Gun products to avoid.

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I see a lot of newbies asking the same questions about products that are known to be poor quality. I decided to make a single thread where some of the worst products can be listed all in one spot. I don't want to see people bashing one company or product just because they has one bad experience with it. If you had a bad experience with an otherwise respected company or product please state it as such.

What I am really looking for are the worst offenders. We all know there are products that shouldn't even be sold but are because they are cheap or people don't know how bad they are.

I will start.

Ammo:
"American Ammo"
This is the only brand of ammo I would ever consider putting on this list. I have had problems with other makes of ammo but this stuff is crap. It is without doubt, the worst ammo I have ever seen. I only think they can sell it because it sounds like like Federal's inexpensive ammo. This is also known as "A-Merc" avoid at all costs!

Mags:
"USA Mags"
Sounds patriotic doesn't it? Sounds like "American Ammo". Guess what, these mags are total junk. I have bought and owned many mags from USA Mags over the years in different calibers for different guns but they all had one thing in common, they didn't work and were made poorly. These are the only mags I actually thown out when I get a gun that comes with them in a sale or a trade.

"Pro Mags" not as bad a USA but nearly every promag I have owned had problems. I have owned a few that actually worked so all is not lost. I wouldn't buy them but if you feel lucky, and you are dirt poor, you might take a chance. I give you one chance in three of getting a good mag. Do you feel lucky punk?

"Triple K Mags"

Guns:
There will be a lot of opinions here so lets try and keep it specific to certain models and not bash an entire company if they happen to make some some good and some bad products. For example, I think Taurus makes some junk but they also make some decent guns so it would be unfair to tell people to avoid Taurus compleatly.

Kel-Tec P-32. The one I had was junk but some people have good luck with them. Just stating the facts.
Intratec AP-9 (Tec-9)
Intratec Tec 22 (anything by Intratec is junk)
Taurus PT-22
All Jennings, Bryco, Jimenez (however they spell it, it is crap)

There are lots more and I will add to my list when I think of more.

 

[romma]

Um,,, I have at least 600 rds through my Keltec P-32 in the last 4.5 years. I will certainly not be avoiding it.

Every time I pull it out of my pocket to make sure it is functioning it goes bang.

 

[Glockman17366]

Boy, I can see this thread going downhill quickly!

 

[armoredman]

Any revolver made by RG.

 

[thegriz]

AR-15 and Glock

Be sure to avoid anything with the words AR-15 or Glock.






OK, just kidding .

 

[Muzzy_B]

Huh?

P-32's are crap?? I would have never known those totally reliable and easily concealed pistols were such. Uh oh, I better head to the shop to trade out.

 

[RNB65]

How about gun dealers?

Impact Guns

 

[MIL-DOT]

""USA Mags"
Sounds patriotic doesn't it? Sounds like "American Ammo". Guess what, these mags are total junk. I have bought and owned many mags from USA Mags over the years in different calibers for different guns but they all had one thing in common, they didn't work and were made poorly. These are the only mags I actually thown out when I get a gun that comes with them in a sale or a trade.
"Pro Mags" not as bad a USA but nearly every promag I have owned had problems"

don't forget national magazines.

 

[2TransAms]

Ibtl

Second the Pro-Mags. Total junk.

And Kimber,with the mim parts. Oh snap! Sorry,had to say it. (TLE here with all mim intact and external extractor still runnin' strong)

 

[Rock_Steady]

Triple K magazines - at least for 1911. Well, at least for me - in my kimber it won't reliably feed or activate the slide lock.

 

[Deanimator]

+1,000,000 on Amerc. Even their brass is crap. A friend gave me a couple of boxes of their .38Special brass. It was unspeakable garbage. I throw away every piece of it I find.

 

[Sharps-shooter]

Did you post this whole thing so you could slip in the thing about the kel-tec p32? I don't really care myself, as I haven't had much use for pistols, but from what I understand that's a pretty popular gun.

 

[foghornl]

Second that motion on A-Merc ammo. Amerc is the ONLY brand that refused to function in my KP-90 Ruger (.45ACP). One box of their .38Spl ammo had SOME bullets that 'miked out' to .353" .354"...too small to even meet 9x19MM ammo specs.

