Worst rifle you ever bought

[SEM]

Encore, I thought having children was a burden on my wallet.... get an Encore they still multiply even when kept separated

I had a Huskavarna 6.5-06 that completely drove me nuts when it would group it was great then it would shoot all over, spent so much money to fix it all for not, hack saw felt great

 

[David Milisock]

Springfield made a folding stock M1 Carbine????

Danny

Actually no, Inland as well as multiple other manufacturers did.

The M1A1 I was referring is the 308 from Springfield.

 

[searcher]

When the 17wsm came out I bought a savage Bmag. Point of impact was never the same place twice. Groups just didnt happen. I replaced the scope, mounts double checked etc. Tried everything I was reading. Most guys it seemed were buying stocks, bedding them, trying pressure points even. No thanks. I had high hopes. It was the first time I jumped on the buy something new bandwagon. I will go back to waiting a year two for results when something new comes out. Sold it to a friend who played with it for a while. Pretty sure he still has it.

Some "lemons" do make it out there - even for Savage. I was thinking of getting one of those, but wanted to expend the vast stash of .17 HMR ammo I have first. I have two friends who have them and theirs are VERY accurate and no improvements were made to them. I was lying next to one of my buddies when we were laying siege on a ground squirrel town and saw one of my buddies knock down a dozen in a row from 300 yards. I was impressed.

 

[LiveFire]

Some "lemons" do make it out there - even for Savage. I was thinking of getting one of those, but wanted to expend the vast stash of .17 HMR ammo I have first. I have two friends who have them and theirs are VERY accurate and no improvements were made to them. I was lying next to one of my buddies when we were laying siege on a ground squirrel town and saw one of my buddies knock down a dozen in a row from 300 yards. I was impressed.

Wish I and many others had the same luck. I wanted it to work so bad. I thought it would be a great rimfire set up.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

Really interesting to hear everyone's different experiences with rifles that otherwise have fairly golden reputations.
Like the Savage M99's that wouldn't shoot. Wow! My dad's .250 wouldn't shoot very good, but it spent a winter under a manure pile... Before that, it was apparently a total laserbeam.

 

[DGP4]

Same experience as others with the Remington 597. Remington had to send me 3 trigger assemblies, before I got one that didn't self-destruct! Factory scope rail had 2 stripped screws. Accuracy was always terrible even with match ammo. It now sits in the closet collecting dust. On the other hand, I bought a "U-Fix-It" Chilean Mauser from CIA that was missing a bunch of magazine parts. Nothing matched on the rifle but it has a pristine bore. Once I cleaned and refinished the stock and added the missing magazine parts, it shoots great! Most factory firearms are a crapshoot these days.

 

[mauser284]

I have not gotten a bad deal on a rifle. The ones I bought that where rough where priced accordingly and performed better than they had any right to.

If anything I regret selling my rifles to try and keep my home to pay attorney fee's and such.

That is not to say I have not gotten less than stellar rifles only that the price was right so I did not feel as if I had been taken or had or anything like that.

I always look at used rifles like I look at used cars! I see them as someone else's problems and treat them all as such until proven wrong.

None of my modern rifle purchases in the last 10 years measure up to anything I owned before they are all grossly inferior and over priced for what you get. That said I got them for so much under retail price that I have to smile at each one of them even my dreadful Savage Axis is a gem since I got for $169 with scope, my Thompson Compass was $189 so again hard not to smile every time I shoot it! The Ruger American I gave my oldest son in 243 cost me $169 on clearance at Walmart. My 2 Savage 12FV's where something like $279 and $299 after mail in rebate so again while garbage compared to my Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 Super Grade purchased new for $475 for the times we live in now and inflation and such I smile every time I pull the trigger!

When you lose everything more than once and get beat down often enough it does wonders for your sense of gratitude and you start to see things that you once frowned upon in a different light! Sometimes our expectations are out of line or we over pay and are disappointed because of that!

 

[mauser284]

My current gunsmith is as expensive as Gre-Tan and I do not think he is as good. The difference is I can drive an hour to his shop drop off a barrel and action and have it back inside of 2 weeks often. Not saying his work is not decent just that it is not world class but he charges the same as Greg!

You could never get me to purchase a new rifle from his shop. I do not know how they stay in business since every rifle is $300 to $400 more than say at Dunhams, Walmart, Cabela's etc.....I did not stutter take the price of a Ruger American any model price shop at least 3-4 other places online then add an extra $300 to $400 dollars more to the highest price you came across online. I am not talking about remarkable sales prices or with rebates or anything like that. I would never compare full price at a gunsmiths shop to something on clearance at Walmart that would not be fair.

Up into the early 2000's say 2003, 2008-ish I can remember gunsmiths being cheaper than the average big box store but you always had to go in and have your gunsmith call his distributor and get price and availability etc....When I purchased my Browning Buckmark over 30 years ago my gunsmith had to call for pricing because the price changed daily. In fact the entire point of going to a gunsmith back then was to get a cheaper price than big box store but you had to wait and did not get to try before you buy and you never knew if their distributor would have what you wanted in the trim and caliper you wanted everything was done by phone. It was a slow pain in the rear. It is the opposite today with gunsmiths and gun shops being the most expensive place to purchase a gun! It might as well have been morse code it was so slow.

 

[danny]

Actually no, Inland as well as multiple other manufacturers did.

The M1A1 I was referring is the 308 from Springfield.

M1A-A1 Short Barreled M1A??? In the Military???? Were you part of some special op unit that could choose unique and unusual, non Military civilian rifles?

