The WORST gun in your personal collection?

[MacTech]

Okay, we all have a favorite gun, or guns, in our collections, one we love to shoot, dote on and keep well oiled and pristine, it's the pride of our collections, it may be a basic, low end gun, or something ultra fancy, perhaps a family heirloom, passed down through generations and alive with family history....

This is not that thread....

No, I'm wondering about your WORST gun, a gun that you, if not outright HATE, at least like the least, this would be the ONE gun you consider the worst, however you define worst to be...

What is it? Why do you keep it, what do you do with it?

For me, it'd have to be a first-generation Iver Johnson top-break Safety Hammerless .32 S&W revolver....

Why is it the worst gun in my collection?

Hmm, let's start with that it is limited to using black powder cartridges, and is unsafe to shoot with smokeless loads....
Second, the sights are vestigial, rudimentary, and other big fancy words meaning bad/useless
Third, it only holds five rounds of beyond anemic .32 caliber cartridges
Fourth, it has the absolutely WORST trigger pull of any gun in my collection, it's not JUST heavy, it's also gritty and spongy, it feels like dragging a bag of gravel over a gravel road, through the mud, it makes the stock trigger on a Ruger 10/22 feel like Teflon coated, buttered ball bearings with a crisp break...

Am I keeping it?
Yes

Why?
Two reasons, mainly, perhaps a third

1; it was Dad's gun, we found it in his sock drawer after he passed away earlier this year, even Mom never knew he had it in their bedroom, why he had it was a mystery, a mystery we can never solve, I think he bought it for personal protection when he used to go on long business trips away from home

2; even if I was going to sell it, it'd only be worth about $50 in trade at the local gun shop

3; as a reminder that even the worst gun made today could always be worse, e 10/22 may have an absolutely pathetic stock trigger, but it's amazingly good compared to the trigger in the little IJ revolver

4; it IS a top break revolver, and the top break ejector star still works, it's still a neat bit of engineering, even though it's not particularly precise or well engineered, it's still a top break, and they are mechanically cool

5; it's a bit of family mystery, and fun to speculate on it's mysterious past...

So, what is the ONE worst gun in your collection?

 

[oneounceload]

I have gotten rid of most of them over the years, and no one particular stands out (except for a Ruger O/U that they could not fix), but of my current ones, I would say my H&R Shopkeeper in 32SWL. Not bad to shoot as far as recoil or anything, just about as accurate at 7 yards as an AK is at 1000 - but it has been in the family for over 50 years so I keep it

 

[tuj]

IZH-35M. I keep it because I made sharpshooter with it.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Pardner Pump---nothing wrong with it---don't hate it---just the cheapest, lowest quality(debatable) gun I own.

 

[Claymore1500]

I've got one, A friend of my dad found an old "RG" .22lr snubby in the rafters of a house he had just bought, it was in pieces and some of them were missing.

Long story short, my dad made the missing pieces, including the cylinder pin and crane, he re-assembled it and it works, although I was shooting it at paper plates, at about 12 feet, and I have NO idea where the bullets were hitting.

Could anyone buy it from me, not for all the money in the world, my dad was taken by a heart attack many years ago, and stuff like this gun brings memories that I never want to give up.

 

[plmitch]

A two year old Ruger 10/22. Makes a good boat oar. My marlin 60 puts it to shame.

 

[TenDriver]

Heritage Rough Rider 22. I'd sell it, but why? It's just not worth the effort and it does shoot 22WMR as well, which is nice....

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Ruger 10/22...Not all that accurate. Lousy trigger....Really nothing to get excited about.

 

[wow6599]

Rhom RG 66. It shoots fine and is pretty accurate, but I don't keep the "worst" of anything. My father-in-law wants me to keep it for the kids to plink with, so there's a Rohm in one of my safes..........

 

[Inebriated]

I don't buy guns I don't like. The only one I've owned that I don't love is a gen 4 G19. Bought it to replace the G26 for carry, but quickly realized how cramped it feels, compared to my G26. I shoot them about the same, and the G26 carries and feels better. Gave the G19 to mom, who loves it.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

a little Raven .25 Auto saturday night special. it belonged to my grandfather, so i hold onto it along with a single shot 12 gauge and a Mossberg bolt action 12 ga that were his as well. i wish he'd had better taste in guns.

 

[happygeek]

Sig 556 I paid $1,500 for back in the fall of 2009.
a) I paid $500 too much, they were going for $1,000 less than a year after I bought it.
b) It's really not worth more than $800 - 900 tops, definitely not to me anyway.
c) I've gotten far, far more range time, fun, practice, and training value out of my CMMG 22LR AR. If I had it to do over I'd just buy a quality 5.56mm upper.
d) If I'd waited a year I could have gotten a Sig 522 for the $500 I overpaid for that Sig 556 :banghead:

At least I learned a valuable lesson: impulse buys are a really, really dumb idea.

 

[Deus Machina]

A sporterized 1942 Carcano.
I'm lucky if it will load 3 of the 6 rounds on a clip reliably.
The extractor won't snap over a round that's already chambered, which doesn't help because half the malfunctions are the round popping out of the clip ahead of the extractor. The other half have them cramming nose-first into the feed ramp.

 

[Teachu2]

My worst gun is a S&W 34-1 .22LR snubbie. I bought it for my step-mother around 1986, because that's what my Dad wanted. It's a beautiful little snubbie, even has adjustable sights, and shoots far better than expected. I use it for new shooters and practice. It is, however, a .22LR snubbie.

