...

My biggest POS was a Kel Tec 40 and a Jennings J22 bought when I was young and stupid. Mine would go full auto also. Kind of cool with Stingers actually... Had it cut up by a machine shop guy I know. Did not have the conscience to sell it to anybody.

My personal worst was a Para P14 with an alloy frame.

I had a Llama Mini-Max II in 9mm, It hated WWB hollowpoints. Basically all it would shoot was LRN rounds.

Every 1911 I've owned except for a sweet Les Baer TRS (Kimber custom II was the worst of the bunch).

Chiappa 1911-22. Stove pipe city, What really chaps is I had to pay shipping to send it back to them and it came back worse!

Even my Jennings works better.

Brand new Seecamp 25 Auto when they first came out in the 80's. It was a total piece of junk that was a JAM-O-MATIC from the start! :barf: I followed all instructions and used the cartridges they recommended, then when they would jam about every other or third shot, I tried a variety of others which did the same thing, get hung at the feed ramp. :uhoh:

I sent it back, they had it like a month, they sent it back to me and I thought it would be great and it was still the exact same, I called them and had a hard time getting in touch and gave up calling them.:mad: On the repair slip it stated something like mill feed ramp.:barf:

I immediately sold it and the person who bought it had the firing pin break on him the first day he owned it.:confused:

I should have listened to several people who tried to tell me to spend over $100 LESS and buy a BERETTA.
That decision to buy that **** was ONE BIG MISTAKE! :banghead:

Glad my late father never had to use his Bryco.32. I inherited it, never fired, took it out to shoot it. Pulled slide back it came off and parts flew everywhere in the grass and couldn't find some of them!:banghead:
JT

No surprise, but a Jennings J-22. Was offered to buy it for $50, wanted to fire it first, first magazine fires flawlessly and to point of aim at 10 yards. First round of second mag, the slide shears off the frame and hits me in the chest. it was given to me, and i still have it as a conversation piece.

Beretta M9, Army-issue
My Hi-Point used to be good.

'70 vintage High Standard Victor--never saw one that would shoot 60 rounds without a jam.

No surprise, but a Jennings J-22. Was offered to buy it for $50, wanted to fire it first, first magazine fires flawlessly and to point of aim at 10 yards. First round of second mag, the slide shears off the frame and hits me in the chest. it was given to me, and i still have it as a conversation piece.
I got a kick out of that!
Good thing everyone is safe.
Well, at least you have a free paperweight.

Beretta 21a .22 bobcat. jammed with all ammo I used, Except cci stingers. Was able to sell it for $250 to a dummy :D

If it says CZ.

Most unreliable gun I ever shot was a .50 AE Desert Eagle range rental gun. Slide rails were so dirty and beat up that the thing would not go into battery. Also got some weak primer strikes, FTF and FTE. Probably mostly due to lack of maintanence.

Phoenix Arms HP-22. Goes bang every time, but doesn't like to eject very much. Getting the spent case out with a knife after every shot is not fun.

If the slide locks back you ought to use a cleaning rod or skinny wooden dowel to push it out, it would be a lot easier than prying with a knife.

Lorcin .380

A friend purchased one and could not get it to fire a full magazine without jamming.

I looked at it, but could not make if function reliably.

It is sitting in a box slowly corroding away.

.380 Gremlin:barf:

Kahr .40 Clunk-o-matic......wouldn't feed......wouldn't fire........wouldn't eject.........glad it was borrowed.........gave it back to its owner with the report and never fired another Kahr anything. The owner traded it off a week later (after verifying my assessment) for a used S&W model 64.......

Jennings .22
I was testing a friends out to see what the problem was, you couldn't even chamber a round.

SCCY CPX-2 dumbist purchase i ever made, bought it for $150 otd, i thought i got a steal for a truck gun just to throw in my glovebox, i it slamfired once and another time it fired when i racked the slide!:what: scared the HOLY SPIRIT outta me!!!! traded it in on a ruger sr9c though and couldn't be happier!:)

I'll add one to my previous post. How could I forget about the Taurus PT-22. Would not work reliably with any brand of value pack, Remington, Winchester, Federal. Was not reliable with Federal American Eagle, Remington Lighting, CCI Minimags, CCI Stingers, Aquila Super Max, or any other .22lr ammo besides one, I'm sure I've forgot some of the brands I ran through it.

The only .22lr ammo it was 100% reliable with was old Coast to Coast .22lr ammo, ran like a top with that stuff. I think the ammo was probably 25 years old or more. Some of you old timers will probably remember the old Coast to Coast hardware stores.

I had about 2/3rd of a brick I think I bought at a gun show. If I recall it was a 40gr. shell and pretty warm. I wish they still made the stuff it was really good ammo. That was the only ammo that it ran 100% with. The CCI Stingers were I think 2nd most reliable, but had a few failures, FTF/FTE, ect.

Charter Arms .22 Survival Rifle with Floating Stock. Jam or eat the brass, then jam, then not eject, then jam, then jam... you get the picture.

Yea, love the idea of those take down .22lr survival rifles. Great idea, many don't seem to work though. The Browning take down .22's have a different design and seem to be the only take down .22lr's that run well. Wish my dad hadn't traded his! Wasn't the most accurate gun though.

take down .22lr survival rifles
Why don't they make bolt action variants?
Or even a straight pull-back like the Swiss K-31?

Tec-9..., didn't own it, but only test fired it. Looks scary in a BG's mind but not what you want in any kind of fight.

LD

Kel Tec PF9.

It's the only gun I ever traded. It would jam at least 2-5 times each mag. The magazine would also drop sometimes and after about 600 rounds through it I knew I would never trust it.

After reading every post I have determined to never buy a Kimber.

My dad's got a .25 ACP pocket pistol. It'll shoot 2 or 3 mags fine right after cleaning, but after a few mags it needs to be cleaned or it'll jam every round. An all right gun for the $40 he paid for it though.

What is it?

I'd have to ask him what brand it is...I'm pretty sure it's not a phoenix, but i'm not positive.

Not me- One of my Agts on the range(A Non-LE Certified by APOST) who was "grandfathered" because he had a "degree" in Crim Just, who politiced his way to Capt and claimed VietNam experience as MilIntel? His gun of choice was a SS Walther PPK 380(that he used in VietNam). It wouldn't feed a full mag of any ammo w/o a FTF or FTE ever! I threw him and his gun off the range! BTW-Mr SpecOps Mil Intel couldn't shoot any other issue handgun we gave him either!:neener:

Masterpeice arms .17hmr semiauto bull barrel pistol. First shot fte, second round jam turned out to be a master peice of ****.

Berreta model 21 in .22.
Jamomatic

AMT 1911.......the inside looked like it was made with a hacksaw and a hatchet. Matter of fact, I think I would have been better off with a hatchet.

