Have you ever had a rifle you didn't like?

bout every other one....Ive got 2 rifles that are for sure not going anywhere, and one more that probably wont, but most of them are just visiting.
Ill often get taken by an idea, or want to try something (6.5prc M18 mauser for instance), and while they maybe fantastic ideas/rifles/ etc they just dont end up being MY thing. I then usually move them along to someone who really DOES like them, or at least wants them, and im happy with that.

Now a 6.5WSSM sounds VERY interesting to me, but im guessing its sort of a specialized build. Or at least how i would conceive it (even when very well implemented) might just turn out to not be what one wants.

Honestly the 6.5Grendel 527 i bought is sorta the same thing. Great in concept, but boring at the range, and not quite light enough to be a huge advantage over my other larger rifles.....Still tho gonna hunt it and see if that changes my view on the mater.

Yes, several. All of them but one has gone away. I have one more as well at the moment that I am trying to justify its worth to me as apposed to turning it into money.

Thing is you can't know what you like until you have tried it. I like to challenge my own perceptions so I buy stuff sometimes just to see if I like it or not, especially if its something I think I can get all or most of my money back out of.

How ugly are we talking?

Ruger Ranch Rifle .223. Terrible thing.
I do like Ruger, but that was bad.

Poper said:

How about you guys? Any other unloved rifles in your life?

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Oh, yeah - a few. I had a Winchester 70, 300 Win Mag that kicked so hard it made me dizzy. Then I had a 444 Marlin that kicked almost that hard, and I bought it thinking I could use my own 300 gr. cast bullets in it – that didn’t work out worth a darn because I couldn’t seat those heavy bullets deep enough in the cases to make the OALs of the cartridges short enough to work in the rifle. And last but not least, I had one of the early Ruger mini-30s, 7.62X39 that wouldn’t put 3 shots in a 5” circle at 100 yards no matter what I tried.

On the other hand, my wife and I watched as our oldest grandson killed his first deer with that Ruger carbine. He hit her high in the ribs at about 80 yards, she stumbled forward a few steps, and collapsed. So I guess “minute of pie-plate” accuracy was good enough that day.

25-5 said:

Ruger Ranch Rifle .223. Terrible thing.
I do like Ruger, but that was bad.

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25-5, out of curiosity, what didn't you like about it? I'm asking because I've kind of been thinking of getting a Ruger Ranch Rifle .223 for myself.

[QUOTE="LoonWulf, post: 11343215, member: 125508

Honestly the 6.5Grendel 527 i bought is sorta the same thing. Great in concept, but boring at the range, and not quite light enough to be a huge advantage over my other larger rifles.....Still tho gonna hunt it and see if that changes my view on the mater.[/QUOTE] I'll take a 6.5 Grendel over a 223/556 anyday and be happy about it

Ruger Mini 30. It shot patterns instead of groups. Never found any factory brass ammo it liked, and it wouldn’t light the primers on Russian steel case. Only kept it for a few weeks.

The only one that comes to mind was an H&R Handi Rifle in 30-06. Black, poorly polished 22” barrel and poor plastic furniture. Weighed about 6lbs. Kicked like a mule drunk on bad whiskey, was ugly, and I couldn’t get to shoot better than about 2.5 MOA. Gave it to a friend. He put a decent set of laminated furniture on it, one of those Mercury recoil reducers in the stock and a decent scope, fiddled with forend tension and says he got it down to fine deer accuracy at 250 yards. He’s used it as a loaner and foul weather rifle for about 12 years.

Remington 22lr 572 field master hated it the internal parts were aluminum and broke apart after 500 rounds back in the late 1970s I had a gunsmith repair it a it was sold a week later

Not particularly an AR fan, but I have a couple. I can't really speak against them too much because I haven't spent a lot of time with them.

Besides that - I was on a .22 rifle kick for a little while and I have a couple that I won't say I don't like, but I probably could have just as well kept my $ in my pocket.



On the other hand, I like all of my lever guns very much. I don't have to work at it, either.

Years ago I wanted a bolt action rifle in .308 that weighed under 7 pounds and had iron sights. The Remington 673 had been released but none in .308.
Then one day I was in an old favorite gun store of mine and “Voila!” They had a .308 Rem. 673.
I couldn’t buy it fast enough. I was in love...for a little while. I also bought a Leupold 3-9x32 Compact scope and told the sales guy I wanted the scope mounted AFTER sighting it in with the irons.
I took it to the range and got the iron sights centered at 100 yards but the best I could do was 3 shots in a 3” circle. I figured “Good enough” might be the ammo.
Took it back to the store and said “Mount the scope using Leupold QD medium height rings. Don’t touch the iron sights.”
Zippy the Pinhead said “Uh-Okay”.
Called me a week later to pick up my rifle.
The first thing he did was hand me the rear sight in a baggie. Then he laid the rifle on the counter. He used the lowest mounts that would work and they weren’t QD.
I was furious but left it as is.
That rifle never shot better than 3 MOA even with the scope and no matter what load I tried.
I hated the draggie loose bolt.
I eventually sold it.
I still have the scope.

