Name your biggest POS handguns.

[albanian]

This should be fun. Name the guns that you have had that were total junk. Maybe they were made poorly, were inaccurate, unreliable, or broke. What were they? I expect to see a lot of Jennings, Bryco, Raven, and guns like that but what about guns that were supposed to be good but weren't?

Here is my list in no particular order:

1. Jennings, J-22 (jammed and went full auto once in a while:D )

2. Intratec Tec-9, AB-10 (both unreliable and inaccurate, what a combo!)

3. Kel-Tec P-32 (jammed and broke, paid real gun money for this Jennings quality product)

4. Taurus PT-22 (seemed to be made well but jammed on every mag even after two trips to the factory at my cost)

5. RAP 401 (never a jam but it broke and I couldn't get parts!)

6. Iver Johnson .32 S&W model 1900 (I didn't expect much for $20 but this gun was probably junk even when new).

[MJRW]

1) Smith & Wesson Sigma .380. Hands down the most worthless piece of junk ever to enter into my home. This includes commies & liberals. That's right, commies.

2) Magnum Research Compact Baby Eagle in .40. Probably would have been great if I could have gotten it to function, but it refused to do so for me. Worked just fine for others, but I got failures too often. Bad mojo I guess.

[Standing Wolf]

Ruger Mark II .22 caliber pistol. I'll never buy another Ruger anything.

[Peter M. Eick]

1) Walther PPK/S. It ate ejectors like candy.

2) Ruger MK 1 Bull Barrel. Not very accurate, not very reliable and not very interested, but it was sure easy to clean....

[Spieler]

AMT DAO Backup in .45 ACP - never could get through one full five round mag without a stoppage of some sort.

[BryanP]

Rexxio single shot .45LC/.410 break-action. Don't remember model. I bought it off a friend because he needed cash and was too proud to just take it as a gift. I played around with it for a bit and sold it. It's the only gun I've ever sold.

[Plinkerton]

Pheonix Arms HP22. Wow. What a piece of crap.

The first time I shot it, after about 20 rounds, the hammer SNAPPED OFF. I sent it back, and got a new one.

I shot 30 more rounds through it, the hammer snapped off AGAIN.

Now it's sitting in a box, waiting to be shipped back to get fixed, but I haven't sent it back yet, because I really don't think it will be worth the shipping... :scrutiny:

[Ky Larry]

Taurus PT-92. Jam-O-Matic junk. Plus the rear sights fell off it. I don't currently own any Tauri but I might in the future. They seem to be fairly well made and many people seem to like them.

[Sisco]

Clerke 1st .22 revolver. Gave $5 for it 25 years ago, still feel like I got ripped off. Still have it though, made a bookend out of it.

[4v50 Gary]

Colt Official Police. It's broken and I'm too lazy to fit a new bolt.

[Mylhouse]

Witness full size ported .40S&W
ASAI One Pro .45
Bulgarian Makarov

[jeff-10]

I would imagine people here may have had some suprising pieces of junk. Conisdering there is always a lemon that can come off the line.

Browning Hi-Power 40 S&W: I still haven't giving up on it but it will barely feed a magazine without jamming. Have had problems since i bought it new years ago I figure I'll take it to a reputable smith one day and have it made reliable.

[JackDRipper]

Magnum Research Compact Baby Eagle in .45
Para-Odnance P13

Hey albanian, want to sell that Rap 401 parts?
JR

[Bainx]

Baby Browning. Nice looking but, it simply will not function. The casing can not be extracted/ejected because the next round in the mag is physically occupying the same space. I have looked, pondered, fiddled and wondered what can be done with this gun. Right now, it is a single shot.

[Radagast]

Para Ordnance P16-40. Bought second hand. Would not function. Sold it to the gubbermint for twice what it owed me during the latest gun confiscation.

Beretta Tomcat Inox. Accurate, but broke firing pin after less than 200 rounds. Tomcat's don't like dryfire, even if an empty case is used.

I had a H&R model 1900 in .38 S&W. it had bored through chambers, one of which was cracked after a previous owner had fired a .38 special through it.
It was my first handgun when I didn't know any better and I don't regret buying it to this day, although it is long gone now.

Ken

[ruger357]

Raven .25. The insides looked like swiss cheese when I took it apart.

[HankB]

Colt Mk IV Series 70 Government Model. Look in the dictionary under the word "Jammamatic" and you ought to see a picture of this gun. It went back to Colt's for warranty (non)service repeatedly, and remained a jammamatic . . . my experience with Colt's warranty (non)service soured me on Colt's forever.

Kahr P9. This should have been called a POS9, as it had numerous problems - premature slide lock, failure of the slide to go into battery, failure of the striker to engage when the trigger was pulled, walkout of the trigger pin - a terrible pistol. However, Kahr tried repeatedly to fix it, paid return postage, and ultimately gave up and replaced it. Good customer service, but since I don't like being an unwitting beta-tester, and being of the "once burned, twice shy" mindset, I immediately traded the (unfired)replacement pistol for a Glock 26. The Glock isn't as neat a package as the POS9 was, but it actually WORKS!

[Crownvicman]

EAA Bounty Hunter .22 Single Action. Ugly and won't hit the broad side of a barn.

[Black Snowman]

I guess I'm careful. I've never gotten a lemon. I've only ever traded off 2 handguns. An HK USP 40C, great gun, just didn't fill any need I had and I wanted an M17S. The other was a CZ 40B. The straight grip just didn't work for me so I bought a CZ 75B to replace it.

I almost wish I could say my Taurus 669 was a POS as it was my cheapest pistol I have had @ $250 (about the same price as the CZ 40B but I consider the CZ more expensive due to buying extra magazines for it). I bought it from a friend who needed the money and wasn't very interested in shooting. The person who owned it before him had trigger work done on it. The single action trigger is supurb and it's just silly accurate.

[geojap]

Never owned a bad pistol fortunately. I've owned two awful rifles though, both made by Century.

[YodaVader]

I expect to see a lot of Jennings, Bryco, Raven, and guns like that but what about guns that were supposed to be good but weren't?

Ok , how about a S&W 617 22lr revolver - cylnder binding and poor accuracy. Sent back to Smith , cylinder binding fixed - marginal accuracy still present- traded it off and never looked back. This was the only rimfire Smith revolver I have ever owned. All the centerfire Smith revolvers I have now or owned in the past were all superb revolvers.

Ruger Super Redhawk Again the dreaded cylinder binding , a barrel which was not uniform in its bore diameter. Of course the accuracy was dismal. Did not even bother to send it back - took it back to the gun shop and and eventually ended up with a Smith 44. This was my second Super Redhawk - my first one which I bought shortly after the introduction of the SR was a great revolver. I know , I know - should have never sold my original SR!

[Das Pferd]

Star BM - besides everyone saying how reliable this gun is, mine isnt. It will FTE on every mag at least once.

S&W 681 - locks up when firing .357 magnums or a lot of .38 special +P's. I know I can send it in to S&W and they will fix this problem.

Unfortunately these are my only two handguns and I dont trust them. This has put me off from handguns for a little while.

I can only trust my other gun now, a Winchester 1200 set up for HD. It has never failed me.

[armoredman]

Century CETME - wouldn't feed after 10 rounds, put up a 7" group at 50 yards, POS!
UZI Model B - jammatic from H*ll.
Astra A100 - nothing really wrong with it, but I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside with it.
RG 22 revolver - 'nuff said.
Tec 22 - wouldn't work right with supplied magazines, but worked OK with the Ruger 10 round rotary mag.

[Werewolf]

2X Ruger Vaquero .45 LC one with 5.5" barrel one with 4 7/8" barrel.

Suckers leaded up like crazy because the cylinder throats were undersized (before I had 'em reamed). Accuracy totally bit the big weenie because of the aforementioned cylinder throat sizes. Ruger wouldn't fix 'em. I will never own another Ruger - ever and will at every opportunity voice my less than stellar opinion of that crummy company.

[krept]

Para P13. Every kind of jam possible (it was very creative) and all types of ball ammo. Probably averaged one or two malfunctions every magazine. Rear sight flew off within 200 rounds or so. Finished chipped right away. Fit my hand like a log, felt like it weighed 10 lbs.

[jc2]

Glock 23 - Best group (even from a rest) looked an improved choke shotgun pattern.

Glock 31 - Couldn't get through a magazine without a jam.

Gotta laugh every time I see a post talking about Glock reliability!

Stainless Walther PPK (.32 ACP) - ditto

[johnster999]

Grendel .380: one of the first really small plastic guns

You could carve a better weapon from a bar of soap.
Bought years ago because it was cheap and I was poor.

Out of the box, it wouldn't feed anything at all. It was as if it was a single shot pistol with a magazine tacked on later. I dremeled the feedramp extensively, completely reshaping it to get rounds to feed. Once it started feeding hardball (occasionally) it failed to eject or stovepiped almost every time. I can't imagine I ever got more than one or two fully successful firing cycles out of the gun. Got light strikes too. The gun went click about as often as bang even when loaded as a single shot. No accuracy at all even at 10 feet. Dumped it at a gunshow to a guy who wanted it as a novelty.

I have an old FIE .22/.22Mag single action with the super-fancy pseudo-gold plated finish. Picture the gun a very unsuccessful pimp would carry. To it's credit, it goes bang when the trigger is pulled. Can't hit anything with it. It "spits" a lot due to the loose lockup. It was a gift from a family member so I keep it around. Never shoot it anymore for safety reasons and because I wouldn't want to be seen with it in public.

Johnster

[Drjones]

Name your biggest POS handguns.


My Glocks and my Springfield and Kimber 1911s.

[zougou]

My first handgun was a Charles Daily 1911 government model. It jammed and the trigger pull was more like a double action rather than single. On top of that, I was dumb and paid $450 for it.:(

[9x19]

S&Ws 3rd generation autos in 9mm and .40 (includes 3913, 6906, 5903, 910, 915, 4006)

S&W Sigma

First edition Colt Combat Elite

[MICHAEL T]

Llama sub-compact almost impossible to get thru a mag with out a jam. Wanted to use as part time carry gun .NO waywon t even use as a car gun. Pawn Shop wouldn t even take it

[KCMO]

Taurus PT-100 (purchased in '93 or '94)

Stovepipes, crappy factory magazine, crappy after-market magazines, horrible front sights, etc...

[JesusCow]

S&W 908 9mm

is this a 3rd generation model? 9x19

I guess I just didn't like it and got rid of it.

edit: got rid of that camera too heh

Pictures - (edited out links because these go straight an ad page!)

bad trigger pull / small and poorly weighted

I guess it's possible someone could concealed carry one. I'm not old enough, and never tried. :p I'd like to hear it, if anyone has anything pos/neg about the 908.

[9x19]

Yep, the 908 is 3rd generation...

[seed]

Rohm RG-14... Got it from a friend(?) for not much money...OK, I got ripped no matter what I paid. Luckily it does work...most of the time (sometimes rounds won't go off the first time around, so I just keep clicking until they do go off...after I wait the 30+ seconds in case of a delayed discharge). Oh, did I mention that the rifling is gone (smooth bore, now)? The accuracy is akin to that of a blind-folded monkey on meth shooting off of a spinning merry-go-round.

I also had a Kahr MK-40 elite 98 which I would have included, only it works perfectly now...after break-in and some tweaking with the mag-catch. When I first got it, it had many problems. I later learned that it was a refurbished model that was returned to the factory for dropping the mags during shooting. Well, the problem was not fixed when I got it. I tried the heavier 1911 mag-springs sent to me from Kahr...only slightly improved the situation. Then they sent me a new mag-catch assembly. Comparing the old with the new, the new had a groove cut in it to fall into the mag notch. It did the trick. Other problems I encountered were stove-pipes, FTF's, failures to return fully to battery and on and on. It jammed and jammed and dropped mags (before that got fixed). But finally, it magically started to work and work and now I trust it...It took a lot of patience and a lot of rounds. But now I like it.

seed

[rde]

Magnum Research Baby Eagle 45..all steel. 1 failure to feed per mag no matter what. Accurate when it does fire..but not reliable at all. Need to get rid of that one soon.

