Handgun: Biggest Disappointment?

A Kimber Ten - II. It was the polymer framed, hi-capacity (14 round) 1911-styled pistol they made a year or two ago.

I REALLY wanted to like it.

But, it had an annoying habit of the slide locking back when the last round of the magazine went into the pipe, giving the mistaken impression when the mag was dropped that the weapon was empty when, in fact, it was not.

I got a bit of a scare the first time this happened at the range. The slide locked back and I dropped the mag. Mag was empty. I assumed I had fired all my rounds and moved the slide back forward in order to load a new mag, but - just to be safe - I pointed the gun downrange and pulled the trigger just to make extra sure the gun was empty before I put that new mag in. BOOM! Surprise!

This happened several times that day, to me and a law-enforcement friend of mine with whom I was shooting (I wanted him to try it so that I could rule out a deficiency in my own shooting grip as the culprit )and I sold the gun shortly thereafter. I didn't like that kind of "surprise".
 
#1 Seecamp LWS32 (Traded at a loss for a Glock G26)
#2 Para Ordnance TAC-5 LDA (Sold at a loss and bought an HK P2000 V3)
#3 FN 5and7 Pistol (Sold it at only a slight loss and bought an AR57 11" SBR upper)
#4 5 Kimbers (Sold or traded all of them at a loss and bought a Colt Gold Cup Trophy)
#5 HK P30 (The pistol was OK, but I need money for some NFA/Class3 projects)
#6 Ruger Mark III Hunter (Traded it and some cash for a Beretta 90TWO and bought a Browning Buck Mark)
#7 Mossberg 500 Rolling Thunder (Traded it and some cash for a CZ75)
#8 Beretta Neos 22lr (Traded or sold)
It's part of collecting firearms, you have to buy to try and if you don't like the firearm then you trade or sell and buy something else.
 
I guess for me it would be the Kel-Tec P11, and I have to qualify that. It worked fine, and was accurate enough for its purpose. It was inexpensive enough that I didn't mind using it to learn how to completely disassemble and reassemble a semi-auto. Did the whole fluff-n-buff thing per KTOG. It was a good gun ... I just never took to it, even though I wanted to. Sights were bad and the trigger horrible; not only was it long and heavy, it stacked badly, too. Sold it to buy a G27 (which I also didn't like but that's another story).

But I wanted to like the P11, so eventually bought another one (slow learner, I guess) went through the same process. And to add insult to injury, my fully-loaded magazines rattled no matter what I did to them. Sold that one, too. Replaced that one with a Kahr PM9 and have never looked back.

One other major disappointment that I didn't purchase (thankfully). I read all the hype about the Rohrbaugh while it was still vaporwear, and seriously contemplated putting in a pre-order. Never got around to it. Subsequently had opportunity to shoot one owned by an acquaintance, and was glad I'd not ordered one. Don't get me wrong; it was a fine piece that functioned as designed. But it was expensive, uncomfortable to shoot, and required a lot of regular maintenance (I'm told one should change the recoil spring every 100 rounds or so). My disappointment would have been even worse had I rushed out and bought one.

Other guns have come and gone, but I don't think any failed to serve as they were designed. I've just learned to be more discriminating. Far more guns on the list that I once had and mildly regret parting with.
 
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My biggest disappointment would be my 2003 29 Mountain Gun. The bluing was uneven and had a couple of 'bubbles' around the trigger, the cylinder was not beveled and the most important reason, sometimes the thing would just lock up, and no it wasn't lock related. Didn't keep it long.
 
Two of them, both about the same. AMT Govt.-bought it because the features were incredible for the price, and the lovely gun was quite accurate for every round it fired, which was maybe 2 out of every magazine. AMT wasn't able to get it right, so it was sold, with full disclosure, at a dismal loss in favor of a proper Colt. Taurus PT-111, which I bought having saw and handled exactly one. Didn't seem to notice the gun didn't fit my hand quite right, and I kept inadvertantly releasing the mag into my offhand. Replaced it with a Glock 26, which I thought at least twice the gun in every way, except girth. The only 2 guns I've ever sold and if one was a bigger disappointment than the other, I'd probably give the title to AMT.
 
Surprisingly both have been S&W.

Sigma - 'nuff said.

4506 - very inaccurate; i.e. 6-8" at 7 yards from a rest inaccurate.

The only two guns I've ever gotten rid of...
 
Not that the gun hasn't been a good performer, but I bought a Springfield hi-cap .45 based mostly on the belief that it was the only hi-cap 1911esque pistol on the market with a forged frame. Turns out, the gun was at some point reengineered with a cast frame, and as might be expected, Springfield hasn't exactly been working to spread the word. The gun has been great, but I didn't get what I thought I was paying for. Some folks at Springfield apparently still think it's forged, but a tip that frames with integral plunger tubes are cast, while those with separate plunger tubes are forged, appears to be the case. :mad:
 
My biggest disappointment has been a SIG P229 in 9mm. Ever since buying my first handgun I wanted to own a Sig Sauer, but when I finally got my 229 it didn't fit my hand very well at all. But I found a way to shoot it comfortably after some experimenting. Then after only a couple of magazines I started having FTF/FTE as well as a couple of failures to ignite rounds (the same ammo which worked fine in 2 different striker fired pistols and my BHP). This is very unfortunate since I really liked the trigger and it was extremely accurate.