Springfield 1911 compact

Walther p22 with ruger 10/22 coming in a close 2nd.

A Jennings chrome .380 acp, bang! Click, shuffle shuffle, bang! Click.....damn!


Second curiously enough, a ser 70 Colt Gold Cup! Thing would not eat anything with regularity....sold it bought a Kimber Tac Custom II and it eats everything with never a failure.

Sterling Arms .25 ACP...biggest POS I've ever touched. Had a 6, maybe 7 round mag and it would jam on at least 5 of the rounds. That's after a thorough cleaning, too.

Indian Arms .380. They didn't seem to have the stainless figured out on the early guns.

Ruger LCP.

ParaOrdnance P14.45

Would lock back on every magazine with 1-2 rds still available.

Sold it. Full disclosure.

Post 546 My norinco take down 22 has never had a gun related issue. Just bad ammo.

Kahr P9. The slide rails became unimbedded from the front of the frame. This was my shooting partner's pistol. He sent it back to Kahr and somehow they lost the pistol at their factory. They finally replaced it and my partner promptly sold the replacement pistol at a slight loss. That was the last time he or I have ever fired a Kahr.;)

A Walther (German) PPK/s 380. Would only feed certain ammo, had to have a super tight grip on it or it would "stove pipe" every time and if you grip it to high the hammer would bite you!

Colt Defender - worked pretty good with ball ammo but never found a HP I'd trust my life to. 2-3 jams/stovepipes per 50 rounds, even with top grade mags.

Maybe thats not fair as I've heard 1911 pattern pistols less than 4" bbl's can be kinda iffy in reliability.

Ruger LCP WHAT?! I have 600+ rounds through mine with no issues. Sorry to hear about yours.

Anyway, putting my vote in for Raven 25 acp

This thread is so old I may have posted this before, but the answer remains SIGMA.

I bought a SIG 220 9m.m. and RUGER P 90 .45ACP when I lived in CANADA. The RUGER had a clunky feel and I never could shoot it as accurately as my 1911. The SIG jammed and misfed from day one. It had a great grip, good sights and a very nice trigger, BUT IT JUST DID NOT WORK!

When I came back to the U.S., I bought a KEL TEC .32ACP. It also never worked reliably with any ammo.
I also bought a BERETTA TOMCAT in the same caliber. It would not shoot WINCHESTER WHITE BOX fmj, but loves AGUILA fmj. It will shoot FEDERAL Hydro Shok about 90% of the time, but is 100% with COR BON Powerball. So I carry it often.

I also bought a TAURUS 132. It is about as unreliable as the KEL TEC. I will send both of these guns back for warranty work, but for now, only the TOMCAT has worked out.

On the other hand, my BERETTA 92's have worked great. The only problem I have ever had was magazine related.

Jim

You have bad gun luck. Do you want help choosing next time? ;)

I've never owned an unreliable gun, but my friend's High Point .45ACP was a real piece of crap. FTFs, FTEs, it did it all.

My only experience with gun problems was with my Springfield XDM-9. I had one FTF in the first 200 rounds, and I kept hitting the magazine release with my right thumb. The funny thing was, that magazine was nearly impossible to release, but if I applied just SLIGHT pressure on the mag release (by accident), the mag would hit the dirt after 3-5 rounds. It was really pissing me off until I realized what was going on. I readjusted my grip, and it shot great.

I really am blown away with the huge number of Kimbers on here. I have only really been into guns for about 5 years now, but I always thought Kimbers were quality guns. I am shocked to see all the problems.

The fact that there are only a few Glock problem stories in nearly 600 posts is just amazing. You can argue all you want, but Glock makes one hell of a gun.

I bought a SIG 220 9m.m. and RUGER P 90 .45ACP when I lived in CANADA.

Wow, how did you manage that? In Canada? ;)

I bought a SIG 220 9m.m. and RUGER P 90 .45ACP when I lived in CANADA. The RUGER had a clunky feel and I never could shoot it as accurately as my 1911. The SIG jammed and misfed from day one. It had a great grip, good sights and a very nice trigger, BUT IT JUST DID NOT WORK!

When I came back to the U.S., I bought a KEL TEC .32ACP. It also never worked reliably with any ammo.
I also bought a BERETTA TOMCAT in the same caliber. It would not shoot WINCHESTER WHITE BOX fmj, but loves AGUILA fmj. It will shoot FEDERAL Hydro Shok about 90% of the time, but is 100% with COR BON Powerball. So I carry it often.

I also bought a TAURUS 132. It is about as unreliable as the KEL TEC. I will send both of these guns back for warranty work, but for now, only the TOMCAT has worked out.

On the other hand, my BERETTA 92's have worked great. The only problem I have ever had was magazine related.

Jim
Hmmm, that many problems make me wonder ifit's the guns that are the problem.:)

The only bottom feeder I have had problems with was my Kel Tec P-11. I had a problem with the mag catch (the factory mag catch is plastic & can be damaged by slamming the magazine home). I replaced it with a metal one I bought from a member at KTOG. The trigger spring was jumping out of the groove in the trigger bar (I smoothed the groove with a dremel wheel I held in my hand & cured this). The slide stop broke (this did not interfere with function other than the slide not locking back. It is reliable now. The little gun is ok for what it is but it is not my favorite.

Para GI Expert. Repeatedly jammed on the last round in the magazine.

Back in the '70s, I bought a brand new, High Standard Victor that had light strikes. I had the firing pin and springs replaced to no avail. One gunsmith had a theory that the barrel was bad, so I got another barrel, but, it still had light strikes. It was very accurate, but, you never knew if it was going to fire.:what:

In 1984, I bought a new, Para P14-45 for $550. I ended up pumping over $600 in to it, to get it to run MOST of the time. Then, like a dumb-ass, I bought a Para P16-40 Limited, which had an im-properly fit barrel. My gunsmith advised to send it in for warranty. When I did, they said they saw nothing wrong with the barrel, or, barrel fit, but replaced the grip safety, and some springs, and then held it hostage until I gave them over $200 to return it. I ended up having an Ed Brown barrel fitted, but, even though I really wanted to like that gun, the love just wasn't there and I ended up selling both Paras at a terrible loss.:cuss:

For hi-caps, I switched to STIs, and now own 9 of them.:D

only had one problem ever it was a colt 22lr of my dads
(got a new mag and it worked fine from there on out)

Sig 220st. Very bad. Have a Sig 220r currently. Very good.

Hello everyone. New here and this is my first post and it HAS to be on this topic. Chiappa 1911-.22. It was a jamboree eveytime. It wouldn't go 4 shots without a FTF, FTE or a stovepipe. Only went through a full clip once and that was right after being cleaned and with me firing as fast as I could pull the trigger. It was accurate when it did work but I couldn't deal with it anymore. Traded it in for LCP which has been flawless so far.

