Biggest Let Down You Ever Had From a Handgun

[M58]

The first Sig I ever got; 220 early import; would not shoot hollow points without jams--ball ammo was fine.
The let down was that I had saved up for a Sig for Xmas and had my hopes up too high. The 228 and 229 have been perfect.
But I still remember the 220 and the disappointment.

 

[HankB]

Nickel plated Colt Mk IV Series 70 Government Model. When I got it - new - it was a jammamatic with everything from hardball to hollowpoints. After going through Colt's alleged "warranty service" three times, it was STILL a jammamatic with all ammo. Changing magazines, changing brands of ammo - nothing helped. That POS was my last Colt. Traded it for a Smith 686 which has yet to malfunction in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Charlie D]

Mine was an American Derringer .357 double barrel. I bought it to be a "pocket gun." It was quite a while ago and I may remember incorrectly, but I =believe= the "safety" had no detent or much resistance and there was no hammer block. I had the impression it would fire if dropped on the hammer. I traded it "as new" with the usual depriciation for something I liked better.

 

[BigMike]

Glock 21. It was fussy on what I fed it, and its trigger actually broke on me(spring broke). I took it to AroTek and got the extended slide release and mag release(both very nice), but eventually it would jam again. It was nothing like my G19! I traded it for a new 870 HD a ton of shells,and an extended mag tube and i haven't looked back.

Mike

 

[czman]

Quantum, I rarely if ever sell any gun, I collect them and enjoy the routine of inventory and touch up maintenance that goes with them. Besides the 30's not eating anything and keeping it does not impair the purchase of other pieces in any way. Besides when I look at it, It really makes me appreciate my CZ's. .....CZ.....

 

[Onslaught]

Geez... I feel pretty relieved... my "worst gun ever" was a cheap piece'a crud... If I'd payed big bucks like some of you guys and gotten the same result, I'd have been REALLY upset!

The worst ABSOLUTE piece of garbage I ever bought was a brand new AMT .45 DAO Backup. $240 NIB. Ejected the brass directly into my forehead! Jammed closed forever after about 40 rounds, and had to go back to the factory for repairs. THEN, it got worse!!! I called AMT after about 8 weeks to ask them when my gun would be fixed, and their HONEST TO GOODNESS reply was... "when it shows up at the gunshop that mailed it to them".

Sold the AMT back to the gunshop (after it finally came back about 4 weeks later) and bought a Taurus 85UL. What a trade! Not one problem so far. Good snake gun, good "woods" gun.

 

[10CFR]

I bought a new Colt .380 Gov't. model several years ago. It was accurate and fit my hand well, but I could not get it to feed even a single magazine of ANYTHING, even hardball. If I had known then the simple things that can be done to one to make it cycle, such as smoothing up the ramp, etc., I might have gotten it fixed, but at the time, I was new to semi-auto handguns. As far as what I got out of it, I virtually gave the gun away.


Oh, I almost forgot. . . I had an Auto Ordinance Thompson .45 auto. What a piece that was. I couldn't hit the side of a barn with it, unless maybe I had thrown it at the barn.

 

[J. Fielder]

Springfield "loaded" Ultra Compact 1911

The gun jammed 1-2 rounds per mag, regardless of ammo. I had a gunsmith look at it twice and sent it off to Springfield twice. Got a new barrel to improve accuracy, which worked, though reliability is still 1 jam per 100 rounds. I'd wouldn't bet my life on it.

So what did I get? A $1,500 gun (shipped it four times!) that's not remotely reliable enough for combat, and too inaccurate for target shooting. It's fairly pretty, I guess, though I grit my teeth every time I reach past it for the SIG. Just can't bear to sell a $1,500 gun, though, for $250

 

[frbank6]

EAA Witness Compact 45. Never successfully fed a whole mag of anything.
Beretta Tomcat. Broken firing pin at 150 rounds.

 

[Ala Dan]

Greeting's Everyone:

For me, out of all the Sig's that I own the one that was the biggest disappointment had to be the .40 caliber P229.
This firearm would not group center mass; regardless of what
ammo one used. All my other Sig's have proved to be excellent; and they are in order of preferance: the P220A in
.45ACP, P228 and P226 in 9m/m. Finally, traded the P229 even-up for a NIB pre-sellout S&W 629 Classic .44 Magnum, and have never looked back.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[bullseye1]

The biggest let down from a handgun was a Glock 17. The accuracy was horrible. The trigger pull felt like the trigger on a Nintendo controller. Felt recoil and muzzle flip was way too strong for 9mm. The gun would jam about every 20 rounds. The frame cracked. To top it all off, the finish wore away and the magazines began to rust inside on the metal supports. I ended up selling the plastic piece of inperfection to a guy who needed it for parts.

