Do You Have a USELESS firearm?

I had a Colt Delta Elite in the much vaunted 10mm. Big pile of poop is what it was. Its failures were several and never consistant, so it was difficult to find the source of the problem(s). I tinkered and tweaked but could never get it to operate reliably. I sold it to a Colt fanatic WARNING him of the pistol's shortcomings, but people in love always have these delusions about how great the future will be....

I don't..if I had a useless one, as in, no use for it, never shot it, hated to shoot it, etc.....it would be gone one way or another.

Waveski said:

There is this ---

A guy gave me the pictured revolver and said "You like to fix stuff..." .
The hand does not engage the cylinder , the trigger does not engage the hammer , and if you break the top the cylinder falls off.
You might think that the grip panels have value , but the right side panel is busted.

Don't know why I haven't tossed it.
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Because it is a sorta cool gun. An old Hopkins & Allen. I might even have the parts here to fix it. I have about 10 old top breaks from various manufactures hiding around here. I have enough S&W top breaks to keep me busy so the others are just put in small containers and sit on a shelf. They are a pain to work on.

StrawHat said:

Here is what I carry on the end of my watch chain.

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A 2mm pinfire single shot pistol. Yes it works and yes I have ammunition for it. I fired it a couple maybe 5 years ago. It went bang. I doubt it will ever replace my 45 ACP.

Kevin

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I got a couple of them myself. A true mouse gun. No wimp for its size it will put a lead shot through a empty pop can at 4 feet. Some did not have bored threw barrels. Not sure they ever mad so called factory ammo with a led projectile, but one can get some of the correct size shot and glue them to the tip of the blanks.

Have one that is somewhat worthless.....my son picked it up on his first tour in Kabul, Afghanistan. Martini Enfield perhaps carried by camel during the Kyber Pass battles. Have all the military paper work and documentation to get it here. Don't think I'd ever want to fire it, nearly 150 years old.....more of a keep sake.

Had a buddy give me one of those Italian Brescia 22 pistol. The firing pin is gone so it's pretty much just a paper weight...
Might be good for one of those 'buy back" things..

Define "useless". Only useless firearm I can think of is one that takes some long out of production Rimfire ammo and would require major modification to fire center fire.
I look at jam-o-matics as a challenge. I have a magazine fed Winchester M-77. Was a jam-o-magic, gave it several thorough cleanings, then I very gently adjusted the feed lips with my Leatherman tool, now...

None useless but a few that I rarely if ever fire, and could likely sell or lose without hesitation even though they are perfectly functional firearms. I can't remember the last time I fired my Ruger P97dc but I'm sure if needed or wanted it would fire perfectly well. Its just not worth enough money for me to part with it. The closest I had to a useless gun was a Ruger LCP. My ability to fire that little pistol accurately at a target more than 6 feet away was minimal, and I hated shooting it due to the snappiness of it. So like other guns that I found I did not like I traded them in or sold them.

I once owned a Dan Wesson 357 with a 2 inch barrel and a 20 # trigger pull. Two gunsmiths tried to make it better but I got sick of using two fingers to pull the trigger. Traded it off with disclosure. Got a Rossi 38SPL that was much better IMO.

H&R Glock said:

I have one that would make a good paperweight. You can't get parts for some guns...Useless, You can't afford the cost of ammo for others.... Useless. Yours might kaboom if shot... Useless.
Here's mine.
View attachment 954019
Ammo is scarce and too expensive. I could not successfully reload for it. Barrel kits are non existent in popular calibers.
This gun represents a suttle attack by the Russians to bankrupt our population and disarm us.
This is a model TTC. I think it is called a TT30? Do you have a useless gun?

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You mean useless for it's intended function? A good paperweight is a pretty good use. I have a Hawken muzzleloader I built from a kit. Narrow curved butt plate. Turns out I am not enough of a man to handle that kind of beating. It's hanging on the wall and makes a real nice decoration alongside a set of deer antlers. Decoration is a use.

I have a Galesi 22 long. I bought it with no magazine. Bought an aftermarket. The gun has a steep feed ramp angle. I've adjusted the follower but the best I'm at is reliably feeding 3 rds.

