Who's had a defective firearm right out of the box?

Purchased new:

Iver Johnson M1 Carbine. Bolt was too soft and eventually the locking lugs peened. Sent it back to IJ and they returned it with a new bolt. Eventually traded it off. (I have an Underwood Carbine now. )

Hesse-slapped Saiga. Hesse used soft fire control parts when they converted it to pistol grip config, and they started peening after aroun 180 - 200 rounds. Replaced them myself with a Tapco G2 FCG and gun is now 100%. Traded this one off to a friend for some carpentry work at my house.

Century SAR-1. Developed major trigger slap after ~200 rounds, although other than that it ran just fine. Did the fix found on Linx310's Romanian AK page and fixed most of it. Would've installed a G2 FCG if I hadn't traded it in. (I should have kept it and dumped the Hesse.)

Purchased used:

Ruger Mini-14, 182-series. A police trade-in that some numbnuts took apart and left out the gas port bushing during reassembly. The bushing not only controls the amount of gas tapped from the barrel, it also fixes the gas piston in place. Yet, the rifle worked fine for 50 rounds before it jammed up when the piston came loose. Installed a new bushing ( < $5 from Brownells) and now it is 100% with anything I put in it. This gun is a keeper!

Ruger Blackhawk .357/9mm convertible. A 1976 model that I bought virtually unused. The chambers in the .357 cylinder were rough and .357s would stick, although .38s extracted ok. Wound up trading this off towards my Marlin Camp 45.

Bushmaster XM15E2S most expensive POS I ever bought.

Brand new: 20 rounds later it starts stovepiping every other round. Let it cool down and it'd run for 20 rounds or so and then start stovepiping.

To top it off it took almost all of the adjust right clicks on the rear sight just to get on paper.

Sent it back to BM to fix. They fixed the stovepiping but didn't do anything about the overtorqued barrel problem.

Traded that POS away post haste - had it for less than 2 months and 1 month of that it was at BM. BM'll never, ever, ever get my money again.

Taurus Raging Bull - 44 Mag.
Didn't fail right out of the box but did within first 200 rounds. Center pin in the star was sticking in the depressed position when closing the cylinder. Gunsmith said it was due to it being a bit oversize and damaged due to recoil. He fixed it - runs fine now (very accurate revolver) but I won't be giving Taurus anymore of my money either.

S&W 411
Beretta 950
Lorcin L380 (first gun I fixed myself)
AMT DAO45 (fixed myself after three trips to the factory)
Taurus PT-22
Davis D38 Derringer

Springfield M1A. It's back at the factory for the second time. They've had it more than I have since I purchased it, literally.

I got a Taurus 455 Ti from CDNN that, occasionally, the trigger wouldn't reset and the action was very very rough. Took it apart and detail cleaned it. There was sand, looked like sand blasting cilica, all over the inside of the gun. A good cleaning fixed it.

not so many

I bought a NIB Winchester 70 featherweight in 280 that would not close on factory ammo. Went to Ahlman's gun shop and they dropped a go no-go case gauge in it and it would not close, smith took a hand chamber reamer to it and fixed it in about five minutes no charge.

Bought a NIB unopened marlin 81 many years ago from Target. Got home and opened the box and pulled out bolt to look down bore and no light. nada, nothing. took a cleaning rod and it sounded metalic. I went to shop and got a .20 brass rod and started tapping, then rapping it, and finally whamming away on it. Switched ends and hit it from muzzle end almost immediately obstruction was moving and out popped a steel nubbin. Only thing it could have been was the button used to make the rifling. When you looked down the barrel there was a obvious change in the bore about a third of the way down. Target exchanged the rifle no questions asked.

Bought a NIB Remington 572 pump, would never feed more than two in a row.
Sent it back to Remington after less than 100 rounds. They sent it back to the shop 3 months later and said all fixed. Gunsmith and I looked at the box and it still had the same tape we had used to ship the box in. He called Remington and screamed for ten minutes and they said ship it right back. A week later the gun came back, new box, check to cover shipping twice, and letter appologising. A week later the gunsmith got another box from Remington with ten brick of .22 ammo and a letter saying sorry again.
I think they replaced the receiver because the machining inside it seemed better.

Wow!

Not that I've bought a huge number of guns, but in 35 years I've yet to have one that didn't work right, new or used (purchased about 50/50)...And some of the used ones (including milsurps)were often well used....

Smith & Wesson model 10-- 3inch-- rd butt

I bought this back in the early 80's NIB. The first time to the range I shot 3 rds of factory 158 grain lead round nose and the cylinder "locked up". It took me about 20 minutes to get it unstuck. I foolishy tried one more round--same result. Another 20 minutes to get it unstuck.

I took it back to the store where I purchased it and they sent it back to the factory for repair. About 6 weeks later I got it back. I took it out to test it. I used a different brand and load for this--same thing again. I took it back to the store and they gave me full credit what I had paid towards a new Ruger Security Six.

I do regret the Smith wasn't right because I really liked the balance and the size of that pistol.

Just once...

Kel-Tec P32. Failed to feed and extract right out of the box. FedExed it to KT, then got it back.

Still did not feed or extract at least once per magazine. Then it locked up, with the guide rod AND part of the spring protruding from the slide.

