The worst gun you've ever owned..

[H&Hhunter]

Tell us about your "Carrie". This isn't meant to trash on one make or model or caliber but we've all had lemons lets hear about them.

My "Carrie" rifle was a mark V weatherby in .300. One of the early eighties shinney models. In one hunting trip "it's first" I broke the bolt stop on it when working the bolt. Then it started to slam fire when you closed the bolt. I got that fixed by a local gun smith just in time for it to break the stock in half at the pistol grip which I bailing wired back together and then duct taped the whole mess.

I sent it back to Weatherby and they restocked it and replaced the bolt stop. (Which they claimed never was broken nor did the rifle ever slam fire" thank you very much.

So I take my newly stocked rifle out and on the 5th round the stock splits right through the pistol grip. i send it back to Weatherby and they tell me i must be abusing the rifle or reloading to hot of a round. I was shooting Weatherby factory ammo from a rest. Real abusive I guess for one of them there Weatherbies.

In any case I wound up taking this rifle back to the dealer and he gave me another weatherby which I had no problems with. I traded it off on a Ruger M-77 in .270win.

The first time i take the ruger out I close the bolt and guess what. It slam fires. Carries evil spirit infected my new rifle. So anyway ruger sent me a new rifle and the spell was broken.

However I have since seen two other rifles who's manufacturers name starts with an R fire when the safety was flipped off.

Keep them smoke pole pointed in a safe direction boys and girls sometimes do-do happens.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

However I have since seen two other rifles who's manufacturers name starts with an R fire when the safety was flipped off.

I've been lucky so far in my short time as a gunowner in that all my guns have been fine, but my buddy's Yugo Mauser M48 does this as well. Part of the problem is that he changed the trigger out for a really light one, and also (needless to say) something is wrong with the safety. Since it's just a range gun and he is aware of the problem, it hasn't been an issue, but I still call it "the evil gun" .

(I never like to say guns are evil, but in this case. . .)

 

[cooch]

I had an M77 Ruger of the variety that featured the shotgun style safety on the tang.
It was taken to a 'smith for a rushed trigger job and when I got it back it'd frequently fire when the safety was released.

I had another smith work it over , reset the trigger to a slightly higher release weight. It hasn't showed any signs of inadvertant release since.

Cooch

 

[St. Gunner]

Rem 742 30/06, the dang thing would misfeed at least twice per 5rd magazine. Replaced the magazine and it didn't help. That and it shot patterns instead of groups, like 6" with factory ammo. I was less than impressed, owned it less than a week and took it back. I'd cleaned it all up when I got it, it was filthy, so the guy at the shop was like, sure we'll take it back, it looks better than when you bought it.

I had a Marlin Camp Carbine that was a nightmare, it refused to feed properly and I wanted to break it so often. I had the feed ramp polished and it started eating hardball, but still jammed HP ammo all the time. I sold it and bought an SKS, it was a better rifle as far as I was concerned even if it was built by a CHinese slave worker...

 

[Art Eatman]

I guess I've been lucky. From any mechanical standpoint, or accuracy, I haven't really had a problem gun. I've traded into stuff that I "just didn't like", but it was usually the fit and feel or the balance "just wasn't right". I gotta say I've been surprised about how many rifles seem heavier than they need to be, or how many don't seem to balance well.

I most often leave the bolt handle up, in lieu of trusting a safety. Just another thing my uncle told me as a kid. Even earlier, my grandfather never trusted the safety on his .22, although I tried (halfway gently, of course) to make it fail and couldn't.

And my 742K is as reliable as I could want, easily putting three shots inside two MOA.

Art

 

[HankB]

Rem 742 30/06, the dang thing would misfeed at least twice per 5rd magazine.

You're not alone. Some years ago, I belonged to a gun club that opened to the public shortly before deer season. When working as range officer, I got to see a LOT of different rifles come through. Without a doubt, Remington autoloaders had the highest percentage of autojammers by far - WELL into double digits, percentage wise. Now, "most" of them worked, but it wouldn't surprise me if practically every rifle Remington produced Monday morning or Friday afternoon was junk.