(the S&W 908S that I have is perfect by the way. At least for me. Accurate, reliable with 0 failures of any kind, and probably because I have small hands fits my hand well).

[Joe Demko]

1. Chinese-made copy of the Tokagypt that Navy Arms imported a few years back. I swear that the POS made it out of the factory w/o any of the parts being heat treated. It beat itself to death in less than one box of ammo.

2. Broomhandle Mauser that had started off life as a .30 and been relined to a 9mm. Never managed to get it to fire two shots in succession.

[Serpico]

1966 Walther PPK....sold it to someone who promised not to use it as a self defense gun....

A friend bought a 908 and a Sigma when they first came out...the Sigma was a total crap jamomatic and the 908 was finished poorly with a bad mag release...but I never saw a bad 3913 or 6906...both are standard off duty weapons for the LASD...my 6906 never malfunctioned with any type of ammo....

[StopTheGrays]

CZ-70, felt like it had a 30lb trigger pull on the first pull DA, and in SA the pull was reduced to about 20lbs.

[Zeke Menuar]

Ruger P-95. Soft barrel steel and Rugers' rotten customer service soured on me Rugers forever. I'd rather use rocks and sticks to defend myself than use a Ruger.

ZM

[Treylis]

Taurus PT-92. Jam-O-Matic junk. Plus the rear sights fell off it. I don't currently own any Tauri but I might in the future. They seem to be fairly well made and many people seem to like them.

Huh, I have one of the old ones with the frame-mounted safety, no decocker, and it's been just fine for me.

[Tharg]

llama in .45 acp - would hit me in the head w/ the spent shells - altho i guess it DID fire every time.

Some kind of knock off hi-power... fired 2 17rnd mags from it... and all 10 from the 3rd mag... the last brass of the mag actually jammed in the gun BACKWARDS... i had to strip it and come at it w/ a screwdriver/hammer... to get the spent brass out...

Sold the one back to the pawnie i got it from, gave the other one to my dad... told him about what happened... so he knows.... (shrug)

J/Tharg!

[Big Mike]

Grendel P380, second to NONE when it came to POS. My Davis .380 gleamed lilke a new caddy next to it; it slam fired, twice (before and after going back to Florida for repair), locked up tighter than a drum, Grendels are J U N K.

[Ky Larry]

Treylis, I'm glad you've had good service from your Taurus. This proves the point I was trying to make. A lemon is possible in any anything (cars, guns, toasters, tv's, skateboards,etc). One bad example has not turned me against Taurus. If I see one I like, I'll buy it. Shoot well and often,sir.:D

[seed]

I already mentioned the ones I have which caused me problems, but I felt inclined to mention some of the ones my friend has...the examples of which were way worse than mine. The first was a Taurus PT-22. The trigger was DAO and should have been labeled TAO or Super DAO as it was HEAVY. But the worst part was the pin on the rotating joint of the barrel would always work itself out until it fell out. He sent it back on more than one occasion and actually got a new example at least one time I know of (it was a long time ago). And they all had the same problems. Finally, he got rid of it (I think he sold it to someone who was informed about the issues it had).

The second one (chronologically) was a Phoenix Arms HP-22. Made of the cheapest materials imagineable and just felt like junk. It had something like two or three manual safeties which was completely unnecessary and would make anyone appreciate (at least somewhat) the more modern trend of no manual safeties. The most offensive thing about this example was that one of the safeties, which was located on the slide would randomly activate itself during shooting. It was loose and would just float to safe. This would happen multiple times during a session (a couple of times or more per magazine) and would aggravate the ever-loving hell out of whoever was shooting it. It made it effectively useless, until the issue is addressed...but only until something else malfunctions, which I have little doubt would happen. Oh, I forgot to mention that it would occasionally stove-pipe live rounds, due to misfeeding.

The third one was an AMT .380 Backup. I have never shot it (he had since moved to Vegas) but he told me about it. It was reportedly really unreliable (jammed a lot) and unpleasant to shoot (hurt his hand...and he is not one of those p....(meow) who complains about this sort of thing all the time with guns that are actually not bad). But the worst part is that he said that field stripping it was a bear...so bad in fact that he has decided to only occasionally clean it... I know, I know... He should just get rid of it, but I don't think he will. The irony is that he is one of, if not the smartest person I know and yet... Oh well.

seed

[James Bondrock]

Taurus PT945. Broken extractor caused double feed malfunctions within the first 20 rounds; peening of front edge of magazine caused difficulty in insertion and extraction, actually leaving a scratch in the front of the frame's magazine well; two additional magazines (purchased separately, it only came with one) spit live rounds out. After two trips back to Taurus, gave up and traded in on SIG P220 (at substantial loss, but a far superior gun).

Para-Ordnance P12-45. Problems began even before first trip to range. I tried to field-strip it for initial cleaning and lubrication but was unable to remove the recoil spring plug as per the procedure in the manual. Finally broke it down by pulling the slide to the rear and pushing out the slide stop (the recoil spring went flying and I had to retrieve it) and found the recoil spring plug was peened on the edges. Smoothed edges off, reassembled, took shooting. Consistently failed to feed (I could actually see the slide stop and hang momentarily to the rear before going forward again) and got hole burned/chewed in the web of my hand by the grip safety. Traded in on Glock 30, which, although bulky and ugly, would at least function.

Although these guns were not lemons, I have sent two back to the factory for defects. One was a Smith & Wesson model 66 that had an excessive cylinder/barrel gap; the cylinder blast was actually bigger than the muzzle blast. The other is a Kahr E9 whose front sight fell off and would throw ejected cases back in my face. Both were fixed and worked well afterwards; I still have the Kahr.

[JeepDriver]

Walther P22

I haven't been able to get through a single mag w/o a malfunction. I've tried different mags, all types of ammo and that gun still won't run. :fire:

Yet our rental at the range has countless rounds through it and it runs just fine :confused:

[nvrquit]

Witness 10mm Compact in Wonder Finish

Walther P22


In true fact, I like the feel/fit and design of the Tanfoglio Witness and think the 10mm is THE cartridge but the pistol just never functioned reliably(even in the last state it was returned) ....and EAA has been the worst I've ever dealt with in regards to customer realtions.

The Walther P22, this is the second replacement. I haven't had the time to run this one through ammo testing, but the first two were not up to snuff.

[gbelleh]

My most obvious POS is a Cobray Pocket Pal .380/.22 revolver thing. I knew it was a POS when I bought it. It's a collection piece. I will most likely never shoot it.

I've been very lucky. Out of 20+ guns I've owned over the last few years, the only ones that gave me real problems were Glocks.

My Pocket Pal...
http://www.hunt101.com/img/105048.jpg (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=105048&c=549&z=1)

http://www.hunt101.com/img/105050.jpg (http://www.hunt101.com/?p=105050&c=549&z=1)

More Pocket Pal info here:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/gunsfs/cobray.html

[stevelyn]

Tharg

llama .45 acp-brass would hit me in the head w/ the spent shells. Although I guess it DID fire everytime.

ROFLMAO:D

Dude, I feel your pain. I bought a Llama Minimax about ten years ago. I also wanted a carry gun although the fire sale price should have told me something ($300.00 from pet gun dealer's showcase). Kept getting beaned in the head with spent brass. I would fire and see the cases spinning end-over-end in slo-mo arcing toward my forehead. My method of shooting would be double-tap, and tuck my head. Wait for brass to land and shoot again. After a few hundred rounds it settled down and ejects to the right reliably. Shoots okay now, but the fit and finish looks like it was assembled by a bunch of drunks.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Not mine, but my brother's- he bought an RG 38; one of those quintessential 'SNS's' of our mythology. He managed to fire 2 full cylinders through it IIRC, but the cylinder was so out of time that it blew the nickel plating off one side and shaved lead off on every shot. I think it's somewhere in the Sabine river in Gregg County now, where he threw it after it bit him that last time.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Alfadog]

Browning Buttmark .22. It spent more time at my gunsmith waiting for parts to come in for warranty repair than it did in my hands. Only one I've been tempted to throw into a lake.

[spartacus2002]

Charles Daly commander-size. Recoil spring plug broke in half after 100 rounds, jammed slide and frame together. Barrel bushing looked like it was carved with stone-age tools.

BUT, I sent it back to CD and they refunded my purchase price, so good for them.

[macsfriended]

Colt Diamondback .22 Nickel - bought it NIB from my then usual retail dealer (pre internet days.) - Beautiful gun. Oh I wanted to keep it forever. Big time timing problem. Sent it back to Colt - Paid them approx $100 - No improvement at all. - Traded! Colt - BOOOOOOOO!!!! Selling Dealer - BOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Walther TPH Interarms mfg. A safe queen that stopped working double action. Couldn't find anybody willing to work on it. S&W factory took it and some cash and sent me a NIB P-22. Better than nothing, I think - I hope.
S&W - YEAAAAAAAA!!!

Overall, I have had very good experiances with gun purchases. The Colt problem above still irritates the hell out of me.

[faustulus]

I had a S&W 4013 TSW that couldn't hit the side of a barn, and a lot of folks tried to prove me wrong. I sold it eventually to some guy who said he could fix it... Absolutly the worst pistol I ever owned.

[Grunt]

Well, my first POS was am Iver Johnson TP-22. Typical PPK looking .22 clone. Well, the problem was the frame metal was so thin around the trigger pin that one day loading it, I managed to break the frame. I sent it back and Iver Johnson sent me a new one. Within 500 rounds, that one did the same thing in the same spot!:cuss:
My next steeming pile of poo was Jennings .22 auto. Yeah, I knew about their reputation before I got it but for $50, I thought I'd try one out for laughs. Worked real good for about 400-500 rounds then it began to malfunction and only got worse as time went on until it found it's way to a dealer for parts.

[swingset]

Kimber Eclipse Target II.

POS from the day I got it. Sent to Kimber many times, never really ran good.

Oh, and it was my most expensive handgun. Go figure.

[SW9mm]

polymer baby eagle 40 s&w semi compact :barf: ....POS jam jam jam. traded for hi power clone and am lovin it.

someone mentioned a bulgarian makarov earlier in the thread. ??????????????? never a problem with mine or anyone else i know that owns one.

[Onmilo]

There is no gun made that I cannot make function but having owned a couple of Jennings/Raven products I cannot lament the passing of this manufacturer.

[Craig M. Arnold]

I bought a very early model Walther P22 because I thought that it would be a great little plinker. WRONG! I could not get a full magazine through it without a jam, usually several jams. The P22 had every kind of jam I have ever seen, FTF, FTE, etc. I worked with the pistol and magazines, but just could not make it work correctly. I finally sent it back to Smith and Wesson. They sent me a brand new one. The second P22 was almost as bad as the first. I worked on the new pistol and tried everything I could think of to make it reliable. I finally got it to work pretty well, however by this time I had developed a real dislike for the gun and got rid of it. I have had well over three hundred handguns in my life. The P22 was the worst one I ever owned.

[Cogar]

Tokarev 9mm. Don't remember the model. It rarely shot a full magazine before it jammed.

[klover]

Never had a POS revolver out of perhaps 50. None of the 20 or so SA's were POS, but many FTF and stove pipes!:uhoh:
I will not HD or CCW with an SA. Gimme a 629 or 19 Smith, and I'll trust it for my life:o

[MR.G]

S&W Sigma .380.

