Worst 22 rifle you've ever shot?

[someguy2800]

We had a favorite high end 22 thread and a favorite low end 22 thread, how about a least favorite 22 you've ever had?

I'll go first. A close friend of mine in school had a JC Higgins semi auto 22 that we used to attempt to shoot with frequently. Don't remember the model but it looks just like this one. I believe these were sold by Sears in the 60's?



It could not hit anywhere in the vicinity of where you aimed and a required tool for shooting was an 8 penny nail to dig out all the jams and stovepipes. It loved to double feed and would often lodge empty cases in the opposite side from the ejection port requiring much swearing, prying, and usually a trip to the barn for a pliers. I recall once him trying to shoot a rabbit about 30 yards and the rabbit sat there motionless as all his sots skittered around it and it finally stovepiped. He turned it around and threw it at the rabbit by the barrel.

Several years later after discovering that when shot from the hip you could see the bullets skittering off into the trees at about 600 fps he tried to clean it and jammed a cleaning rod in the bore. Turns out it was so leaded up there was only about a 17 caliber hole down the center of the bore. A gunsmith he knew removed the rod and cleaned out the bore and gave it back. We were excited after all these years that the ole Higgins would be good as new so we took it out to shoot it. Nope, still couldn't hold shots on a paper plate at 50 yards and still jams every 4 rounds.

Recently we keep seeing them at gun shows for $400 and we just share a glance and chuckle.

 

[Scooter22]

Back in the 80's Daisy made some .22 rifles under the Legacy name. I bought one because it was cheap and looked like a good knock around gun. Molded plastic stock and pot metal receiver. I think it was 49.00 bucks new on sale. JUNK! I traded it for something. I don't remember but it was better. Now they are somewhat collectable. But NOT as a shooter.

 

[WestKentucky]

Worst for me is also one of my family heirlooms. Grandma was the youngest and fed the family with her single shot 22 during the depression. It is in my safe now. It has poor sights, no way to mount a scope, and I struggle to hit a paper plate at 25 yards using the sights, I'm actually better just looking down the barrel and knowing that it hits to the left of where it should. Grandma went to her grave with the most ridiculous ability to shoot a poor quality gun for any person to have ever acquired. After I bought it from her to get her some groceries and medicine for a couple months she asked me how it shot. I told her I couldn't hit squat with it but was trying to figure out her tricks to it as she was a family legend with that thing because NOBODY including her siblings who grew up with it could hit with it. So we got her out to my parents house and she told me to go in and get the gun, she would show me her secret. She shot a 20ga shotgun shell bouncing it downrange until it got into a low spot where she couldn't see it anymore. She smiled at me and said it just takes a little practice. I still can't hit with it. The stock was damaged when I got it from her but I did a decent repair on it. I need to sand through the finish and make it pretty again but I'm sure it will never kill another critter for the dinner pot. Best kill shot I have made with it is to kill a copperhead with it by putting the gun about a foot behind his head.

 

[Browning]

I bought a Marlin 60 that would jam at least once every tube no matter what I fed it and that hit down and the the left from point of aim. Tried to get the malfunctions taken care of. I cleaned it once after the first time I shot it and then detail cleaned it, no change. Tried a few different types of ammo thinking that maybe it didn't like what I was using, no change. Took it to the smith, still no change.

Threw it in on a trade with full disclosure to a guy on something else who said that he could probably fix it and got rid of it. That thing sucked. I once had a .22 rifle from the Philippines that I got for $20 that was better in every way than that thing.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

We had a favorite high end 22 thread and a favorite low end 22 thread, how about a least favorite 22 you've ever had?

I'll go first. A close friend of mine in school had a JC Higgins semi auto 22 that we used to attempt to shoot with frequently. Don't remember the model but it looks just like this one. I believe these were sold by Sears in the 60's?

View attachment 777893

It could not hit anywhere in the vicinity of where you aimed and a required tool for shooting was an 8 penny nail to dig out all the jams and stovepipes. It loved to double feed and would often lodge empty cases in the opposite side from the ejection port requiring much swearing, prying, and usually a trip to the barn for a pliers. I recall once him trying to shoot a rabbit about 30 yards and the rabbit sat there motionless as all his sots skittered around it and it finally stovepiped. He turned it around and threw it at the rabbit by the barrel.