BEN

A non-Canadian can buy a gun in CANADA as long as they have a F.A.C., that is a FIREARMS ACQUISITION LICENSE. I was living and working in CANADA at the time and could purchase firearms without a hassle.

I could even order them through the mail and purchase a sawed off shotgun. In CANADA, short barreled weapons are legal as long as they left the factory that way. I was able to buy a 14 inch barreled VALTRO shotgun or a 9 inch barreled CAMPER'S gun. I did not bother with either as I knew I could not import them.

I did buy a BENELLI made M-1 GARAND for $280.00 U.S. in very good condition. It shot great, but ATF said I would have to go through a broker to bring it in. I also had to leave a STOEGER .22lr LUGER because they said it did not have any sporting use. I think they just fixated on the name.

Jim

Walther PPKs. One of the old Interarms import versions. Total POS. Hardly ever worked but I didn't mind too much because everytime it did go BANG it just cut my hand anyway.... :banghead:

Para GI Expert. Repeatedly jammed on the last round in the magazine.

Have you tried new magazines, or stronger springs? I've heard the ones you get with that gun are crap.

golden,

Interesting info, I'm surprised to see even they allow short barreled long guns. That's a law we need to get rid of, sub guns are cool.

my RIA CS Tactical until I replaced the extractor (have an ejector on order now too). My Iver Johnson Trojan had an issue with the overtravel screw tightening itself somehow, but it seems to have worked itself out (though I plan to have my gunsmith take a look at it and make sure everything is kosher).

I haven't shot my new Glock 19 yet, but I anticipate no problems.

Sig p238.

Jennings j-22

Absolutely, the WORST semi-auto pistol - BAR NONE - would have to be the BRAND NEW LW Seecamp 25 Auto I purchased when they first made an appearance in a gun magazine (American Rifleman, if I'm not mistaken)!

JAM-O-MATIC from DAY ONE, even though I followed all instructions to a T!

Finally called them, sent it in and about a month later or so, I got it back "milled feed ramp."

All excited, take it to the range and the exact same thing happened!:cuss:

I was livid! It still maddens me to think that I was so stupid to spend so much money on something that had just about come on the market! AND, to add insult to injury, the gun dealer kept telling me that I could have a Beretta (at almost half the cost!).:fire:

i happened to pick up a 1916 model .25 auto, believe it is a ruby style but cant match a makers mark because of the 40-50 makers that there were. Either way never been able to run a full clip through it. Think I,ll make it a sinker for river fishing. :banghead:

The 2 most unreliable guns I've ever owned were both Kimbers. 1 a high dollar, supposidly custom shop gun. Yes there is a pattern.

The poor Ruger P91DC 40 cal. could not put 2 rounds on a 12x12 target at 50 ft.

Ricksgtx

I have a P64, which when I got it would lock up after 4 shots (it has a 6 round magazine). The ejector (which is also the slide lock) would pop up and bind itself against the slide. It made a neat little divot in the breechface from doing that too. A new spring didn't fix it, but after I bought a slide and ejector from a guy on the P64 forum and put that on there it has had no problems whatsoever.

No question- a Bersa Thunder .380. I know a lot of folks love theirs, and I was prepared to do the same. But even two trips to a factory authorized service shop couldn't stop it from jamming at least once- sometimes more- for every box of 50 rounds. don't own it any more. No surprise there.

Chuck

A brand new Beretta 21A, would not eject a fired round 50% of the time, regardless of ammo used. I ended up sending it back to Beretta where they polished the chamber. It then became one of the most reliable semiautos I've ever owned. Go figure...

I bought a NIB Auto Ordnance GI 1911. Biggest POS ever, jammed all time, front sight popped off, a waste of a young GI's money....Pushed me to a Glock 21 which has never failed, although I'm more of a Walther fanboy now

Bryco Jennings 380

Beretta Bobcat 21A - 22lr.

That thing is the pickiest gun ever imaginable!
It would FTE at least once per mag (usually 2-3x) with all kinds of different ammo.

But I finally found that Fiocchi 40 gr Hi-Velocity ammo works great in it.

Lotsa Bobcat owners use CCI stingers, but they cost almost 2x what the Fiocchi costs.
And at least in mine the Fiocchi is more reliable too (even stingers would jam now & then)

I have a local chain called MC Sports & they charge $2.69/box of 50.
Great ammo for my Bobcat!

Toss up between a Firestar 9mm and a Daewoo 9mm, both complete junk, but for different reasons. The Firestar sucked from the beginning but the Daewoo didn't suck until it broke and 3 gunsmiths searching for 3 months each could not find the right part to repair it. The Firestar got sold and the Daewoo is on my desk...it's my paperweight.

That's interesting. I bought a FireStar M40 (.40 S&W) when they first came out way back in the early 90's. I've fired "hundreds.. and hundreds.. and hundreds" of rounds through it and haven't had problem one! It's been my main carry gun now (along with the Winchester "Black Talon's"), since basically the first day I got it.

Single Action Six

Kimber Eclipse Ultra II with external extractor but after Kimber replaced the slide with an internal extractor it ran fine. Still sold it.

Sig P238 was POS too if using the Sig OEM mag. With a Colt Mustang mag it ran fine. Still sold it since I had little confidence in it.

High Point 9mm carbine... pos

Bersa Thunder .380. Not mine, but it can't make it through a magazine without jamming.

Sig Sauer P238!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Worst piece of junk ever made in the entire gun world. They treat you like crap once you are dumb enough to buy one of these pieces of junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every gun I've every purchased runs great.

Minor exceptions:

Glock 27: has the rare, out of the blue feed jam with G22 mags. Call it limpwrist, but it happens, and I'll arm wrestle you for $20.00, anytime. :)

Daewoo DP-51. The persistent problem with that one is the last round slide lock hardly ever works. You really have to sling that first round in, like with an LCP. And the trigger spring broke after a few thousand dry fires.

PA-63: will not reliably feed hollowpoint ammunition. Trigger spring broke after a few thousand dry fires.

P-64: Had one or two inexplicable feed jams. Trigger spring broke after a few thousand dry fires.

Phoenix Arms HP22A - needed a tweak to the extractor to run 100%

S&W 645--went through about 200 rounds and couldn't get through a single entire magazine without a failure to RTB, FTF,FTE, Stovepipe, etc. Horrendous.

(My Davis 380 has never given me a single problem with about the same number of rounds. Who'd thunk a Davis 380 would be more reliable than a S&W. Soured me to the smiths ever since.)