[Fiveshooter]

When I was a kid I got a Clerke .32 revolver that had the frame split after 50 rounds of factory ammo. I have an American Derringer in .45 Auto that has the rifeling only cut into one side of the barrels. It's about as accurate as throwing rocks. Then there was the AMT Automag 4 with the safety that would engage itself during recoil causing the firing pin to be locked forward instead of rearward. I got one hell of a painfull "slamfire" out of that when I let the slide go forward on a round in the chamber. I did not notice that the firing pin was protruding forward about a quarter of an inch out of its hole. :scrutiny: Then there are the Wildey .45 Winchester Magnums. I own 2 of them. In all honesty one has remained unfired. The one I did choose to shoot (purchased new)would drop it's magazine on every shot. Comparing it to the unfired gun revealed that the mag release was malformed and did not have enough "bite" on the magazine to hold it in place. A $40 part fixed that but getting this gun to feed with any degree of reliability is very difficult. You have to change the gas setting for each load. I could deal with that but you also had to reajust for each individual shooter:what: To put the frosting on the cake the hammer broke after about 300 rounds. I was assured by the factory that there was no problem with the hammer design on the Wildey but I later read a gunsmithing article about the hammer breakage problems on these guns:cuss: Then we get to the S&W 500 and I am sure this will make a lot of you Smith lovers bite your lip:fire: The first day I got the gun I took it to the range and it would allow the cylinder stop to drop during recoil 2 out of 3 times. This happened with everybody that shot the gun. I took the gun home that evening and replaced the cylinder stop spring with a heavier one. I took the big revolver back to the range the next day and got off 15 rounds without the cylinder backing up. Bad news is it had a broken firing pin. I packed the gun up and sent it to S&W and after a couple weeks they informed me that the gun had to be replaced:barf: I never heard of a whole gun needing to be replaced over a broken firing pin:what: They did however send me a brand new gun that still remains unfired to this day. I guess I just lost interest in the big revolver after my initial dissapointment in the gun and the company.
I guess if you buy and shoot enough guns you are bound to get a lemon or two:uhoh: At least I have never had trouble with a Freedom Arms or Ruger revolver:neener:

[Carl N. Brown]

by POS, I guess you don't mean Pride Of Spain.

Had a Clerke revolver in .32 S&W that a previous owner had fired
with .32 ACP: the cartridge head was impressed into the alloy recoil
face of the frame as plain as day: .32 ACP in mirror image!

I have had two .380 Grendels. In one, the weld on the side rail
failed, leaving me spare parts for the other. Once the factory was
out-of-business, I traded the good one off. It always shot well
for me, but firing ten rounds was an ordeal: it hurt. I would rather
shoot 50 rounds from my .45 than ten from that Grendel.

I have put a thousand rounds a year through my Mark II Ruger
with great reliability and accuracy for over 16 years now, so the
complaints about Rugers are surprising. My son has a Ruger .22-45
and they have been great guns for us.

I also have a .22 Jennings and a .25 Raven, but I don't wear them out
on a weekly basis. Kept clean and with good ammo, they shoot reliably
and more accurately than throwing rocks.

My son had a Smith&Wesson Sigma (Smegma?) that bounced empties
off his forehead; for some reason, he did not find that charming and sold
it for a Beretta 92 that did not fit his hand, but then found happiness
with a H&K USP .40S&W.

[R.H. Lee]

Right now, I have two. A BHP Practical and an S&W 659 (I think it's a 659). I bought to HiPower used, and somebody had screwed with the springs; it FTF with some ammo. I replaced all the springs (except the trigger return spring, which also needs replacing, the trigger has a hitch in its gitalong). It works more or less reliably and is accurate now, but still has high adjustable sights, (the front sight has a gap between it and the frame) which I don't like. Replacing them seems to be a big deal, sending it off to somebody somewhere. Anyway, I'm not happy with it.

And the S&W is clunky with a horrible trigger and also suffers from FTF.

I don't trust either one of them.

[GreenFurniture]

The only real "POS" gun I've ever owned was a Gov't model AMT 5" 1911.

Damn thing wouldn't run no matter what I did to it. Now it's living somewhere else and I hope it stays there.

[foghornl]

Hmmm

An F.I.E. (Firearms Import Export) .22LR/.22Mag knockoff of the Colt SAA. model was "Buffalo Scout" IIRC. Sent the lead in sort of the same general direction as where you had aimed.

CHEAPY .22LR snubby revolver, DA. Might have been RG/Rohm. Couldn't hit a 9" paper plate at more than 2 yards beyond muzzle contact distance.

Clerke .32. Sent as much lead sideways as downrange (Not my revo, belonged to a shooting buddy)

Not a handgun, but I had a Century CETME. I have not seen any gun with more problems than this one short of Ka-Boom. Failure to feed, fire, extract, eject, return to battery. If you were 20 yards away, you had a better chance of getting hit if I threw the CETME at you, than if I tried to shoot it in your general direction. Spent 17-1/2 of the 18 months I owned it in 3 places..In Transit to Century, in Century Service, in transit from Century. Sold it to a shooting buddy for a parts gun, while taking a $150 soaking. Wasn't ammo specific, either. I think I tried evey brand/style/country of origin ammo readily available.

[Sean Smith]

#1 with a bullet (heh, heh :D ) was a Para P14-45. Never got it to work. Para customer service was a bunch of incompetent liars. I sold it for scrap parts, I couldn't bring myself to pretend it would actually ever work. :cuss:

#2, Kel-Tec P32. That worked temporarily, so it was better than the Para. But it rolled over and died before I got through the first box of ammo. :eek:

Honorable mentions:

AMT Hardballer: stainless steel (said so right on the slide), but would rust if you looked at it funny. It also had almost every bad characteristic a gun can possibly have and still work most of the time.

[seed]

Sylvilagus Aquaticus said:

RG 38

Man you are right about that! I had an RG14 for a minute, but gave it to my a*****e brother for free. I still don't think I did him a favor.

[dev_null]

1. Erma Excam fake PPK in .22LR.

2. Iver Johnson fake Mustang in .380.

The only two I can say were lousy. All the rest have been great.

[cls12vg30]

I haven't had that many guns, I guess the closest thing to a POS would be a Llama Micromax .380.

It's reliable so long as it's clean and it's well put-together, but the metal is a bit soft and it's a bit difficult to shoot accurately, but not impossible.

On the other hand, being a copy of a Govt. .380, it's ergonomically fantastic, practically melts into my hand and feels like a natural extension. It's a newer model (from the new factory so post-2003), and the improved hard chrome finish is actually pretty nice, much better than the older ones I've seen.

The only other gun I have that doesn't rate as "excellent" in my book is my Beretta 21A .25, and that's only because of its caliber. As a firearm it's well-designed, well-made, and accurate for its size.

[Krag]

Everything I've ever owned that was made by Colt! :fire:

[Stasher1]

Kimber Eclipse Target II.

POS from the day I got it. Sent to Kimber many times, never really ran good.

Oh, and it was my most expensive handgun. Go figure.

I can relate. My Kimber Stainless Pro Carry II is the most unreliable POS I've ever owned, even my Sundance .25 was more reliable. I bought it to use as my main CCW piece, but I just can't trust the POS to go bang when I need it to. It's now a safe queen until I can afford to have a good smith to rework it.

[lee n. field]

2 POSen I happy to no longer own.

Jennings J-22. bang bang jam bang bang jam bang break. The number of rounds I put through it probably far exceeded it's designed lifetime. Gave it to a buddy for him to tinker with.

FIE Excam .38 deranger (sic). I got it free, found it hidden in a place we moved into. Unsafe to carry with both chambers loaded. The firing pin selector (internal part that flips back and forth, transfering hammer blow force to one firing pin or the other) would chip at the drop of a hat, making actual firing somewhat hit or miss. I finally got the part from Numrich, "fixed" (in the sense that I installed the replacement part. Making it both safe and reliable would have been, IMHO, impossible) it, and traded it and it's Bianchi leather holster for $30 store credit at a gun shop. When it actually did fire, I did not find the recoil at all harsh or unmanageable.

[Black_Talon]

The only really crappy handgun I've ever owned was an S&W M-39 back in the mid '70's. That taught me a lesson and since then I choose my weapons more carefully.

[Stevie-Ray]

AMT Govt. Looked real nice, had great features, even accurate to boot. Jammamajormastermatic! Sent back to AMT for rework and returned to me slightly better! Even used hot UZI ammo to "break it in" as AMT put it. About a thousand rounds after it was bought, it was toast. No feelings for that thing, just regrets that I ever wasted my time and effort with it. Replaced with Colt Mark IV that remains to this day, flawless.

[JadeFalcon]

Ahhhh....my arch nemisis. How I hate you Vektor CP1!

[PUMC_TomG]

I've never owned a bad handgun to date, they've all functioned flawlessly after thousands upon thousands of rounds. I've only had 7 malfunctions in my personally owned and maintained weapons in the 5 years I have owned handguns.

HOWEVER -
The Smith and Wesson Model 41 I used as part of the NROTC Pistol Team was a jam-o-matic. However - this wasn't the fault of the firearm, it was weak springs (all of them) in my personal opinion. Nothing wrong once I swapped out springs.

[Gary G23]

AMT Backup 380

[Shear_stress]

I had an Iver-Johnson TP22 that I really liked, but the damn thing couldn't make it through a magazine without at least one light primer strike. The problem was experienced across many different brands of ammo and degees of cleanliness. It's a shame because it was handy and accurate, when it would fire.

A friend of mine has a couple of TP22s, a "picky" one and a "good" one. When they're good, they're really good. Unfortunately, that only seems to happen half the time.

[Corolla]

Astra Constable in .380 functioned great, would not feed hollow points though, but the grouping was like 8 inches at 15 yrds terrible accuracy.

[criticalbass]

I bought an FEG .22 auto which was nice looking, and very thin. Cannot recall the model number. Good ergonomics. It had a nasty habit of firing two or three rounds full-auto :what: . I never really gave it a fair chance. The dealer took it back with a full refund.

About the P-22. I have a new one, and it gave me some trouble :cuss: for a while, but with a little polishing of the ramp. slight throating of the chamber, and a few hundred mini-mags for break-in, it went through 600 rounds of cheap Remington ammo on its last outing without a glitch :) . I absolutely love this little gun--under a pound empty, and it's gong to be my new fishing buddy when I find a good shoulder rig :D . Here are some sites which might help if you still have one and it isn't reliable:

http://www.sju.edu/~bc165187/p22fixes.html

http://www.gothammarketing.com/bb/waltherforum/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=48

I have around 20 Makarov pistols :eek: , Soviet, Bulgarian, East German and Chinese. They all work well. Most problems with these guns are the result of cosmoline in the extractor assembly, which for some reason people are afraid to disassemble :eek: . These guns have 27 parts, and are the easiest auto to detail strip. (Maybe there's an easier one, but I have never seen one.) CB

[tc300mag1]

Glock 36 couldnt hit broad side of barn with it was a trade in when i bought it like new no wonder .. sold it within 4 weeks or so to another dealer

[MR.G]

North American Arms Black Widow

[wheelgunslinger]

No Doubt: Ruger P345
FTF, FTE, slam shut, weak mag springs, wouldn't feed hollow points, Jamjamjamjamjam...
It feels too good in my hand to be used as a throwing weapon.
It just made me like CZ all the more.

Though, in Ruger's defense, the later models do seem more reliable.

[PeacefulWarrior]

Smith & Wesson .380 Sigma !@#^&!*! A gun that should have never been made! Do not even think of picking up one if you happen to see one on a table at a gunshow.....run!

[ojibweindian]

Smith & Wesson .380 Sigma !@#^&!*! A gun that should have never been made!

Couldn't agree more. The only good thing about it was that it fit in my pocket. Other than that, complete garbage.

[Gunnutz13]

POS firearm...but I'm real surprised about all the Para Ordnance problems mentioned in this thread, as I carry a P12-45 everyday as a CCW.
And, when I go to the range, the last thing I do is run a mag thru it...load it back up...and reholster. I would imagine it has at least a thousand rounds of FMJ and HP's thru it.
:evil:

[Whatsit]

Anything made by Bersa.

[bpisler]

CZ-75B S/A,i broke the plastic
trigger twice before selling it
to a friend.

Beretta 9000S DAO,i bought it
after shooting a 92 DAO and
loved that trigger but the
9000S trigger was 15-16lbs.

[ddj8052]

Ruger MarkII was the biggest POS I have ever seen. It literally had every kind of jam and misfire you could ever imagine. Stove pipse, Nose dived, sent rounds out of the magazine into the air with multiple mags, light primer strikes. The gun was not ever right. I sold it for a Sig Trailslide and never looked back.

[Bat Masterson]

Bersa Thunder .380.

[Surefire]

S&W 457.

