Biggest Let Down You Ever Had From a Handgun

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Bullshooter

New member
Junk

Got a NIB S&W Model 910 a few years ago and at 25' barely managed to group 5 shots within 6". No consistency regardless of what ammo it was fed. It was a factory special (two tone) and I really liked the way it looked, but ended up selling it at a local gunshow. Turned around and bought a Taurus 92AFS which was uber reliable and very accurate (unfortunately, I also sold it months later).
 
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David Scott

New member
Can I count the first 1911 I was issued for training in the Army? My first experience with the legendary .45, and it rattled like an old farm truck. Its idea of "group" was all rounds in the same zip code. I was thinking, "THIS is the famous gun that won so many wars?" The Rangemaster at Fort Riley said I was just blaming the gun and could not shoot, but I swapped with the next guy and shot tight. The Rangemaster gave in and sent my first gun back to the Armorer with a nastygram attached. I got a fresh pistol and did quite well with it.

Outside of that, I do remember being disappointed that stuff was not blown into the air with a huge fireball the first time I fired a .357 Magnum. Watched too many cop shows, I guess.

I must be pretty lucky. Aside from a Llama revolver which I KNEW was cheap when I bought it, I've never bought a lemon.
 
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CoyDog

New member
Kahr P9. Grabbed the first one on my dealer's shelf this summer and handed over my hard-earned money. First trip to the range, it failed to fire during the first magazine. Somehow, the trigger wasn't engaging the striker every time, but you could keep pulling the trigger and it would go off after 4-5 pulls. Wonderful!

I wasn't feeling particularly charitable that day, so I drove straight back to the gun store and got my money back. The search for a decent 17 ounce 9mm continues...

Good Shooting, CoyDog
 
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Commygun

New member
Star BM 9mm. Bought it used but in good shape. Would
not fire a magazine without failures to feed. got rid
of it. Hope springs eternal in the hearts of men and
I bought a like-new Star BKM figuring the first was
a fluke ( I've heard many good things about these guns).
The BKM was even worse. The day after I bought it I traded
it for a Taurus PT-92C. Loved the feel and concept of the
BM/BKM but would never buy one again.
 
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Point Blank

New member
Sadly i hate to admit it but,my Ruger P97DC.Have never been able to fire 200 rounds without a jam.I have tried everything in the book to try to correct it with no sucess.Sending back to Ruger tommorrow to be repaired.What really piss's me off is it will cost me $25 to ship,sigh.
 
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CastleBravo

New member
Worst by far:

Para-Ordinance P-14. Looked great, felt great but...um... was a total failure as a firearm. It would not feed anything, including 230gr ball, reliably. When it did work, the accuracy was terrible. It mis-fed so badly that it caused massive and highly-visible bullet setback in FMJs and actually *caved in* hollowpoints. I now have a Kimber Classic Stainless Target that is a tackdriver.

Runner Up:

Glock 35. Since I liked my Glock 23 so much, I figured I couldn't go wrong getting a "super-accurate practical-tactical big daddy" version, right?

WROOOOOOONG.... the gun was 100% reliable but couldn't hit anything, ever. Unbelieveably bad accuracy. Turns out the barrel just sucked; when I replaced it with a 6" KKM unit in .357 Sig it became so accurate it was scary. Eventually replaced with a Glock 20C that is a fabulous pistol (and very very accurate, BTW).

C.B.
 
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Mike in VA

New member
Interarms PPK/S

Jamomatic POS. Couldn't cycle a full mag thru without a jam, didn't matter what kind of ammo, just wouldn't feed reliably. It was also a nasty gun to shoot. It was a handsome gun (stainless with rosewood grips) and it was accurate enough, but the recoil was quite harsh for such a little gun, and the short grip didn't help at all. After three trips back to Interarms with no improvement, I traded it for a Beretta 85. It may be a bit bigger and less concealable, but it fits my hand better, recoild is light, very accurate, and eminently reliable. M2
 
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9mmepiphany

New member
colt diamondback .22lr blued "6" barrel".

had the 4" model for years and could shoot it as well as my 6" k-22. got really excited when i heard colt was going to introduce a 6" model. "had to have one"

got i and changed the grips, you already know why if you have a diamondback, and took it out to shoot. brought the sights up and couldn't get a sight picture. the front sight blade was so short that i got mostly ramp/vent rib. "big let down"
 
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Snubnose

Moderator
The worst let down without a doubt was a Springfield Champion model I owned. This was a pre Loaded series model. Great looking pistol, but it just would not feed. Sent back to Springfield. It came back with the same problem. Sent to a gunsmith in my area, came back with the same problem. To top it all off the front sight popped out. Big piece o crap. Finally ended up selling that one.
 
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jimmy

New member
I had two "biggest" let-downs, both back in the early to mid-1980s.

The first was my brand-new Colt's 9mm Combat Commander. With its classic design, nice polished blue finish, and checkered walnut stocks, I was a proud owner--until I took it to the range. It wouldn't feed, extract, or eject. I got a stoppage literally every other round. In my limited experience at the time, I had actually expected it to work! Maybe it could have been fixed. But I was so disgusted I just returned it for a refund.

The second let-down was my first SIG, a P220 .45. I figured, hey, SIGs are ultra-reliable. Well, usually, but not always. During my first trip to the range with my new P220, the last round of every magazine nose-dived and jammed hard against the feed ramp, stopping the pistol cold. Apparently, SIG had made a bunch of bad mag followers that caused the problem. The SIG service department modified the followers that came with my pistol, and, after that, it worked fine. I still have it, but I haven't quite forgotten what a let-down it was when I first shot it.
 
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Point Blank

New member
Ruger P97.Jammed at least two times every hundred rounds.Sent it to Ruger and they replaced extractor and paid for shipping.Didnt fix it though as it still jammed every range visit with various kinds of ammo.Traded it towards a Savage 110.
 
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sig970

New member
G19

I was excited about owning my first Glock. I'd heard so much about them. This is the only gun I've ever sold. I won't call it a lemon because it wasn't, but the grip angle completely threw me, and I never got used to the trigger. Just a personal choice. I was a Glock disciple because of what I read, not from personal experience. It taught me to never buy a gun without shooting it first. I've never gone back to Glock, even though they make some very good guns.

S&W Sigma 9mm E & 40S&W VE

My brother bought the 40 and my friend Toni bought the 9mm. Boy, what a huge let down. We have other Pre-deal S&W's in our shooting group. Semi and Rev. excellent handguns. These were lemons from the start for one stand out reason. Oh, that trigger.:barf:
 
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ronin308

New member
Colt Lightweight Sporter .223, I expected this AR to be really nice because you all know "If its not a Colt its just a copy" ;) This AR had the worst lower/upper reciever fit that I've ever seen! The barrel on it looked okay in the picture when I ordered it but it was about as thin as a decent pen! lol I traded the Colt for a PWA (Which is in my opinion the nicest AR series)
 
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Bruce Dane

New member
Brand new American Western Arms "Peacekeeper". Great looking single action revolver but mechanically sooooo poor - light hammer fall caused failures to fire; trigger varied from extremely tight to so light you barely had to touch it. Sent it back twice to AWA for repair and they never did fix it. Surprisingly poor quality coupled with indifferent service from the factory made this one a major letdown.

My local gun shop, however, was great. They saved the day by giving me credit towards another purchase.
 
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