Kel Tec P3AT. 2nd Gen. I sold it and bought a 642. I'm not playing those games.

I guess I’m pretty lucky. I don’t have one that’s not reliable, even though I have a number of the ones that others have had problems with. The only ones I’ve had a problem with were my Kimber Crimson Carry (Full size) and Llama Micro-Max and those problems were with the Ammo, not the guns.

Stoeger Luger cal..22 LR. , TOTAL POS.

My father-in-law's jam-o matic Taurus PT-92:barf:. Crappy clone of the Beretta.

A lightly used Star BM and a like new Star BKM. Neither one could successfully feed even one magazine of FMJ. Too bad, because I liked everything else about these. Actually owned the BKM for less than 24 hours which is a personal record.

I have to agree with the others who said Stoeger Luger .22 LR. It was by far the worst jamming semiauto I've ever owned. Pure junk, basically was a single shot pistol. Even a Stirling .22 feeds better.

Can't believe all the P238 hatred. Mines got 1000 rounds... 0 FTF or anything. It's been one of my most trusty guns..

1. Kahr CW40 - it's extremely picky with what it likes, and even with the right ammo I still wouldn't trust it 100%

2. Ruger 10/22 - when using non-oem steel lip mags, it's fairly picky as well.

3. Walther P22 - I shoot it fairly smoothly, but for some reason it jams like crazy when I let other people shoot it

Of several I have owned only .45ACP Heckler & Koch was super reliable. I can't recall single failure with that gun shooting full range of ammo from Remi subsonic JHPs to Black Hills +P loads. Of the rest the Norinco 213 and S&W 457 were most prone to jamming. While rare it did happen.

The only gun that I have had to sell, due to reliability was a Beretta Model 21 in .22lr. This was in the early nineties, but I sent it back to Beretta twice with no luck. Every time it came back, it had marks and re-blued areas on/in the slide. I have a close friend that bought the Taurus version a few years later that had a similar experience. We both tried every single brand of .22 ammo as well (yes, stingers....). They just had FTEs every two or three shots. I moved away from the round and the manufacturer and have been happy ever since.

repeat post.

In order, Kahr P40, Beretta 92FS, and Glock 19.

Forgot to mention Ruger LCP, they finally gave up fixing it and gave me a refund.

Lorcin .22 auto - pot metal single shot that looked like an automatic.

well lets see its between 3 , the c9 mm and the compact 380 and the 45. all made by hi-point.. but life time garuntee !!!!! if your still liveing after the bad guy has put a couple bullets in ya.. or he (the bad guy could laugh to death after watching ya trying to get a shot off at him.

For me, the worst one was an old Thompson Auto Ordnance 1911A1 clone. Honestly, it was rare for the thing to fire two rounds in a row without some sort of malfunction. It ran the entire gamut of things that could malfunction on a 1911. I bought the gun from the frustrated owner for less than a hundred bucks after full disclosure. After replacing everything except the frame and the mainspring housing, I got it to run and managed to get about 30,000 rounds through it without further trouble until the replacement (Essex) slide cracked at the breechface. Being a casting, I really didn't expect it to make it that long.

Rather than spend 90 bucks for another Essex slide, I stripped the parts out of it and trashed the frame after cutting it with a torch. I'd gotten my money's worth by that time.

I'm sad to see that kimber is getting such a bad review, i was looking forward to getting a Kimber CDP II, but now I'm looking at other options.

out of guns i've shot my Wive's LCP has been the worst. if you don't have an absolute DEATH grip on it, it'll get a stovepipe or other jam. Also just plain not fun to shoot. I have no desire to carry or even shoot it again at this point.

Walther PPK/s .380 auto (Smith and Wesson type). Absolute P>O>S!!:cuss:

Jennings .22. It's been 25 years, but as I recall, it jammed every 3 or 4 rounds. I can't imagine why...I paid 50 or 60 hard earned dollars for that thing.

I think my brother has or had one of those luger replica .22 calibers that Quentin mentioned. It was the only gun less reliable than my jennings that I've ever come across. It pretty much jammed every round. I assumed it was just broken, but after reading this thread, maybe not.

hi point cf 380 comp. jams stove pipes FTF FTE all of the above. its awful in accuracy. and it will be going back for service to hi point in a week or 2.

Jeez. These tales of horror. I was going to say my Raven .25 with the satin nickle finish 'cause it would not hit anything more than five feet away! Could have been the shooter. But what I read here makes me not want to buy another semi-auto any time soon. I'm glad that pretty much all my semi-autos are old eastcomblock. Very informative thread. Thanks.

I had a High Standard Duramatic that would rarely fire an entire clip. Didn't matter what I fed it. No wonder my "friend" was eager to get rid of it when he sold it to me.

My first centerfire autoloader was a Colt 1911. It would feed hardball about 90% of the time. My cast lead round nose hand loads about 70%. I thought all autos acted like that until I got a Glock. I have a love/hate relationship with 1911s because of that gun. I love the history and the way the gun feels, I hate the design and the function.

First mag through my PX4 compact worked great, but after that I couldn't get through a mag without at least 3 to 4 jams of some sort. Took it home, opened her up, and found that there was a ton of flashing left over from the molding process. A craft knife and some light sanding later, and she's been absolutely perfect since.

Before I bought the PX4, I bought a KelTec PF9 in hard chrome. Fit and finish looked great, so I was really excited to break her in at the range. Had problems with it on the first mag. Had failures to feed, fire, and eject. By the time I finally got to the 4th or so mag, the firing pin ejected out of the gun. Don't really know how that could've happened, but she's been sitting in the back of the safe ever since. I know a lot of people love these little things, but I guess I just unlucky.

First mag through my PX4 compact worked great, but after that I couldn't get through a mag without at least 3 to 4 jams of some sort. Took it home, opened her up, and found that there was a ton of flashing left over from the molding process. A craft knife and some light sanding later, and she's been absolutely perfect since.

Go on BerettaForum and look for a stickied thread in the handgun section. There was a recall on recoil springs for some Compacts. Beretta has a page that you plug in your serial number and they let you know if you gun is affected. If so, they send you a new spring (I believe).

S&W sigma....darn thing would not strike the primer hard enough to fire. Also it had a tendency to shoot the burning hot shell RIGHT into your face.

Wow, I had a sigma, only put 200 rounds through it, but it shot FLAWLESSLY

*swyped from the evo so excuse any typos*

Worst was the jennings I bought in the '80's. Next to that was the Llama .45. (one of the best looking guns I ever owned) But very undependable. Also a '80's model.

AMT automag III... Good for about one magazine before it gummed up. Or perhaps the Erma/excam PPK knock off that liked to come apart if you put a velocitor through it.