I spoke with Mr. "G.K.", who I thought was the owner of the company. He assured me that he'll fix the gun and refund my FedEx costs for both trips back to the factory.

Some time later, I got the gun back with no refund, a new spring and guide rod and the same failures to feed and extract with at least three different types of ammo.

The very name Kel-Tec sends shivers up my back now.

Kimber Ultra Carry II Stainless. This was the most expensive handgun I had ever purchased. It fired OK, but had constant FTE and FTF. Kimber stated that I should go through the break in period, but after 700 rounds it still was not close to reliable. They changed the extractor, and I switched to McCormick magazines and have had no problems since. I'm still not sure that any semi-auto can match reliability of my S&W revolvers so my S&W 640 is still my favorite carry gun. If I ever need to use it, I hope I don't have to aim at anything further away than about 10 feet. With the Kimber I'm comfortable hitting a human size target at 10 yards, but I worry about having an FTE at the critical moment.

Not exactly right-out-of-the-box, but I bought a Kimber Ultra Elite, a one-year distribution, changed the name to the CDP series. After about 300 rounds, the extractor broke off. Kimber offered to send me a new one, but I told them I'd end up with 5 or 6 pieces left over if I replaced it! Overnighted it to them (my choice to do the overnight) and had it right back. 100% since; well, it was 100% before the break, too.

The thing that stands out to me in this thread, is that pretty much EVERY manufacturer is represented in the thread. It happens, regardless of quality control-the more items one makes, eventually one of them is going to be out-of-specifications.

Shoot1Sam,

In that any manufacturer can(and will) eventually have a faulty product go out the door, you are quite correct. For me, it is in the matter of how that manufacturer then handles the issue once this has occurred. In this some stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd, while still some others squirm in the mud beneath this same crowd.... and I've experienced both.

I'll leave it go at that.

nvrquit:

How right you are! Should have thought to have added that myself.

Kel-Tec P32 .. half way through the second mag the slide locked and it was done for .. sent it to Kel-Tec to be fixed .. got it back and sold it .. will never buy one ever again .. it felt like crap anyway ...

Right out of the box: Kahr P40.

To their credit, they replaced it with no whining in a display of better than average customer service. Regrettably, it was replaced with another dog. I gave up on it but somehow still don't feel like complaining about their service - I got the impression they would have made it right, eventually, if I hadn't called a halt to the proceedings.

I had so much 'bad' with this one, I have tried to wipe it from memory..

Century Arms "CETME"...of the 18 months I "owned" this dog, approx 17 3/4 months were spent in transit to/from or in the hands of Century.....

If you pointed it straight down, you might or might not be able to hit the ground. Extraction/ejection was iffy at best...Brass would end up anywhere from right beside you to as much as 20 feet away. Brand/type of ammo did not make any difference.

Finally sold this one off to a shooting buddy, who also had a CAI Cetme, and wanted a parts gun. Took a $200 beating on this deal, but was glad to be rid of it. Disclosure included "I would only do 2 things with this [ahem] 'rifle'. One is a door stop, the other would be to fill mag well and barrel with concrete, to make a better impact weapon."

haven't read all the post through to the end. so if this has been stated forgive me. i've worked with/for two people that have worked for ruger.

they've told me that the guns are just assembled from the parts and put in the box (no test firing or tweeking) and sent out, YOU are the quality control. if any thing is wrong you have to bring it to their attention.

2 Auto-Ordnance 1911A1's, 20+ years apart.

First one, rear sight started drifting out of its dovetail on the first box of ammo. Didn't matter much, because, by the end of that box of ammo, the extractor had simply vanished! I have no explanation for that one, but it happened.

Second one, a year or so ago, The hammer simply refused to fall all the way about twice every magazine. This happened regardless of how tight or loose my grip, even when depressing the grips safety with both thumbs on an unloaded gun. :banghead:

Finally, an AWA Longhorn I bought for Cowboy games. The cross pin holding the cylinder in place would release and allow the cylinder pin to drift out under recoil almost once every cylinder full.


None of the above manufacturers ever returned phone calls or e-mails regarding the problems, but all were purchased from the same local dealer, who, with profuse apologies, offered credit, refund, or repair, my choice. He has earned my undying loyalty.

"Auto Ordnance"

I didn't read the thread past the first post that started it. "Auto Ordnance"
struck a chord with me. I bought a new Auto Ordnance 1911 A-1 .45 ACP
about 15 years ago, by mail order. A relative of mine was a gunsmith, and
we saw an ad in the Shotgun News for A.O. .45 Auto's for $239. So I ordered
one.
The gun looked good, but it had big problems. Tool marks in the throat of the barrel prevented the bullet from feeding smoothly. Deep grooves, across the throat. The nose of the bullet just dug in.
The biggest problem, though, was that the slide stop lug inside the magazine well was too long, and prevented cartridges from moving up and out of the magazine into the barrel chamber. My gunsmith uncle and I spent about six hours with a dremel tool and files working on the slide stop and the barrel throat.
I sent Auto Ordnance a "hellfire" letter telling them what I thought about their quality control. They sent me back a half-assed apology and a Thompson
sub-machine gun patch.
We got the A.O. gun working, and ran about a box of rounds through it.
I cleaned it, put it away, and haven't shot it since.

Remington 597. Defective right out of the box.