I've personally been lucky with rifles - not that I have very many, since I use either an M70 in .30/06 or a Belgian Browning .375 for big game rifle hunting. (This combo does everything.) Some "fun" guns and EBRs in the mix, but no real lemons - the few problems I've had were minor, and easily sorted out.

Pistols, on the other hand . . . there was a Colt Mark IV Series '70 Government Model that wouldn't feed hardball, and Colt's warranty "NON-service" couldn't or wouldn't fix it. And I was an unwitting beta-tester for Kahr when I bought one of their P9 pistols, which had numerous problems. (Kahr replaced the pistol, but being of the "once burned, twice shy" persuasion, I traded it for a Glock 26. Not as compact, but it WORKS!)

 

[MLC]

Mine is actually a friends rifle.
He left all his guns with me when he moved out to Utah to be a ski bum.
The PITA is a Kimber sporterized Mauser 98 in 7mm rem mag.
My friend wanted a long range precision rifle back in the mid 90's and went to the shop looking for a Remington 700 in 7mm.
Somehow the gunshop owner sold him on the Kimber instead.
It had a lousy trigger, Ram Line stock and a Simmons Whitetail scope.
The rifle will not feed more than one round consecutively from the magazine and will not group under 1 1/2" inches.
I'm hoping that some judicious application of glass bedding will fix the accuracy issue.
I also bought a brand new Springfield "loaded" 1911.
My first trip to the range resulted in the rear sight falling out.
Trip two resulted in repeated failures to feed.
I tried to trade it in for a Sig 220 but the gunshop wanted to send it to Springfield.
They "fixed" it and I decided to get rid of it and traded it for a Remington 700 in 6mm.
The gunshop owner that bought it told me a sad story about it a few months later.
An older bullseye shooter had bought the pistol and had the hammer shear off at the pin. I felt for the older fellow but was glad that it wasn't me that had it fail like that.

 

[mlheppl]

I don't have an "Carrie" guns, but Imy son has a Savage 110 in 270. The bolt is sloppy and the holes for the scope mounts are set so far apart that I had a hard time finding a scope that would sit between the rings. To me the gun just feels cheap.

 

[Byron Quick]

I had one of those always reliable and nigh indestructible AK-47 clones fall apart on me with less than 300 rounds through it.

First, I had a case separation. Bought an extraction tool. More case separation. Off to a gunsmith. Headspace problems, I figured. Got it back. Fired four or five rounds through it when it went into full auto slam firings...until empty. From then on, it slam fired upon chambering a round and ran until empty.

Piece of junk.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Kinda funny to me the mention of the Rem. 742. My dad has had one for years and insists on still using it. I doubt that thing can fire a full magazine's worth without jamming at least once. Personally, my bad was a Browning BAR in .270. I had problems with it from the get go and had it sent to the company twice with the same recurring problem. After only about 10 rounds (after thorough cleaning), the small piston below the gas port would start to stick and the cases wouldn't eject. Of course, the idiots at Browning basically told me that I had no idea what I was talking about when I explained what I thought was wrong. Finally I took matters into my own hands and fixed it myself.

 

[H&Hhunter]

About a year ago I bought "Carries" child. It was a M70 stainless clasic in .300WSM.

When I got it home I noticed that the Extractor body on the bolt was lose, like really lose. I could lift it nearly a 1/4" at the rear. I took it out ot the range and gave it a try. It wouldn't extract,duhh. So I tightend the extractor with a little twist oh the plyers untill it would extract. I then shot a few rounds and the bolt was sticking on every shot. And it wouldn't sight in. I got to looking at it and found that the scope base holes on the reciever were drilled at an odd angle the rears were off to the left and the fronts were off to the right.

With that little discovery I packed Carrie Jr up and sent that little devil spawn back to USRAC.They sent me a new rifle no questions asked.

I'd likr to say that this was a rare example of winchesters quality control, but unfortunatley I'am seeing more and more of this with Winchester rifles in the last couple of years.

