Brands that you steer clear of?

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I'm generally of the "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" mindset. Here are the few which I avoid:

1. Tanfoglio. (Witness, FIE TZ, etc.) I had a very bad experience with a TZ-88 in .41 Action Express and no luck in getting it fixed. It was a constant, consistent jammer. I had a similar experience with one of the early EAA Witness models in .45 ACP. So no more for me!
2. Llama. (Micromax) Similar experience with this as Tanfoglio. Service next to nonexistent.
3. Any centerfire handgun that I can't safely dry-fire. I had a negative experience with an FIE Arminius single-action revolver in .44 Magnum some years back. I discovered that dry firing this revolver could eventually result in dislodging the firing pin housing, causing the cylinder to bind.

Also, I'm getting iffy on the .40 S&W cartridge, in general, in terms of accuracy. I'd better be pleased with the two CZ's I currently have or I'm switching back to .45's or 9mms!
 
The only really bad experience I've had is with a 1911 style pistol made by Mitchel Arms a 95 gold series to be exact. This sucker was so plagued with problems I almost thought someone was playing a joke on me. Took probably 20 racks of the slide to get a round to successfully chamber and the hammer would fall to half cock sometimes (at least twice per clip) and the safety would work itself up after every shot.

If in a hurry and I could only grab one gun and the choice was between my RG .22 shot junker and the old Mitchell that I thankfully got the gun shop to take back, believe me, it would be RG all the way. At least it stands a decent chance of firing.

I've had

Jennings 9mm
Rossi .44 special
Norinco 9mm
hungarian arms 9mm
Taurus .38 sp
colt python
Colt 1911
and various others and don't regret any of them and would do again. Doesn't bother me when a $99.99 gun jams but when that high priced mitchel did it's thing, now that bothered me.

Tim
 
Guns I stay away from for technical or quality reasons:
EAA (poor metallurgy, customer service straight from hell.)
Any 1911-pattern save for Colts and custom or semi-custom guns.
Hi-Point (reliable, but everything else about them is wrong.)
Cobra, Davis, and similar pot-metal trash.
S&W Sigma autos (horrible triggers that cannot be improved.)
Eastern European clones in general (FEG, Arcus, like that.)
Mil-surp pistols in general.

Guns I stay away from for aesthetic, ergonomic, and similar reasons:
SIG Classics (fine guns, but I can't shoot them for beans.)
Anything with a slide-mounted safety.
Anything with multiple trigger pulls.
Most revolvers.

Pretty much set on Glocks nowadays, although the Springfield XD is a nice pistol, and I wouldn't turn my nose up at a high-end 1911 if one came my way...

- Chris
 
Wow.......You learn quite readily who you can ignore after reading this thread....Anyone with HK on their bad list is obviously somoene I don't need a recommendation from.
 
Love 'em or hate 'em, the only 100% trouble free autos I have had are Glocks and Ruger P-Series autos. All of the other ones (pick a brand name) have had "issues" of one form or another.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
PCRCCW said:

Guns not to buy...........

Anything that hasnt worked for me or my buddies.....

Guns to buy....

Anything that has worked for me or my buddies.....

Everygun maker is on both lists..................

Shoot well................
Click to expand...

That is sooooo true!
 
I only would consider a handgun if it was a name brand. The only ones that I would consider purchasing are:
pre 1982 S&W revolvers
Colts (my favorite)
Rugers
H&K
Sig
Beretta
Springfield
Bersa
Walther
DWM Luger
H&R (pre 1930)
Iver Johnson (pre 1930)
Browning
FN
Dan Wesson

No Tauruses!! :barf:
 
Nobody who knows anything about sidearms takes brands like Lorcin, Jennings, Raven or Hi-Point seriously.

Among the more "established" and ostensibly quality-made pistols, I won't buy Kahr, Taurus, Ruger or Para-Ordnance guns because of poor QC (Taurus, current models), poor QC and poor customer service (Kahr), poor materials (Para-Ordnance frames are notoriously porous and poorly finished) or bad design features (Ruger, with their reverse safety levers, magazine safeties, egregious DA trigger pulls).
 
After reading what everyone on this thread has written, and tossing in my own experience, here is the only conclusions to be drawn: it's NOT the "Manufacturer" who sucks, but instead SPECIFIC MODELS from a variety of manufacturers.

In depth:

1) Stay away from the cheapie pot metal crap like RGs. Most of the really bad ones are found now only as used guns in pawn shops.

2) Every major manufacturer has produced some dogs. Even Colt had some trashy 1911's during the 1970's according to what I've read. S&W should be embarrassed by the Sigma. I haven't read too many good things about the Taurus Millenium, either.

3) But these same manufacturers have also produced a heck of a lot of very fine firearms. Why should we be surprised? When Consumer Reports tests a product, it isn't terribly unusual for the same manufacturer to have one model at the top of the tests and another at the bottom.

