There is a thread about what gun U would reach for first if ya needed it - so, what gun do U regret buying?
My first gun was a Glock 17 - it was jammomatic city. It never worked right. I knew that was unusual, so it didn'ts top me from buying other Glocks later - but, this gunw as horrible...
Although I don't regret buying them, but for all intents and purposes the North American "mini revolvers" in .22 long and .22 mag and the Bond Arms .410/.45 Long Colt 3 1/2 barrel Derringer are not my first choice for defensive purposes as they are single action and would be somewhat awkward to use in an emergency situation. But I do however love 'em the "mini's" are neat little guns more of a novelty than any thing else. And the Bond Arms, well, all one has to do is look down the double barrels and see two 3 inch PDX1 Defender.410 mag shotgun shells staring you in the face, and all hostilities may cease to exist without firing a shot, one intimidating little bastard, too bad they don't make this in 12 gauge! Same for my MAC 10, .45 ACP doubt I'll ever shoot it, too clumsy and heavy, but it sure looks sinister and with a 32 round mag hanging out the handle, will settle any argument or group discussion. Another is my Henry "Mare's Leg" in .45 Long Colt, too short for a rifle, too long for a pistol but an absolute work of art, yeah I coulda' bought the rifle, but the damn thing looks so cool! These are my hadda' haves, but serve no real purpose. Same for pistol variants of the AK and AR platforms.
Over the past six decades I've bought and sold a lot of guns - pistols, rifles, shotguns, flint locks, cap and ball, machine guns and a cannon. The only gun I regret buying is the Glock 17 I still own.
I've been able to adjust/fit the trigger or adapt to the trigger pull on almost all of the guns - :smt076 except this darn Glock!
A couple. None were disasters but didn't fit my shooting needs or physical/ergo preferences:
1. Stag 3G(L). I great collection of components at a good price but bad weighting/center of gravity. Felt pretty heavy and very barrel heavy.
2. Browning BPS 28". Excellent design, perfect for left hander. Probably a great hunter but not interesting from a HD/SD/tactical needs perspective. Mea culpa for buying it.
3. H&K USP9Full Size. This is a great gun in all respects but just a little big for my hand. Note to self: test dry-fire and preferably rent to shoot a perspective purchase. I usually do but did not in this case. And I still use it and shoot it but the Compact model would have been better. I'm not suffering here but just saying.
So to repeat, no disasters and two out of three could have been prevented by me doing a bit more homework. Lesson learned. Perhaps.
I should add that living here in CA, it is hard to 'try before you buy' because the selection (particularly handguns) is very limited. So many times you need a SSE (single shot exemption) to be able to legally purchase a gun here that is not on the standard DoJ approved list. When not listed, its unlikely that you will find it in a local shot to dry test it and thus its a roll of the dice based on reviews and other commentaries as to whether it is likely a good buy. I'd rather take that risk than be limited to an old model of an uninteresting design that is listed. To be fair, this only applies (more or less) to handguns and not rifles.
B
No regrets per se, but my Ruger SR-9 has to go. Kicks hot cases directly back overhead at me. Got one stuck in my safety goggles once and burned an eyelid. Considering that I love everything Ruger has ever made, this one is my oddity.
Just one I can remember....a High Standard 12 ga. auto....a real jammer...sold it about 6 months after I bought it for the
same amount...so no real loss financially.
Well as a youth or young adult (that should have known better), how would one go about learning how something worked? Tear it apart no less. That has cost me a small fortune with guns, but I tell you, with my books of exploded parts diagrams, there's not many a gun that I cannot take apart and put back together in short order leaving out of course, guns that need specific jigs or tools as a part of their takedown or assembly. Well during my stupider days of this I had bought some months prior a Llama 22LR that was a close scaled down copy of the 1911 and now that I know better it was closer than I could ever imagine to a pre-series seventy model. During take down I was noticing the various parts and imagining just how the parts would interact and the function of the gun as a whole. It was then that I noticed the disconnector and what it did. Smart, devious me, I figured that if a guy was to file off the protruding portion of the disconnector to where nothing got disconnected, one might just have a pistol that went full auto. Mind you again, this was in my young adult life where I actually was still more a kid and should have known better than that. Well what I created was a self loading single shot pistol. Since the slide is meant to "ease" the hammer back, when it was going forward it also "Eased" the hammer forward and just easy enough for there not to be enough force for the hammer to set off the next round. So I'd shoot and end up with a loaded gun and the hammer down on a live round. Cock the hammer and I could single shoot one more time. Only on a couple of accidental firings did the gun ever go full auto and it would drain the entire magazine and I'd be back to a self loading single shot as I'd have to put in a brand new magazine to get the next shot off.
