The worse rifle you ever owned
- Thread starter KDX
- Start date
I'm about to buy a big game rifle, after almost 20 years away from the sport. This thread has been very helpful.
Like several others, I had a Ruger 77 tang safety, in 7mm mag, that kicked like a mule. It was accurate, though.
My brother's winchester 94, with a serial number in the 2,000,000 range, was poor quality. A bullet would pop out of the mag, under the ramp, when you levered the action.
My Rem. 597 wouldn't shoot a full clip, without jamming.
On a positive note, I bought a real little gem this year. For $200, this Savage bolt action 22 is the best I've ever shot. The accutrigger looks funny, but it sure works.
Like several others, I had a Ruger 77 tang safety, in 7mm mag, that kicked like a mule. It was accurate, though.
My brother's winchester 94, with a serial number in the 2,000,000 range, was poor quality. A bullet would pop out of the mag, under the ramp, when you levered the action.
My Rem. 597 wouldn't shoot a full clip, without jamming.
On a positive note, I bought a real little gem this year. For $200, this Savage bolt action 22 is the best I've ever shot. The accutrigger looks funny, but it sure works.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Sorry to disappoint you. I sold my mini-14 in 1985.
Savage Model 64B, the 10 round magazine should have just been pinned at 5 since trying to push the last 5 rounds into it would nearly leave my thumb bleeding. Also, who ever thought up the idea of using a pressure clip to fix the barrel to the receiver should have been fired before production. Too easy to strip threads and good luck on finding a heli-coil to fix it.
I can say the only gun I have ever had any issues with was a Mossberg 22LR semi-auto circa 1980. It took six guns to find one that worked and kept working for more then 25 rounds. I think it is a boat anchor at some fishing lake in northern Sask. right now.
Have had a few that were really inaccurate, no matter what I tried and a couple that just kicked the crap out me and really should not have done so.
The Husqvarna featherweight in 270 nearly gave me a brain concussion, yet still turned in cloverleaf sub 1" groups at 100 yards.
Had two 1894 30-30 Winchesters that were about 4 years difference in age (1903 & 1907), both had nearly perfect bores, the 1907 gun was a 90% gun and would not keep all its shots on a standard sighting in target at 100 yards. The 1903 looked like it had been dragged through the desert behind a camel, and used to hold the coffee pot over the camp-fire. Yet it would shoot 1 1/2" groups consistently at 100 yards.
Had an 1892 Winchester 44-40 which would throw 200 FP bullets downrange like you throw a handful of rice. We tried a patched 0.420 pure lead round ball in the thing and it would put five shots into a toonie at 50 yards, if you kept the bore clean.
All guns have their own personality just as varied as their owners.
No gun is perfect in everyone's eye, since there is always some guy who would cry and whine about the something, even if not deserved.
Cheers
Have had a few that were really inaccurate, no matter what I tried and a couple that just kicked the crap out me and really should not have done so.
The Husqvarna featherweight in 270 nearly gave me a brain concussion, yet still turned in cloverleaf sub 1" groups at 100 yards.
Had two 1894 30-30 Winchesters that were about 4 years difference in age (1903 & 1907), both had nearly perfect bores, the 1907 gun was a 90% gun and would not keep all its shots on a standard sighting in target at 100 yards. The 1903 looked like it had been dragged through the desert behind a camel, and used to hold the coffee pot over the camp-fire. Yet it would shoot 1 1/2" groups consistently at 100 yards.
Had an 1892 Winchester 44-40 which would throw 200 FP bullets downrange like you throw a handful of rice. We tried a patched 0.420 pure lead round ball in the thing and it would put five shots into a toonie at 50 yards, if you kept the bore clean.
All guns have their own personality just as varied as their owners.
No gun is perfect in everyone's eye, since there is always some guy who would cry and whine about the something, even if not deserved.
Cheers
Not calling you crazy...just a little inexperienced maybe. The vast majority of "Remchesters" when bought new from the factory require at least a bedding job to realize true accuracy potential. Unless of course you're talking Tikka T-3's that are the greatest gift to shooters since the invention of smokeless powder.
All a Tikka requires is a loving owner to see past thier butt-ugly looks and truly believe the hype!!!
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Me too!!!
