What was your worst handgun purchase?

[Bunnykid68]

Can only think of a few I regret not buying.

 

[Claddagh]

Two stand-outs: A NIB Llama XXII (small framed, '1911-ish', .22 semiauto) I ordered because I thought it'd make a nice little plinker and woods bumming pistol.

Inside, the lockwork looked as if it'd been fitted by a monkey with a wood rasp. On the first magazine through it I had two "doubles". When I dropped the slide on the second mag (finger OFF of the trigger and muzzle pointed at the ground) it discharged and blew a hole about 6" away from the toe of my boot.

It went back to Interarms, stayed there for almost three bleeding months and came back with replacement lockwork parts that functioned reliably for approximately 250 rds. Then the same sort of dangerous 'hammer-follow' type malfs all over again.

Tore it down and the engagement surfaces on that 'new' hammer and sear were already so worn that they would no longer hold. The leading edge of the sear was actually "rolled". IMO, the core problem must've been that no hardening process had even been attempted on whatever quasi-steel material Llama had whittled them out of.

Ended up selling it off at a substantial loss (with full disclosure) to an aquaintance who thought he could order his own parts and fix it. Never bought another Llama to this day.

The other was a used Colt Huntsman with a 6" barrel, an item that I'd hankered to own since I was a boy. In retrospect, I shouldn't have let the almost-too-reasonable asking price for its apparent condition cloud my judgement and looked it over much more critically before I plunked down my cash.

When I went to shoot it for the first time to sight it in, I couldn't drift the rear sight far enough to even get it into the black at 25 yds. The reason turned out to be that the barrel hadn't been installed correctly with the front sight square to the bore's axis. When examined more closely, it was canted off to the left of center considerably. The extractor relief cuts were lined up correctly, so I guess that either that was used to index the barrel installation or nobody noticed/cared that the front sight blade's slot was off-center before making that cut.

As I wasn't the original purchaser Colt had no obligation (or inclination) to fix it under warranty. As the estimates from both Colt and two gunsmiths to correct the problem amounted to as much to a tad more than I already had in it, it lanquished in the safe until a non-shooting collector liked its near-pristine cosmetic condition enough to buy it from me for what I paid for it.

 

[A5guy]

The jury is still 'out' on my Diamondback 380. Little guns like that gunk up fast. No big deal as it's reliable for 8 or 10 mags, but if I plan to shoot it more than that I've got to take everything to clean it to the range. Otherwise the trigger bars that set the sears load up and it starts having trigger reset issues.

 

[bullet]

sw 645

 

[Jack Ryan]

Ok, I was wondering if anyone else has bought a handgun they later regretted owning? You know, the one you think about or look at and go "what was I thinking?"

I'll start. In the 1990's I bought a Republic Arms Patriot 45. Yikes, that thing was awful. I could only get 2-3 shots off before it jammed and that was on a good day. I gave (yes gave) it away because I didn't want to rip anyone off by selling it. What a piece of junk.

How about you? What's your handgun horror story?

25acp anything but mine was a Raven.

 

[Fordtough25]

I can't think of any I "regret" buying. I regret selling plenty though

This!

 

[88E30M50]

My PPK was really rough for the first 500 or so rounds. It just would not function well and kept hanging up when chambering a round. I replaced a bunch of springs and polished the angle between the chamber and ramp and that helped a bunch. After that, it just needed a lot of shooting to work it in. It went from being the worst one in the safe to being my favorite to shoot. I can shoot that gun accurately faster than any other gun I have. After getting a couple of hundred clean rounds through it, it graduated to carry status and is used as a pocket BUG when I'm wearing cargo pants.

I also have a CZ 97 that was not great when I got it. It would not cycle reliably until I replaced the recoil spring. The spring that was in it would have been over taxed in a bic pen. It now runs really well.

 

[TRLREDY]

Sig P250. For being ambidextrous, the left handed controls didn't work worth a dern.

 

[LeeStreet]

Chiappa 1911-22. What a POS. I know, you get what you pay for.

 

[tgallmey]

my cz52 just sucks grip angle is to funny and it slips around the sights are ok but can be better when compared to a tokarev it recoils to much it doesnt usually lock back on the last round the potentially dangerous safety and ive had a bad history with it . . . . . .it just sucks but I keep it mostly because it goes bang and makes a really nice blunt instrument or fire starter

 

[Bapak2ja]

I never regretted a purchase. Extremely happy with my G26 and Taurus 709 Slim.

 

[FERLACH]

Wyoming Arms 45, slide stop would fall out after every 3 or 4 shots. Only in business couple years, guns were junk.

 

[dpzj96]

Cobra .38 derringer. I thought it would be fun at the time, but just a waste of money. Now it lives in my tackle box and gets shot about twice a year.

 

[Dewidmt]

You buy enough guns, over the years there are a few that are stinkers.
I bought a new PA-63 in 9mm Makarov, fired 3 shots and the firing pin broke, dealer made good on that one. Also a Jennings .22 that would only work every other shot. But all in all, I've been lucky!

 

[00BlasterResto]

I had a ruger p95dc that would drop the Mag every time you fired a round.

 

[boozoo]

So far it's a Beholla. Cut little WW I era pistol but I never did get it to feed and cycle right (yet).

 

[Amishman44]

I bought a Taurus 850 in .38+P...the cylinder jammed for every second shot. Sent it in for repairs twice...same result! Traded it for a Glock...and never bought another Taurus again! I learned my lesson the first time!

 

[ryan3326]

a Lorcin 9mm about 15 years ago. It completed the feed, fire & cycle routine about 25% of the time.

 

[spec4]

PPKS, chewed my hand up no matter how I tried to avoid it. Traded it back to the dealer for half what I paid for it. Live and learn. Should have bought the SIG P232.

 

[Bucky623]

My worst handgun purchase was a Jennings .22 that I got about twenty years ago. It was a jam-o-matic from the start. I never could fire a complete mag without a jam or two or three. I traded it for a Beretta 21A that turned out to be a great little handgun.