Several years later after discovering that when shot from the hip you could see the bullets skittering off into the trees at about 600 fps he tried to clean it and jammed a cleaning rod in the bore. Turns out it was so leaded up there was only about a 17 caliber hole down the center of the bore. A gunsmith he knew removed the rod and cleaned out the bore and gave it back. We were excited after all these years that the ole Higgins would be good as new so we took it out to shoot it. Nope, still couldn't hold shots on a paper plate at 50 yards and still jams every 4 rounds.

Recently we keep seeing them at gun shows for $400 and we just share a glance and chuckle.

Back in the 80's Daisy made some .22 rifles under the Legacy name. I bought one because it was cheap and looked like a good knock around gun. Molded plastic stock and pot metal receiver. I think it was 49.00 bucks new on sale. JUNK! I traded it for something. I don't remember but it was better. Now they are somewhat collectable. But NOT as a shooter.

I have a JC Higgins just like this and a Daisy 22.
The JC Higgins is very accurate. It is also pretty reliable if kept clean.
The Daisy is a youth model and better than you would expect from a gun that cost $40 new in 1988.

Worst 22 I ever shot was a Garcia Bronco

 

[someguy2800]

Worst for me is also one of my family heirlooms. Grandma was the youngest and fed the family with her single shot 22 during the depression. It is in my safe now. It has poor sights, no way to mount a scope, and I struggle to hit a paper plate at 25 yards using the sights, I'm actually better just looking down the barrel and knowing that it hits to the left of where it should. Grandma went to her grave with the most ridiculous ability to shoot a poor quality gun for any person to have ever acquired. After I bought it from her to get her some groceries and medicine for a couple months she asked me how it shot. I told her I couldn't hit squat with it but was trying to figure out her tricks to it as she was a family legend with that thing because NOBODY including her siblings who grew up with it could hit with it. So we got her out to my parents house and she told me to go in and get the gun, she would show me her secret. She shot a 20ga shotgun shell bouncing it downrange until it got into a low spot where she couldn't see it anymore. She smiled at me and said it just takes a little practice. I still can't hit with it. The stock was damaged when I got it from her but I did a decent repair on it. I need to sand through the finish and make it pretty again but I'm sure it will never kill another critter for the dinner pot. Best kill shot I have made with it is to kill a copperhead with it by putting the gun about a foot behind his head.

That is a great story. Pass it on to whoever in the next generation apreciates it most.

 

[WestKentucky]

That is a great story. Pass it on to whoever in the next generation apreciates it most.

That’s the plan for all of the heirloom guns. I have sold some of MY guns, but none of the guns from family will ever go out of the family. Between my nephew, my cousins, and my growing family I will find someone to appreciate them when the time comes for them to have new curators.

 

[someguy2800]

Worst 22 I ever shot was a Garcia Bronco
View attachment 777909

I don't know what that is but it looks like it was built by a southeast Asian communist.

 

[someguy2800]

That’s the plan for all of the heirloom guns. I have sold some of MY guns, but none of the guns from family will ever go out of the family. Between my nephew, my cousins, and my growing family I will find someone to appreciate them when the time comes for them to have new curators.

Unfortunately my wife's extended family pawned all their family heirlooms for meth, but if I happen to get any of my father in laws or my own dad's guns I will keep and pass them down as well.

 

[WestKentucky]

Unfortunately my wife's extended family pawned all their family heirlooms for meth, but if I happen to get any of my father in laws or my own dad's guns I will keep and pass them down as well.

That happened with these as well. My grandpa had Alzheimer’s and the other side of the family went to the house and looted it while grandma was bedside as he passed. The guns were pawned, collectible coins and jewelry disappeared. We reported the breakin and the guns popped up as stolen. Grandma was given the option to pay what was given back to the pawnshop or give her granddaughter another felony. I took grandma to the pawnshop and she would not let me do anything except keep the guns in my safe. I slowly but surely bought them all from her at double their value just to give her some dignity and cash. If she had all those collectible coins she would never have had a problem.

 

[SamT1]

Back in the 80's Daisy made some .22 rifles under the Legacy name. I bought one because it was cheap and looked like a good knock around gun. Molded plastic stock and pot metal receiver. I think it was 49.00 bucks new on sale. JUNK! I traded it for something. I don't remember but it was better. Now they are somewhat collectable. But NOT as a shooter.

I had a daisy A guy gave me. The stock was broke so I turned it into a “Ruger charger”. It wasn’t accurate enough to even be fun. I did trade it for a Stevens 12 gauge shotgun though.

 

[jmorris]

I think it would be the M6 Scout. If I were the type of guy that only owned “shooters” I’d have to sell it.