Remmy 597 22 magnum. It was reliable, fed reliably but the metal it was made of is biodegradable. The receiver steel was so soft, with couple of hunderd of rounds, the the scope with bases fell off. The the bolt handle fell off shortly after and would not stay in even though I took it apart and did some modifications. Soft soft crappy steel. The ramp rear sight also crappy and soft, you could bend the thing with your fingers. My friend who had a 22 LR model had the same issues and worse, especially his tended to fire out of battery which was pretty scary. I sold mine on EE for parts and I indicated the issues to the seller. I will never buy Remington for as long as I live. I am fond of Marlins....but the old Marlins, the ones prior to Remington take over. Now Marlington (or Remlin?), seems to have same issues as Remington. I recently got a Marlin 17 SVT which seems OK (won't feed from the mag until you actually lift the mag from the bottom) and the holes for the bases were drilled as if by a drunk, not in streight line at all. Had to buy special windage adjustable bases to compensate. I will steer clear of new Marlins also.
well said. i bought a 1950 336RC that patterned 5"groups at 50m. I cut a half inch off the end of the bbl, recrowned it and installed a silicon dampener btwn the mag and barrel and bedded the forestock and it now prints 1.5" groups at 100m all day long hot or not with a williams peepsight.
I actually enjoy sussing out the issues with alot of guns that otherwise have a good reputation.... that being said a POS can sometimes be just that. nothing but a headache.
It was abrand new one!!! And I have tried to forget as much about it as possible!!
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Come to think of it, my first 22 LR semi-auto rifle was some Lakefield Mossberg 351K or something like that??
It had the cheesy fold down front plastic handgrip. I could not get through ten shots without at least one malfunction.
Well some dude at the gun club had a Winchester Model 490 I wanted, and he wanted my Lakefield piece of crap, and I even told him straight up it was a jamamatic! He still wanted it, and I got the better part of that trade by far.
Most of the trouble I've had were with .22's
Rem nylon 66, didn't matter what kind of ammo,jammed regularly
Lakefield bolt repeater, wouldn't feed properly
Have Rem 581 that doesn't like a full mag, bought 3 new clips, hasn't helped
had some cheapo spanish/turkish double shotguns that seemed to like operating on one side only on a pretty regular basis.
Rem nylon 66, didn't matter what kind of ammo,jammed regularly
Lakefield bolt repeater, wouldn't feed properly
Have Rem 581 that doesn't like a full mag, bought 3 new clips, hasn't helped
had some cheapo spanish/turkish double shotguns that seemed to like operating on one side only on a pretty regular basis.
Same model. Same results. Even with a 2.5x scope on the POS Mini I could easily outshoot it with an open-sighted surplus Swedish Mauser.
The two happiest days for a Mini 14 owner are the day he gets it and the day he sells it.
My worst gun was a CIL 950T which was a Savage 110 target.
The POS gun wouldn't group worth a dam. Had it to the range and the best groups I got with it was 4"+ groups at 100 yds. We moved back to 300 yds and got 16" groups. I brought along a Swede 96/38 with an extremely crappy barrel and I got groups of 4" to 5" at 300 yds. The 950T had such a lite trigger you had to close the bolt slowly to prevent it from firing a round. Had the trigger adjusted, and work on the bedding but only improved the groups by a fraction. I was up front with its problems when I sold it, but they still bought it. They were hand loaders and I only shot surplus ammo, it may have worked better for them.
The POS gun wouldn't group worth a dam. Had it to the range and the best groups I got with it was 4"+ groups at 100 yds. We moved back to 300 yds and got 16" groups. I brought along a Swede 96/38 with an extremely crappy barrel and I got groups of 4" to 5" at 300 yds. The 950T had such a lite trigger you had to close the bolt slowly to prevent it from firing a round. Had the trigger adjusted, and work on the bedding but only improved the groups by a fraction. I was up front with its problems when I sold it, but they still bought it. They were hand loaders and I only shot surplus ammo, it may have worked better for them.
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- Location
- Eastern Edge of the Foothills
My worst one was a Ruger MkI Tang safety in 7Rem Mag. The first rifle I bought for myself. I bought it used, and I couldn't get it to do better than 1.5" at 100 yards. And that was only on occasion, not consistent mostly it was just over 2" groups. I tried all sorts of factory ammo, and all sorts of handloading combinations. I tried sanding out the barrel channel, I tried bedding it [myself]. At the end of a couple years of playing around and Hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent it was doing about 3" groups. I realize much of the loss in accuracy was my fault, but the rifle started out doing rather poorly before I messed it up. I sold it and was forth coming with the fact that I couldn't get it to shoot well. Right before I sold it, though, I did put down a 4x4 Mule Buck with it!
Stoeger 2000, Take one shot and fight to get the G** D*mm choke out. I gave that POS away practically.
Rem 700 BDL could not shoot more than one shot and and get a hit anywhere close to the first one. It was binding on the barrell and stock, traded it at P&D for a Tikka T3 Lite.
Rem 700 BDL could not shoot more than one shot and and get a hit anywhere close to the first one. It was binding on the barrell and stock, traded it at P&D for a Tikka T3 Lite.
