Worst rifle you ever bought
- Thread starter DShortt
- Start date
Riesel
Gold $$ Contributor
HaHa
Bought a remington 710 .243 years ago for my son to hunt with, I knew it was cheap but figured it would be accurate enough to kill a deer.......ummm naw,it shot equally bad with 6 different factory ammo and 5 different handloads. The best it would group at 100 yds was almost small enough to cover with a paper plate...sold it for 100 bucks and bought him a ruger American in . 243.
I have tried a handfull of Rugers, every one of them would qualify.
DShortt
Gold $$ Contributor
You should have been buying lottery tickets instead of firearms then with luck like that.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
Maybe not the worst, but certainly the one I kept for the shortest period.
It was soon after I had got out of the Army, and that Fall a couple friends wanted to go deer hunting.
I did not own a Rifle.
I went over the Richards Pawn Shop in JacintoCity and he had a Remington 600 in 350 Remington Magnum. He even had a couple of boxes of that Remington 250 grn ammo in the green box. The rifle had some kind of 4x scope on it, a Redfield I think.
I bought it, and a few nights later we went to the old Ponderosa Gun Range in East Houston to sight it in. The range was open until 10:00 PM during Deer Season.
That thing liked to knocked me off the bench the first shot. There was also what looked like a 2 ft ball of fire out the barrel. I finally got it on paper after a lot of punishment.
I did not shoot a deer that year, and the first thing I did when I got home was trade that thing off for a Marlin Lever Action in 30/30, which was a pretty darned good rifle.
I doubt that 600 weighed 7 1/2 pound with the scope mounted and three in the magazine. And that 18 1/2 inch barrel combined with that 250 grn bullet didn’t help matters
It was soon after I had got out of the Army, and that Fall a couple friends wanted to go deer hunting.
I did not own a Rifle.
I went over the Richards Pawn Shop in JacintoCity and he had a Remington 600 in 350 Remington Magnum. He even had a couple of boxes of that Remington 250 grn ammo in the green box. The rifle had some kind of 4x scope on it, a Redfield I think.
I bought it, and a few nights later we went to the old Ponderosa Gun Range in East Houston to sight it in. The range was open until 10:00 PM during Deer Season.
That thing liked to knocked me off the bench the first shot. There was also what looked like a 2 ft ball of fire out the barrel. I finally got it on paper after a lot of punishment.
I did not shoot a deer that year, and the first thing I did when I got home was trade that thing off for a Marlin Lever Action in 30/30, which was a pretty darned good rifle.
I doubt that 600 weighed 7 1/2 pound with the scope mounted and three in the magazine. And that 18 1/2 inch barrel combined with that 250 grn bullet didn’t help matters
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NZ_Fclass
Silver $$ Contributor
One of the first centrefires that I bought was a "mini-mauser" in 7.63x39. Cold shot was fine, then it moved to the right with each successive shot. The barrel was bored off centre by a heap. Shame - it had a pretty stock. I traded it back to the shop who sold it to me. Their problem.
my 5r and my fathers 5r 300wm chambers were so bad i sent my back to remington and he had a smith work it over. i think it took me 4 months to get back and they didn’t fix crap. i ended up taking it to the same gun smith my father did. the brass would stick just above the belt of the case. we would have to thump out the brass. Remington deserved to go bankrupt. maybe now they will do a little better.
Not my story exactly but a friend came to me and asked if I could put a muzzle brake on his son's Remington 770 300WM. his wife had won it in a raffle at the fire station and it was kicking him something awful. Got a scope cut on his eye brow. I put a Harrel's radial on it and the young man came over to shoot it. I gave him ear protection and he tried to refuse. I told him the only way he could try it out with me there was to wear the muffs. He reluctantly did and told me it shot as good as it had before and kicked less. i told him he'd better wear ear protection every time he shoots it. he informed me he was young and didn't need no ear protection. I told him I hoped he had a good doctor.
A week later his dad told me they sold the gun because his son decided to shoot it without any protection and he thought he'd lost his hearing. I told him I tried to tell him but 22 yo's are just too smart.
