Biggest Disappointment?

[chupacabrah]

I've had a few:

- Tec 22 (was my wife's) : this thing jammed up frequenly. Was fun to shoot, though. sold this.
- Keltec PF9: I got this wanting a smaller CCW piece. I couldn't hit much with it (sights drifting? looked like it had glue on there), and without a rubber grip on there the thing just hurt to shoot. traded this to a friend for a lawnmower and cash.
- CZ82 : I don't know, I just didn't like it. I think the sights were off or something so maybe I just had a bad one. I want another one now to go with my makarov.

 

[kbheiner7]

Mine was the gift I asked for HS graduation, a very nice Browning BPS. it fit me well, I shot it beautifully - but it jammed way too often. My diagnosis was that the chamber was slightly too big and brass sometimes expanded upon firing and stuck, and I mean STUCK in the chamber. The final straw was when it jammed when I had the opportunity to triple on canada geese and it jammed again. I threw it in the river in disgust.

 

[blue32]

S&W 642-2. Barrel started to develop cant after around 3,200 rounds. Sent to factory for repair. After around 4,300 rounds the hammer stud breaks. After 6 months of unsuccessfully trying to get a return shipping label from S&W (emails and several phone calls), I give up on it. It used to ride in my pocket at work every day and had a sweet trigger from lots of firing but now it sits in the corner. Not buying another S&W product until they make it right.

 

[Kramer Krazy]

AMT Backup in 45 acp.

 

[Ignition Override]

Grmlin:
About the Beretta you never liked: a friend asked me to store a few of his guns, and that same Beretta 92FS he owns has nice features, with a trigger about as good as my WW2 Sauer 38H.

But compared to the size/feel of both the Sauer and the very similar, modern Sig 230/232, that Beretta would be impossible to easily conceal in this warm climate, and in my slender hands does not 'point' nearly as easily.

 

[redneck2]

I've got one right now. Absolutely beautiful Savage 99 in .250-3000. Had wanted one for years, and this one popped up for a decent price. Limited edition that was only made four years in the early 1900's. Looks nearly new.

Tried to get it ready for pronghorn, but only had a week to try to work up loads. So far, best is about 3". Too erratic to hit something that small that far way. Gotta do some more work, but it's gotta get better than that.

 

[hank327]

I have a couple. Back in the late 80's I ordered a Winchester Model 94 Big Bore in 356 Winchester. It was going to be my hog gun. The problem became clear on the first range trip. I got it on paper at 20 yard with no problem and got it zeroed. My first shot at 100 yards hit the ground about 20 yards in front of the target. The next couple I couldn't tell where they hit. Finally on the 5th or 6th shot, I got a hit on paper. Not around hole but a hole that was the profile of the bullet! Several more misses and then another keyhole hit. It was clear that the bore was out of spec and oversized.

Returned the rifle to Winchester where they confirmed the bad barrel. They kept my rifle for over a year because they didn't have a barrel available! They said they had to wait for the next time they had a run of .356 Winchester barrels. When I finally got my rifle back I promptly sold it as I was no longer interested in it.

My other disappointment is a Glock 23. I bought one back in the 90's after reading how great a .40 cal Glock it was. It functions perfectly like a Glock but I can't stand the way it feels when I shoot it. Just don't like the snappiness of the .40 S&W in that gun. I just don't shoot it well. I have a Glock 19 that is worlds better to me. So the Glock 23 while mechanically perfect has sat in the back of the safe for well over 10 years.

 

[Palehorseman]

I bought one of the first walther p22's that turned up around here. Need I say more?

I agree on that, the Walther PP series today are pure junk.

Wife has two Bersa Model 85s, 13+1 in .380 and one Model 23 in .22lr, they are clones of the Walther PP pistols, but IMO they are far superior to the Walthers.

 

[230RN]

Kel-tec PF9.

 

[tiamat]

Great question. My only disappointment has been a Sig P225 (I know, it's blasphemous). When I was looking to get my first pistol, I researched and researched for exactly what I thought I wanted, and finally settled on a P225. Then, I came to realize that either they weren't being made anymore, or just that no one had one in stock (I never considered looking in the used market at that time). Dejected, I settled on the next best thing, a P239.