I'll never buy another S&W autoloader...

[akluvr]

Here's a blast from the past- a POS Intratec CAT 9. I thought it would be the answer to a slimline Glock. Not. I believe the tech that built this one was named Murphy- because if it could, it would go wrong. I sent it back to the factory. 3 months later I inquired as to the status of the gun, they advised that it had been shipped out over 2 months before. On a hunch, I checked with a guy with the same name (different middle initial) as mine, he had it. They shipped it right to his house. Right to his address. Ask me how it happened, I don't have a clue. All the info was sent with the gun. I still laugh about this train wreck from time to time. I'll miss that gun- a heck of a conversation piece.

[xdoctor]

Mine was a Taurus .44mag revolver. I had every imaginable problem with that gun. When the frame cracked, I cut it in half and threw it away.

[helpwanted]

Das spray that BM's innards with gunscrubber and soak it overnight (leave it outside). Mine had alot of crud in it that wasn't apparent until it soaked for awhile. Better yet, if you feel up to it detail strip it.

[Justin]

A Ruger Mk. II "Target."

It had adjustable sites and an extractor that didn't, and a trigger pull that was anything but what should be on a target pistol. Probably somewhere around nine or ten lbs. and felt like someone had thrown sand into trigger mechanism- even after having put several thousand rounds downrange with it.

[ObeOne]

Tarus PT-99.
Lost track of the times I had to send it back to try to get it fixed.

Obe One

[drf]

Biggest or should I say littlest POS I ever bought was a Bryco .380.
I still have the anchor weight but I took off the trigger and removed the firing pin and broke and threw away the internals so nowould could ever fire this POS and hurt themselves like I almost did....

2nd POS I had was a Beretta Tomcat.32...
While it was a way better built gun than the Bryco it didnt want to feed or eject the shells like it should have so I traded it for a Taurus model 85 .38 special and have never looked back....
The Taurus has been a great little snubby so far......drf

[R.H. Lee]

A Ruger Mk. II "Target."
I have one, a 6 7/8" bbl stainless. It has been flawless since day one. Only time it has any problem is when it gets real dirty, then it's just a matter of swabbing out the chamber and breechface and boltface with a Hoppe's soaked q-tip.

C'est la vie said the old folks it goes to show you never can tell.

[Ala Dan]

Arminus 8-shot .22 LR Revolver leads the pack as a worthless POS. But,
what do you expect for $42.50 OTD.

Long gone, as my father in-law is now the proud owner of this baby~

[TimboKhan]

I have been pretty lucky in that I have never owned a crappy handgun, but I did own a Browning BP1000 automatic shotgun (I think it was a BP1000, but my rage at this gun has caused memory loss in regards to this truly awful gun) that was horrid in all respects. I noticed that a few of you have had problems with your MkII's, which honestly surprises me. I have had 3 MkII's over the years, two of which were the bull-barrelled "target" models, and one of which I still own, and I have never been anything but completly happy. I recently had some horrible luck with my MkII at the range (FTF, mostly), but thats attributed to a ram-line magazine finally breaking down. I started using my metal mags again, and my problem was solved.

Timbo

[t.ebentheuer]

I had a Bryco/Jennings model 59 once...no, i didn't buy it, it was given to me. What a rotten pile, I think I shot about 100 rounds or so through it in the time I had it, about a third of those were jams of various types, and lots of FTFs.

[jtkwon]

I had an FIE Titan 380 pistol back in the mid-1980s.

Cheap gun, and it had an interesting flaw.

It shot the first shot EXACTLY where you pointed it - the sights were too crude to use, but it was very pointable.

And, as the slide moved back to cycle, the remaining rounds in the magazine would fountain up into the air, emptying the gun before the slide could move forward again.

Didn't matter which magazine I used.

[Mr. Tettnanger]

Davis 380!
What a pile of garbage! As a young freshed face newbie, I foolishly let the "expert" gunshop guy educate me on my 1st concealed carry weapon. He insisted that the $79.95 would be the best and last money I ever needed to spend on a self defense weapon. :cuss: Yeah, live and learn. I was thoughly had! Still waitng for one of those buyback programs that have dissapearred. Philadelphia recently had one, but they gave a voucher for a clothing store downtown or something like that. Irony =getting mugged with an illegal firearm after turning your POS into the buy back program!


Mr. Tettnanger

[Stasher1]

He insisted that the $79.95 would be the best and last money I ever needed to spend on a self defense weapon.

He was right. If you actually had to use it, it wouldn't work. You'd be dead and wouldn't need to spend more $$ on self defense weapons. :p

[Yanus]

1. Auto Ordnance M1911 in 10mm - It ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY WOULD NOT FEED!!!!!!!!! I tried different recoil springs, ammo combinations. Nothing worked. Sold it to a dealer. :fire:

2. Baur .25acp (copy of a baby Browning) - everytime it fired, it would eject the magazine. The only way to fire a full mag was to duct tape the mag into the gun........ Absolute trash.... :banghead:

Yanus

[TODD3465]

1. Charter Arms AR-7 Pistol: Ergonomics from hell.

2. S&W 686: Went out of time 2X.

3. S&W 627: Wne to ut of time.

4. S&W 29 Classic Hunter: Went out of time.

5. Colt 1991-A1: Broke extractor, FTF anything but ball and crappy trigger pull, no matter what.

[Bandit01]

Colt Delta Elite--what A Pos

[Ruger Redhawk]

I had Three of Wilkinson Arms Made in Idaho.The model was "Sherry". They were a small pocket 22LR.biggest POS I ever owned.They came in several different anodized colored frames.They were a neat looking POS.They aways jammed.One morning I fired it. It jammed as usual.I took the mag out. Looked and it appeared to be a fired round in the chamber.It had a firing pin mark on the rim.While trying to get this so called fired case out it went off.I was very fortunate. The bullet grazed the tip of my pinky finger.That was the last straw. I put them on consignment which took close to three years to sell.Wilkinson is no longer in business,probably one of the good things to happen.

Ruger Redhawk

[axeman_g]

I have been very unlucky with .22lr semi automatics ...

Walther P22 ... inaccurate, FTEs and had to loctite sights and barrel bolt.

Browning Buckmark ... accurate, FTF and then FTEs in every mag.

Charter Arms (cant remember model) it looked like a Mauser Broomhandle, a pistol version of the Henry Survival Rifle. Inaccrate and unreliable.


Horse of a different color ...

Springfield Armory 1911 Loaded .... Could not shot straight out of a rest. Dont know what the problem was ... soured me on 1911s for a while. But I did trade it to the store I bought it from for a CZ85 ... best move ever as it introduced me to CZs.

[NHBB]

CZ52, came broken in the box, havent fired it yet, will probably sell it as a parts gun some time..

springfield 1911A1 GI stainless, definitely needs a few parts replace but I am no 1911 guru

[bearmgc]

AMT Backup .380....what were they thinking!? What good is a gun if you can't pull the trigger, which could not be adjusted.

[Dienekes]

Bought a Ruger P97 when they were having their rebate on them about 18 months ago. Figured it was time I wrung out a P-series gun and all the gun rags had praised the P97 to the skies. As it developed there were quite a few things to like about the gun--but about once every 32 rounds (I charted the malfs) the upcoming round would jump from the mag in recoil and either just pop clear of the gun or get crosswise and fail to feed, creating a jam. Main load was a 230 RNL to GI velocities. Made several calls to Ruger in Scottsdale and they sent new extractors, springs, and 3 new mags. Stoned breech face and polished feed ramp; tried P90, 1911, and Wilson followers; no improvements. After some 1300 rounds boxed it up and sent it off to Ruger at their expense to fix. It hasn't come back yet, and frankly I could care less if it ever did as I would never trust the damn thing to be reliable. The current plan is to throw it on a table at a gun show with the factory paperwork showing that in their opinion it is fixed. I just want it to go away.

The truly aggravating thing is that I own a fair amount of Ruger stock. So I have not only lost money on the gun but the company (and me, as a stockholder) will have lost money on the gun at every turn too.

Needless to say I will never touch a P-series Ruger again.

[TimboKhan]

Needless to say I will never touch a P-series Ruger again.

Dienekes,

Man, thats too bad. I have been exceptionally happy with my P90, and honestly would purchase another P90 over a 1911.

Timbo

[texasguy]

kel-tec .380. FTE every shot

[Rich K]

I had a Charter Arms 38 snub,once.Biggest POS I had ever owned.Wouldn't have another if it was given to me.

[Sharpdogs]

Grendle .380 the trigger pull was more pounds than my compound bow.

[Justang]

I guess I did good with my two handguns. HK USP40, and a Ruger Vaquero. Never had a problem with either.

This thread is great, really lets you know what you should stay away from. Seems to be a number of guns that are repeated in this thread.

[Ruger Redhawk]

Dienekes, Sorry to hear how unhappy you are with your P97. I would suggest you call the service manager in Prescott AZ..They are in Prescott not Scottsdale. I have never dealt with him. From reading over at the Ruger forum he's the one you need to talk to. His name is Mike Smisko 1-428-541-8926.I've dealt with Newport's service manager Dick Beaulieu who was very helpful. I'm sure Mike would be too.

I hope he'll get your problem straighten out once and for all.

Ruger Redhawk

[Dave Dembinski]

axeman_g
Browning Buckmark ... accurate, FTF and then FTEs in every mag.

I had the same problems when I first got my Buck Mark. Even high-velocity ammo wouldn't cycle the thing reliably, and I was starting to worry I'd bought a lemon. So, I took it home and inspected the thing, worked the action, and found out that the wooden grip panels were rough on top and were rubbing against the slide. Now, I don't know for sure they were causing enough friction to slow it down that much, but after I sanded them down slightly I haven't had any problems to speak of in about 2000 rounds since. It even cycles Aguila sub-sonics 8 times out of 10, now.

[Whatsit]

I had this Bersa once....Well, the memories are just too terrible...

[Ford]

My wife had a Taurus PT-132 Millinium.
It would FTE or FTF about every other to every third round. The trigger was horrible and the chamber indicator did not work.
Believe it or not this was not the bad part. I can handle a pistol not functioning properly, I understand that even the manufacturers with the reputation for being reliable are going to turn out a lemon every now and then
My main problems started when I sent it to Taurus for warranty work. :what:
First I called them about a week after I sent them the gun. I had not heard anything from them. They could not find my gun. After checking with FEDEX and finding out that my gun had infact made it to Taurus safe and sound they finally did locate it. Another week or two went by. I called to check on the progress. The customer service rep couldnt tell me anything. I spoke to whoever the guy was in charge. He was very nice but not helpful. I think it took about a month or a month and a half and after I called the BBB I finally got my gun back. I don't think they ever even touched it. It had all the same problems that it had before I sent it in. Since then I have swore off Taurus.
I even gave a buddy of mine $50 to buy a Ruger revolver over the Taurus he was looking at. :fire:

[NineseveN]

S&W SW40VE. :cuss:
Biggest POS I have ever held in my hands.

Finish is crap. :barf:
Trigger is like trying to move a tire swing with your index finger. :banghead:
Recoil is ridiculous. :mad:
Ergonomics are mediocre at best. :(
Sights seemed kinda nice, till I realize how big and awkward they were. :scrutiny:

I couldn't get more than a handful of rounds on paper. After seeing me cuss at the darn thing for 20 minutes, my buddy almost refused to even try it. His thoughts were much the same as my own.

I hear some people like them, I can't see how, but hey, to each their own. My dad bought it used from my sister's fiance for $200.00, I don't have the heart to tell him how bad it is (he hasn't shot it, all he'll shoot is his Glock these days).

That's the only 'horrible' handgun I have ever shot, and I've shot quite a few.

[Javelin Man]

My .25 Lorcin is quite accurate for a tiny gun, but jams are to be expected in each magazine. My wife fired it once and she must've had her thumb up so the slide would hit it. The gun disassembled itself and she was left holding the grip pointing it at the target. I shipped it to Lorcin and they fixed it free of charge and told me not to shoot hollow points in it, not that I ever did.