I love model 70's and I have probabley had 10 stainless .375's come through my hands on the way to being converted to .458Lotts in the last 3 years of those not one has been drilled straight and many of them are just so shoddy as to be almost unusable....The bottom metal is so chessey that we just throw it away. Basically we take the actions strip them down true the face and rebarrell and stock them. The only thing that is still a winchester is the receiver and bolt.

It just makes me sick to see what is happening to USRAC in regards to quality control the last couple of years.....

 

[Art Eatman]

H&H, the first question that pops into my mind is, "How in hell do you mess up drilling scope-base holes?" Sheesh! It's not like somebody grabs a 3/8" Black and Decker drill motor and "has at it"! Jigs and fixtures and all that...Sometimes I wonder...

Afterthought: I once worked for Chevy's Test Lab. Some of the folks there were UAW. In-house, I heard all the jokes about not buying cars made on Monday or Friday. Maybe the same problem exists elsewhere.

, Art

 

[H&Hhunter]

Art,

It really does make you wonder doesn't it.

I would guess that all of this drilling on the finished product is done by computerized automated equipment, and I would also guess that they don't have either their jigs set up just right or there computer is off just a hair.
In either case I've written USRAC on several occasions ,and the this a fact not a guess. They don't give a crap! they could care less that their stuff is of center or cheesey or anything else. It is really very frustrating.

I got in a stainless .375 the other day that had the holes for the front sight drilled but not threaded. But the really amazing part is that the front ramp was installed and the screws were pushed into the metal but of course they couldn't bite so when I picked up the gun the front sight just fell off.

It did however make me feel better to read the little label inside the box which assured me that this rifle had been assembled and inspected by a proud member of the International Machinist Organization!

 

[Snakeoil]

Winchester 1200, traded a 12 gauge double for it and hated it every day thereafter, thought it would be similar to the Model 12.:banghead:

 

[smokemaker]

I bought a S&W model 28 at a gunshow (love N-frame smiths). This peice of S**t wouldn't hit water if it fell out of a boat, and spit lead from 4 of 6 charge holes. I figure the gun must be seriously out of time, so I had a gunsmith time the big .357. No improvement. I get the forcing cone re-chamfered. No improvement. I trade the gun in for a Dan Wesson 709. Problem solved. Ten years after I traded the gun in I return to NY after living out west and go to the gunshop where I traded it in, and lo-and-behold, there's that model 28, still in the glass cabinet. Guy who owns the place says that gun has left and come back tree times, and he can't unload it. Now it's "priced to move", and I have a spare 5" 44 special barrel, and every so often think about buying the .357 back, rebarreling and rechambering it, but it's such a junker that I can't bring myself to.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I borrowed a Savage 20 ga slide action shot gun to go on a bird hunt and the damn thing FELL apart as I tried to swing on a bird. The safety popped out of the gun, the slide wouldn't operate etc.

I returned the gun to its owner, who kept it around for 'home defense" and advised him to buy something else. (he sent it to savage and they fixed it I'm told)

Dad felt so bad he bought me a brand new Remington Sportsman 12 Magnum a few weeks later.

So it wasn't all bad.

Never had a bad thing happen with a Savage rifle. But you couldn't pay me to own one of those shotguns.

I did break a number of scopes over the years. Weaver and Redfield scopes caused me no end of problems, but I've never had a Tasco fail. Wierd huh?

 

[smokemaker]

I've shot two scopes to junk, a Simmons and a Tasco. The Tasco lasted about 25 rounds before the crosshairs didn't cross anymore. I had a double ring failure and found my 1.5X leupold ten feet behind me and that scope, after a new set of rings, is still on my Ithaca today, undamaged.

 

[Gordon]

Question reminds me of sex: Never had any BAD sex, but some were alot better than others H&H hunter, There was the old head gunsmith in area Joe Dutre(spelling?) that I became friends with in the 70's when he opened his own gunshop in San Jose. He had a PILE of old Mark V and earlier Weatherby gun stocks behind his place, got them free from Roy because the stocks were split at tang and magazine box! He made things out of the high grade wood and burned the rest in his wood heater! He told me that EVERY .300 Weatherby evermade would split the stock eventually if not cross bolt modified like he designed, but Roy hated the cross bolts and never wanted to hire the talent necessary to fit them properly after Joe quit him! Joe was a piece of work, and he specialized in making swamped octagon barrels out of your std to heavy taper factory (or custom ) barrell. His set up was Rube Goldberg but worked beautifully. I had him do 3 Ruger #1's and a Wyklife SS !They are unique beauties! He also made made many 'improved Weatherby" rifles on Shutz & Larsen and FN Mauser actions he 'happened' to have stock piled. Joe passed away around 91 or so, his type was and is a very rare bird-a REAL CUSTOM GUNSMITH! Worst gun I had was old non steel built Win 37's that fall apart!

