What is the most unreliable semi auto you have shot ?

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Jennings 22

You get what you pay for.
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Same here. My grandma had one that she had never told any of us about and that she kept in her nightstand for home defense. She brought it out one day and I just couldn't believe it. She said it hadn't been shot in like 15 years or something. I took it home and that little thing was the biggest POS that I've ever seen. It wouldn't even make it through a full magazine without jamming. I even took the little thing apart and covered it in RemOil. Still wouldn't make it through a full mag. I told G-ma to get rid of that thing.
 
Grendel P-12. I had a G17 and the baby Glocks weren't out yet. Purchased this .380 since it looked similiar to the Glocks and held 12 rounds, I think. It would jam while trying to chamber a round. As I started looking to see why, the magazine lip was too long and the bullit would try to enter the chamber at too much angle. I removed a little material from the lip and it worked fine after that. I never regained the confidence I needed in that gun. Sold it when the G26 came out.
 
I have had 3 guns that were not 100%: Taurus .22 about 85%; Sig P220 about 95%; and Kimber Stainless Target II w/ee about 98%. The Taurus soured me on that brand. The Sig was very accurate, but not in my hands. (My P226 was 100%, but not very accurate). The Kimber was very accurate, but the external extractor prevented it from acheiving 100%.
By way of comparison, my Springfield Loaded has more than 12,000 rds through it and has never even had a hiccup.
 
Guess I've been pretty lucky, the only unreliable bottom feeder I've had was a SA Ultracompact V10 .45 and after I dropped in a new Wilson extractor and a recoil spring it was running like a sewing machine.
My auto sidearm list is short:
Walther P38 from WWII, Dad's bring-back.
Taurus 92 9mm I actually loved this gun and should not have sold it. With 15 rd mags this really was a sewing machine.
SA ultracompact V10 45 hated the porting, had to go.
XD 40 service, totally reliable but sold for XD45
XD 45 service, looking for something more compact, sold
XD40sc for edc this one takes a licking, no issues. nada.

And finally.... a Kimber 5 inch Raptor II with internal extractor. The way I read these threads it must be worth a freakin mint as it seems to be very rare with just over 1000 rds so far and zero failures from day 1. I feed it 230 FMJ or Federal Hydrashoks.... and I ain't gonna mess with success.

As they say, Your mileage may vary.... and I oughta buy a lottery ticket but can't afford it because I don't reload.
 
All of my Gold Cups

Just kidding.....Early edition Sig Mosquito is a Blue Ribbon loser
 
charter arms made AR-7. Jam-o-matic supreme

Bought it used for $35 or $40 and happily sold it for $20 a few weeks later. I was honest and told the buyer how bad it jammed. I still think I got the better deal on that sale.... What a POS, good riddance!
 
Jennings .22. Stovepipes every round.

I was going to destroy it, but then I figured I'd wait until I could find a gun buy-back. I'll turn it in, they'll detroy it, I'll take my money (don't they usally give $200 flat?) and go get something better. Pretty good deal considering I spent $60 on it a long, long time ago.
 
Amazing thread. Read every post. Never woulda believed the big names could put out so much junk. Y'all sure you're not just passing the same few clunkers around to each other??

Anyway, I've got 3 centerfire semi-autos (DW 1911, Kahr K9, BHP) and a couple of Ruger Mark IIs...and they all work. But, being a revolver guy, I always expect them to fail. They seem to delight in proving me wrong.

Was thinking about a new P345 but, after reading this, I figure the odds are against me & I better quit while I'm ahead.
Bob
 
The only lemon I've ever owned was a P220 but even that thing ate up everything I fed it -- most unreliable....might got to a little Beretta 21a I once had -- very finicky w/ ammo
 
Worst pistol I've handled was a Steyr GB 9mm. While gas delayed blowback was neat, dirty ammo would not only jam it, it would LOCK it up solid on a fired case. Only solution was to let it cool off, then you could rack the slide. Seems like a serious design flaw in a pistiol designed for military use.

Worst ones I own:

Lugers are just finicky when it comes to ammo. Hotter 124gr ammo seems to = less jams. Last pistol I'd take out of the safe for home defense. More so because of HOW it jams, always seems like you need 3 hands to clear a Luger.