I had a competent gunsmith check it out and after that even sent the pistol to Sig Sauer to have them look over it. I still got failures every couple of mags.

I realize I must have gotten a lemon, Sig does have a pretty good reputation for producing reliable and high quality handguns after all. I think I would still buy a Sig Sauer pistol if I found a model that fit my hand a little better. The gunshop took the pistol back and gave me a credit for the buying price (minus VAT of course) which I really appreciate, since he definitely lost money on that arrangement. He's now stuck with a used (about 600 rounds) pistol that doesn't function properly.

On the bright sight, with part of the credit I immediately bought a new(used, but unfired :D) H&K P2000sk LEM :) I hope that pistol will not let me down!
 
S&W Model 61 Escort. Cheesy POS.
S&W Model 59. Ergonomics were terrible for me.

Both of those were a couple decades ago.
 
I didn't like my p220 at all.

It wasn't the pistol's fault AT ALL. It just didn't fit me. My own fault for not doing preliminary research. Then again, I was in such a small town with such a moody (singular) gun shop that I nary had an opportunity to find out. Spend 10 grand with a guy in a year and still barely lets you handle arms you are about to buy.

I digress. The P220 grip was too narrow on the x axis and long on the y axis (from my viewpoint) that i couldn't control the muzzle flip with my smaller hands.

Lovely gun though. I loved how it put spent brass on the same spot on the floor every time. my preferred weapon on the other hand (glock 23) spits brass everywhere like a mad hatter. lol
 
My first handgun was a Rossi in 41 magnum and it went bang everytime but I hated it. I bought a S&W Model 686 and the rest is history as I own a shoot lots of handguns.
 
There are some that just didn't click with me, so I sold them. But I can't blame that on the weapon. It's just part of collecting, I guess.

I had to have a Walther PPK, maybe because Bond, James Bond did. It was beautifully made and worked well. It also had a horrible trigger, was heavier than its competition due to being all steel (which could be good as well as bad depending on what you want). And worst, for me, was that I could count on my hand getting cut up by the slide any time I shot the thing. Yes, I could avoid that by gripping the weapon carefully, but taking the time for an exact placement of hand on grip is not something you want to have to do with a pocket-sized self defense gun.

When I was a kid I read some article about the fine Llama 1911 autopistols. Not knowing then that it's just about impossible to get a gun article in a major magazine that DOESN'T say the gun in question is the greatest weapon ever, I believed the Llamas must really be that good. Many years later I traded for a lovely dual-tone Llama 1911 in 9mm.

9mm in a 1911 felt like a toy to me. I do like the 9mm cartridge, but I couldn't shoot it in a full-sized autopistol without thinking that the pistol should be smaller to match the cartridge, or the cartridge should be more powerful to match the pistol.

Plus it was inaccurate. Plus the pistol was roughly made, with a finish and machining that didn't inspire confidence. Plus it jammed, and the almost non-existent recoil of the 9mm in the full sized 1911 made the factory grips crack and split.

That pretty much did it for me with Llamas.
 
Desert Eagle 44 Mag. Was a great novelty, but took alot of effort to shoot accurately. Terrible, long, creepy, heavy trigger pull. Worked on it quite a bit and got it from 12lbs. down to 6, but still quite a bit of creep. Finally sold it after moving to MT and finding out it didn't function too well at 0*F...
 
My only major disappointment was with Browning High Powers, "Practical" model. I bought one (maybe a dozen years ago). Loved the fit in my hand. But the trigger was absolutely horrible! The trigger was so bad that sometimes I thought the safety was on in the middle of shooting a magazine!

I traded it in, but a short while later was again bit by the HP bug and bought another one :confused: Yep, trigger just as bad! Furthermore, after a few hundred rounds, the front sight broke off while I was shooting it! I traded it in too, at a loss of course.

Twice burned, I learned my lesson. The Brownings were the only truly "junk guns" I've ever bought.

A few years later, still liking the feel of the HP in my hand, I bought a FEG HP clone. Much better gun! I still have it. And it was less than half the price of the Brownings.

Maybe it was just a bad period of Browning. All manufacturers have those. But thank you, I'll stick with my FEG, Sig and CZ for 9mm.

Ken
 
Ruger MK II. I couldn't get through one magazine without at least one malfunction.
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That's unusual. Did you try different ammo brands? 22s are typically ammo sensitive and some ammo is typically unreliable. I have two Mk IIs and they've been very reliable as long as I stay away from certain ammo.

Ken
 
For me it's the Ruger P89. Always shot to the left a bit with that one, thought it was me but eventually I figured out it was the grip and how it twisted in my hand after the first shot. Have a M&P .40 now, and can finally shoot straight again.
 
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