.308 Norma said:

25-5, out of curiosity, what didn't you like about it? I'm asking because I've kind of been thinking of getting a Ruger Ranch Rifle .223 for myself.

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I bought it on a whim. Maybe because it looked like an M1 carbine. Your minute of pie plate remark applies, and that's with good ammo. It's been close to 20 years ago, and I never tried it again. I do like the Ruger International in .243. Mannlicher stock and 18" barrel. So, not the brand, but the rifle.

No brainer. M-16. POS did it's best to get me killed.

Only rifle I didn't like was my Charter Arms AR7. The plastic they used for the stock on that thing seemed like it was made from recycled garbage bags. Showed every little mark and scratch on it and was hard to get a decent cheek weld with it. The receiver looked like it was finished with some spray-on silver paint and fit rather loosely in the stock when assembled. The barrel was never a very tight fit into the receiver and the bolt charging handle use to come out of the bolt at any time. The magazine was another cheaply made part and was no doubt was a major part of the gun's reliability problems.

I know they use to tout it as the perfect survival rifle that would float if it fell in the water. This is one rifle where I hoped it wouldn't!

25-5 said:

I bought it on a whim. Maybe because it looked like an M1 carbine. Your minute of pie plate remark applies, and that's with good ammo. It's been close to 20 years ago, and I never tried it again. I do like the Ruger International in .243. Mannlicher stock and 18" barrel. So, not the brand, but the rifle.

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Okay, thanks!
I guess I don't want a Ruger Ranch .223 as bad as I thought. I won't stand for a scoped rifle that won't shoot as small of groups as my open-sighted Winchester Model 94...3 to 4 inch, 3-shot groups at 100.
And like you, I have nothing against the Ruger brand either. My wife and I both have old Ruger 77s that are MOA rifles, and we've had, and probably still have more Ruger handguns than any other brand. I wonder where Ruger went wrong with their M1 carbine lookalikes.

Have one "newer" Savage bolt,and just don't like it compared to the hoard of older flatback's here.

That rear round part of the action just looks dumb.Oh it shoots like a house on fire but still don't like it.

One that comes to mind was a savage 12 FV I ordered on sale at Cabela’s. Now I don’t mind savages but the finish on that gun and the stock were just embarrassing. I never shot it and ended up trading it for a sporterized arisaka.

Had an early 90's ruger 77 in 06 that wouldn't group into 5 inches. Nice looking rifle, crf but just wouldn't shoot.

I loved shooting my friends m70 feather weight in 7mm mag. About 2 years after shoulder surgery I bought a savage 110 in 7 mag. It was the closest I could find to what I wanted. Recoil was terrible, could have been from a not completely healed shoulder, but after half a box of ammo I sold it.

.308 Norma said:

Okay, thanks!
I guess I don't want a Ruger Ranch .223 as bad as I thought. I won't stand for a scoped rifle that won't shoot as small of groups as my open-sighted Winchester Model 94...3 to 4 inch, 3-shot groups at 100.
And like you, I have nothing against the Ruger brand either. My wife and I both have old Ruger 77s that are MOA rifles, and we've had, and probably still have more Ruger handguns than any other brand. I wonder where Ruger went wrong with their M1 carbine lookalikes.

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My experience with newer 581+ series minis is 1.5-2" is expected, and 1-1.5 isn't impossible with tuning and load development.
My 581 would easily hold 1.5" at 100 with decent factory ammo, and 1-1.25 with 69gr bthp over a heavy charge if 748.
also didn't puncture primers like my 700 .223 would when using anything close to max loadings. did the same thing after conversion to 6x47..... hopefully it quits doing that after it comes back as a 375 raptor.

Ruger #1 in 458 wm , it really wasn’t because of the rifle brand,action,or style, just couldn’t handle the 458 wm cartridge. The recoil from that cartridge and maybe the stock shape didn’t do well with my shoulder. I’ve had 375 H&H and 338wm that are not really that bad, but the 458 was too much. I am like overs, I’ve had rifles come and go, but mostly to try something different.

Every single Winchester lever gun that I've ever had. Maybe 18 or more.

I keep thinking I might arm up to them when I either back into them or find them on the cheap. Just don't like them for particular design/cartridge issues.

Closest I came was my last, a pretty, pre-safety .44 mag AE. Mounting a scope being an AE helped but even that one went down the road.

Oh yeah - also every one of 6 or so 10-22s. Keep thinking I won't mind the next one....

Other than that, it was a mauser-actioned .404 Jeffries. Bought on a whim at a fine price and got over THAT one real quick.

Todd.

Poper said:

How about you guys? Any other unloved rifles in your life?

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Remington Nylon 10C. Ruger 10/22. Both jam-o-matic junk.