NFOA MEMBERS FORUM
General Categories => General Firearm Discussion => Topic started by: Hardwood83 on October 30, 2009, 03:32:38 PM
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I'll start the festivities. About 10yrs ago- in the midst of the Clinton AWB- I decided I wanted an AR. Being young, ignorant and foolish (is that redundant?) I bought the cheapest I could find: A new Hesse Arms HAR-15. If you are not familiar with the 'Hesse' brand google it or ask about it on ar15.com, where it's referred to as "the Yugo of firearms". To say it was a piece of crap is insulting to turds everywhere. The lower was cast aluminum and fit & finish was drunken monkey level. I attempted to fire about 3 mags through it- never more then 3 rounds without some sort of failure to load, fire or eject despite changing the mag. I learned my lesson, not having the heart to pass it on to some other poor sucker directly I sold it to a pawn shop for about a 20% loss. I have only sold a VERY few guns- but the Hesse hardly qualifies. They later changed their name (due to bad rep) to Vulcan and may have changed again. You've been warned. Who's next?
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Ok, I'll jump in next!!
About 15-16 years ago(long before I turned into a gun-nut), my new wife and I went to the Westfair, IA gun show. I wanted to get her a little .22 semi-auto pistol, and by little...I mean cheap. Well, I found the perfect specimen...a brand new chrome with pink grips Lorcin .22 pistol. What a bargain for only $79 plus tax!! I thought we had hit the jackpot...that is, until we tried to fire it. Oh, it fired alright, but on the second or third round the firing pin also pierced the rim of the case and proceeded to powder-burn my index finger and that area between the finger and thumb. Kinda hurt a bit. I figured that it was just a bad round or something and decided to just go ahead and try to finish out the rest of the mag. The rest of that mag went fine, but it happened twice more on the next mag. So much for that day, I was done getting my hand burnt. Luckily, I had no more problems with that gun as it was stolen less than a month later. I hope the damn thing blew up in the thief's hand.
Lesson learned, 99% of the time you get what you paid for.
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While there are no BAD guns........ some are less good than others....... they need more work......
I have one such money pit: A bubba-ed Gewehr 88. A guy gave it to me for free...... but fixing the headspace (reciever and bolt SN did not match), getting the hacksawed barrel squared/crowned, buying the unobtainium alloy ammo and then brass,bullets, and dies for it set me back further than a new Remmy 700 in a useful caliber would have.......
.....come to think of it, I have a minor collection of such basket cases....... guns in need of a gun doctor, but fixing them would cost more than they are worth.........
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I bought a Chinese Type 53 Mosin for $35. As Mosins go they're somewhat rare, but this one was worth precisely $35. It was covered in Chinese dirt and the barrel had only a trace of rifling left.
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That would be my Ishapore Enfield 2A1 in 7.62X51. Does not feed from the magazine at all, has canted sights, and very generous headspace.
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Taurus PT-111 Millennium
My Bryco Jennings chrome .380 was a fine piece of machinery compared to the Taurus
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Ouch- that is NOT a compliment. A friend bought a Jennings .380 nib (for $69 IIRC) it was awful.
I've had good luck with taurus revolvers- never had a taurus semi-auto, but have heard/read they are hit & miss.
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I once had a Taurus revolver as well. Tracker 5-Shot .45 acp.
It was a decent affordable revolver. Lesson learned with that one though, make sure to use loc-tite otherwise hot loads make things come loose...... Like the cylinder falling out ;D
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Well I feel pretty fortunate that I have never had a bad one. I guess the worst would be a Mossberg 12 gauge that I bought for Pheasant when I was 15. it weighed about 12 lbs, and was soon gone in favor of a light 20ga
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I know that there are people out there that swear by them, but the worst I ever has was a Jennings .22LR. I just could not get the thing to eject the used casings, had to hand remove the case after every shot. I kept it about a month and then gave it to a friend. He has cursed me ever since. :)
Ron
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I'll jump in with some Taurus hate -
I had a 24/7 Pro 9mm that was reliable for about a year and fed all types of factory ammo. After that, I started getting light strikes. Sold it and bought a CZ SP-01.
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I had a Raven .25 Auto. It fit in a pocket just fine and it was actually pretty reliable. But...
I had to hold it "just right". I could only wrap my middle finger around the grip, with my ring and pink fingers beneath the grip. If I tried holding it with my middle and ring fingers, when the slide cycled, it would open up a gash on my thumb like you wouldn't believe.