The most unreliable semi auto I ever remember trying to fire was a new 1911 Randall. That was back in the 1980's when they first came out. lots of problems with them.

As a side note, the worst full auto I ever tried was an M3 Submachine gun. It would fire twice and then jam. (Bad Magazine) Fortunately or unfortunately, I had been carrying it for two weeks in the jungle without test firing it first or having to use it for defense. But to the guns credit, an earlier one that had worked flawlessly. Lesson learned, since that incident 40 years ago, I test fire every gun before I put it on for defensive reasons.

Kimber Warrior. It could not make it through a full mag. I sent it back to Kimber twice and it still had some type of malfunction every magazine. Ended up selling it for a loss.

Norinco 1911.

By far the worst gun I've ever owned was a Jennings 22. If you ever needed it for a defensive situation, you'd be better off throwing the gun at them. It would jam on first bullet, the 2nd, 3rd... etc. lol

Taurus pt 709 slim. Bought it for the wife and had ftf's and jams out the wazooo. Bad first experience with taurus and I haven't given them another look

Springfield Armory TRP SS.

Funny thing about Taurus(s), I too had a PT709 that was crap so I sold it. My PT145, PT1911AL, and Judge have all been great dependable shooters. The worst one I ever had was a Llama .45.

Taurus PT 101, The brazilian beretta in .40 It jammed about every other round.

My Beretta 21 Bobcat is pretty fussy, don't load more than 6 total in the gun, and it'll do OK, 7 or 8, expect these to not feed.

I've posted in here before and frankly I don't even remember what I listed! But I think I found something worse.

It was a very shiny Jennings .22.

Me and a close friend were at the range, just plinking with our pistols and someone came in with a nice .40 and his toy ... said Jennings.
We spent the better part of our range trip taking turns at this little piece and whenever one of us made it through a full magazine (6 or 7 rounds) we'd actually erupt in loud cheering! Also if any of us (who were holding 2-4 inch groups at the same distance) made it on paper it was cause for a mild cheer.

What a hoot. that thing ended up stealing the show on that range session simply because it was so comically bad.

Kimber Pro Carry II. Two trip back to the factory couldn't fix the FTF issues. I traded it and bought another later thinking it had to be a fluke. Nope. Bought a Colt Commander and couldn't be happier.

tec 22

Hard call between a CZ-75b and an Armscor 1911. I don't blame the design(s), I blame the people who owned the guns before me. The CZ required a new extractor spring and a new extractor. The Armscor required so much work I sold it before I sank anything else into it. For what I put into it just to make it work I could have bought a new one.

Once again, these are not design problems. The designs and the manufacturer(s) are fine. It was extremely poor care by the people I bought them from.

Phoenix Arms HP22.

Colt "enhanced" 1911 Govt model. Second most unreliable is a Springfield 1911. Neither would feed anything reliably. Shame, cause I really wanted that Colt to work. And I've owned a Jennings .22, but it was 100% with Stingers.

Taurus .22, semiauto...I think it was the P or PT-22. ugh...nightmare!

A Glock with lots of aftermarket parts. Take the junk off though, and they sing.

Oh yeah, the Glock SF ambidexterous magazine release frames! I am sending one back right now to be swapped out... Can't install full mags, mags don't lock, mag catch FALLS OUT, etc. Horrible design in an otherwise marvel of engineering.

The M249 SAW comes to mind too when I think of junk that doesn't work. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, they have to have just the right amount of oil, and although they take M4 mags, they won't really work with them. Jams all the time. I got to where I could coddle mine into working most of the time, but it was unpredictable still.

My bad experience was a Kimber. I don't think I was the first customer complaint and I am willing to venture a guess I will not be the last. After a couple of trips to Yonkers NY and a ridiculous statement from customer service that a 600 round break in was required. It hit the milling machine out in the garage and got open up a few thousands here and there and retro fitted with some Wilson aftermarket parts from Brownelss. Now it runs like a Swiss Watch. All is good

Semi Auto Tech 9.
My hi point shoots more reliably in pouring rain than that tech 9 did on a perfect day.

literally could not put 3 rounds through it without a FTF, FTE, or the mag just plain falling out.

K

Jimenez Arms JA-22. The same as a Jennings, just a different name.

Jams often and has a really bad trigger. I've only shot 400 rounds through it so maybe it's still breaking-in :rolleyes:

No contest, a typical $60 .22LR caliber "ring of fire" pistol whose name I blanked out of my mind and don't remember. It never once failed to jam on the 3rd or 4th round of it's 7 round magazine. I finally had enough when the firing pin broke, and I got rid of it for $25 it at a gun buy-back sponsored by an Afro-American church in a high-crime area of town. I also got another $25 for a pot metal .22 derringer that would only fire the top barrel, and then the bullet would strike more or less 4 feet (that's 4 FEET, not 4 inches) above POA at 15 feet distance. Both clunkers are now rusting away on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, along with several hundred others like them that the deluded church ministers believed were responsible for all the crime in their neighborhood. For some unknown (at least to them) reason there is now much more violent crime in that part of town than there was before the buy-back. Gooollee Andy, how could that be?

Ruger P-95

It would stovepipe all the time!

Jennings 9mm, couldn't shoot 10 rounds without a failure. It was co-workers gun he purchased for like $75, I told him to get rid of it and buy something reliable the next week he sold it at a gun show for $150.

I don't think i've ever owned a semi auto that didn't jam at least, once in a while... BUT, the worst jam 0 matic i've ever owned was a Ruger 22 semi auto! What a POS!

I had a lot of those Jennings, and they were fixable, the Ruger wasn't! I still hate those Rugers to this day. lol

DM

My most unreliable semi-auto is my Ruger MkII. It suffers FTFs about every other mag. The FTFs are so annoying, I rarely shoot it. But, since it was my first handgun, I'll probably never sell it. I'll just get some new Ruger mags and see if that fixes the problem.

Colt 1911 gov't.

bang, bang, bang, click (ftf, fte, stovepipe, you name it.)

Expensive, gorgeous, and nice in the hand, but a massive fail as a defense tool.

I'll never ever buy another 1911 pattern weapon, ever ever ever again.

Sig Mosquito. Its yet to go through an entire magazine without at least one FTF or FTE, if not more.

Oddly, I've never had a single problem with a number of Kimbers...

Back in the 80's it was a Tanfoglio .380, it would jam almost as often as you squeezed the trigger.

an early .40 s&w hi point. it was horrible! but my late model hi point c9 works just fine. a bit heavy but fine. i'm looking to trade up very soon. then my c9 will become my new tackle box gun.

I had a striker fired Taurus .40 with a trigger that would only reset about half of the time. I think it was a Millenium or Millenium Pro... I shot a friends'
Baby Eagle in .45 ACP that jammed about every 3 rounds...