Years later, I decided to restart my search for a P225 and ended up getting a severely used one for a good price. I dunno if it was due to wear, or it's high bore-axis, or monumentally stiff trigger pull (eve WITH Wolf reduced power main springs), or what, but I just could not shoot that thing well at all. I was so disappointed that the gun I'd wanted for so long did not work for me. It's still the best feeling handgun that I've ever held but if I couldn't put rounds on target, what's the point right? Gave it to my wife for her first pistol.

For some reason, though, I'm thinking I should either pick up a P6 or find myself a new P225 and try again - they just look and feel so good....

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I didn't do a lot of research, that was the problem.

I bought a Sigma 40VE. Don't think I need to say much more than that. Now I have a Sig 2022. It was only $100 more, but is much better than the mere $100 difference.

 

[jim243]

Actually the Biggest Disappointment was a FNH FNP-40 I purchased. The gun itself was excellent and functioned without problem, BUT it was too light for the 40 S&W cartridge, extreme muzzle flip and a too weak recoil spring made follow-up shots a pain and unacceptable groups. The frame was made for the 9mm and they should have stopped there instead of trying to put the 40 S&W in the same frame.

Just my 2 cents.
Jim

 

[gym]

LC9 for all the reasons mentioned

 

[230RN]

tiamat noted (Post 84):

I dunno if it was due to wear, or its high bore-axis, or monumentally stiff trigger pull (even WITH Wolf reduced power main springs), or what, but I just could not shoot that thing well at all.

I've stayed away from a couple of high-bore-axis handguns for that reason. At least Kahr, in their CW-9, took note of this as a problem and offset the magazine from the chamber to eliminate an excessively high bore axis. While that gun is pretty stiff in recoil (9mm, 17 or so oz loaded), it's quite controllable in terms of muzzle flip and so far (~200rd, 115gr FMJs) it's very reliable.

(No, I'm not affiliated with Kahr, but I sure like that little gun for EDC.)

Terry, 230RN

 

[SniperJon]

Kel-Tec PF-9 also, had problems with light striking primers from day 1. Sent it in and got back a refurbished barrel and slide with a lot of internal and external wear in much worse condition than the one I sent. I also sent it in with the steel guide rod I bought and they decided to keep it and send it back with a factory plastic one. Sent it in again with a long note describing all the problems and they just sent it right back the same way. It would still occasionally stove-pipe and shot a foot low at 10 yards so I sold it...

 

[chhodge69]

I've had a few disappointments but the biggest was a Kimber Ultra Raptor. I sold a really nice Mesa Boogie guitar amp to buy this gun and it just would not feed hollow points no matter what I tried. I sold it at a loss, bought a Glock 19 and never looked back.

Other failures were a Glock 30 that jammed a lot and a Saiga 12 because mags are made so badly they ruin the gun for me.

 

[Akita1]

One of the early Kel-Tec 9's - just sucked all the way around. Also a DPMS Oracle - trigger was the worst ever. Sold both.

 

[Ky Larry]

Ruger M77 in .243Win. Beautiful rifle but shot patterns at 100 yrds. I free floated the barrel,bedded and glassed it, installed a Timney trigger,mounted a Nikon Monarch scope (off my .30-06), tried every factory load and reload in the book and the p.o.s.still wouldn't shoot Traded it for a CZ-550 Varmint in .22-250.

 

[HKVP70Z]

A 180- series mini-14, it's a good shooter but none of the scope mounts work worth a flip.

P22, it should be illegal to sell that POS.

 

[orionengnr]

Lots of them, in the last 30 years or so. In no particular order:

--Rossi M-68 or -69 (forget which; it was a blue 5-shot .38 snub). It ended up at the wrong end of a sledge hammer, and is now resting at the bottom of a lake. I have documented this handgun's issues several times on this forum...if you are interested in the sad tale, do a search on my screen name and Rossi. This stupid gun actually turned me off of revolvers for about the next 20 years.