I have noticed in the five pages of this thread that nobody's mentioned their Hi-Points. Mine have been very reliable as most people's have been. As with Smith & Wesson, Kahr, Glock, Ruger and other fine manufacturers, they seem to have turned out a few lemons, but are not mentioned at all. Sorry to infer that Hi-Point was in the same ballpark as the other manufacturers, but just pointing out the lack of POS naming by them.

[Boss Spearman]

Witness polymer 9mm compact. None of the magazines would work, and EAA themselves did not have any magazines in stock. I'll never own one again.

[RTFM]

Bersa Thunder .380
Jam o matic.

[Skipper]

OH,THE TERRIBLE MEMORIES YOU'VE STIRRED !!!!

In over 40 years I've only owned a few with problems,but I bought one new
back in the 80's that was a pure waste of money. It was an AMT SKIPPER
(stainless,comander size, 1911). The concept was good,even ahead of it's
time,but this thing never worked and when it did it invariably broke something ! This was a REALLY bad gun!!!

[Big Mike]

As I said a year ago...Grendel P380, had a "slam fire" with it...recently saw a friend who had one he bought years ago and hadn't fired. I told him to crush it or turn it into the police for some $, but don't shoot it.

My Honorable Mention...Star Firestar Plus, the hammer would fall when the trigger was pulled with the safety on. JUNK.

[45R]

The only POS gun that I have is a Ruger MKII that another THR member sold me. :neener: I bought it as my beater. It goes bang everytime but isnt all that accurate and has a horrible trigger to boot!

[Souris]

I had a springfield armory 1911 that was the biggest POS. I couldn't hit with it and it was a jam-o-matic! Sold it at a loss. Wish I hadn't :(
I could have probably built something nice out of the receiver.

[10-Ring]

I have had 2 guns that I were POS:

1st was one of the original Taurus 380's... :barf: and the other was a SIG P220 that was just a lemon :barf: :cuss:

[Mikey Glockster]

I have a Glock 23 that was very loose. Loose is usually ok, because it means it will eat all types of ammo, but it isn't ok when it compromises accuracy. I sent it to Glock ($20 shipping it next day air) and they fixed the problem and it STILL eats any ammo I feed it, as fast as I can fire it in any position. Man, is this thing surgical now, too!

Mike :cool:

[seed]

I have a Glock 23 that was very loose. Loose is usually ok, because it means it will eat all types of ammo, but it isn't ok when it compromises accuracy. I sent it to Glock ($20 shipping it next day air) and they fixed the problem and it STILL eats any ammo I feed it, as fast as I can fire it in any position. Man, is this thing surgical now, too!


What did they do to fix it, exactly?

[NineseveN]

They sent him an HK. :neener:

[Mikey Glockster]

NineseveN, not quite, too many safeties for a lefty. :rolleyes: Although I wouldn't mind having a Variant 7 or something like that.

I know they replaced slide lock spring, slide lock, ext. slide stop lever, and front night site. I don't know how that greatly increased the accuracy of my groups, but it did. They sent a proof target with it, and I posted a thread about it a month or two back.

I am very, very happy with it now. I love that Glock stands behind their product! Every company can let a lemon slide through, only the good ones will fix the problem with very fast turn around (9 days or so). :D


Mike

[NineseveN]

Roger that Mikey. :)

[Joe Mamma]

I've had problems with lots of guns. But, the worst one was definitely the CZ-75.

Joe Mamma

[seed]

I've had problems with lots of guns. But, the worst one was definitely the CZ-75.

Joe Mamma

Please tell the story. I for one am actually quite surprised to hear this. Could it have been the proverbial 1 in 1000 lemon?

[Joe Mamma]

"Please tell the story. I for one am actually quite surprised to hear this. Could it have been the proverbial 1 in 1000 lemon?"

No, there were some design/manufacturing flaws: the firing pin retaining pin would break/get dammaged if you dry fired it a lot; the finish on the glossy blue one that I have was very thin near the grips and wore through and showed some corrosion after minmal handling (even though I kept it well lubed on the outside); the dots in the rear sight (used to quickly acquire a site picture) were crooked, the trigger break sucked, the slide stop would often lock the slide back even with rounds left in the magazine.

That's all I can remember for now.

Joe Mamma

[squid8286]

One of the first handguns I ever bought was an AMT Backup in .380. It would not even feed ONE mag of fmj without jamming. Turned me off to the .380 for good. Never have owned another one (probably never will.)

[Mark8252]

I have been lucky...or maybe its my research before I buy...but I have not had any junk handguns.
Not so lucky with a few rifles......but nothing I was not able to correct.
Probably is luck cause i have a lot of firearms.

[KC&97TA]

Had a Berreta 92F that had been 'worked' by a young USMC armor, acurized, had some funny thing attached to the slide to keep the barrel a little tighter in the slide, the feed ramp had been polished a bit to much, the slide lock wouldn't lock, target sites that always moved on you, sloppy trigger work. I wish I'd kept it, it just needed a real gun smith and maybe a new barrel. Shot some tight groups between jams.

I've got a Ruger P944 .40 S&W, needs a ton of oil, and shoots a 5" group off a vice at 7 yrds... it's been sitting in the safe for several months now, think I have 10 rounds for it still? Makes a good door stop.

My Kimber Custom TLE/II, had me really irritated for a while, finially bought some Wilson Combat Mags and tossed out the Kimber Mags, needs to be cleaned every 200 rounds, will litteraly jam on round #201, but no problems since buying new mags, go figure a $800 gun that comes with $2 mags.

BEST Hand gun I have, please don't laugh... Berreta 92 FS with Crimson Trace Lazer Grips and military Mags. have over 12k rounds through it, extractor is getting a bit worn, could use a spring rebuild. maybe it's because it's almost identical to USGI issue and I've put down well over 60k 9mm rounds in the past 5 years.

2nd Best Glock 20, what a tack driver.

[ArgentineSteel]

Worst POS handgun I ever had was an AMT Mark I clone. Inaccurate and couldn't be made accurate with adjustable sights. :banghead: Impossible to get back together easily after breaking it down, and Jammed all the time. FTEs.

Traded it in on a Buckmark, and I'm much happier.

[Echo Tango]

I would have to say it was a Squires&Bingham (now known as Armscor) model 1600. Ya know that little 22 cal m-16ish look alike. Funny thing is I still own it, was a 13th bday present and here i am at 34 still toting it around. Has a funny habit of when being fired one of the screws that holds the sear/trigger group to the receiver/barrel assembly tends to back out, dropping the sear so it no longer catches the hammer, its a bit disconcerting when your rifle suddenly goes automatic on you.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=27393&stc=1


Um ok im stupid....this isnt a handgun sorry bout that

[Pointblank]

Para Ordinance Para Companion. Total Garbage. Went back to the factory once, has NEVER worked.

[Tropical Z]

Tanfoglio GT-27 .25acp :barf:

[Bobkat45lc]

Been gun crazy since the early 1970's and have been quite lucky 95% of the time. But in the 1980's I had a new Colt Trooper, 4in blue, in 22lr and a used S&W model 19in .357 mag. Both would bind up after a few rounds. Few years ago got a new :what: AMT AutoMag in .22mag and it would never feed well. Got rid of both.

[355sigfan]

A Colt parts gun 1911. Not Colts fault a pistol put together with parts from various guns and not fit well by the local smith.

Taurus 605

NAA guardian in 32

Beretta Tomcat in 32

Taurus 44 mag
Pat

[medmo]

Grendel P380 = Junk

Bought one when they first released them to market and sold it the same week after failure after failure.

[seed]

Grendel P380 = Junk

Bought one when they first released them to market and sold it the same week after failure after failure.

Almost bought that as my first gun over ten years ago. I can't tell you how glad I am I passed on it.

[allmons]

Iver Johnson TP22 - Walther lookalike, but certainly NOT Walther quality. Frame cracked while slide was being racked by hand!!!!!! Company replaced, but the gun never wanted to feed or fire. Complete waste of money!!!

:banghead:

[nomadboi]

Any of you want to unload inaccurate guns for cheap, I'm always looking for cheap guns to use with blanks... especially revolvers, although I'm kinda curious about trying out restrictors on semi-autos as well.

I do some film work, and it's nice to have something besides the usual plugged-barrel blank guns available off ebay.

[30 cal slob]

I've never liked the (Springield, MA) S&W autoloaders I've owned, namely the 3913 (9mm) and 4506 (.45 ACP). I think my Ruger P-85 (9mm) was a better shooting gun.

Also, there was a DA-only Beretta 92-F in .40 short'nweak that just appalled me. I think I owned it for five days before bringing it back to the shop for a trade-in. Couldn't hit the side of a barn with it, even with practice.

And, you might cringe when you hear this, I had a Sig P228 (pre-ban) that choked on some winchester black talon hollowpoints at the worst possible moment. It shot very well but was fussy about non-ball ammo. So, I got rid of it.

[GunGoBoom]

Only handgun (in factory config) which I had a problem with was an early 90s Ruger auto pistol in .40 sw - it would fail to return all the way to battery sometimes. Maybe it would have loosened up with firing, but I traded it off before I could find out. Even my Llama worked great. I did have a POS gun for awhile, but it was a rifle - a Mitchell Arms in .22 magnum. Got light primer strikes (fail to fire) 1 or 2 of every 5 shots, and it would only give 5" groups at 50 yards.

[BloodyThumb]

For me, the WORST by far was a Dan Wesson 1911. A PMDP I belive it was called. I took it in trade NIB. The only 1911 I have ever owned that I could not make run. I gave up and traded it off.

What kind of problems? Make a list of things that could fail, and cross off "cracked frame" and your real close.

[themic]

albanian, some Astra parts fit the RAP.

[Magnuumpwr]

I only have one name brand pistol that I consider a POS and it is a Ruger Redhawk. It is more like a boat anchor weight wise. The only reason I still have it is because I refuse to sell it or any other gun that I own. Collector not a Dealer.

[106rr]

My Tomcat went back to the factory twice. Once for a cracked frame and once for a cracked slide. Service was arrogant at best. It was returned the last time with a note saying it would not be repaired under warranty again. They put my old barrel back on a new frame with a new slide. Cheap Jerks! I admit that I shot the snot out of the Tomcat. We had an active mousegun match going for many years. I won much of the time. It was very accurate if it was working at all.
edited for nasty language

[gopguy]

Firearms made by EIG and RG. These were cheap imports. The RG 23 I had was a double action that only shot if fired single action. The spring was weak. The sight was screwed on the barrel. However I bought it when I was 15 for $15. I later gave it to a girlfriend......The EIG was just crap from the get go. Looked like a Smith & Wesson model 36 chief......but it certainly fell short. Luckily I think both companies are defunct. Tim

[Tokugawa]

had a like new appearing s+w 5 shot airweight in .38 with a 3" barrel. With wadcutters, two hand hold over a rest, the gun would just barely put 5 shots onto a 10" paper plate at 5 yards.
Kimber eclipse pro 2- at kimber now for fix- every concievable jam known to man with factory hardball. Right now, about one jam per 50 to 100 rounds. At the start, two or three jams per mag. Also showers my head with casings. I hope they can fix it. I just do not trust it at all. and a very $ gun to boot.

[Marshall]

I've never had a POS handgun, guess I've been lucky.

[computerfrog]

I had always heard Llama made crappy guns and that the Spanish gunmaker used a sorry grade of steel to make them, which had been reported to have cracked on many persons.

I happened to be reading an issue of Guns N' Ammo, which had an article on the Llama .45 ACP. This article went on and on about how the Llama was a better made gun now, and that the metallurgical issues were nonexistent now. I wanted a .45 with a 5" barrel, so I bought one for about $265. I took it to the range and tried it out. What an enormous piece of crap that gun was!!! I had to laugh when I heard others here talk about getting beaned in the head by their spent brass from their Llamas, and I had the exact same problem! About every 4th round would hit me in the head.

