Ever give a platform you'd given up on a second chance

[R.W.Dale]

I'm wondering how many of you guys have revised a particular firearm platform that for whatever reason you'd given up on before.

As many of you may have read I went through a TC encore phase that I later swore off on due to lackluster accuracy.

Well fast forward a half a decade or so and I trade for a 223 encore. This time I'm hoping more realistic expectations and a different set of goals for the gun will make this go round much more satisfactory. This time I'm looking for a light minute of deer accurate rifle that can use a collapsible stock and has a fool proof easy to teach safety for me n my kids to start growing into deer hunting. I may dabble with a couple harder hitting barrels but I don't expect varmint scorching accuracy.

 

[isc]

I did that with the mini 14. It took 3 guns before I gave up on them due to dismal accuracy, poor reliability, and mediocre ergonomics.

I keep hearing that they've gotten better, but Ruger put on black plastic tacticool furniture, thickened the barrel up some, and raised the price to more than a decent AR, thinking that was what we liked about ARs. I just want a mini with classic wood furniture that takes M16 mags and will shoot less than 2 MOA. If they made that rifle they'd sell them in record numbers.


After 50 years of production Ruger should have figured out what American shooters want.

 

[Davek1977]

After 50 years of production Ruger should have figured out what American shooters want

While I see your angle, that comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Why would Ruger have to suspend taking new orders in order to keep up with demand if American shooters weren't buying their products in abundance? You don't set sales records marketing things no one wants. You said if they made a mini with wood furniture that shot less than 2MOA, they'd sell it in record numbers. The truth is, they are already selling guns in record numbers. Their products are obviously in demand.

 

[Deus Machina]

Yup, especially lately. People want rifles with detachable magazines, especially lately, and the Minis are less 'threatening' and you don't have to jump through as many hoops to get them in places like NY and California.

Though I will say that when their sales start dipping down, I fully expect Ruger to design up a heavy-barreled version that takes AR mags, and market it as a new 'tactical' or 'operator' model or something.

 

[psyopspec]

I've definitely come back to a platform after leaving it previously. My second pistol was a Glock 21. I decided early on that it wasn't for me. I couldn't shoot it accurately, and never adapted to the grip angle. For a few years, an HK P2000 was my primary carry gun. Then, I tried a friend's Glock 17 at the range. I shot more accurately and more consistently than I did with my HK. Since then Glocks have been my go to pistols for CCW (19, 26) competition (19, 34), HD/SD (34), and hiking (19, and a 20 in the future). I don't know exactly what changed between my first contact with the brand and when I came back around to it. Best guess is that I became a better shooter overall, and developed more appreciation for having to master only 1 trigger pull, and for how easily the pistols can be serviced by the end-user.

As far as long guns go, I still mostly shoot the platforms that I grew up on or was introduced to in the military.

 

[12131]

Ever give a platform you'd given up on a second chance

1911.

 

[coalman]

Gave up on Glock trying to find a .40sw I liked. Gave up on .40sw and came back to Glock.

 

[Awsomepossum]

I am stil going though an contender phase, just looking for good priced barrels. I havent given up on an platform yet

 

[huntsman]

yeah I'm back to a S/A revolver for hunting after a 28 year pause.

 

[mgmorden]

While I see your angle, that comment doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Why would Ruger have to suspend taking new orders in order to keep up with demand if American shooters weren't buying their products in abundance? You don't set sales records marketing things no one wants. You said if they made a mini with wood furniture that shot less than 2MOA, they'd sell it in record numbers. The truth is, they are already selling guns in record numbers. Their products are obviously in demand.

That comment hits the nail on the head there. Too many people make the mistake of thinking that because a business isn't making products they want, that the business is "out of touch". Realistically, the buying public right now, to a large degree, actually LIKES "tacticool" guns. As much as I hate them as a shooter, if I was a firearms *manufacturer* I'd be cranking them out like hotcakes.

As to returning to a platform I'd given up on - only thing I can think of would be 1911. the one I used to have had the most dismal reliability I've ever seen in a handgun. I sold it, and haven't yet replaced it, but I'm willing to give the design another chance.

 

[Sam1911]

CZ75 Omega. I keep giving it another chance. I really like it. Just the trigger...so sad.

 

[jem375]

I gave up on Glocks because I didn't like the grip angle and trigger after buying and carrying a G26. I recently bought a G17 and G20C and really haven't put them through the paces yet, so the jury is still out on them. I will give them a second chance but they are not my favorite handguns and probably never will be...

 

[mljdeckard]

My first 1911 was terrible, it was an early 90s Auto Ordnance. I got rid of it, cycled through just about everything else, now I'm pretty exclusive to 1911s.