That 770 was the cheapest thing I've ever seen and I wouldn't be caught dead with one. It weighed about 5.5# and taking it apart was an adventure. Hated to see Remington sell something that cheap. As for the 600 and 660, they were decent rifles but Remington must've had a death wish in chambering them for the big kickers with short barrels. They scared the shooting public so bad they discontinued them.
A week later his dad told me they sold the gun because his son decided to shoot it without any protection and he thought he'd lost his hearing. I told him I tried to tell him but 22 yo's are just too smart.
That 770 was the cheapest thing I've ever seen and I wouldn't be caught dead with one. It weighed about 5.5# and taking it apart was an adventure. Hated to see Remington sell something that cheap. As for the 600 and 660, they were decent rifles but Remington must've had a death wish in chambering them for the big kickers with short barrels. They scared the shooting public so bad they discontinued them.
Mark W
Gold $$ Contributor
I bought two of the Howa built Weatherby Vanguards and they were absolutely the worst guns that I’ve bought.
I absolutely agree 100%. Really fried my patience when he said only shoot Remington New Brass in it.
I think it was the Remington 597 model. It was a 22 LR highly touted by Remington with a "new" design. It was expensive and nice optically however it would not extract either unfired or spent rounds and the accuracy was terrible.
I sent it back and Remington. Of course, they said they could find nothing wrong with it. I sold it at a significant loss. Still fuming about that one.
PS: If I remember correctly, this rifle did not last long in the marketplace which speaks for itself!
I sent it back and Remington. Of course, they said they could find nothing wrong with it. I sold it at a significant loss. Still fuming about that one.
PS: If I remember correctly, this rifle did not last long in the marketplace which speaks for itself!
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Ruger 77 stainless with the black plastic stock in 270 win. Bought it used from a guy I repaired equipment for. No factory or hand-loaded ammo could get under 2” at 100 yards. A friend of mine wanted it and knew it was not the best. I reluctantly sold it to him and he was happy with it. It works fine for his 50-75 yard deer hunts from a blind.
SSL
Gold $$ Contributor
Never had a truly bad rifle, but I've had a couple really bad handguns.
Can't say I doubt it, but I'm always interested to see the number of people that seem to have issues with Rugers. Having owned many M77, 10/22 and #1 rifles, I have never had one that I couldn't get to shoot well. Competition grade? No...but then most don't buy competition rifles off the shelf.
Part of my current crop which also includes an additional #1 in .280.
Can't say I doubt it, but I'm always interested to see the number of people that seem to have issues with Rugers. Having owned many M77, 10/22 and #1 rifles, I have never had one that I couldn't get to shoot well. Competition grade? No...but then most don't buy competition rifles off the shelf.
Part of my current crop which also includes an additional #1 in .280.
Mine had to be a Ruger 77/22Hornet. That rifle wouldn't shoot a 6 inch group at 100 yds with anything factory or handloaded. I sent it back to Ruger and they said they recrowned it and replaced the bolt but it ws the same bot when they returned it. They said they tested it and it met their accuracy specs. It still wouldn't shoot a 6 inch group at 100 yds.
I had a very old Rimfire (cheapy maybe Slazenger) some 40 years ago and it would blow back into your eyes about once in 20 shots. Stings like hell to get burnt powder in the eyes, I spent the rest of the day with my head under the water tap but nothing seemed to help. I took it to a gunsmith for repair but it came back and did it again to me - sent it to be crushed.
Ok there are actually 2 rifles a model 99 Savage lever action and a Springfield M1A1.
The story is that I though the Savage was crap but I managed to get hold of several other and they all shot like crap.
The M1A1 surprised me because I on occasion carried one in the military, however our group had its own armorer. I got one and had an opportunity to shoot several more, out the door with that one too.
The story is that I though the Savage was crap but I managed to get hold of several other and they all shot like crap.
The M1A1 surprised me because I on occasion carried one in the military, however our group had its own armorer. I got one and had an opportunity to shoot several more, out the door with that one too.
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