Not really useless but I don't think anyone would carry a 3rd semiauto.

Still working on it.

I have a Jennings 9mm, nuff said.

tlf65 said:

I have a Jennings 9mm, nuff said.

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Again, as someone said in an earlier thread - you have to define "useless." Paperweights are not useless.
Of course I wouldn't want a paperweight that might somehow actually go off sometime - especially if it was in the wrong hands when it happened!

MosinT53Hunter said:

Least yours has value as is. My Iver Johnson 38 S&W is just a paper weight. The cylinder is soldered in place to the frame, its been sleeved in one of the chambers for 22, it rattles like a baby toy, the hammer is locked in place, the firing pin is non-existent, dead trigger, the works. It opens and closes, that's about it.

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Good start for a great shooter, looking forward to the rebuild thread

Not right now but with the shortage of ammo that seems to be trending many of us are going to have an awful lot of "useless" firearms.

Paul R Zartman said:

Good start for a great shooter, looking forward to the rebuild thread

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I for one will not be rebuilding it. I have neither the tools nor the know-how to even attempt this feat.

No, no...I would rather put my skills in restoring the two Ishapore Enfield No1, MKIII's that I have, still oozing with cosmoline.

Smith and Wesson model one and one half in .32 rimfire made in 1867. Mechanically OK, but try to get any ammo. Purchased because I wanted an example of a S&W tip-up revolver at a reasonable price.

RON in PA said:

Smith and Wesson model one and one half in .32 rimfire made in 1867. Mechanically OK, but try to get any ammo. Purchased because I wanted an example of a S&W tip-up revolver at a reasonable price.

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Somebody might actually still make it. I remember there was new made .41 rimfire floating around in the '80s. Try whomever replaced Old Western Scrounger.

RON in PA said:

Smith and Wesson model one and one half in .32 rimfire made in 1867. Mechanically OK, but try to get any ammo. Purchased because I wanted an example of a S&W tip-up revolver at a reasonable price.

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I know the feeling.
I want an example of each type of action - 'gotta catch 'em all... .'

My most useless gun is probably a Winchester Commemorative. This was one of 19999 made for the Bicentennial in 1976. It came with the wall rack shown but who in their right mind would leave it out on display. Consequently, I've kept it packed away in its original clamshell box with decorated cardboard sleeve plus the wall rack--all in the original factory shipping carton to preserve the value which hasn't kept up with inflation. Fortunately, at the time one of my customers was the regional sales rep for Winchester and he got it for me at his cost. It's sports figured walnut stock and a brushed silver-plated receiver which has been kept wrapped in an anti-tarnish cloth for the last 44 years. Of course, underneath that fancy plating, it's still a crappy post 64 sintered steel cast receiver.

I've even got two boxes of Bicentennial 30-30 ammo to go with it. Both Winchester and Colt were the Franklin Mints of gun manufacturers back then and I bought into the B.S. hype of Commemoratives as an investment. Yes, it was a moronic purchase given the storage and maintenance issues.

I take it out about once or twice a year to check for any issues and at one of those inspections, I assembled the wall rack for this picture. The brass nameplate still has the original plastic film on it. In 6 more years, it will be 50 years old so maybe there'll be enough interest in it, that I might break even by putting it on Gunbroker.



Cheers

I have an old muzzle loader from the 1800's. It was my great, great grand fathers. No idea on the value. But it's in horrible shape. I keep it as a wall hanger. So i guess you would say it's useless. No makers mark or chambering stamped on it.

I have an AR lower and no upper for it, so that’s pretty useless and technically it a firearm.

Haven't had too much need for this one other than it's an interesting
part of the history of our fireams.

An old Rossi revolver. Model 51 I think it was. 22LR A Total POS. I took it apart,a and used the parts as fishing weights.. Most of it is now at the bottom of the Delaware bay somewhere.

My most useless one is a Ruger LCR in .38 Special. I hate that gun because it shoots dinner-plate-size groups at 7 yards (I can't get my shotguns to spread that much!), and somehow it's the most painful recoiling handgun I've ever fired. I doubt I'll ever fire it again.