Sig Mosquito. Its yet to go through an entire magazine without at least one FTF or FTE, if not more.

Oddly, I've never had a single problem with a number of Kimbers...
I have a Mosquito and had some issues the first time I took it out. I didn't clean it before I took it out, so I can blame myself for most of the problems. I gave it a good cleaning and now it works flawlessly. It's pretty picky with ammo though, so I only feed it CCI Mini Mags and it does great.

New hi point c9

I actuslly got it "used". 3 years old. But PO must have never used it. Mag was like new. And thst was the issue.

Its an 8 roumd mag, and if ou only loaded 6. It was perfect. But any more amd it would jam the first two rounds every time.

Finally. After bending the brackets on top the mag, and keeping 8 rounds in it for a week to weeken the spring. I can honestly say i would trust my life. with it.. but not before a little tinkering.

While I've had a few that did not meet expectations. The worst for me was a Beretta 9000s in .40. I got rid of it like it was radioactive.

S&W 1st gen sigma

Well, after reading thru the first 10 pages of this thread, I will add my two
cents worth~! :uhoh:

For me, it has to be a Beretta model 92FS "Centurion". Horribly inaccurate,
as I could not get a decent group from 25 feet. Needless too say, I fixed
the problem by ditching it on another "firearms project". :eek: :uhoh: ;)

My friend has a Kimber 1911 he paid $1200 used. (don't know the specific model off hand) It will stovepipe every mag almost like clockwork. Lot of money for a jammer.

Browning High Power.

Owned 2, neither one would work worth a crap.

John Moses screwed the pooch on that one

Taurus PT-22. It would jam. It would eject a live round rather than chambering it. Once the slide closed on the ejecting live 22 LR, bending it in half. :eek:

Scared the crap out of me.

Guillermo.... Funny... the Browning Hi Power is widely considered to be one of the most reliable semi-autos of all time. My three copies (one 9mm and two in .40) have run absolutely flawlessly.

My dogs were a Kimber and my first 1911, a Springfield Loaded. It may have been "Loaded" but unloading it by firing was a trying experience. In hindsight after many years of 1911 ownership I'd say the Springer probably just needed an extractor tension adjustment, but it was my first 1911, and I didn't know squat about 1911's back then! Ha.

The Kimber was another story... Kimber kept telling me it needed more "break in" yet after wasting 1000 rounds of perfectly good ammo in extremely frustrating shooting, trying to "break it in", and several trips back to Yonkers, Kimber still couldn't get it to run right and I gave up in frustration with their BS.

Browning High Power, worst I've ever owned.

the Browning Hi Power is widely considered to be one of the most reliable semi-autos of all time.

I know...I know. That is why I bought them.

Couldn't get mine to run at all. One, local gunsmith could never make work. The other one was years ago, and when I gave up I sold it to a 'smith. He failed.

I am glad yours work well. As for me, when the ball drops, I don't want a High Power in my holster.

I know...I know. That is why I bought them.

Couldn't get mine to run at all. One, local gunsmith could never make work. The other one was years ago, and when I gave up I sold it to a 'smith. He failed.

I am glad yours work well. As for me, when the ball drops, I don't want a High Power in my holster.
When it comes right down to it, couldn't you just replace one part after another until the flipping thing worked?

Why would you want to replace a ton of stuff to make a supposedly reliable weapon run?

Why would you want to replace a ton of stuff to make a supposedly reliable weapon run?

A working gun is better than a non-working gun, right?

When it comes right down to it, couldn't you just replace one part after another until the flipping thing worked?

A local 'Smith with a national reputation failed. I gave up and sold the damned thing. Not only was I tossing too much money at it...my confidence in it was totally gone.

A working gun is better than a non-working gun, right?

Yes...and I now have a working gun, because I don't have that one.

Understand...I am glad that your BHP function well. In fact, if you have a good Jimenez I am happy for you too.

After my experience with two BHPs, I found them to be jam-a-matics. I am quite happy that your mileage varies.

If it's between buying a "reliable" weapon that doesn't run and spending money to fix it, or buying another gun that has been tested by myself and found to be reliable off the bat, guess what I'll be doin? I sold that POS BHP down the road, and purchased a S&W sigma. It's never faulted, and always goes bang. It was half what I spent on the BHP and since it's a newer VE model, no design problems. If I wanted to work on a gun part by part to get it shooting, I'd buy a kit gun. Not a BHP.

Perhaps the sacred cow isn't so sacred. I've noticed a lot of people want to believe that everything Browning touched turned to gold, but I've seen and heard too many issues to buy into that way of thinking. I'd say any number of modern designs are going to be more reliable at a lower price than a BHP or 1911.

Anyway, the most unreliable in my own experience would be either a Kel-Tec PF9 or an RIA 1911. To be fair, I think the RIA's failures were mostly mag related; it was a friend's gun so I couldn't investigate it myself. The PF9 is my own. All my other pistols are SIGs so I have a pretty high standard for reliability.

The PF9 ran fine for over 200 rounds, but then the takedown pin started coming loose during firing, which would cause FTF and it needs to be reseated before continuing. I don't want to condemn Kel-Tec at this point because it's pretty clear what the problem is and should be easy to fix. I haven't gotten around to calling them as I've been busy with other things.

The PF9 ran fine for over 200 rounds, but then the takedown pin started coming loose during firing, which would cause FTF and it needs to be reseated before continuing. I don't want to condemn Kel-Tec at this point because it's pretty clear what the problem is and should be easy to fix. I haven't gotten around to calling them as I've been busy with other things.

All the more reason why I wish Glock would get into the single-stack deep concealed market. As much as I like Sig, they don't really have a 9mm pocket gun that is to my liking. I think the P290 is a little big for the pocket.

When Glock FINALLY (ever?) makes a pocket pistol, you can bet there will be a lot of used PF9's hitting the market. If Glock makes such a pistol, then I'll bet used PF9's will be selling for less than $100 because there will be so many of them available.

With all due respect Sig is hardly the a standard of quality. Apparently it is just your choice. It was the choice of my department as well until Glock came along. I own both and each has it's own merit and detraction.

With that said, Sig Customer Service totally sucks in my opinion. This could be a good reason why they are loosing market share. But this is just my opinion but, as soon as I sell my Sigs off I will never buy another.

A Walther P22. What a POS. I sent it back and they sent me another one. Another POS.

The Walther P22 has to be one of the worst 22 pistols currently made.

The only gun I've sold because it was unreliable was a Kimber 1911 Stainless Target Match II (or something like that...) It would consistently fail to feed about every 7 or 8 rounds. It may have had a small or rough chamber, I don't know, but I've never had a problem with my Colts so the Kimber went.