 

[Picher]

My worst was a Savage O/U .22LR/20 Gauge "Deluxe". The rifle sights were a joke and the gun was way too heavy. The receiver button, barrel selector failed and the factory replaced it with one on the hammer, but left the button, which didn't work anymore. The shotgun barrel was choked extra, extra full, so wasn't great for upland birds. Got rid of it and never looked back. It could have been a pretty good turkey gun, but we didn't have any turkeys in Maine back then (1960s).

 

[Odd Job]

AR7

 

[chicharrones]

My worst was a Ruger 10/22 Carbine I bought new in 1992 or 1993. It was a jam-o-matic. I wasn't savvy at figuring out guns back then and the internet wasn't helpful yet, so it got traded for something else.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

My worst was a Marlin Glenfield Model 60 that I bought new for about $65 in the early 80s. It was plenty accurate but it had to be kept clean. Once you got to about 240 rounds through it since the previous cleaning, it would start jamming -- misfeeds and stovepipes.

The "art" that the factory pressed into the wood was pretty ugly, to boot.

 

[dak0ta]

Mossberg 715T

 

[GunnyUSMC]

My worst was a Remington 597. When I bought it, it wouldn’t even work. But then that my be because it was just a barreled action and stock. Al of the other parts were missing. I had bought it from a local pawn shop that had it sitting in the corner for about two or three years. An employee had taken it apart to repair it and had quit or got fired before putting it back together. No one could find the parts. But for $20 the barreled action and stock were a deal.
The owner of the pawn shop, who was a friend of mine, passed away and his son took over the shop. While cleaning up all the part for the rifle were located except the bolt. I bought the parts for another $20.
One day, about a year later, I got a call from the shop. The owner told my that he had found the bolt for the 597 and I could have it if I still needed it.
Now this all took place over a four year period. I put the gun back together and it had a few feeding issues that were easy to resolve. I did have to buy a new mag for it so, in total I had about $60 tied up in the rifle. It ended up being a great shooter, for a gun that started out as spare parts.
I later gave it to my nephew as a gift.

 

[George Dickel]

My grandson had a 10/22 that shot 6 inch patterns at 25 yards with every brand and type of ammo we put through it. Really soured me on that particular model. Last summer I shot a friends Charger and was quite surprised at it's accuracy. I may now look at getting a 10/22 as I have always liked the style of the rifle.

 

[ontarget]

Remington Viper. It was acceptable until my wife threw out the magazine. She thought it was a broken toy. It has never cycled 2 consecutive rounds since I found a replacement mag.

 

[Kookla]

Not saying that it's the worst, but it was the worst fitting .22- my dad's Remington Speedmaster. I am unable to comfortably use the iron sights. There's something about the gun that just rubs me the wrong way to boot.

 

[RedlegRick]

AR7

I second that. I've owned 4 because I'm something of a masochist that way.

Number 1 was a decent shooter, as was my third one. Two was horrendous. The only ammo it would accept with any semblance of reliability was Stinger, groups at fifty feet, not yards, were six to eight inches, and as someone above said, the barrel was so heavily leaded when I got it I had to leave it with a smith to run a patch through it.
When it was stolen out of my truck, I told the cops not to worry about it being misused, because it couldn't make it through a single magazine without jamming.
Number 4 didn't count, as I only owned it for about eighteen hours before trading it in part for a Sub-2000 about ten years ago.

 

[JFrame]

I'll go along with the votes for the AR7. I shot an original Armalite model, and it was a jam-o-matic. And when I COULD get it to fire, it wandered all over the paper... Couldn't tell if it was the crude sights and/or the barrel... And after a while, I didn't care...

 

[Bbear]

AR7. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

In college I worked at a summer camp. One of my responsibilities was to get the rifle range set up and ready for the kids. We had a bunch of single shot bolt action Remingtons that I don't believe anyone had ever cleaned. One night off, I drove home and grabbed my cleaning stuff and spent the next day cleaning those rifles. Found out we had two of the gallery smooth bores! No wonder no one could hit with those things.
The next year I started the year off cleaning those rifles again and in digging in a back storage building found a little trap machine and 3 boxes of the 'moskeet-o' targets. Went and ordered some boxes of rat shot and we had a great time popping those little 'skeeters' with them.

 

[Captcurt]

Remington Mohawk Nylon 10. The gun never jammed after several hundred rounds but the sights sucked and the trigger pull was probably 8-10 lbs. If you put it in a vice and was really careful with the trigger pull, it would shoot pretty close. If you wanted to hit anything off-hand you could forget it . Being Butt-ugly didn't help either.