Custom Seecamp style DA ODI/Viking/Colt gave me fits for a long time, not reliable enough to use as a defensive arm, just a range toy, and an expensive range to have built at that. Still a neat piece that I tried like HELL to run as my IDPA pistol.

Only other issues I've had have been with bad ammo or a broken/improperly cleaned gun. Had a brick of WW Wildcat 22's that turned my Ruger Mk2 into a jamming misfiring zip-gun. Tossed the ammo, no more problems. Still leary about buying that brand. Also broke the extractor tip off my FEG BHP clone after 5,000 rounds or so, which made it FTE and led to double feeds and other nonsense. One I realized I had a broken part, no problem. Also pays to clean UNDER the ejector once in a while with a toothpick or dental tool. That spring isn't very big and over time powder/primer residue can affect the function of the part.

Guns, like cars require cleaning and maintenance, sometimes stuff breaks.
 
Ruger P345. Never dry fired without the mag in yet one out of every six DA trigger pulls the hammer would drop and the gun wouldn't fire. :fire:
 
Kimber Custom Covert II. Spent a fortune on the thing cause it looked so cool...replaced the mags with wilson combat when I started having problems...and then shot 1500 rounds through it to "break it in"...complete POS. Jammed once almost every mag.

Traded it in on a S&W M&P with lasergrips...smartest thing I ever did.
 
My Kahr PM9 is the only hand gun i have purchased and sold because it was such a piece of crap. Actually my best friend and I both purchased a PM9 because it was size wise great for a 9mm CCW but the constant FTFs and stove pipes pissed me off. I put over a 1000rnds thru it and there would a failure at least one every three or four magazines which is unacceptable for a carry peace. Needless to say we both sold ours.
 
i wanna play too

1)-1980's Walther PPK/S jammed every other magazine at least once-I was told I was holding it too tight or too loose-Fine but in a tight spot I don't really want to think about my grip.
-Traded the Walther in on a Beretta 92FS pre ban for those of you old enough to have bought one back then.---Best 9mm ever!!! I have loaded every type of 9mm round made and re-loads and it has NEVER failed-- I think it would shoot twizzlers if you loaded it with them. Dirty, clean, hot, cold, loves it all.
2)-Beretta Tomcat .380-not as bad as the Walther but I refuse to own something that jams.
-Traded the Tomcat for my Kel-tec P3AT and its been a trooper-no problems at all.
-Never had a problem with my Taurus 1911 and its so smooth.
-Lastly my sweetheart--Remington Model 51 .380-no problems and it was made in the 1920's. What an instinctive shooting and well made gun.

I agree that there are always guns that are overlooked at the factory with problems, I do find it interesting that some factories seem to overlook worse than others. I also think that another factor is how many are being sold. If you sell 10 guns none of them may come back, if you sell 10 million I think its safe to say you are going to have some lemons. Keep in mind that we all like and dislike manufactures for one reason or another and its personal to us, I just hope nobody here has bad mouthed any without actually having issues.
 
Back around 97ish I wanted something smaller than my Sig P226 so I got a Glock 19 and I never had a range session without some kind of feeding issue, nor was it very accurate, sold it to a friend who loved his G22 and wanted a 9 he sold it shortly after he couldn't get it to run consistently either.

Also had issues with a S&W M&Pc 9mm, I guess polymer and I just don't get along.

Still sticking with my P226 and P239 I picked up in 2001
 
I had a CZ75B .40 single-action that would frequently fail to eject spent brass.

But when it worked, it was the most accurate pistol I have ever owned.
 
Beretta 92FS I purchased used.. loved to FTF or lock halfway through the magazine. With some wrenching it was a little better...

A Ruger P95 I purchased new was the worst. When it was clean it was good.. but even a little dirty and it got bad. Jammed or stovepiped constantly. I've owned a few Ruger P series and haven't been impressed...
 
I had a CZ75B .40 single-action that would frequently fail to eject spent brass.

But when it worked, it was the most accurate pistol I have ever owned.
Click to expand...

Try changing the extractor spring. there was a known problem on some .40's
 
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