If the gun had been the least bit accurate, I would have been able to live with the ejected brass issues, but it was horrible. I used CCI, Federal and Winchester ammo through it I could not get a shot to come within 3 inches of what I was aiming at from about 10 yards. I moved the target to about 5 yards, and the same thing happened. I had my Colt Recon with me as well, so I loaded it, picked it up and shot at the target. The Recon has 4.25" barrel, and was hitting what I aimed at with it. Then I'd go back to the Llama, and it was always about 3-4" to the left. I tried to overcompensate by aiming far to the right of center, and it would hit the center of the target, but always too high. I'd try and aim to the lower right of center and still couldn't find a way to consistently hit the center of the target.

I took it to the range another time with one of my buddies. He brought his H&K USP 45, and was putting in 1" groupings from 10 yards away. He picked up the Llama, fired at the target, and it was way off to the left. He moved it in closer to about 5 yards, and then at 3 yards, and that Llama was always 3-4" off to the left. He had similar issues with overcompensating that I had. He'd aim far to the right, and it would shoot high of center. Aim to the lower right, and he could get the occasional bullseye at 5 yards, but it was all over the place. After that, I was certain that it was just a piece of junk.

I wasn't about to keep using it to see if it would crack on me. After that second session, I took it home and cleaned it up again and sold it. Some fool gave me $385 for it. I ALMOST feel guilty about taking his money, but he said he was a Llama afficianado, so he'd experienced Llamas before. But what a total piece of crap that was. It was only good for a paperweight, and I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it.

[Josh Aston]

Heritage Stealth. Don't even know if it was accurate or reliable or anything else. Never even got the chance to shoot it even once. It would never chamber a round. The striker didn't start to cock until too late in the forward movement of the slide, so the rim of the round would catch on the striker and stop there. Oh and the safety lever would have been worthless had the thing actually been able to chamber a round. With the safety engaged the trigger pull was about 15 lbs. With it disengaged it was about 6 lbs.

[computerfrog]

I think most of us have bought at least one cheap gun before, just to see how bad it really was. I was never foolish enough to buy anything made by Jennings, Lorcin, or Phoenix Arms, but I did by that crappy Llama I just described.

My very first handgun was a Dan Wesson .357 Magnum. It was accurate as heck, but the firing pin wore down quickly to where I couldn't get anything but dented primers out of it after about 1,000 rounds.

It had one other significant problem. Those models were known for the ability to switch out different length barrels. Something must not have lined up between the end of the cylinder and the front of the barrel, because every time you would fire it, you, or the person next to you on the range, or even the 2 guys plinking 5 lanes down would get hit with flecks of lead (yes, that actually happened). I tried making sure everything was tight and seated as it should be, but it did not make a difference.

I can think of multiple occasions where lead pieces flew back at me and twice cut the right side of my forehead, as well as the back of my right thumb. And as I said, it ultimately quit firing. It is now a paperweight.

I once bought a new S&W Sigma .40 cal for my girlfriend. It was the one she picked out, and I had read good things about this model in 2 gun magazines, so I purchased the thing. We went to the gun range to test it out. It was a turd. It was essentially a copy of a Glock, just two toned with a nickel-colored slide and black plastic stock and trigger. It had a long trigger pull, which made it difficult for me to get good trigger control, so I couldn't shoot it accurately consistently. That stock and trigger felt flimsy to me, even worse than Glock plastic. I hate Glocks because the stock is so angled that they are not comfortable to me to hold, and this gun was just like a Glock. But it felt even flimsier than a Glock.

Another girlfriend owned a 9MM Glock. Her little dog got a hold of it and carried it out from under her bed. She chased after him and grabbed it from his mouth, then put it in her nightstand. The next time she went to get it out of the nightstand, the spot where the dog carried it in his mouth had rusted, and it had 2 small scratches. Keep in mind that the dog had it in his mouth for maybe 10 seconds, but that was enough to make it rust. To me, that is not very good quality. I know plenty of people swear by them, but I cannot make myself like Glock.

The weapon I was issued at work is a S&W M&P .40 cal. I don't know that I would say it is a POS, but having fired it, I don't think I'll ever go and buy one for myself. I'll stick with Para Ordnance, H&K, Colt, and Beretta weapons.

[TN Trapper]

Biggest POS for me was a Charter 2000 Bulldog in .44 spl. . I had the gun ordered and was very disappointed in the fit/finish. The real problem was that the cylinder would not lock up properly. After closing the cylinder you could lightly press on the right hand side of the cylinder and it would pop open. I couldn't shoot it in this condition so I tried several times to contact the company via email and telephone. When I would call I would explain the problem and they would "transfer" me and the call would be disconnected. This happened seven times even after explaining to the person answering the phone what was happening with the calls. I emailed them three times and never received a response (they were opened BTW ). I finally ended up taking it back to the shop and the owner refunded my money even though he didn't have to.

[kgpcr]

My biggest dissapointment were the GLocks i owned. They worked fine but i just could not hit with them. I have since changed to the XD and M&P with the M&P being my favorite!

[ashtxsniper]

Grendel P30 would be my ugliest and most unreliable.

[Kimber1911_06238]

Iver Johnson revolver, not sure of the model, but it's chambered in .32 short colt. been trying to get rid of it for years, but nobody wants it

[B yond]

Still no one has said a Hi-Point was the worst POS they've owned. I keep hearing those things are all junk. I always thought I was the only one who got a good one. :rolleyes:

[S&Wfan]

Back in the mid-70's . . . and being totally new to handguns, I traded a COLT NEW FRONTIER in 32 S&W Long that my dad gave me for my 21st birthday to another guy in my Army unit.

You see, I wanted a faster-loading, more potent .38 special snubbie for protection rather than that single action "cowboy gun."

Thus . . . another serviceman who wanted a "cowboy gun" traded me his .38 revolver for my Colt . . . even up.

THAT .38 SPL. WAS A REAL P.O.S. . . . and wouldn't shoot accurately at any distance, unlike the Colt.

WHAT WAS THE POS I'D TRADED FOR . . .

An RG.

That's an embarassing story to tell too . . . as those familiar with that original "Saturday Night Special" understand soooo well.

It broke a couple of years later. I took it into a gunshop to see if it could be fixed (since I needed a pocket gun for defense in my night fuel oil delivery job).

Waiting until other customers weren't around I pulled it out, trying to make sure no one saw that piece of junk . . . and asked him if he could fix it.

IN A LOUD VOICE the old gunshop owner bellowed . . .

"Hell, it's a f___king RG!" The shop got REAL quiet, and all eyes turned to poor ol' me.

He continued, quite loudly, "Son I wouldn't work on that POS at any price."

Then he added, before walking away, "And if you want to tell someone you threw away TWENTY DOLLARS, just tie a $20 bill to that piece of junk and toss it in the RIVER!"

I've never been so humiliated in my life. Ahh . . . to be an Army vet, 24, going to college and dirt poor . . . and be that stooopid.

My friends, that RG was a REAL P.O.S.!

T.

PS: The moral of the story . . . I never, ever bought a gun again that wasn't an extremely well-regarded firearm. I learned to do my homework . . . and invest in quality!

[tasco 74]

the worst POS handgun i have is a barretta 950 bs auto in ,22 short.... it just quit shooting one night when i was trying to take out a possum with it....

[AZ Husker]

RIA full-sized I got in a group deal. Loosest, poorest fit, abysmal finish of any 1911 I've owned. I don't know how anyone brags on these pieces of junk! For a couple hundred more, you could own a quality basic pistol. Is money that tight that folks would buy a POS instead of saving a while longer?

[pakmcc]

It started with a 6" Colt Trooper in .22LR. I never could hit anything with it. It was just not accurate. After that a friend had picked up a case of Colt diamonbacks with 4" barrels in .22LR. I went through the whole case (took about a year) I'd buy one and shoot it. And then get rid of it. They were beautiful things Deep blue with nice lock work. But not anywere accurate. I don't shoot colts anymore.
later in life. I picked up a Tarus Tracker revolver in .45 ACP. They had a special 5 shot full moon clip for it. My gun wouldn't take the clip. One cyclinder was bored too small. IT was fine for a four shot revolver. (but it had five holes.) I haven't brought another Tarus since then.
My Brother gave me an Browning .22LR Buttbark. it was so bad, it wouldn't feed rounds, it wouldn't eject rounds, I don't remember if it was accurate, because I was trying to load and/or unload jams too much.(got rid of it real quick)(this was after I cleaned it and oiled it)
I worked in an Academy store in the Houston area and a young fellow came in and was bitching about a Makarov. I told him I would give him $200 sight unseen for his mak. He, looked at me like I was crazy, I did my concealed carry license with one and I embarrested the rest of the people there because it shot so well.(That's how I feel about Mak.s.) No, I did't get his gun, I think he had second throughts about it. I really like mak.s.
I picked up a browing High POwer years ago. The ramp was curved the wrong way and it wouldn't feed any thing(it was 9mm.)
Years later I was shown a High Power clone from Hungary, and the price and the gun was so good that I've keep the gun for the last four or five years. Then from the same store, the owner came up with another high power clone from Argentina. Nice little 9mm pistol. I've still got it also. I'm thinking, if the clones are so good I'll just try another browning HP, A month after buying it I turned it into a M1 Garand(slighty used, but very shootable.)The "Browning HP was not accurate at all with very hard triggers. The other two are very accuate.
The hungarians came out with a HP look alike in .45 and it's about as accurate as any .45 auto on the market.
My son introducted me to the CZ's, I've never had a bad one. I've also got most of the ones on the market. My wife and I love them. from .32 to .45.
A friend got a S&W sigmain .40cal. I was able to shoot it accuractly. The owner couldn't, he sold it the next day. The trigger was as bad as anygun I've ever shot.
I had a S&W 4506. The double action was horrable, I traded it in on a Russain SVT-40. (I don't do S&W auto's but I'll buy jsut about any "N" frame smith.
I do have a CETME, ane it had problems, I was able to fix them and turn it into a nice shooting rifle. But, it's not like it's supposted to be.
I like the bersa's, I've had one bad one,(I sold it to one of my customers) and it was unrepairable, the company sent the owner a new one.
I know of one problem with CZ's, the 75B in 40 cal. might come with weak exstracter spings. The cure is to replace the Exstracter sping. I've seen one of these. ANd one batch of CZP01's came with bad mag.s The company replaced all the ones I saw. This was when I was with ACademy.
When I was younger I brought most of the Walthers in .22LR. I got out of guns about 30 years ago and sold all the walthers because there is the same size .22 on the market that's better and more accurate. Bernadelli.
I don't buy or trade into Walthers at all. and I've been a 01FFL for the last two years and sold guns at academy for the last three years.

[spoofer]

amt back-up 380 =Jam

[stevereno1]

pheonix 22. what a piece of crap!

[stevereno1]

also had a p-85 you could pull the trigger with the safety on, and the hammer would move 1/2 way back, then drop hard. It also shot chronically low. traded it and $100 for a glock 17, and havent looked back since.

[mpc12]

Early Taurus Millennium PT-111 9mm pistol. Not the pro model, not worth my time. It was a reliable pistol, if you could pull the trigger...

[GaryP]

The worst for me was a Wesson Arms 738P made in Palmer, Mass. I would not go as far as to label it junk but it was a poor design. :( :what:



:evil:

[KelTecian]

I owned a Sig 1911 Evolution and a Kimber 1911 Raptor...both of which I had the highest of hopes for, but after a thousand rds or so though each and a couple hundred dollars in gunsmithing, I sold them both...bought an AR-15 instead and a diamond ring for my old lady :-\

[Ala Dan]

Arminus 8-shot .22 LR snub nose revolver, called the "Burgo model"

An inaccurate, heavy piece of pot metal~! :eek: :uhoh: ;)

[Rexster]

ODI Viking, Kimber Classic Custom, Kimber Classic Custom, Kimber Stainless Gold Match. The Kimbers were the "early" ones, not the later ones with the extra internal safety. The first two Kimbers were made right, with large applications of time and money. The last Kimber was just horrible. Needless to say, I will never waste money on a Kimber again.

[Bowwave]

First foray into 1911s. Thought it would be last. Special order - upon inspection, tool marks abundant. Addressed that. Extractor improperly tensioned. Fixed that. Cranky with various mags, including factory. I got concerned. Customer service non-existent. Sold it.

