Are These the Most Dissapointing Handguns?

T

Tabdog

New member
Hi Folks,

In another thread, a guy asked this question;


" what ONE handgun have you been most disappointed in?"

As of now, there have been 315 replies.

I thought it would be interesting to count how many votes
each company got.

Here are the most disappointing brands reported, and the
number of votes each company got. (if I counted right)

Glock got 27 votes

Colt got 27 votes

Smith & Wesson got 22 votes

Sig Sauer got 21 votes (mostly because of the Mosquito )

Beretta got 20 votes ( mostly because of the TomCat )

Kel-Tec got 14 votes

Taurus got 14 votes

Walther got 11 votes

AMT got 10 votes

All other companies got less than ten votes.

I think what this really shows is that even the brands that
are most wanted, are just as likely to make a uh-o as some
of the so called lower quality brands.

So,,,,,, Go Figger,

Tabdog
 
I think what this really shows is that even the brands that
are most wanted, are just as likely to make a uh-o as some
of the so called lower quality brands.
Click to expand...
Well, MAYBE.

I'm most disappointed when I pay a good chunk of change for something that I expect to be very good and it turns out to be problematic.

I'm not nearly so disappointed when I buy something inexpensive that I expect to be functional and maybe not much else and it turns out to be problematic.

So for me it would be MORE likely that the handgun I found most disappointing would be a brand that most thought of as being good quality because I wouldn't find it very disappointing (or surprising) to buy a "budget" item and find out that it had problems.
 
Disappointed is relative; the more something is hyped up, the more likely it is that somebody will find all the hype to be just hot air.
 
I think what this really shows is that even the brands that
are most wanted, are just as likely to make a uh-o as some
of the so called lower quality brands.
Click to expand...

Call me pragmatic, but the companies that put the most guns in peoples' hands would naturally get the most negative votes--AND, likely, the most happy camper votes.

If company A sells 5 times as many guns as company B and gets double the negative votes, then maybe the unhappy people should be counted on more of a % basis. Same as the happy ones.

If numbers alone meant that much, we'd all be out looking for good deals on Rossi revolvers, since the number of unhappy folks seems to be zero.:D
 
Last edited:
I think what it proves is that the brand that more people own will also be the brand that has more people disappointed.
 
Also curious what "disappointed" actually means. Does disappointed mean that the gun didn't work properly or does it mean that the person was disappointed in the accuracy or fit of the gun? Disappointed is clearly subjective and it's hard to equate disappointment with actual problems.

For example, I bought a Taurus M85 that I shot well and fit well, but the gun ceased to work after 250 rounds and I was very disappointed it in.

I also own a Glock 22 that is very reliable and well made but I don't shoot it very well so I'm disappointed in it's (or my own) accuracy. Others shoot my Glock very accurately, me, not so much so it's a personal issue rather than an issue with the gun. Nonetheless I'm still disappointed.

Additionally, it's hard to say that big name gun makers (Glock for example) have more issues than say Kel-Tec without looking at the volume of guns cited in the sample size. Glock may have more issues in this poll, but they may also have a more guns represented. So even if their raw issues number is higher, percentage wise it may be much lower.
 
Other than the one gun that broke on me sometime around 1989, I've never been disapointed in any gun that I've purchased. I'm not so sure where all this disapointment is coming from. Most decent guns are extremely well made.
 
Mark Twain said,"There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." This is such a tiny sample size out of the millions of guns sold every year it probably isn't significant. What would be really interesting and informative is to get acces to the gun makers sales records and service records. That probably won't happen.
 
Just a few numbers from one year (1994) after a very quick googleizing:

Production 1994 These excerpted from American Firearms site:

http://www.amfire.com/statistics.asp


Auto Ordnance: 9196
Beretta USA: 201517
Bryco: 227924
Colt: 140078
Davis: 85124
Phoenix: 61609
Smith & Wesson 269549
Sturm, Ruger: 299647

(Revolvers were counted separately)

See post #5, above.

Best,

Will
 
Disappointment doesn't equate to problematic. I think most people just felt let down after getting themselves really excited about something.
 
People tend to have much higher expectations of "premium" brands like Sig, H&K, S&W, etc. than they do of "value" brands, so it's certainly natural to expect disappointment when that $800 pistol doesn't magically turn you into an ace at the range.
 
To be fair, when listing the most problematic guns, you need to look out how many are sold.

Example: Brand X sold 100,000 guns and had 1000 complaints
Brand Y sold 10,000 guns and had 500 complaints


Brand X had more complaints but on 1% of sales
Brand Y had less complaints but on 5% of sales.

So in reality to be fair, you need to list complaints as a percent of sales to make a fair comparison.
 
I think it is...

...difficult, if not impossible, to draw any valid statistical conclusions that emerge from a non-scientific poll.
 
Everyone on here has said it in their own way. Disappointed may not refer to function. Higher sales may yield a higher disappointment rate. Most companies produce and sell hundreds of thousands of firearms every year, so the level of disappointment is probably negligible in the accounting books. Some people might leave the movie theater on a Saturday night and feel as though they can turn a front flip and proceed to shoot someone between the eyes, one-handed. I know that would disappoint me.
 
Here are the most disappointing brands reported, and the
number of votes each company got. (if I counted right)

Glock got 27 votes

Colt got 27 votes

Smith & Wesson got 22 votes

Sig Sauer got 21 votes (mostly because of the Mosquito )

Beretta got 20 votes ( mostly because of the TomCat )

Kel-Tec got 14 votes

Taurus got 14 votes

Walther got 11 votes

AMT got 10 votes
Click to expand...

Maybe those figures are skewed by the number of handguns sold by each of those makers. Those with a higher number of guns sold will more than likely also have a higher number of dissatisfied buyers. If the figures are available, something that shows % dissatisfied compared to total sales would be a more useful statistic.
 
Lots of well-known names on the list, and several highly respected names, as others have suggested it may be based on the total number of weapons a company sells. Part of it may be the company’s reputation. If I buy a Smith or Colt I expect it to work and work VERY well from the get go. I spend several hundred dollars less on brand ABC; I may be willing to except some small defects. Did not see Ruger on the list though.
 
I think what it proves is that the brand that more people own will also be the brand that has more people disappointed.
Click to expand...

And, as I attempted to point out, the brand that most people praise. Maybe it's the ratio of with re: to praise vs. disappointment that really matters.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top