 

[HadEmAll]

22 handguns in general. I'd get one, find myself with no real use for it, sell or trade it.

I must have repeated this 10 times over the years. I went long periods with no .22 handgun.

Now that I see the beauty of their inexpensive shooting, and how nice they are to introduce new shooters to the sport, I've got two, and they are keepers.

 

[Odd Job]

I always disliked Glocks because of three Glocks I tried in South Africa back in 2002 (all three were 9mm).
I recently tried a Glock 21 which was surprisingly nice. I liked it better than the other two .45s I was trying: a SIG220 and a stainless Springfield Armory 1911.

After that I tried a Glock 26 and I liked that gun also!

So yes, I have to eat my words. I have been saying for many years now that I don't like the grip, the trigger or the general "feel" of a Glock. Well either I have changed over the years or the Glock has, because I am now a fan.

 

[Swichblade]

For a while I didn't like Glocks, but I just kept using it hoping I would grow to like it, and now I do.

 

[WYOMan]

Glock. You know, real pistols aren't plastic. The full size Glock's aren't comfortable in my hand. I was a 1911 and revolver guy. Then my freind got a new G30 in to the store when it first came out, and put it in the rental cabinet. A couple months later I tried it out, and was really surprised. It fit me like they molded it just for me. He sold it to me for $150 less than retail because it was used, and it's been mine since.

 

[jerryd]

Ruger 10/22 and mini 14, my shotgun would get tighter groups at 25 yds than those 2 would sold them and never looked back.

 

[Yoda]

Almost got rid of my Ruger P-90 before I shot it...

I got a Ruger P-90 at a good price in a private sale at a gun show. It was my first .45, and it was an impulse buy. Before I shot it, I started thinking that it was just too big, chunky, and downright ugly. I told a friend that I was probably going to get rid of it, and he recommended I read a review of the gun by Mas Ayoob. I did, decided to give the gun a chance to prove itself at the range, and I became an instant believer. It was amazingly accurate and reliable. That gun was my "car gun" for about ten years before I passed it on to a brother-in-law who needed a good gun but who was going through some hard financial times.

So, thanks to a friend, I kept the gun, and then I gave it away. Both were good decisions.

(BTW: Now, without the P-90, all my .45s are 1911s. Magazine selection and identification is easier, and I only have to learn/remember one set of controls.)

- - - Yoda

 

[Nanook]

Sure, I had a Bushmaster AR a number of years ago, and it just sat in the safe. I just couldn't "warm up" to it.

I sold it off to fund another purchase, and thought I'd never get another one.

I did have a .223 bolt action rifle, so I wasn't totally out of the caliber. Then three years ago the bug bit again, and I bought an AR. I'll be keeping it this time, for some reason it clicked with me.

 

[Teachu2]

Glock. You know, real pistols aren't plastic. The full size Glock's aren't comfortable in my hand. I was a 1911 and revolver guy. Then my freind got a new G30 in to the store when it first came out, and put it in the rental cabinet. A couple months later I tried it out, and was really surprised. It fit me like they molded it just for me.

Very similar experience here. I worked for a gunsmith when Glock came to the US, and that colored my thinking. The G30 ruined my impression of Glocks - now I have a 30, a 34, and a 21.

 

[Snowdog]

I had an EAA Witness compact in .40S&W that simply would not feed past the first 3 rounds in the magazine. A half dozen magazines and 3 (yes, not exaggerating here) trips to EAA for warranty repair failed to rectify the problem. I loved the looks and feel of the pistol, but I didn't trust it so I couldn't keep it.

I've been mulling over a 10mm in something, so I might give EAA another shot in the future.

 

[kcshooter]

Yep, when I did the very first grip reduction on a Glock 17, I was finally able to be a Glock owner.

Still don't like them out of the box, but with a few hours work, they actually become shootable.

 

[gym]

Glock, When they first came out I was in love with them, then I kind of went back to steel guns, but in the last 5 years I have decided there is a place for both. The Glock 26 is one of my favorite guns, and I shoot that and my 30 very well. It changed my mind about the need to spend over a thousand dollars to get a decent handgun. Neither one has ever given me a problem, and there are more after market parts for them than any other gun, "other than a 1911". They work all the time and won't break the bank.
I find I shoot them well in the 9mm caliber and 45. Not crazy about the 40's.

 

[gunnutery]

Glocks. I couldn't get past the looks of the Gen 1 & 2. Once the Gen 3 came out I kind of had to do a double take. As far as I can figure it was the dust cover of the first generations that did it for me. The addition of the light rail was the beautifier for me. After I bought my own Glock 22 for duty, it still took me 8 years to put a light on the rail (mainly financial reasons).