I since moved up to true perfection with a SIG P220 and a P239 in .40 and wouldn't think of buying another Glock.

[Edited by bullseye1 on 01-09-2001 at 04:56 PM]

 

[krept]

How is this for a letdown?

My VERY first pistol was a Para P13. Bought it because I grew up on my fathers 1911.

Within 300 rounds, the rear sight came loose and would almost fall off if the pistol was tipped on its side. The slide would fail to lock back at the end of almost every full magazine and the POS would fail to feed, stovepipe and eject brass all over the place! Needless to say, I was extremely depressed and very disappointed. I used to joke with my friends that "one shot is better than none" because I was so certain that it would jam on the second shot. Keep in mind, it malfd on all weights and types of ammo but the fact that it couldn't feed 230gr ball was just devastating to my confidence with that piece. Not such a great introduction to the world of shooting. My confidence was so shot that the only way I would feel comfortable was to trade it for something else NIB.

I ended up trading it back to the store it came from (completing the circle of karma) for a NIB USP .45 and could not have been any happier. The USP is now what I consider my first "real" gun.

 

[hksigwalther]

Two more 1911s

AMT/IAI Hardballer Long Slide and Javalina.

They look so great with 7" bbls but I think I only got 1 or 2 magfuls thru the Jav without a jam (total for both guns).

 

[johnbt]

Happy ending, but still a disappointment

New stainless bull bbl. Ruger 22/45 in 1993. Wouldn't halfway feed or eject anything.
Took it back to the store and eventually got them to give me another one for it.
The second one was worse and split every fourth or fifth bullet in half on the end of the feedramp.
I called Ruger and politely said that it wasn't as nice as my 1972 Single Six or 1985 Service Six. They said send it.

They replaced the bolt, polished everything inside they could reach, set the trigger at exactly 2.5 pounds, and refunded my shipping.

Must have been a slow day at the repair center.

John

 

[Jspy]

Although this is still a work in progress, I would have to say my Kimber Royal Carry is not living up to expectations.I have not been able to shoot it as much as I would like, but so far accuracy has been so-so. I have also had some failures with the slide locking back, although I am sure that is more of a magazine problem. Right now it is hard for me to stick with it, and I seem to be reaching past it for something else to shoot when the time comes to go to the range. Oh well, its only money.

 

[DarkStar]

Desert Eagle...

No doubt the biggest disappointment was a Desert Eagle .357. Just had to have that big auto... close inspection at home showed metal eating moths had devoured most of the frame under the grip... returned to MRI and they sent back the frame full of silly putty in the voids drooling little rust lines... called and requested a new frame and returned the old frame again... new frame looked just like the old one, same voids, same rust, my initials engraved into the frame New serial number tho... guess they did change the frame out... sold it without firing a shot and I never say anything nice about Magnum Research.

Darryl

 

[RikWriter]

I would say a KelTec P11 9mm. Heard lots of good things about the pistol but when I bought one I couldn't hit a damn thing with it even as close as seven yards.

 

[tubeshooter]

I'll add my $.02...

Had a Taurus 605 (stainless, DAO). Used to lock up sometimes...not much, but enough to be out of the running for defense, which is all the gun is good for anyway.

I bought the gun used, and it was probably one from the first couple of years of production. I'm willing to write it off to that, since the model 85 has performed flawlessly and they've made a ton of those.

It's OK, as long as you find out the truth about your defense piece *before* the fan turns brown (to the best of your ability).

-tubeshooter

 

[444]

You guys made me think of a couple more lemons I ended up with. I had the Glock .45 ACP whatever the model number is. After a couple hundred rounds the slide locked back after every shot. I took a CCW class and bought a summer and winter gun at the time. I got a Colt .380 Mustang for the summer gun. During the qualification phase the back sight fell off.
George, I thought about getting the very finish you mention on the Hi-Power, but I am going to let the finish go for awhile. Like I said, I shoot with a lot of gun snobs and I want to pull a fast one on them. Once the novelty wars off I will probably do something then.

 

[IanS]

Ruger MK II .22, the thing would not come apart for cleaning. When I went to sell it the gunshop owner used a plier to take it apart and the bolt hit him in the head leaving a big welt. I embarrasingly apologized for the bad behavior from my gun. The thing also jammed every 3rd or 4th round.

Ruger Vaquero, fine guns but the empty casing from one of the cylinder wouldn't "eject". Scrubbed the insides til I thought I was going out of my mind. Still had the problem. Again, I took a plier with me every time I went to the range to wrench it out. Sold it but for different reasons.


HK USP/C jam-amatic and every ejection was into my face. Still haven't gotten it back from HK.