 

[HoploDad]

An early single shot Stevens 410 bore shotgun: finish is questionable, stock condition is imperfect, lever to break open the barrel is off-center, shells are ridiculously expensive. BUT it hits what you point it at and the ejector will bust your front tooth if you smile while ejecting. The gun is worth maybe $95, but the fun to dollar ratio is off the charts good. It stays.

 

[hemiram]

My worst gun right now? I don't really have one, to be honest, the bad ones are all gone as of now. If I had to pick one I do have, I guess it would probably be my full sized Tanfoglio "Mossad" 9 mm, same gun as an early witness. It's only bad in one area, it's got some scratches on the satin nickel. Other than that, it looks good, and shoots great.

Worst revolver I ever had was my first gun, a Taurus 83, a total POS. Worst semiauto is pretty much a dead heat between my FTL Auto Nine, and my Colt Combat Commander, both nice guns that proved to be totally useless. The FTL blew exteactors like popcorn, even using the exact weakish .22LR ammo they recommended, and the Colt was just plain badly machined and only came close to being able to fire a full magazine after two trips to Colt, and one to a local 1911 expert, who said Colt should never have let the thing out of the factory, as it was the worst one he had ever seen. The only way it functioned at all was to have it so full of oil it would splatter all over with each shot.

 

[plmitch]

An early single shot Stevens 410 bore shotgun.

Now that is a peach, lots of fun.

 

[JohnBT]

The worst is easily a 3" Iver Johnson .32. The bore is corroded, the latch won't halfway work and the cylinder doesn't advance all the time even if you try to help it. And the bottom of one stock is cracked.



Why do I keep it? It was my grandfather's and my mother saved it.

Nobody knew at the time, but my mother took it after his funeral in 1982 and put it in her cedar chest. I assumed one of her siblings had it and didn't even ask about it. In 2007, my father decided it was time for them to move to the retirement community - and the Alzheimer's unit for my mother - and sell the house. He was 85, had to start using a walker, and couldn't drive.

My father gave me all his guns and stuff about a week before the big move. At this point in her life my mother didn't know what state she lived in or the year, but she saw all the guns, ammo and gear being packed up and went and got the Iver Johnson for me. I don't think being wrapped in 2 Kleenex for 25 years hurt it a bit.

My mother tolerated guns her entire life, so to find her with one was a shock. She would go to the outdoor range with us and sit in the car and read for a couple hours and then we'd go eat, but she never shot. I think the last time she shot a gun was when they were dating before WWII.

She had one gun rule - No guns in the living room. Well, two if you count no bloody deer dripping in the driveway. Park the truck in the street. Down the street.

John

 

[LT.Diver]

Taurus pt 22. The firing pin broke in half, the magazine floor plate fell off, the trigger may be the worst trigger in the history of firearms. What a piece of crap!
I tried one more Taurus years ago. It was a 6" .357, I forget the model. It just wouldn't shoot. It was sent back twice for being out of time, then the cylyndar just warped so badly that it wouldn't rotate. Another complete piece of junk. I smashed them both with a vice and hand sledge and tossed them in my scrap pile. How that company stays in business is a mystery to me.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I don’t know that I have a worst gun; the most useless gun I own is a Ruger PC4. It’s a well made gun and it’s actually quite accurate I just think those 10 round magazines make it useless.

I have a Llama .380 that is probably the lowest quality gun that I own but even it really doesn’t give me any problems and it's about as accurate as a gun with a 2 inch barrel can be.

 

[LT.Diver]

A Smith model 34 is one of the finest .22 revolvers ever made. They are beautifully built and finished little guns. I would gladly take it off your hands right now. I'm serious. If the price is right I'll buy it today.

 

[Starter52]

Teachu2, you have an outstanding collection, my friend, if a 2" S&W Model 34 is your worst gun.

 

[Yarddog]

I'd have to say my 12ga single shot (Stevens) Kicks like the dickens. I won't get rid of it because my wife bought it for me when we first got married in 84' ; )
Y/D

 

[MedWheeler]

Probably two here. Someone gave me a Savage/Stevens single-shot 12 gauge shotgun about 20 years ago. It had been cut down at least some on both ends by a prior possessor (not the guy who gave it to me.) What's left of the butt is wrapped in electrical tape, and the barrel, which is missing nearly all of its bluing, is down to about 19 inches. Overall length is still within legal limits. Never have shot it, or done anything with it.

My other contender is my Grendel P10. Shoots okay with the grip extender on, but cannot run at all without it. I cannot shoot it without limp-wristing it, I guess. It's a unique gun, developed to take aim at the ankle-holster-rider market, and purchased through a department PO as a possible BUG. Took years to get it to run at all, and it still bounces the cases off my forehead (my being left-handed does contribute to this at least some.)

I don't get rid of either because, well, to whom would I? The money I would get isn't enough to make a difference and, besides, the .gov isn't thrilled with me having them, so I do.

 

[Esoxchaser]

Any I disliked over the years are gone. I really haven't purchased any junk since I was my 20's oh so long ago. Least accurate in the collection is a Ruger 10-22. But kids love it.......so it stays. I never shoot it, opting for a Mark II or BL-22 if I am going to shoot a 22 rifle.