[DENALI]

S&W 360 PD, 5-rounds through the brand new mini-mag and the cylinder flew off the cylinder crane when I ejected the brass, I mean a 770.00 POS......:fire:

[steak-knife]

Beretta 21a. I suspect that I got the lemon in the batch. It was a jam-o-matic....blah, blah, blah.

Fortunately, I got my money back, and thereafter I could not get myself to trust a gun that doesn't have an extractor.

[dhoomonyou]

Kimber pro carry2, POS
jam o matic, cracked frame, lousy cust service, DENNIS is a nasty person.

[lance22]

Only one POS - S&W Sigma from the early 1990's. Ergonomics were great, just too bad it falsely called 'semi-auto'.

[Vanzpp]

While they have improved considerably over the years, my vote would have to go to the first generation Smith Sigma series.

Total garbage.

[Vanzpp]

S&W 360 PD, 5-rounds through the brand new mini-mag and the cylinder flew off the cylinder crane when I ejected the brass, I mean a 770.00 POS

Did Smith repair it under warranty?

[The_Shootist]

I must have gotton a lemon because after a couple trips to the gunsmith STILL either jammed - trigger mechanism wouldn't engage, etc.

Tossed it in the safe, bought a Makarov, haven't looked back.

[The Lone Haranguer]

SIG-Sauer GSR Revolution Carry. The problems started with the second shot ever fired through it - a nose-down failure to feed. Wilson 47D magazines fixed this, but it still had constant failures to return to battery. I sent it back to Sigarms and they polished the feed ramp. This helped some but did not cure the problem. Then it started failing to extract. The hook broke off the extractor. I sent it back a second time. Then I shot it some more and suddenly noticed the "manhole cover" (a little threaded circular plug in the slide) was missing. Further examination revealed that the firing pin safety plunger in the slide was also missing. I sent it back a third time. They gave me a new one.

The new gun (sans "manhole cover," I noticed) was much better, functioning OK with hardball and Winchester Silvertip, but would not feed any 230-gr. JHPs. The insert in the Novak front night sight went out. And the thumb safety engagement became compromised - the hammer would move forward slightly if I squeezed the trigger with the safety engaged, then, when I thumbed down the safety, the hammer would fall to half cock. Back it went. Through the last 200 rounds it has not had any more problems provided I use the Wilson magazines - BUT - if anything else breaks I am going to declare "enough is enough."

I will give Sigarms credit for replacing the first gun without my having to hassle them, as well as for sending me prepaid shipping labels for all the repairs except the first one.

[Pat S]

A Colt Mustang plus 2. What a horrible gun! Continual failure to feeds with any ammo I tried. Sent it Colt for repair and it was no better when it came back.

[outdoorman63]

a smith model 915 in 9mm, it was junk,it jammed all the time and had bursts of full auto

[jr4521]

kel tec 380 a very stinky POS!

[Carl N. Brown]

Any gun made on Monday or Friday.

Seriously though, I had a late production Grendel P10: the tack welds holding the right frame rail to the block gave way, cracking the polymer frame. I know of three other Grendel P10s that ran fine: all lower serial numbers than the one that failed on me.

Change that caveat to: any gun made by a company with a new owner only interested in making fast money on the cheap.

[Werewolf]

Any gun made on Monday or Friday.You are joking but I can tell you from having worked in QA management for 7 years that there is much truth in that statement.

[kermit315]

Smith and Wesson Sigma .380. couldnt hit the broad side of a barn from the inside

[kentucky bucky]

REI? .41 mag revolver (wouldn't revolve reliably, shot shotgun patterns )
RG .22 revolver (real stinker)
mid 80's S&W mod 60 (shaved lead like crazy which caused it to lock up)

[tinygnat219]

Anything Taurus.

[Gun Slinger]

Worst "semi-crapomatics":

P-22, inaccurate, rough, heavy trigger pull, dumped it.

Springfield XD-9, a poor Croatian attempt at copying a Glock. Not very accurate and rather unreliable. Utter crap.

[seed]

Springfield XD-9, a poor Croatian attempt at copying a Glock. Not very accurate and rather unreliable. Utter crap.

I know you are expecting this, but this is not my experience...AT ALL. I have an early XD-40 (pre-melonite) and it is combat acccurate and extremely reliable. It has yet to fail and is in fact one of only a handful of guns I own that have never failed...not even during break-in or post Mac's refinish re-break-in. You may have gotten the proverbial lemon. My XD, on the other hand sits in my bed when I sleep.

As for copying a Glock...I always thought of the XD copying Glock, Sig and 1911's all in one. Not a bad idea. In fact it is pride that gets in the way of doing good things. If you see something that works, steal it and try to improve upon it. The very best of everything does this. To hell with pride.

[AZHighCountry]

Thompson Auto Ordinance 1911 never fired more than one round without a problem. Became known as the Thompson hammer because all it was good for was taching up the targets.

Had some cheap guns, bryco, jennings, raven that where all junk, but for under $100 you don't expect much.

Do own a lot of the other guns people have had trouble with and no problems with them myself. I guess you can get a lemon in any brand. Do have to laugh when someone says it's a POS because they couldn't hit anything with it. I have never been able to shoot a Browning auto 5 well and shoot other shotguns very well. I don't think that makes the Brownings junk, jus that it isn't right for me.

[nero45acp]

Kimber Stainless Target II 9mm

S&W manufactured PPK .32acp

Both were over-priced, unreliable, steaming piles of excrement.:cuss:



nero

[aka108]

Ruger SP101. Cylinder will bind randomly. Been "fixed" numerous times but problem reoccurs. Being sold at this moment.

[magnumman44]

Pheonix 22

AMT 45ACP Longslide

[Gun Slinger]

Originally posted by seed:
Springfield XD-9, a poor Croatian attempt at copying a Glock. Not very accurate and rather unreliable. Utter crap.

I know you are expecting this, but this is not my experience...AT ALL. I have an early XD-40 (pre-melonite) and it is combat acccurate and extremely reliable. It has yet to fail and is in fact one of only a handful of guns I own that have never failed...not even during break-in or post Mac's refinish re-break-in. You may have gotten the proverbial lemon. My XD, on the other hand sits in my bed when I sleep.

As for copying a Glock...I always thought of the XD copying Glock, Sig and 1911's all in one. Not a bad idea. In fact it is pride that gets in the way of doing good things. If you see something that works, steal it and try to improve upon it. The very best of everything does this. To hell with pride

Your experience does not match mine either....AT ALL.

Besides the inaccuracy, the final straw for me was it's lack of reliability FTE's, FTF's and parts breakage. Add to that the inability to easily and inexpensively obtain spare parts, service the weapon except through the process of returning it to the manufacturer until it is fixed (if ever) and it becomes a 'loser'.

The Glock, doesn't suffer these issues. I can locate easily, a readily available supply of rather inexpensive OEM and aftermarket parts if (I suffer an unlikely malfunction or breakage) I want to change or modify some aspect of my gun at my whim, do not need to go through "customer service" or the ridiculous expense of returning it to the manufacturer to do so and can make the changes with no tool more complicated than a 3mm (or 1/8") punch and a free downloaded copy of my Glock Armorer's Manual (haven't been through the class and really don't need the manual anymore, anyway) at my convenience. Add to that, that each of my 15 Glock's (17's, 17L's and 19's) is unquestionably reliable right out of the box and it becomes a 'winner'.

[Colt46]

Heavy trigger pull. Shooting fifty rounds leaves me with sore hands. It also tend to have the trigger stick and not return. Probably some kind of crap in the action that a good cleaning will take care of. I'm looking to turn it in for one of those cash for guns buybacks.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Never had a true POS. But the following were the "worst" in the sense of having problems with them, of various (but relatively minor) sorts:

1. Glock
2. Taurus Millenium Pro PT145
3. Kel Tec P380

[mr.trooper]

judging from this thread, there is no gun company worth buying from, and we are all wasting our time.

Springfield XD-9, a poor Croatian attempt at copying a Glock. Not very accurate and rather unreliable. Utter crap.

Well, Iv seen at least a dozen people here say their Glock was a POS as well, so maybe the Croatians got it right. :rolleyes:

[loneviking]

Colt Diamondback 38 spl. snubby. The darn thing had problems with it's frame screws. Six rounds of reloads and the seventh would be a flyer so I'd have to stop and retighten the screws. I could only use the lightest factory loads on the darn thing so I sold it.

Ruger 357 Blackhawk---most painful gun to shoot with those small grips. The recoil would catch me in the middle of the web of my hand. My hand would start to ache after about two reloads. Sold it and bought a Colt Peacekeeper which I still have and have shot a lot over the last 20 some odd years.

[elsullo]

Yes, I had a Jennings .22; enough said. I also had an Intratec Tec-22 just for fun--it was a brilliant, bomb-proof, simple design, but since there was no ejector to match the excellent extractor it was unable to fully eject ANY fired case, in spite of my radically enlarging the ejection port with a hack saw! I turned in both to a "Ceasefire" police exchange and got fifty bucks for each POS!

Now, I am sad to see many guns that I have had excellent luck with listed here as lemons:

I had a Taurus PT92 9mm that was simply flawless, other than having tiny sights, and accurate as hell too.

I had an Iver-Johnson TP22, late model, which simply worked perfectly, no matter what kind of ammo I fed it. A knowledgeable gun dealer bought it instantly for himself, for more than I paid for it.

I had a non-double action Walther TPH22, which was instantly fixed with a new factory trigger bar. It is perfect now, and will probably be the last gun I will ever sell.

I had a Kahr P9, first generation all-steel, which was utterly relliable and accurate, and had a trigger like buttah.

I STILL have a perfectly reliable S&W Sigma .380---yes, it looks like crap, but fits my hand perfectly and is totally controllable. It will wear out quickly because of the cheap zinc-alloy slide, but I have "melted" one side so that it does not "print" so badly in my pocket---using SANDPAPER!

Finally, I had an utterly dependable Glock 19, incredibly accurate. I hate the Glock grip angle, but this was a "second generation" model with no finger-grooves, so it allowed a Hogue slip-on grip that gave a more CZ75 shape, and it was PERFECT.

I kind of think people have some trouble with guns because they do not lube them before shooting. The manufacturers ship them dry, and dealers display them dry, only to keep the packaging from getting oily...............elsullo

[Hoffy]

Zastava MD70 .32 acp...

...won't go into battery reliably, and no parts are available on this side of the pond.

[Geno]

Every company produces Ps of S. No doubt about it. That fact is bad enough. However, what matters to me is how the company handles it.

I have reverted to my old practice of field-stripping and inspecting the pistol prior to purchase. If the dealer will not allow me to inspect it, I will not purchase it, no exceptions!

[coosbaycreep]

S&W 22A
It would rarely go more than 3 rounds without a jam or misfire.

Tec-9
Coolest looking gun ever made, and I still haven't sold it to buy a glock like I planned on after seeing how crappy it is just because of looks. Jams, misfires, akward to shoot, painful trigger, gets extremely dirty very fast, expensive parts, and it won't hit the same spot twice.

bernardelli .25
To be fair, the gun is over 40 years old and didn't work when I got it, but it's still an ill designed, cheaply made, piece of crap.

[bikerdoc]

beretta 948 in .22 made in 1955 or so i am told - jamomatic , hard trigger pull just an awefull piece - given to me by an uncle . Gun now resides at the bottom of the atlantic about 20 miles off the coast

[KrankyKraut]

RG 38. It was my first wheel gun, and I thought I was getting a bargain at $80. Hey, it looked good, like a Colt Diamondback, and was made in Germany. Well, you know the rest: Total disaster and waste of hard-earned money.

[Catherine]

I can't name one because I never bought or owned a 'POS' firearm.

Catherine

[KyJim]

When I was still in school (@ 1980) and with very limited money, I bought an RG .38 spl snubby for $50. The joke was that RG stood for Rotten Gun. It was what everyone pointed to as the proverbial Saturday Night Special. It had the cheapest set of plastic grips one could imagine. Trigger was heavy and gritty. It functioned but that was about all I could say for it. When I could later afford a better handgun, I sold it for $20 and felt guilty.