Which leads me to the gun I never should have bought. Also at this time I was trying out various shotguns (my first gun ever was a Winchester model 37A in 12 gauge). So while at the pawn shop I noticed a nice looking SXS European shotgun in 12 gauge that I had to have. Again my devious wheels were turning and I though "Sir, Would you be interested in a trade?" I then showed him the Llama and we both looked at each other's guns and the deal was struck. Him with my modified Llama 22LR and me with the European SXS and both were happy little clams. I actually thought that I had got the better end of the deal and all else being equal I probably would have had that. I finally got to the outdoor range (hillside stop off everyone used for shooting) and a friend would throw trap for me and I for him. We had a ground launcher and a hand held one as well so if we wanted we could get three birds in the air at the same time. Sticking just to two (from the ground trap machine) I'd fire and hit the first bird and then nothing. I immediately thought it was recoil operated and that I limp shouldered it or something similar? This was tried several more times with all having the very same result? Darn. I then took a closer look and realized that the lock work for the entire right side was missing. No pin, hammer, or springs. Not anything at all. All I could do then was laugh hysterically about the deal of the century I had for my traded broken gun, only to get a single barrel SXS. Lesson learned was that there are some dishonest pawn brokers just as there are young stupid youth. Never happened again and I became a very honest person and wouldn't think of such a thing after I found Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Smithy.
The gun purchase I REALLY regret was at a gun show in Aledo, IL, I was walking along and there were CASES of Remington Mfgr Springfield 1903 30-06's for $25. So after careful (I thought) reasoning, I bought ONE! should have bought a dozen. Worst thing was they also had cases of M-1 Garands for $60. Well silly me thought that was WAY TO EXPENSIVE so with more of that careful thought --- I didn't buy even one of them.
Arizonite
arizonite, I as with you have a laundry list of should have/could haves in my past, but it would also be like the very first time we all could buy ten shares of microsoft and what that would have done for us right now if we'd kept it? Split after split and raising stock prices, we'd all be rich to the nth degree. Hind sight is a wonderful thing if you chose to be on the right side of the fence, otherwise it's just annoying to realize that the path we chose was not the best one. As long as we choose wisely when it comes to God and His son Jesus Christ our Savior, then we have nothing to worry about in the least. I did so much work, just to be able to wait a whole year to receive an M1 Garand from the DCM program and when it was finally ready to show up I had a letter stating that it would be there within the week and I'd need 165 bucks to cover the C.O.D. Well, I didn't have it or even close to it so I had to go to work and advertise to anyone wanting an M1 garand to pony up 165 and it'd be theirs. That one hurt a bunch, let me tell you. A friend of mine got it and there is no way in you know where that I'd ever talk him back out of it. Live and learn I guess? Smithy.
I've been around long enough to have multiple regrets regarding guns I shouldn't have bought or shouldn't have sold. Fortunately(?) I'm old enough to have forgotten most of them. Just last spring though, I bought a new Zastava M70A (9X19). The sights and my old eyes don't match up at all. Going to have to sell it or give it away to someone who can hit the broad side of a barn with it.
I've regretted a few purchases over the years. My first regret was buying a Bryco 9mm off of a Marine to help him out, but I later sold it to a friends dad, who did me the favor of buying it for his safe. LOL!!!
Also, my first handgun purchase was a S&W Sigma .40 which I promptly returned for a Sig P226. The Sigma jammed like every fifth round, and that just won't do. My most recent regret was actually trading my coveted Glock 19 Gen4 for a Steyr C9-A1, which never had a successful outing. I took it back to the manufacturer for a full refund, and I immediately went to my local guns store and got my Glock back. There are a few others, but these are the main highlights.