Glock will never make a single stack nine so your PF9 is totally safe. However, I would keep an eye out for the CM 9 from Kahr. That seems to be targeted, no pun intended, right at the Kel Tec and Ruger pocket rocket nines!

Tie: Colt Mk IV Series 70 Government Model Jammamatic. Wouldn't get through a full magazine of hardball without a jam. Tried different ammo, different mags, to no avail. Went back to Colt's repeatedly for "warranty" work, remained a jammamatic. Vowed NEVER to get another pistol with the pony on it, largely due to Colt's NON-service.

Kahr P9. Lots of problems. Failure to go into battery. Failure of slide to lock back. PREMATURE slide lock. Trigger pin walked out. Trigger failed to engage the striker. After the 3rd trip to the factory, Kahr replaced the pistol Traded the new - unfired! - replacement for a G26, which has the virtue of actually WORKING. (To Kahr's credit, unlike Colt's - they TRIED to make things right, and paid for shipping each time it went back.)

Surprised to see someone else pan the BHP . . . my Mk III works exceptionally well, even with cheap ProMags. (I carry it with "real" Browning magazines.)

With all due respect Sig is hardly the a standard of quality. Apparently it is just your choice. It was the choice of my department as well until Glock came along. I own both and each has it's own merit and detraction.
In my own experience the SIGs have run flawlessly for over 3000 rounds. I can't say whether that will be true after 30,000 rounds, but so far I'm very confident in them. I agree that Glocks and SIGs have their own pros and cons and wouldn't argue for over the other. I just like most of the SIG's features.

Glock, Browning and S&W have logged millions of rounds over any Sig. When Sig lost the LEO market to Glock and S&W their fate was set in stone. They are over and yesterdays news sorry to say. Their Customer Service just plain sucks and is killing them softly even more. Real shame!

I worked on a gun range as range officer for 4 years. During that time I encounterd a lot of unreliable crab weights, here are a few:

1. Colt 2000 9mm. Probably the worst thing to come out of the Colt factory
2. S&W Sigma series 380, 9mm, & 40S&W Our local Police retired theirs after ony 1 year of use due to reliability issues.
3. Colt mustang 380 they were just to ammo finicky
4. Desert Eagle: Mainsprings held in place by weak "E" clips, clips break and springs damage the gas system.
5. Anything by Bryco, Jennings, Davis, & RG.
6. Beretta Tomcat 32 auto. no extractor, relies on recoil to eject
7. Cobray Products Jammamatic!!!

an XD45. what a steamy pile that was.....

Cobra Patriot 45 and Diamondback DB380.:banghead:

Browning Hi Power FTE and feeding issues, essentially a single shot.

Kel-Tec

Hands down the worst...I've ever experienced.

Kel-tec P3AT. 3 trips to the mother ship and still jammin.

Beretta M21A Jam O Matic. It might need some more breaking in. It has never fired a full mag without jamming.

My friend who was going to "get into guns" paid $1200 for a Kimber 1911 that had been "accurized" whatever that meant. You're extremely lucky to get through a 7 round mag without at least 1 FTF or FTE regardless of ammo. The pistol gets shot maybe once a year.

Lorcin 380.
My nephew wanted to buy it, so after giving him the lecture of what a dummy I was to buy it myself, he gave me $75. He polished the ramp, slide and trigger, shoots it at least once a month and says it has never FTE, FTF or AFUd. After 13 years it's still his primary carry piece.

Kel-Tec Pf9

I have never had an automatic that did not work well. They are all quite easy to correct if they do not run right out of the box.

Hands down, the Chinese knockoff of the soviet Tokarev Pistol, the "TU-90". I worked for an importer that brought some in from China. We test fired a few and they literally fell aprt in our hands. I refused to sell any. Garbage.

I was thinking it was a Phoenix Arms .25 auto, but it may be a Raven. Almost guaranteed not to work.

The Phoenix Arms HP-22 is the winner.

It would sometimes malfunction on every single round in the magazine. Light strikes, failures to extract, failures to feed, stovepipes, everything.

The Bryco 9mm comes in second. It would reliably fire the first round in the magazine every time. After that, it might jam on every single round after that. It was a bit more creative in malfunctioning, though. Sometimes, recoil would activate the takedown latch and the slide would half detach itself from the frame. Hilarious.

I think the reason you see so many Kimbers listed is simply because Kimber sells so many 1911s and 1911s aren't all EXACTLY the same like a Glock or XD is. They are more prone to inconsistencies in the manufacturing process, no matter who the manufacturer is. That's why one guy will swear his Kimber sucked, but loves his Springfield or Colt. Works the other way around too...some guys will say they have 4 Kimbers and they are all flawless, but won't touch another Springfield or Colt after one bad experience.



I've read about Kimber's. The percentage of them with issues has been high in recent years. One L.E. Org. returned them to the distributor or wherever they bought them for credit. I think N.C. or S.C.

I surmise the many of the happy Kimber owners have ones that were made before a few or several years ago. Maybe others sent them back for work, and when they received them back, they were great. Another possible factor: aesthetics.

A fellow shooters Kimber! :uhoh: no it wasn't the magazine! :confused:

My Taurus PT1911 was w/ me that day. It ran w/o a hitch.

The other fellow was saying things about his Kimber :cuss: you would not want the family to hear.

This is an epic thread. For the most part what I see here simply confirms what most of us know. Definitely some well known contenders for the most unreliable. Over the years I have owned a number of firearms but had very good luck. I now own guns (more than one each) from Sig, H&K, Glock, Smith and others. So reliability isn't much of a problem.

The one sad exception in my experience has been Kimber. I've owned three of them and will never buy another. My RIA is more reliable than any of the Kimbers were. Beautiful firearms that proved to be nothing more than a pretty face.

a Springfield 1911, the only gun iv ever shot to break in my hands.
the ejector came un-glued.


i was surprised to find out SA dose not pin there ejectors, they just glue them:cuss:

Kimber Ultra Eclipse. Could not get through a single magazine without a malfunction of some sort. Failures to feed, failures to extract, failures to eject, failures to return to battery, locking open mid-magazine, etc. Kimber could not fix it. Sold it at a loss. Left an enduring bad taste in my mouth towards Kimber products.

Never had luck with 1911s.

AVOID.

For me it's a toss up between my Kimber Eclipse Custom II, Kimber Royal II, and my last Glock 23 (it's the only Glock I've ever owned or operated that was not stupidly, boringly reliable).

To answer the question honestly, I must say a Jiminez 9mm that my friend bought. WOW that thing stunk. There's a little orange cap on the back of the striker to show you if it's 'cocked,' well that flew off with the third shot...:barf: Gun shot a foot left at 20 feet, and jammed every other round. Disgusting POS. Should be melted into an ashtray.