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I had a Raven .25 Auto. It fit in a pocket just fine and it was actually pretty reliable. But...
ROTF I have one of those in my vault right now!
I worry about the safety on these, it just does not seem to be all that ... uhhh .... safe. Pretty wimpy from what I can see. But not to worry, you gotta be a mule to actually pull the trigger. Get to be every bit of 15 pounds trigger pull on mine.
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Don't have mine anymore. I'm pretty thick headed. I sold it for $20 after it cut me the 3rd time. ;D
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Hi Chris Z : I purchased a NEW Taurus PT111 Ti, The model with a tungsten slide. After just a short time the magazine latch broke and would not hold a mag. in place. I called taurus, with absolutely no reply, found the name of the CEO and wrote him a certified letter return receipt requested. He received the letter, no reply. I then made photogrphs of the firearm with serial no. and model no. and once again described the problem, even showed the vacant mag. release slot and sent these certified mail. After two more mailings I gave up. I'm a retired tool and die maker, have my own small machine shop, so, I made a release button.
You may guess that I'll NEVER,NEVER own another Taurus. Poor Man
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S0 much for Life Time warranty.
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S0 much for Life Time warranty.
The reason I got rid of my Taurus rather than putz around with the warranty is that Taurus has a reputation of keeping a gun for 3 months, not repairing it, and sending it back. With shipping coming in over $50, I cut my losses and bought the gun I should have bought in the first place.
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Rem 700 ADL 25-06, horrible trigger, and doesn't shoot ANYTHING well...
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Intratec TEC-22 Rim Fire Race Gun
Never once went through a full magazine, no matter what ammo I fed it.
Was so bad that I traded it for a pocket knife.
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Any
Revolver
By
ROSSI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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SemperFiGuy: I second that!
I bought a Rossi Model 462 2" snub nose in .357 Mag over two years ago. It worked fine for a while (multiple times to the range) and about 150 rounds through it. Then after about a year using the .357 rounds it would lock the cylinder and jam up after a few rounds. The .38's would work fine but with the mag loads it was jamming on me. I had to bash it against my knee to get the cylinder to swing out. It seems it only is good for 38's now.
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My worst gun was the Kel-Tec PF9 pistol in 9mm. I had bought it when it was pretty new on the market (about 6-8months). I really liked how small and slim it was...I could even carry it tucked away in my pajamas. However its performance on the range was a joke. Every time I fired, the magazine would pop out. I tried to put my pinkie under the mag and press against it to keep it in. That did not work either......with the recoil it still would pop out. I fired about 35 rounds that day and then decided to take it home and get rid of it. I bought this gun for concealed carry. Maybe for plinking the gun would be tolerable but I had no use for it. My Cousin then asked me to give it another chance so that he could try it out. So we went out again. Same thing happened again to him and this time another problem surfaced. It failed to fire twice. The times it failed to fire the primer had a faint dent in it. He only fired it about 15 times this time. I took it home and traded it in for the Rossi which as mentioned above turned out to be another problem child. The Rossi however seems ok with the .38 specials.
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Reply to Dan Cirk:
Here's a thought on .357 revolver jams, whether in a Rossi or any other pistol.
Sometimes with a heavy .357 powder load and a light cannelure crimp--or no crimp at all--the recoil will cause the bullets to start backing out of their cartridge cases. Then the bullet noses will jam against the revolver's frame and lock up the cylinder.
So--the bullets might have been a factor.
But----as we both know----the Rossi is still a weak piece of work.
Semper Fi
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Thanks for the tip Semper Fi Guy. That is exactly what my uncle, a police officer, told me might be the case.
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Phoenix 22 semi auto. Worked fine at the range til one day it self destructed i e both safeties quit working at the same time.
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Worst firearm I've owned? For me, it was a Walther P22. It worked alright if I fed it premium, expensive mini-mags from CCI; but it FTFed, FTEed, and malfed constantly when I'd run bulk through it. Though, I suppose it was a good handgun for practicing clearing drills... ::)
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A buddy had a p22 seemed like a decent gun, and liked the way it fit my hand, however, you are absolutely not alone, same with his, it was extremely high maintenance in the food dept.
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I had a small semi-auto 22, I think it was a p22 and it went full auto on me. Pull the trigger once and it would fire 3 or 4 rounds. I took it back to the place of purchase (no longer in business) and they fixed it free of charge but I never trusted it again.
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A pot metal skeleton framed Bronco 22lr single shot rifle back in 1980 when I was in Alaska. They made the same gun in a slightly larger frame that fired a .410 shotshell.