Danny

 

[David Milisock]

M1A-A1 Short Barreled M1A??? In the Military???? Were you part of some special op unit that could choose unique and unusual, non Military civilian rifles?

Danny

I shot what the armorer gave me, mine was certainly M14 as it had select fire and it shot well for the few times I used it. My M1A1 that I bought as a civilian was just bad.

In my day the auto loaders were not what they are (off the shelf) today.

 

[TaperPin]

An 8-1/2lb 30-378 Weatherby - lost all my friends at the range because of the muzzle brake. On the plus side I was given the nick name That-son-of-a-beach or something close to that - probably because the gun showed off my beach muscles. It was cool hearing everybody using my new nick name every time I barely pulled the big Weatherby out of its case - that never happened with other guns. Someone kept mumbling something about baby Jesus at the sight of the 2’ long flame from factory loads - encouraging a little prayer during the day can’t be a bad thing.

Pulling the brake off is also a good way to see how long a scope’s eye relief really is, ensures it’s far enough forward, and tests torque on the ring screws, so that’s a plus.

Shooting it prone while hunting disproves the old adage that you never hear a rifle go off while pulling the trigger on game.

To fit in I suppose it would be better to cut the barrel to 16” and add a suppressor, like all the cool kids are doing with long range rifles nowadays.

 

[ronsatspokane]

An 8-1/2lb 30-378 Weatherby - lost all my friends at the range because of the muzzle brake. On the plus side I was given the nick name That-son-of-a-beach or something close to that - probably because the gun showed off my beach muscles. It was cool hearing everybody using my new nick name every time I barely pulled the big Weatherby out of its case - that never happened with other guns. Someone kept mumbling something about baby Jesus at the sight of the 2’ long flame from factory loads - encouraging a little prayer during the day can’t be a bad thing.

Pulling the brake off is also a good way to see how long a scope’s eye relief really is, ensures it’s far enough forward, and tests torque on the ring screws, so that’s a plus.

Shooting it prone while hunting disproves the old adage that you never hear a rifle go off while pulling the trigger on game.

To fit in I suppose it would be better to cut the barrel to 16” and add a suppressor, like all the cool kids are doing with long range rifles nowadays.

Reminds me of a 338 Lapua with a big brake I had. Setting up at the local range and these two tactical types were shooting 308's with brakes. It was obnoxious. I get setup and ready to take my first shot so I tell them that they may want to stand back. They give me the macho, we're OK man, reply. I touch the first one off and both of them were using the lords name in vein as they rapidly retreated to a position behind me. That damn thing would blow your hat off if you were standing within 20 feet.

 

[JAlfred]

Reminds me of a 338 Lapua with a big brake I had. Setting up at the local range and these two tactical types were shooting 308's with brakes. It was obnoxious. I get setup and ready to take my first shot so I tell them that they may want to stand back. They give me the macho, we're OK man, reply. I touch the first one off and both of them were using the lords name in vein as they rapidly retreated to a position behind me. That damn thing would blow your hat off if you were standing within 20 feet.

I think I have shot next to you before.

Biggest stinker? Remington nylon 77. Trigger was horrible and accuracy was bad

 

[mongo chicago]

I forgot to add one in my previous post. A Savage A22 magnum. TERRIBLE trigger and shaved the copper off of the bullets on loading.

 

[hogpatrol]

Bought a R700 rebarreled to a 6BR 10 twist off of gun broker, cheap. Couldn't get it to shoot.. When I loosened the barrel the tenon felt like a six inch fence post in an eight inch hole. It went to our local Sanford & Son guy that comes around and takes scrap.

 

[old_heli_logger]

No, no, no...no! It's just like sex...the worst I ever had was purdy darn good

 

[danny]

I think I have shot next to you before.

Biggest stinker? Remington nylon 77. Trigger was horrible and accuracy was bad

This must be a general Love/Hate thing with the firearm owning population on these Nylon autos. My brother loves them, and has always wanted one since we were kids, but has never bought one. I personally would not want one. I just have no interest in them. It seems like they are either really loved and revered, or rabidly despised and hated with little to no middle ground opinion.

Danny

 

[KMart]

Yes, yes, and yes! Why are they so popular? They are CRAP Accuracy wise. Over the years I have done deals and ended up with many of them always thinking I would get the good one, there is NO GOOD ONE. Just for kicks long ago I tried to make accurate a Mini 14, lots of machine work, barrel replacement etc. Put about an additional $800 in it not counting my machine work labor. What did I get? I got a $1500 rifle that still did not shoot better than an AR15. Dagum A-Team made them popular LOL!

I had better luck than you. I put an additional $1000 + (1980's money) into a rebarrel and turned it into sub moa rifle shooting handloads. Sold it to a friend a few years ago, at a huge loss, and he shoots hogs on his farm.

 

[RCE1]

I wouldn't say the worst, but the one I had the most trouble with was a Cooper 38 in .17 Ackley Hornet. Had to go back to Montana several times. That being said, they eventually got it worked out and it was quite good after. Just took a few tries. BTW, Dan Cooper wasn't actually working there at the time.

 

[benschott]

I wouldn't say the worst, but the one I had the most trouble with was a Cooper 38 in .17 Ackley Hornet. Had to go back to Montana several times. That being said, they eventually got it worked out and it was quite good after. Just took a few tries. BTW, Dan Cooper wasn't actually working there at the time.

Yes, I keep hearing Cooper. They were the worst within two years of the imminent closing.