4) There are even exceptions to Number 1: The Hi-Point 9mm Carbine is supposed to be one heck of a bargain. The Phoenix .22 pistols are pot metal and yet have consistently gotten very good reviews.

Happy New Year, all.
 
I see a number of "I wouldn't buy Glock" comments on this thread. Can some of you list the reason(s) why you don't like the Glock pistols.

I'm curious since I've found them to be the most reliable for personal defense.

1) one said the trigger

thanks,
comacho
 
taurus
kimber
kel-tec and anyof the other cheep guns


been steering clear of glock but i will have one b4 year is out
 
I see a number of "I wouldn't buy Glock" comments on this thread. Can some of you list the reason(s) why you don't like the Glock pistols.
I'm curious since I've found them to be the most reliable for personal defense.


Well, I'll tell you why I don't like them. I owned one. I figured I would finally see what the craze was about. It was a G26. I bought it used. I found it to be marginally accurate, and unreliable at the range. The sights were plastic. I found that to be an amazing thing on a $500+ gun that would be used for defense. I couldn't touch the trigger without the gun being taken off safe. I did not like that. I like the security of snicking off a safety myself instead of having the manual of arms manipulated to do it for me.

I did not like how Glock as a company behaved when the frames on some guns were becoming unattached from the rails. They took care of their police contracts, and told most civilians to suck eggs. They never recalled the weapons. That was about a year and a half ago if I remember right. It was perhaps the longest thread ever on Glock Talk. You can find the serial number range of the affected guns over there.

So, I did not like that one gun. I did not like it's design. Glock as a company demonstrated little concern for civilian consumers of their products. All Glock guns use basically the same design, as far as I know, there is only variations of the same theme to accomodate various calibers and sizes. So, since I found the design itself, and the company policy to not meet my needs, I developed a distaste for the product, and shoot other designs that do meet my needs.

Many people really like Glocks, and that's OK. From what I understand, Glocks are reliable, somewhat accurate, and incredibly durable handguns. For some they may be perfection. For me they are not.
 
Kahr...one of the most overpriced handguns.

Glock...King of the AD'S and, "keep your finger off the trigger" crap we hear.
 
wow!!! you people know your guns. sheesh.

i avoid...
glocks
rugers
keltecs
lorcins
hipoints
s&ws
berettas

the list is small. but then again...i only like a few. i'm sure i could find more that i don't dig too much...but yeah...i've read too many gun makers so far.

i don't like glocks for a few reasons. grip angle, lack of external safety, factory slide release and mag release are too small for me (i buy what i want...i don't like fabricating what i want) and the mag release can't be switched over since i'm a lefty.
 
I have a lot of ugly guns, but that does not mean I do not love them.
My GP100? No, its not pretty. Accurate? Yeah. Strong? Yeah. Reliabe? Yeah.
Mini 14? Better looking. Accurate? If I do my part. Reliable? Yeah. So long as cheap magazines are avoided.
Mosin 91/30? Ugly beast of a gun. But it makes a loud boom, so I am happy.

So far my only 'stay-aways' are the cheap pot metal guns that everyone else has named. Oh, and Century Arms. My bud Adam bought one of the CETMES and it came with 2 magazines and a broken extractor. What a deal!
 
Older Taurus revolvers
Ruger semis (but not Ruger revolvers)
Newer Smiths
Any recent Winchesters
Any Chi-Com products

And, of course, Glocks and most polymer wonder-nines. I can't abide plastic handguns. Plus, I find pulling the Glock trigger to be like squishing a little turd. The pistol seems to warp in my hand when shooting, and it's not particularly powerful or accurate. And it's PLASTIC!! Give me steel and wood.
 
Wow, if we were to make a list of all guns to avoid by compiling a list from this thread, there'd be no brand to purchase. Amazing!
 
Handguns

I had a Ruger P89 that I didn't have any problem with reliability and being accurate, but the crappy ejecter they use in their pistols would throw the brass all over the place,to the left, and even straight back into my face,I traded it off at a gun show for a S&W 5946 and am completly happy with it after I had adjustable an rear sight installed.
 
Danged if I aint carrying and shooting some guns that aint worth diddly according to this thread. I know any gun can have problems but I kinda wonder about some of the responses!!:eek:
 
Bad guns

Just a comment.

I don't think anyone mentioned Colt, which I guess is a good thin. I own an old Gold Cup, and I like it...but not as a defense gun, it's a soft shooting wadcutter gun.

I have to admit I'm very surprised by all the people who mentioned Ruger, maybe because this is about auto's. I REALLY like the Ruger revolvers that I own so many of.

I don't like SIG's, they just are not comfortable in my hands.

I like small guns that are quality. I may not know the name but I know it when I feel it.
 
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