 

[buzzard80]

Triple K mags for cz-75B. Ordered two 16-rounders, one held 15, the other held 14. one fit the gun ok, the other had two be pushed in and pried out while holding the mag release. Lasted about 5 minutes before I put them in the box and sent them back. This was before the ban expired, now there are many more equally affordable and better quality options.

 

[ID_shooting]

Hmmm, things for newbies to avoid. post count of 125, naw, that is too easy.

Anyway. Things I would edit from your list and why.

KT P32 - Many users carry these guns every day. Other then the rim-lock issue, which is a non-issue so long as the user is aware and loads the mags properly, there is nothing wrong with this gun. Please visit KTOG.ORG for more accurate info.

Jennings, Bryco, Jimenez - While I do not have any, my father does. Sure, they may not hold up to extended range sessions where hundresds of rounds are expended at a time, but they are one thing, AFFORDABLE to most anyone. If I lived on $500.00 a month and lived in a poor neighborhood to boot, I would much rather have a $69.00 pot metal gun in my house than a baseball bat. Even if it ony got off 5 rounds before jamming, that would be 5 more than you had if you didn't have a gun at all. Cheap guns have thier place.

Having never used the other guns I can't comment, but if I believe the reports from Columbine, thier Tec-9 seemed to work pretty good to me.

What we have here is subjectivity being passed off as fact. If the OP stated "IMO, these are things to avoid" all would be good.

 

[[email protected]]

"How about gun dealers?

Impact Guns"

Gun dealers are fair game. Do tell.

 

[fletcher]

I only had one Pro-Mag, and it worked perfectly. I will confirm that USA mags are junk.

Not so much of an issue since eBay is gone, but avoid generic Mosin scope mounts. I had one and it somehow slowly warped pretty significantly. Never figured it out - spend the money on a good one.

 

[loumarch]

I work for a commercial reloader. Any time we get A Merc brass it screws up the reloading machine. It is pure junk.

 

[vzenmn]

All cleaning rods sold at Walmart.I went through six different types of cheap pieces of junk in a year before I finally bought a Tipton. Your better off with a glass stiring rod.

+ 1 on USA mags.

 

[Black Majik]

Shok-buffs for 1911s

2 pcs 1911 FLGRs from Springfield Armory.

 

[mindwip]

Kel-Tec P-32, from what i hear there great little guns. Very few problems.

 

[WildeKurt]

Jennings Is Not Crap (for the money)

Ok, they get a lot flack because they are cheat but I have a little .22 pistol. With the right ammo, it fires more reliably than a friends .45 ACP Kimber. All that for $50. Course can't hit much out beyond 8 yards. But then for such a small gun, that's to be expected. Why should only the wealthy be able to protect themselves?

 

[KBintheSLC]

I had a bad experience with a "legendary" gun from a reputable company. The S&W made Walther PPK/S. Bought one for a summer CCW. However it continued to have FTF issues even after a fluff and buff. The gun was about 99% reliable... which is about 1% short of what it needs to be for a CCW. The gun is not cheap (price wise), yet the interior was quite frankly, poorly machined. Lots of rough grind marks on the ramp. Many burrs on the slide and upper frame. For almost $500 I can think of many better options. The PPK/S is nothing more than a novelty in my opinion. Not a real defense gun.

 

[Zoogster]

but if I believe the reports from Columbine, thier Tec-9 seemed to work pretty good to me.

Actualy it frequently jammed. There is eye witness acounts that he had jams and had to fumble with the gun to get it going again. He only fired it 55 times, and was still having problems. That choice in weapon probably saved a few lives. At least now they are banned many places and no longer popular, so such people will be limited to very reliable firearms.

I think many lives were saved in incidents like that and gang shootings because the tech 9 was so popular. It originaly became popular because it was easily converted to full auto with the open bolt models. It remained popular long after the design change, when it became a piece of junk. So its noteriety was saving lives, because it was mainly attractive to those emulating the gangster culture.

Our foolish law makers however banned it.

 

[2RCO]

My Tec-9 was a POS absolutely the worst gun I have ever owned bar none.
This includes a Lorcin I once got in trade. Compared to the Tec the Lorcin was high quality. I almost had to pay someone to take it from me, finally made a trade with a dealer who collected them.