Taurus PT22. Firing pin broke after 200 rounds. Taurus won't send me a new one. Said send it back. Yup, $80 to send it back for a free repair on a used gun I only paid $160 for to begin with. Didn't figure it was worth it. After finding out about Taurus' lousy parts policies, restricted parts they won't sell to you, etc., I'll never buy another. Think I'm going to part it out on GB and maybe recover some of my investment.
Intratec Protec .25 auto. Back away from the POS!! Seriously, don't touch that pistol!!
When my better and I were going through the process of obtaining our HGPs here in TN we attended a local gun show as complete greenhorns. I purchased a KT P11 for about 75.00 over fair cost and she purchased the IT .25. The P11's turned out to be a hoss w/400+rounds w/o a hitch. So, even though I paid too much for it the reliability has offset the cost. The IT was the polar opposite. Worst POS ever. Supposedly a clone of the incomparable CZ45 it never operated correctly. So, we finally sold it after about a year's worth of aggravation and frustration. In it's place I purchased a Sterling Arms 300 .25 auto made in Gasport, NY between 72-76. All machined steel. Top level components. Very sweet little shooter. Over 100 rounds w/no issues. Weighs a ton. lol Then the company was purchased and moved to Lockport, NY. Everything that had been machined became cast, pot metal and the inspection tolerances were lowered.
Have since purchased my better a KTP32 for her birthday which she loves. I'm thinking of retiring my .25 and getting one as well. Have shot the 'mouse' .380s and they're hand beaters and tough to reset. I'd rather have a 7+1 than a 6+1, anyway caliber not withstanding.
Sorry, I digressed. The Intratec Protec is was and will always remain the worst POS I ever hope to have. Now, before any hand, long or or shotgun purchase they will be researched relentlessly. Once bitten...
My Sig Sauer 1911 RCS Sport - it's never worked correctly. Significant FTF and Failure to Return to Battery issues. Totally unreliable for such an expensive piece of hardware. It is on its second trip back to Sig warranty repair shop as I write this and I just bought it in mid July. My first, and, most likely, my last Sig purchase. But not my first 1911. Have both Remington and Ruger 1911s that work flawlessly regardless of what I feed them. I've tried multiple brands of .45 ACP Ball and JHP ammo, as well as using Chip McCormick, Wilson Combat, and the factory mags - problems with all of them. Have also had the RO check out my grip and firing process - not issues there either. So final conclusion, it's the pistol. Hope Sig gets it solved this time or it's going to become a very expensive paper weight. Wouldn't try to sell or trade it - can't in good consience pass these problems on to anyone else.
Believe it or not an LCP.... I love the size, but its the toughest pistol I have to rack and shoot. If it had better sights i'd like it more. Yeah - it is a close quarters gun, but I love my night sights. Small guns kick, can't avoid that. I am thinking of trading it in for a small SIG P238 - or p290 if I could find one.
Bersa Thunder .380. I sent the original one to the Bersa shop and they sent me a new one as bad as the original. The slide would never lock back. When it was locked back and a magazine was inserted the slide would slam forward. This, to my mind, made the gun unsafe. It's in the corner of my gun safe collecting dust.
Me Too!! i'd only hope that there has been a LARGE change with Bersa since I see so many folk buying those pistols, but when I had a run at Bersa it was much the same as yours. Last round would not keep the slide open and it also failed to chamber. So you'd end up with the slide down on an empty chamber and one round left in the magazine? Who doesn't notice things like that? Smithy.
My wife insisted on the SCCY CPX-2 in pink with a safety. After shooting it she discovered the safety guard rubbed a raw spot on her thumb. SCCY was nice enough to trade out the lower for a non-safety model, but now the trigger "occasionally" doesn't reset. It's just not a very nice pistol.
If I remember correctly you're talking about the Bersa Thunder .380. I had the same problem with the slide. I sent it to the factory and got a new one back that did the same thing. It makes the gun unsafe as far as I'm concerned. It's collecting dust in my safe.
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