Single Worst Firearm You’ve Ever Owned, And Why?
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 6 months ago
At reddit/r/firearms there is an interesting discussion thread about the single worst firearm you’ve ever owned, and why?
Remington, Hi Point and Taurus play big in this thread. What firearm would you put in that category? What is the single worst firearm you’ve ever owned, and why?
On May 15, 2017 at 10:05 am, Fred said:
Sig P238. It would not run smoothly, jammed, feed failures, ejection fails. I tried six or seven different self defense rounds until I found one that would run (corbon) most of the time. I didn’t know enough about weapons or this one to figure it out let alone attempt to adjust/repair/tune it. Couldn’t put my life on the line with. Sold it. Don’t hold anything against the brand or model, this one gun just wouldn’t run for nothin’.
I have one requirement, only one, in a firearm; that it go bang every single time. The rest is gravy, some of it is good, but gravy.
On May 15, 2017 at 11:16 am, ambiguousfrog said:
Ruger SR762 gas piston rifle. Junk (imo for $1600). Should’ve read the blogs sooner. FTF & FTE with various ammo manufacturers. Sent back to Ruger, returned with new gas regulator. Fine, off to the range and same frustrations. Double feeds or jams during eject/feed. Also found magazine travel past mag stop on insert. Nothing wrong with magazines, issue with lower tolerances or something. Never seen that. I had more confidence in my own .223 build than this rifle. Returned again for a couple of weeks. They decided to refund my purchase with no questions asked. I wanted to like it. I suspect it’s quantity and not quality when coming up with their own piston version of a 7.62. You can’t survive on name recognition alone. I’ll give them second thoughts in the future. On a friendly recommendation I rolled my refund and a little extra into a PWS MK216 based on AK piston in AR platform. It ate everything I put through it, including reloads without having to change regulator settings.
On May 15, 2017 at 4:15 pm, Joseph Martino said:
While I was stationed in Thailand, a Bangkok police officer I worked with gave me a gun the Department had seized from a criminal. It was a 12-gauge pistol. Fired 12-gauge shotgun shells. Thjs type of pistol was common among Thai criminals, and the type was nicknamed “Kwai Thai,” or Thai Buffalo. They were all hand-made, and didn’t always use good materials. The officer had a scar on his hand from when he’d test-fired another confiscated one. Obviously I wasn’t going to fire it. When I got it back to the States I had the barrel permanently plugged by a gunsmith, to “demil” it, and prevent anyone from ever loading it. It was really a gun that scared me more than it would scare anyone I pointed it at. Now it’s an inert souvenir.
On May 15, 2017 at 9:48 pm, Ned said:
DPMS G2 308 SASS. Don’t have time to write a treatise regarding what’s wrong with this thing. Suffice to say I find it to be in the same category as Remington Etronics.
Funny, because an old DPMS 5.56 is the most accurate rifle I own.
On May 17, 2017 at 12:20 am, Maxwell said:
Phoenix HP-22. Aside from generally being a cheap piece of junk, It has a magazine safety that prevents you from dropping the magazine when engaged. If you drop the magazine first, the safety will not engage.
I had all kinds of FTEs, until I obtained an extended barrel for it, then it seemed to work pretty well, and accuracy wasn’t terrible for a .22 purse pistol. These days, I’d prob’ly see how difficult it would be to remove/disable that safety mechanism. I still see them selling NIB at gun shows, cheap… I don’t recommend it.
(@ Fred: I have a SIG P380, only problem I’ve had, even with JHPs, has been due to off-brand magazines. Accuracy-wise, it does favor SIG brand ammunition as well.)
On May 17, 2017 at 12:20 am, Maxwell said:
Amendment: SIG P238. D’oh!