--My first 1911 was a Colt, just like my daddy's. Er...not exactly. His actually worked.

--I went through four Kel-Tecs (two P3ATs, one P32 and one P11) and had a POS rate of 100%. K-T tried hard, but in spite of a bunch of free parts (and a bunch more that I paid for) I never got any of them working to an acceptable level. Sold each at a significant loss with full disclosure. one I actually gave away. Scratch me off K-Ts permanently.

--Two Glocks (G23 and G19). Nothing really wrong with the guns...but not much of a range gun (crap trigger and odd grip angle) and certainly too fat for a carry gun. Bye-bye.

--S&W Scandium Magnum J-frames. Yes, plural--I bought and sold three of them. Fortunately, I don't think I paid more than $450 for any of them, so (for a change) I didn't lose any money. Probably lost 20 years off the use of my wrists, though. I sold the last one seven years ago. My wrist still hurts.

--Springfield EMP. I bought an early unit in 2007 (S/N 1073, IIRC) and it had every malfunction known to man. I sent it back (twice) and Springfield, to their eternal credit, was great. Replaced the firearm (S/N 2705). Only problem was, the second one didn't work much better than the first. Sent it back twice too. When it was finally working right, I sold it with full disclosure and at a significant loss.

--My biggest disappointment (to date) has been a Dan Wesson 10mm CBOB. Bought used with ~600 rounds. Too many problems to list. DW had no interest in helping, except to sell me parts that didn't fix it...they were willing to let me pay them to fix it, as long as I also paid shipping. Yeah...right. I worked through some of the issues myself, and paid a good 1911-smith with the most troubling one. Every time I see someone raving over DW quality, I have to laugh. I will never get back anywhere near what I put into this one, and I'll probably never put enough rounds through it to be worth my while. I sure as Hell won't buy another. Mighty expensive show piece is what it really is.

In fairness, I've probably bought and sold close to 100 guns (mostly handguns) in that time, and probably 80% of those within the last ten years. Most of them worked just fine.

Hope your experiences are better than mine.

 

[welldoya]

Mine was a Remington 7400 30/06. It jammed a lot and I couldn't get inside a 6" group with it. Sold it and bought a BAR and it was much better but wasn't really happy till I got a ABolt.
Also had a Mini 14 in the 80s that I couldn't get rid of fast enough.

 

[USAF_Vet]

Mine was a Savage Axis in .30-06. Never felt comfortable shouldering it. What sucks is I sold my Hungarian M-44 to finance the Savage. Offloaded the Savage to get my Taurus 709 slim, which is my EDC.

 

[JohnBT]

A Fox Model B 12 ga. choked F/M in 1964.

My parents wanted to give me a gun and that's what I picked. I was a tall but thin 14-year-old and that gun kicked the snot out of me from the very first shot. It shot those high brass #6 paper shells like it was choked F/XF. And it was heavier than it looked after a day of walking hills or mountain logging paths.

My uncle soon sold it to a guy at work for us. A gun guy. The story goes that the second time he shot it he had his thumb a little close to his nose and hurt himself pretty badly.

All these years later, I'm thinking the gun was poorly stocked too - no cast - or even warped a little in the wrong direction.

 

[trigga]

savage 93r17. it was the exact model i had wanted except for that it didn't come with a accutrigger. it was a great deal at the time so i bought it only to find that i could not upgrade to an accutrigger and the gun would not feed right. magazine would pop out the rounds as if the lips were too far apart. the stock trigger was horrible. everything else was good. barely 20 rounds and i wanted to sell it already. they offered me 120 so i kepted it.

 

[Kosh75287]

Y'mean BESIDES Obama?

My Mini-14's accuracy, and the non-shootability of my 4" Colt Python. It was okay slow-fire, but inferior to a friend's K-38. Rapid-fire, I could shoot better with ANY other revolver owned by me or any of my friends (including a Charter Arms .357 Target Bulldog, a 2.5" barreled S&W M19, various Taurus S&W clones, and even an Enfield in .38 S&W). I really, REALLY, REALLY tried to like that thing, but I could never hit ****** with it.