What is the biggest firearm flop you have ever seen

[horsemen61]

Ok guys I am curious as to what the biggest firearms flop you have ever seen is for me I would have to say the circuit judge has to be the biggest gun flop I have ever seen so what about you guys

 

[50 Shooter]

Shrike uppers, possibly the biggest fail of all times!

 

[Sam1911]

Hmmm, probably a lot of categories in this:
a) Guns that were unpopular and didn't sell
b) Guns that didn't work, or work reliably
c) Guns where the basic concept didn't fly
d) Guns that just never got off the ground for legal reasons
e) Guns that just never got off the ground for business or technical reasons

I can think of a few.

Category a: probably many, but all in shades of grey.

Category b: Similar to a and highly subject to opinion. Neck, the Nambu pistols were pretty dangerous and should have been a discarded design, but they made plenty. I'd say the old "COP .357" pepperbox derringer fits here.

Category c: Probably the Gyro-jet. Least effective at short range, which is not good for a handgun. Among some other pretty glaring problems with the concept.

Category d: The Raging Judge XXVIII. Like, whoops!

Category e: Bren 10 has to be the ultimate.

Subcategory to "e" -- call it "Weird is not a selling point." Dardick Trounds. Maybe the Mateba auto-revolver. Strange, but not in a way useful enough to justify the cost and weirdness.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

Recently, the Caracal C has to be the worst in Sam's category B.

It was that UAE gun maker's plastic fantastic. Never got a whole lot of traction here, but they did ads in the gun rags a lot.

Welp, few months ago they did a mandatory permanent recall on all of the guns. No fix. Just return them all for refund. Unfixable drop safe issue.

 

[Sam1911]

Carcaral is definitely in the running here! Wow, how disappointing!

I'm wondering where to stick the SPAS-12

The shotgun with the most gun-geek cool factor of the '80s, but just way too much of a good thing. Or too big a collections of things that should have been great.

 

[Ranger Roberts]

How about the RG .357? Is that more of a flop or a hand grenade?

 

[Nom de Forum]

The Bren 10 debacle was possibly for me the most personally significant of flops. After a decade of anticipation built up from reading Jeff Cooper's writings and becoming a true believer it was a real turning point for me. The Chairman's magic formula of a .40 caliber 200 grain bullet at 1000fps+ in an American CZ-75 type had arrived and people like me were ready to buy tens of thousands of them. How it failed was a real education about the firearms industry. It would be another 8 years before I would abandon the .45ACP and adopt a .40 caliber when the Glock 22/23 arrived. In the end it worked out fine for me as I am much happier with the .40 and 10mm Glocks than the CZ-75 types.

 

[wally]

It was that UAE gun maker's plastic fantastic. Never got a whole lot of traction here, but they did ads in the gun rags a lot.

Welp, few months ago they did a mandatory permanent recall on all of the guns. No fix. Just return them all for refund. Unfixable drop safe issue.

But it appears they will be coming back with an updated design to fix the issues. But will anyone give them another chance? Most people who had a Caracal seemed to enjoy shooting them.

At least they didn't leave their customers with mostly useless guns like with the Bren 10.

 

[WestKentucky]

Ducktown tn. 45/410 derringers. Lots sold. So not technically a flop, but not many brave enought to shoot them.

 

[230RN]

Sam1911's b and a little c:

The .22 Jet cartridge and the Model 53 S&W revolver. The cases were tapered down (not "necked down") from .357 cases and would tend to back out of the chambers and stick against the recoil plate of the revolvers.

Not to mention that the .22 LR chamber inserts which allowed shooting the rimfire would get lost.

Or that the hammer switchover from rimfire to center fire would sometimes be forgotten when changing ammunition.

Or that the sighting had to be drastically changed when going from rimfire to centerfire cartridges.

Terry

 

[Midwest]

What category?

In modern times?

Or the biggest flop of all time?


My vote is the Chauchat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauchat


" "worst machine gun" ever fielded in the history of warfare."

.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

At least they didn't leave their customers with mostly useless guns like with the Bren 10.

In recent history I think the Caracal C wins, but the Bren 10 is definitely up there for the all-time record.

On the other hand, if you actually DO have a Bren 10 magazine...

 

[bannockburn]

How about Colt's much hyped 9mm. All American Model 2000. That was a pretty big belly flop for them, along with the equally disappointing and troubled Double Eagle DA/SA 1911 variants.

 

[vamo]

Was the circuit judge really a flop? I have no use for .410 myself, so I've never wanted to shell out the money for one but I always thought they were neat.

Not trying to argue just asking from a sales perspective are they a flop?

 

[HisStigness]

I seem to remember a company trying to bring back a model of gun that they quit making a long time ago. There was lots of consumer demand for it, and they could have made an absolute killing if it wasn't for some quality control issues including improperly reamed chambers. I think they called it the P41 or something.

 

[dragon813gt]

Remington Etronx.

Ahead of its time? Quite possibly. A solution to a question no one asked? Not really as it has some applications. Cost and having to rely on batteries sealed its fate.

 

[CajunBass]

The Colt 2000 gets my vote.

I've come close to buying one a couple of times, but they're just so odd that I can't do it.

 

[Bexar]

16 inch Navy gun.

 

[Cee Zee]

Armalite AR-7. Century Arms AR-7. But eventually it did catch on with the Henry version to an extent anyway. It was a good idea for certain types of hunting like coon hunting where a person walks a lot of miles and fires only one or two shots at most. Having a lightweight rifle that broke down for easy carrying was a great idea but it didn't work too well. There were other variants of the AR-7 too BTW. There was an Argentina version which also wasn't good and an Israel version that was given to pilots for a survival rifle which is said to work pretty well.

 

[forward observer]

My vote goes to USFA's zip .22. It looks pretty much like a plastic staple gun, but from all the reviews I've read--a staple gun would be more reliable and much safer for the operator.


Cheers

 

[AKElroy]

I would have mentioned many of the same already listed, but if I put my mind to it I can find a few more:

Colt Double Eagle
AMT Hardballer
Any handgun chambered for .30 carbine, including the aforementioned AMT)
Taurus Millennium
The beautiful but fragile .44 Automag
Anything LLAMA
S&W Sigma -- certainly a commercial success, but the few I tried were horribly unreliable

 

[PATH]

Does anyone remember the CP1 Vektor from South Africa? There was a recall on it for accidental discharge if bumped or dropped. In hindsight I should have kept one as a collectable!

 

[rcmodel]

This months (May) American Rifleman has an article titled 'Seemed like a good idea -- Firarms that Failed'.

1. Standard Arms Model G rifle.

2. MBA Gyrojet rifle & pistol.

3.Daisy/Heddon V/L rifle.

4. S&W Model 53 .22 Centerfire Magnum.

6. Dardick Series 1500 rifle & pistol.

7. Remington EtronX rifle.

8. Winchester Model 59 shotgun.

I'd have to agree with all of them.

rc

 

[Owen]

My vote is for those Crossfire combination shotgun/rifle monstrosities. They were everywhere for a year or two, and thankfully disappeared.

 

[exiledtoIA]

COP 357.
The four barrelled firearm from Hades.