AMT Backup 380!

Me, too!

Sterling .22 LR

I own 6 Kimbers.When I bought the first one, I had some FTFs and FTEs. A buddy who also owns a boatload of Kimbers suggested replacing Kimber magazine with Wilson Combat magazine. I did and have never looked back. Whenever I get a new Kimber the first thing I do is buy 2 Wilson Combat magazines to go with it. IMHO Kimbers are excellent pistols. They just make and sell d**n cheap magazines.
My most unreliable pistol has to be the SIG P238. The first one went back to the factory 3 times and they finally replaced it with a new one which was also a PIECE OF JUNK.
I use it for a PAPER WEIGHT now.

An ENCOM .45 ACP "assault" pistol -- What a dog. An ugly, overweight dog -- which is weird, because it refused to eat anything....
AMT .380 Backup -- frustratingly unreliable, and unpleasant to shoot...
Glock (yes, a Glock!!!!) 21, .45 -- Jammed on me every 3rd or 4th shot. Blamed on limp-wristing.... never had a problem with any other Glock I've ever shot....
Ruger P97, also a .45, and also blamed on me limp-wristing... what is it with me and Limp-wristing? I've never had that problem with Sig 220's or 1911's...

The weirdest one? S&W 645. I bought it used from a police officer, who wanted something lighter. It was perfectly reliable for me -- until I myself went to work as a cop. Then, it started going downhill. I would take it into the armorer, he'd fix it, it would shoot fine, and I'd qualify... then it started jamming again. This cycled continued during my time in blue. In frustration I purchased a Glock 17 to replace it, but then I moved on to other things. Since I quit doing the cop thing, that darn pistol has NEVER jammed on me since. Really. True story.

HK USP in .45 ACP. The gun grouped like a 12 ga with a cylinder bore. :)

Worst out of the box, AMT Government Model .45. It was a simple fix. The rough, bead/sand/vapor blasted finish appeared to carry over to the frame rails. A quick stoning with an Arkansas oilstone fixed it and it was great after that.
Out of the box, you may get 2 rds of ball to cycle before a jam. Forget HPs
After I stoned it and polished the feed ramp, it ate Flying Ashtrays like it was made for them.

Worst quality combined with unreliable was a Davis .380. Jammed a lot and the extractor pin came out after the 3rd mag. Extractor, spring, and pin flew out.
Found the extractor. Never found the spring or pin.
Made a new pin and replaced the spring with a spring from a ball point pen.
Peened the ends of the pin to keep it from falling out.
Ended up selling it soon after.

sadly my browning bda had ALOT of issues cycling ammo. i think it was just the steep feed ramp not taking anything but ball. but yeah....thats the one

Star Firestar: could get through one entire magazine without every other jamming.

Kimber Ultra Raptor II: Jammo-Matic. POS. worse than the Firestar.

Kimber Pro Raptor II: jammed once every magazine. POS

Worst? DIAMONDBACK DB9= WORST POS that money can buy

Walking pins
Chipped feed ramp
FTF/FTE/Stovepipes
Cracked frame
Poorly designed magazines


iPad/Tapatalk

I saw an FEG 9HP (Hungarian Browning HP copy) listed here.
I bought one for $259 back in '95. I wish I'd never sold it (darn my short attention span)
It was reliable with every round I fed it. It was also accurate and had a better finish than an FN HP.

My buddy bought a Para Ord P16-40 that was every bit as unreliable as my AMT.
At least, it was before I gave it the same treatment that I gave my AMT.
Since then, it's been great. I still don't like the Para Ord grip frame shape/girth.
It feels like I'm holding a Glock 10mm/45 or a 2x4 (Not much difference).

RE: Star Firestar. I had problems with a couple of factory mags I bought for my M45 Firestar.
The follower would stick in the bottom of the mag, when fully loaded.
I took those two mags back to the store and got them replaced.
No more problems. I probably could have polished the followers and gotten them to work, but didn't see the point of doing that to a brand new mag.

Mine would be a Sig P250 loaded with the Monarch/Barnaul steel cased laquer coated fmjs. Just about every 3rd round would either be a ftf or fte. Its record with brass ammo, including the same Monarch/Barnaul brand is 100% flawless.

Walther p22

Worst gun I ever had was a Randall 1911, the first stainless steel 1911 produced. It never would feed or eject properly and I ended up getting my money back from the LGS I bought it from.

Browning buckmark. The trigger wouldnt reset properly. youd pull the trigger, itd shoot and cycle, then that would be it. considering i was trying to shoot a rapid fire event (5 shots in 10 seconds) and only scoring a max of 10/50 for each series i gave up... good thing it wasnt my pistol!

Taurus Pt 24/7

The first round I ever fired (way back in 2007) from my Army-issued M9 stovepiped. From there it never had another failure.

No pistol is immune to failure; I have never owned a semi-auto that has never had a failure of some kind. If I had to say which has had the most, I'd go with my Buckmark, which has exhibited at least a few of every imaginable kind of failure. But I feed it cheap ammo.

IMHO, if you have pistol that's never had a failure it can only because haven't shot it enough or haven't tried the wrong ammo yet.

Henry ar-7. Could not get one to fire 4 rounds with out stove piping. Had new mags, springs and mag release. Even put some feed lips on the underside of the chamber. Nothing worked. Loved the idea to store in a boat but the rep the gun had did not work for me

Definitely a Charles Daley 1911 45acp.:cuss:

amt hardballer .45

Llama Omni in 9mm. Looked nice, handled nice,-if it would only have fired nice. Manual of arms for the Omni was:
1) Insert magazine
2) Pull the slide to the rear and release to load first round.
3) Bend over and pick up magazine that ejected as the slide pushed the first round down back into magazine.
4) Empty magazine, load 1 round into magazine, insert magazine, pull slide to the rear and release, load magazine and insert into mag well.
5) Hook little finger of off hand under magazine
6) Squeeze trigger, continue to squeeze trigger, keep squeezing trigger, BOOM
7) Repeat
8) Pick up magazine that ejected because little finger slipped.

Well you get the idea.

CZ Rami in .40 S&W. The early ones had weak mag springs and it caused TERRIBLE FTF problems. CZ never issued a recall but would work on them if you complained.

The same gun in 9 mm was never a problem.

I heard that they eliminated the problem in later guns but I was soured on the CZ brand forever.

"What does this mean?"

It looked like a glock, but it definitely was not. It belonged to one of my brothers freinds, I think he said he payed 100.00 for it new. Can't remember who made it though.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/QCSmitty/Humor/pancake-bunny.jpg

Nice extra [IMG]s

AMT Hardballer

1911
same (1911), and I mean ALL OF THEM.