 

[goalie]

I was helping with a class training police at Camp Ripley. Two different departments had Remington 700s that would "sometimes" fire when the safety was moved from the safe position to fire with a round in the chamber.

As for me personally, I am not sure if it counts, but in boot camp I almost went unqualified at the rifle range on pre-qual day,mainly due to my inability to hit anything at 500. They sent me to the trainer for some remedial instruction and I shot high expert on the simulator the first time through. Well, we went back out to the range and 4 marksmanship instructors tried to shoot groups at 200 with my rifle. No one had better results than they would have gotten with a shotgun. I shot the qual the next day with a loaner rifle from the range and put up a 242.

 

[Guns_and_Labs]

A Ruger 10/22. I purchased it long ago, knowing that "there is no better feeding system for a .22" nor any gun easier to work on yourself.

Out of the box, it wouldn't feed more that 1 out of every 3 correctly, hanging up every which way. So I switch ammo -- no change. So I switch barrels, spending nearly as much on the barrel as on the 10/22 -- no change, maybe worse. Then I really go to town, replacing everything that I could unscrew or tap out -- it got worse. Finally I ship it off to a gunsmith to get rebarrelled and rechambered, a gunsmith known to excel at 10/22's. To this day, I can't get though a full 10 rounds without a jam. My final solution: stick with bolt actions.

 

[submin]

That would be a M 15 Combat Masterpiece.

I posted the story here http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?postid=768874#post768874

 

[Quartus]

My first 1911. A genuine Colt, but the victim of many years in the Army, where it was probably cleaned to death, leaving it as loose as a goose. That thing rattled like BBs in a boxcar. Then suffered further abuse at the hands of an amatuer gunsmith, who refinished it. Rounded off every corner, long before the "melted" look was popular. But dont' worry - no two corners were even remotely alike!

I never did sight it in. Best I could do was to pattern it!

Traded it for an un-remembered amount of cash and a left hand 870 in good shape. (I'm right-handed).


If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have kept the thing - it was perfectly salvageable, I'm sure.

 

[Lee F]

My worst two rifles were both from Savage. Once the rifle was fired the bolt would lock up and massive amounts of force were required to pry it open. It did this with all brands of factory ammo. I took the rifle back to the gunshop and traded it for a identical rifle, identical right down to the locking bolt problem. The owner sent them back to the distributor and I bought something else. Later I heard Savage had a large batch of rifles where the chambers were cut by a monkey with a rusty screwdriver. That was the rumor, but I know there is absolutely no way the guns were factory tested or fired before shipment.

 

[MagKnightX]

Well, my 10/22 has never jammed, but it often FTFires. So I suppose that is my worst rifle.

Although, occasionaly my 91/30 needs a hearty slap to get the bolt to go forward.

 

[redneck]

A daisy model 856 powermaster BB/pellet gun
It was quite the shooter for $35 when I got it, but then one day a pellet jammed in the breech.....what to do...what to do....I know I'll smack the little bolt handle wiht the heel of my hand.
I did, rather firmly, and it closed. Pumped it up ten times and took aim.....
BANG CRACK CLANG
The muzzle cap and front sight were about 15 feet away. The barrel laying at my feet, and to top it all off the pellet didn't even hit the target

I've since taken the gun apart and put it back together several times, removing extra peices as necessary, and have finally got it fixed so that it will shoot BB's just fine. If you try pellets though, the pressure must be too high because the barrel flies out eventually.
It still serves duty killing sparrows in the barn, and I've now got much nicer guns for plinking/target practice etc.