Make or break characteristic of a gun. What's your dealbreaker?

For me it's having the money in the first place. My local butcher makes good jerky for $11 a pound. I try not to go there to often.

hand fit at the top of the grip. I have a weird shaped hand, I guess. I have thin fingers and wear a large glove, but i guess have a narrow channel at the webbing area of my thumb and pointer finger, so if the gun has a wide grip at the base of the slide like the Ruger RAP45, it feels like someone is taking a hammer to the thumb knuckle nearest the web of my hand. Its bad enough that it makes me flinch. Its not the grip thickness itself that causes it. I can shoot a thick ol' 92fs with no issue yet a think single stack Ruger EC9-S kinda pops me a bit. The SIG 320 melts into my hand, but my FN509 shot well but still rubbed/smacked my knuckle. Conversely, I can shoot my Shield .45 until I'm broke. It's more comfortable than a full size 1911 for some reason. I can "fix" the problem with a chubby-butt pistol by "fixing" my grip, but it's not a natural grip for me. Kinda doesn't make sense to carry a gun that requires you to adjust your hold on it.

At the LGS, I generally will rock the gun back in my hands. If i feel the frame press against my knuckle pretty hard before the barrel reaches what I would consider the likely rise during firing, I put it back until I can find one to shoot. Thin guns and especially guns with good tapering to the beavertail area are a much better fit. I really wanted to like the RAP, but it was just too painful to shoot.

Heel mag release
Grip Zone type marketing
Poor importation marks
Magazine safeties
*Manual safeties on a handgun
*Short grips that pinch when performing magazine changes

*not necessarily a deal breaker

Reliability. It doesn't matter how skilled you are, how good the gun looks or feels, or even how well it groups. If it doesn't go bang when you need it to, everything else is irrelevant. I would rather have a rusty piece of cheap trash in my hand that never jams than a high end whatever that "still has a few bugs"

Trigger too light.

Trigger reach.

FlSwampRat said:

For me it's "Can I drop the slide from a firing position after reload?"

Okay, I know it's not the biggest deal to a lot of people, but it just seems like there's a lot of guns out there that want me to roll the gun around in my hand to release the slide.

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Is that strong hand only, or when bringing your support hand to the gun?

FlSwampRat said:

Situation, your at your LGshop/show and giving the eyeball to a pistol in a caliber you favor at a decent price. You pick it up, clear it, point it in a safe direction and now what's your biggest deciding factor as to whether to buy it or put it down and go see the venison jerky guy?

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FL-NC said:

Reliability. It doesn't matter how skilled you are, how good the gun looks or feels, or even how well it groups. If it doesn't go bang when you need it to, everything else is irrelevant. I would rather have a rusty piece of cheap trash in my hand that never jams than a high end whatever that "still has a few bugs"

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Reliability is sure enough number one for me too, but I took it that FISwampRat is asking about a gun that I am trying to make up my mind whether or not to buy - not one that I've already bought, took home, and found out was an autojammer.
That said, when I see a gun that I like the looks of in a gun store, and it feels good in my hand, and I like the trigger and the sights, I try to resist buying it until I've read some reviews in some gun magazines and on the internet. If I see the slightest hint that the gun is not reliable (and gun writers can be very good at hiding unreliability hints) I don't buy the gun.
Anyway, that's the way I try to do it nowadays. I've made mistakes though. I've bought guns that were jamming pieces of junk, and lost money when I sold them. I'm working on it - I try to not be overcome by temptation as easily as I used to be overcome by it.

Required:
It must go bang when I need it to and not go bang when I don't want it to.

ie. reliability and safety.

Wanted:
After that it would be ergonomics and accuracy

Would be nice:
and then price

Before I purchase one I will Google what ever I'm looking at and review's or problems. If I see tons of folks posting about problems with it. Then I'll pass. Chances are good I will have problems to.

JTQ said:

Trigger reach.

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This on autoloaders without a lot of grip modification options. Too short of a trigger reach can be a real problem for me.

Gritty and heavy trigger is a no go on any gun, though some are known to smooth out.

Bubba gunsmith screw damage on a revolver are a good indication of unskilled fiddling. No thanks.

460Shooter said:

Bubba gunsmith screw damage on a revolver are a good indication of unskilled fiddling. No thanks.

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I bought my Ruger Security Six twenty, maybe twenty-five years ago knowing full well someone had done some "bubba" or kitchen table gunsmithing on its trigger. But I got it for a song, and I knew Ruger would fix it for me - which they did for free even though I told them I'd bought the gun used.
I guess it's not that way anymore, at least not for Ruger's "Six" line of revolvers. Too bad - I still like mine.

I'm not shopping for carry guns or duty guns anymore; I know what I like and I know what works.

So if I'm shopping, I'm first looking at the ergonomics, primarily how it feels it my hand; Sights must be good (Glocks need not apply -- I'm not gonna pay extra to have sights that are just right installed).

The trigger, though, is the biggest deal-breaker for me. From the box, it must have a clean break and short reset.

Then -- the overall looks and cool factor. I shoot with a couple guys who are huge STI fans, but I cannot stand the honkin' huge billboard STI buts on the flats of its pistols' slides. Same with busy slides and lawyer warnings; I can RTFM, so I don't need the side of the gun telling me that it can fire with or without a magazine and telling me to read the frickin' manual. Excess verbiage on the gun is actually been a deal-breaker for me (major kudos to Dan Wesson for the cleanest production pistols one the market).

Frame mounted safety, not absolutely necessary...but a slide mounted safety is a no go for me. Overall ergonomics...can I manipulate all the controls from a firing grip or with as little fiddling as possible

Dealbreaker? Gun is broken or has an issue. If it is something I am wanting and it is in working condition, I am GTG

FlSwampRat said:

Situation, your at your LGshop/show and giving the eyeball to a pistol in a caliber you favor at a decent price. You pick it up, clear it, point it in a safe direction and now what's your biggest deciding factor as to whether to buy it or put it down and go see the venison jerky guy?

For me it's "Can I drop the slide from a firing position after reload?"

Okay, I know it's not the biggest deal to a lot of people, but it just seems like there's a lot of guns out there that want me to roll the gun around in my hand to release the slide.

What's your biggest bugaboo?

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My training is too always pull the slide back to release it. under stress this technique has been shown to work best assuming both of hands are functional. I also own many types of pistols and this technique works with all of them to release from slide lock.
Just about all military pistols do lock back. There are several well regarded 7.62 rifles like the AKM, FAL, and G3 do not. The AK really has no provision of this sort even for a manual locking of the of bolt back. I know that the G3 does.

Trigger reach. I can’t comfortably reach the trigger on most full size double stack DA/SA guns. Also, some sort of safety feature- whether it’s a long or heavy trigger pull, grip safety, or thumb safety.

I don't buy any gun that Hickock45 doesn't approve of...

Trey Veston said:

I don't buy any gun that Hickock45 doesn't approve of...

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Pretty sure he likes everything he has touched. Least I dont recall him saying anything negative.

ergonomics, fit and finish.

Own plenty of tools, now-a-days they need to be special

tarosean said:

Pretty sure he likes everything he has touched. Least I don't recall him saying anything negative.

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Yeah, I was being a little sarcastic.

Trey Veston said:

Yeah, I was being a little sarcastic.

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I see, said the blind man

Ditto to much of the above. Plus, "Do I need another fill_in_the_blank?"
Also that stoopid lock on an S&W.

My biggest deal breaker is the word "Glock" on the slide.

Aside from that I don't like guns that pinch my palm during reloads.