I also had a Kimber Ultra Carry II with great fit and finish. It jammed about every third shot. I called Kimber and they gave me the spiel about limp wristing and breaking it in. I had been shooting a .45 for many years and knew it wasn't limp writing. I kept shooting it, however, and it never got better. Rather than try again with Kimber, I traded it in toward an Ed Brown. Best decision I ever made. I've also gone on to own other short barrel .45s and didn't experience the problems as with the Kimber. It probably was a lemon, but if a gun doesn't shoot, it's a POS.

[huff]

Jennings 22.auto, 20 years ago, to many issues to list, took a hammer to it.

I was young and had no money. O well, shootin Kimbers now.

[gamboolman]

Kahr PM-9, I posted my experience but I got a full refund from Kahr due to alll the stuff that has been posted about them.

[MCgunner]

They're all .22s. One Erma LA22, just sorta worn out. I peened the rails on it and tightened it enough it is sorta reliable, now. LOL Then, there's this Charter Arms Explorer 2 pistol. It is 100 percent and fairly accurate. It was cheap, why I got it, 70 bucks. But, it's butt ugly and has a horrid trigger. I actually kinda like my Phoenix Arms HP22 due to amazing accuracy. It wears out a recoil spring about every 500 rounds and is just a pot metal gun, but it's reliable and accurate. I did a little trigger job on it and it even has a good trigger. I've carried it a lot as an outdoor knock around gun that goes in a pocket and have the 5" barrel for it. THEN, I have this Ramline Exactor plastic pistol. I got it because it was affordable and REALLY hyped in the Zines as the best thing since the Patterson Colt. Well, it is reliable with minimag, but bulk pack Federals misfire. The magazines are crap, have one left that hasn't broken, typical of plastic ramline magazines.

I really do need to get a REAL rimfire pistol and quit playing with all this junk. LOL! I do have a nice and very accurate Rossi M511 Kit gun style revolver, stainless. I shoot it 99 percent of my rimfire shooting and nearly every range trip as it's the best, yes, sad ain't it, .22 I have. But, I really like that Rossi. I ain't callin' that one junk cause it ain't. I will get a Ruger auto someday, though. Not sure why I put it off.

The biggest POS I EVER owned is gone, I threw it in the trash. It was a RG .22LR revolver. Damned thing was dangerous. I was a kid and realized what a POS it was and tossed it. :rolleyes: I still have the others listed above as no one in his right mind would give me much for 'em, so why sell. Besides, they all DO shoot.

[jeepmor]

EAA Witness 10mm, damn jammo-d-ammo-matic. EAA, no, I'm not sending it back because THR stories are aplenty of their customer service being poor. It's trading fodder for the gun shop and my next gun. Darn sweet trigger though.

[HM2PAC]

My 1st Rock Island Armory .45ACP GI Model.

1. Soft steel that peened out at the slidestop notch and at the takedown notch.

2. FTF, FTE, FTRB, Fail to drop mags.

I could not get more than 2-3 rounds out the barrel without some kind of stoppage.

HOWEVER

To their credit, Armscor replaced the weapon at no charge to me. The replacement has been perfect and has even earned a few upgrades.

Would I recommend RIA to anyone? Nope, not a chance. I love my RIA that works, but there is no guarantee with the next one. Who's to say heat treatments will be done properly tomorrow or the next day?

[M39SKY]

Kimber Stainless Target II .38 Super -

[JDGray]

I owned 2 Keltecs that shot 8" low at 30', was it me? I cant say for sure.
The P11 broke an ejector at arround 400 rds, the soft metal slide would form burrs where the hammer made contact, trigger from hell.:evil:

[rugerman07]

Browning Challenger II .22/LR. Jam-o-matic Junk. I tried several different brands of ammo, nothing but jams!

[ozarkman]

As guns go, I've been real lucky. But as I remember it, back around 1985, my first center fire handgun that I purchased with my 21st birthday money was a Charter Arms undercover in 38 spl.
It was somewhere around 12 or 16 ounces and even with the little 38 specials in that light of a revolver, the damn thing kicked so violently that it skinned my knuckle after every shot.. At somepoint, the pawl jamed the whole thing up with the hammer locked to the rear on a live round, unable to fire, lower the hammer to safe or open the cylinder.. it was to say the least, a sphincter tightening moment. I did eventually get the hammer to lower and sent it back to Charter for repair.

It became part of a settlement to my ex-wife a few years later..

Almost like poetic justice :neener:

[Ltlabner]

Right now my only POS gun in inventory is a Bersa 644. Its a .22LR automatic with 10 shot mags. It's a fun plinker but that damn thing jams at least once per mag, can't go more than 20 or 30 rounds before needing a full breakdown and clean and has plenty of light striker hits resulting in FTF. Now, it's started slam firing when you rack the slide.

Serriously considering having it destroyed to avoid someone getting hurt.

[Sapper771]

I have a Rohm snubnose .38cal revolver. I dont really remember where i got it, but when i did , it looked like someone had painted it with black floor paint. I took some sand paper and sanded all the paint off of it and it looks a little better. It will fire 5 out of the six rounds, for some reason it has a bad cylinder. The barrel on it will move in and out in the receiver. It is known by all my friends as the "liquor store gun" because it looks like something you would use to toss a liquor store!

[brickeyee]

Someone gave me a Lorcin .380 auto.
They used to run around $70.
I have not got around to cutting it up (or maybe I should use it for one of those 'gun turn in' days and get some new sneakers.

[aomagrat]

Rossi 357 Magnum revolver. The first time I fired it, when I opened the cylinder to eject the brass, the cylinder fell off and rolled down range.

[Claude Clay]

charter arms 38...it fired and impacted in the general area code. a coat pocket winter BUG that got upgraded to a 642. never looked back.
pony pocket lite. not a real problem as the colt factory is but a short bike ride from me: went back 3 times, was replaced--it went back twice and i got a full $ credit finally. VERY low serial #. same with the pocket 9....but after my second pick-up i asked for the chit.:)
Kel-Tek....well my 3rd p11 is 5 years old and was just refurbished (new bbl/spring/extractor & another gift mag--zero costs to me) and 500k rounds later seems the bestest ever--its even 3 inch/50 feet groping. p32-#013xx-replaced and doing fine. p3at-series 1-#014xx-:uhoh:......works fine(accidents happen).
COP 357...needed help from gov of MN to pull the trigger and after the smoke cleared the bullet hole appeared somewhere between me & the target.:what: though given todays weird value--wish id kept it. it was an excellent paperweight.
therapy has been useful as i know there are other nightmares, i just can't remember them:neener:

[chauncey]

Not a handgun, but I had a Century CETME. I have not seen any gun with more problems than this one short of Ka-Boom.

There's any irony to this, when everyone tells me my Springfield Armory SAR-8 on an Aluminum receiver is inferior to the Century CETME's. My SAR-8 shoots 1.5" groups with Federal 150's, and Springfield actually FIXED my headspace when I sent it to them, and not by grinding off the back of the bolt.

on the original topic, my biggest P'sOS were:
1. an Argentinian sporterized Mauser that wouldn't hit a 12" pie plate at 50 yards
2. Accu-Tek 380 that was more of a danger to the web of my hand than the target; couldn't hit any ring on a full-size B-27 at 5 yards
3. Mini-14 that shot 8" low at 25 yards and wouldn't print at 50 (must've been the "volley fire" model)

Springfield XD-9, a poor Croatian attempt at copying a Glock. Not very accurate and rather unreliable. Utter crap.

Have you tried sending it in? My warranty experience with SA was pretty positive, positive enough that I'd consider buying yours, if you haven't monkey'd with it in a manner that will put it out of warranty.

[Gtone]

Walther PPK/S - My "Jam-o-matic" POS. Never did get through a single mag without a stovepipe or failure to feed.

[ImARugerFan]

High Standard Field King. Had it for 2 years, still functions as a single shot. Jams constantly with any ammo. Apparently I'll have to pay a gunsmith to manually adjust the magazine because I can't get it to work.

[Rugerlvr]

I've never owned a bad one. I'm choosy.

[Levan9X19]

I've never owned a bad one. I'm choosy

so do I :-)

[ARTiger]

Taurus first generation PT111
" " 3rd. generation PT111 Pro
" " " " PT140 Pro

All broke badly enough to be inoperable within 500 rounds of normal shooting. My next Taurus will be bought when they issue blizzard warnings in hell.

[OOOXOOO]

Phoenix Arms HP22 if you could get more than two rounds off without fiddeling with it you should go buy a lottery ticket. Walther P22 cracked slide and the barrel would loosen itself (even with thread locker). I removed every usable part from either one and smashed the rest with a sledge hammer. It only took one hit in both cases.

[bugmania]

My friend gave me a Jennings/Bryco 38 because it didn't work. Turns out it has a broken firing pin. My buddy has milled me a new one so the next time we head out to the range I'll give it a try and hope the thing doesn't blow up in my hand. This thing looks like a POS, feels like a POS, and soon enough we'll find out how big a POS it really is.

[Auburn1992]

Wow alot of Baby Eagles, so far mines been great.. I've only put 600 rounds through it though

[Omaney]

I didn't think so at the time of purchase, but the Kahr MK9 I bought was a problem from day one. I could never get that thing to shoot a full magazine without a failure to go into battery. I hated that pistol. I hope they're better now. It was a nice piece except for that!:evil:

[publiuss]

I don't know if I can call it a pos b/c it never broke but my first pistol was a fixed sight single action FIE that was wildly unaccurate and LOUD as hell.

[Ynot]

When I was a poor young man I spent my hard earned money on the following.
Rossi 971 .357, the firing pin hole was offset so the firing pin would not hit the primer with enough force. Sent to Interarms they repaired, it worked well for years after that but traded it in recently for a S&W
Grendel P12- jammed on a regular basis, sold to an engineer, maybe he could figure it out.
Star 9mm Firestar- jam o matic still have it unfortunately.
Kel Tec P3AT- jam o matic as well, will send back to Kel Tec soon, I have read that the repairs made by Kel Tec do resolve the problems.

[Confederate]

StandingWolf (http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=1115956&postcount=3): Ruger Mark II .22 caliber pistol. I'll never buy another Ruger anything.
Boy, I never thought I'd hear that! What was the problem?

Please note that many of the pistols listed here have fine reputations; others don't. In the case of those who do, I think it's safe to assume someone got a lemon. I can't imagine anyone having problems with Ruger or its steel, though I suppose once in a blue moon....

[wristtwister]

I once had a .45 colt auto that literally shot itself to pieces. It was an old service gun and had so much "slop" in the parts that it was a pain in the arse to put together. It's been so many years ago that I'm not sure, but I think it was actually put together from spare parts at the gun store.

I also had a couple of Astras back then, a 400 and a 600, and they would vapor lock all the time because I fed the wrong ammo to them, but that was back when you could buy cases of old WWII ammo for almost nothing... so you didn't mind if you blew up a $30 or $40 pistol shooting corrosive ammo. We literally washed our guns in soap and water and then oiled them up after shooting that crap through them.

Over the years, I've probably owned or possessed 50 to 75 guns of one type or another... and lots of them had quirks, but I learned how to fix them and could make them all shoot (within reason) reliably. The old commercial comes to mind that "parts is parts"... but with guns, good parts are usually reliable... and like anything mechanical, some parts wear out and need replacing.

Smith and Wessons have been my most reliable guns, and next to that, I'd say that I've had more problems with semi-autos than revolvers. Most revolvers shoot every time if they don't have broken parts.

As for POS guns... if they go boom... I like them all.

WT

[Fronka]

Kel-Tec P32. My first and last Kel-Tec purchase.

[BrianB]

H&K Mk 23...just kidding.

[coach22]

Norton TP-70 aka Norton Budischowsky.
A 25 ACP that would never work.
Misfires and failures to feed.
Too bad, because the idea was great.
Stainless, double action first shot, commander hammer,
a 6 shot magazine and not much bigger than a Seecamp.
In fact, it was thinner than a Seecamp.

coach22