Has anyone ever bought a more expensive gun that made you appreciate your cheaper gun

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greyson97

New member
I recently got a Springfield 1911 in 9mm. Its the loaded model with adjustable sights. Before then as main handguns go, I had a glock 22, and beretta px4 9mm. I was heavily favoring the px4, and i was even a pretty good shot with it. But I thought it could be improved on, especially in the realm of ergonomics(grip) and what i thought, trigger

so I got the 9mm 1911. Field stripped it, cleaned and relubed it. out of maybe less than 120 rounds though it, i got 2 failures to return to full battery, had to tap the slide forward, and 1 failure to feed, round plowed into the feed ramp, and a weird issue where the round fed into the chamber, but became detached from the extractor, so i had to rechamber the round by letting the slide close in on it to extract the live round. as for accuracy, i shot it using the same shooting technique as my px4, and i'll attribute break in before i made a final judgement on accuracy.

on the other hand, my px4 has had more than 1500 rounds through it, and it has never had any failure of any kind out of the box.

the SA triggers on both guns are close enough that its not a difference of night and day. I'd say maybe a difference of 1 lb at most.
 
Yep - my last four new weapon purchases have been a Glock 19, a Remington 870 20-gauge shotgun, a Springfield EMP in .40 S&W and a Walther P22. The only one that worked right out of the box was the Glock.

The Glock was also the first of the four purchases, so at the time I just took it for granted that it worked 100%. I figured it's a brand-new gun (the first I'd ever bought), so why wouldn't it work?

It's only after the later purchases that I came to appreciate the fact the 100% reliability is not a given, no matter how expensive the gun or how reputable the brand.
 
But of course,,,

But it was the other way around for me,,,

A couple of years ago I purchased a taurus Model 82 in .38 special,,,
It was a nice little gun and proved to be a reliable shooter,,,
I paid 175.00 for it used and was never sorry.

Then the next year I found an older S&W Model 10 for 250.00,,,
It was pretty beat up cosmetically but tight mechanically,,,
Wow, what a difference.

The Taurus never felt bad to me,,,
I never thought the trigger was rough or hard,,,
The balance and feel of the gun was never objectionable.

'Till I shot the Model 10,,,

It's not like there were angels singing when I shot the Smith,,,
But you could definitely appreciate the overall difference in quality.

I am not ragging the Taurus,,,
It's a very good handgun.

The Smith is somehow, just a bit ~better~.
 
I know what you mean about the S&W. I have a 90-year old pre-model 10 that was my carry gun for quite a while. It was my grandfather's, then my father's and now mine. I still take it to the range a few times a month and it's an absolute joy to shoot. As far as my father and I know, It's also never been in the shop.
 
For fear of starting a Taurus Vs the rest of the world debate. I have owned Smith and Wesson revolvers, (M-10, M-12, M-19 X 2, M-27, M-60, and M-66) almost exclusively for 30 plus years and never for one second regretted the decision. During the summer of 2009, for reasons I still don’t understand, decided I could not live without another .357; remember this was about the height of handgun shortage. I checked several of the local gun shops and was disappointed by the selection and even more so with the price of what was offered. My first selection was one of several Smiths all of which were in the $650.00 - $700.00 price range, more money than I wanted to spend if I could help it. On a fluke I checked out a Taurus 617, I had no idea it was a seven shooter until I opened the cylinder. The single action trigger pull felt as good and any of the Smiths and the double action was almost as smooth. At $275.00 less the Taurus was a no brainer for me. Now 700 + rounds later I’m still very happy with my cheap Taurus.

After reading the horror stories other Taurus owners have written about I doubt I would buy another Taurus and not sure I would recommend one to a friend, but hopefully I will keep on enjoying the one I have.

So the moral of this is I bought a less expensive pistol that I have been happy with.
 
Yes, more times than once, which is why I own far more "blue collar" handguns than expensive guns. But it seems that once the "issues" are resolved with the more expensive guns, they often hold up nicely over the long haul (and high round-count).

I too own a Springfield 9mm 1911 (and several Kimber 9mm 1911s), and I will suggest that the combination of 9mm cartridge and 1911 platform is both greatly appealling and occasionally frustrating. The combo makes for a great shooting gun, but feeding can be touchy at times and is almost always mag related. My Springfield is now extremely reliable, accurate, and sweet to shoot, as are the Kimbers. But I have a big bag of mags that make them all fumble when feeding. The mag I have found to be perfectly reliable with all of my 9mm 1911s is the MetalForm 9-round mag with the rounded follower IN 38 SUPER CALIBER.

I don't know why, but the 38 Super mags with the rounded followers work the best, in my experience.

So, I say this: "Yes" is my answer to your question, but if you will work with different mags in the Springfield and get it reliable, you may find it to be a life-long keeper.

Boarhunter
 
ScottRiqui said:
... 100% reliability is not a given, no matter how expensive the gun or how reputable the brand.
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Tell me about it. Blew a lot of cash on a fancy Sig P229 in .40 S&W a few years ago...

The Hype: "It's a Sig! Legendary! Reliable as all heck!! w00t!!"

The Reality: 1500 rounds downrange and I still can't get through a single box of ammo without it A) nose-diving a round into the chamber mouth, or B) failing to go fully into battery (requiring a heel of the hand nudge). Arrrgh!!

The Solution: Dropped it like a bad habit. Meanwhile my $500 Springer "Loaded" .45 continues to spit anything and everything I feed it, every time, wet or dry, clean or dirty.
 
I have been layed off recently and needed some extra cash so I sold my Dan WESSON bought a Hipoint C-9 used, once I got use to it IT HAS BEEN FANTASTIC very good shooter.Better than my Glock.Now I'm looking for a JCP.Still miss my DAN!!wILL GET RID OF MY GLOCK..
 
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My first handgun was a Smith & Wesson 686. It has performed fantastically for me over the years. It has a great trigger and it is almost unbelievably accurate with just about any ammunition I feed it, .38 or .357.

A few years ago, when Smith came out with its 686SSR I decided I just had to have the gun. The thought of having a 686 that was even "better" than my original 686 made me twitch with anticipation. So, I bought one for more than $300 over what I'd paid for my first 686.

The SSR was a fine gun. It had a nice trigger and it was very accurate. But it did not do ANYTHING better than my original 686. After a few months I sold the SSR and used the money to finance some other gun purchases. I still have the original 686.
 
LoL thats easy.

I bought a CZ .22 Lux... Amazing gun really, then I wanted to build up a 10/22. So after all the aftermarket parts and the 10/22 itself the CZ still puts it to shame. I figured that would happen when I started to build it but it just goes to show.
 
I didn't mean to bash Taurus either,,,

Because I own three of them and they have all been good performers,,,

What it was, is that my old eyes misread the OP and I responded backwards,,,
I could easily have said that my Models 970 and 990 Taurus (Taurii?),,,
Are better shooters than my more expensive 22 revolvers,,,
'Cause in general they are at least as good,,,
And at half the price.
 
It is not uncommon for new guns/magazines to have some glitches during a break in period. Not that a break in period is official or stated, just that it's not uncommon.
 
It is not uncommon for new guns/magazines to have some glitches during a break in period. Not that a break in period is official or stated, just that it's not uncommon.
Click to expand...
Then someone will chime in that a break in period is a myth and that if it's not flawless, it's crap.
I've just taken to the notion that sometimes the shooter has to adjust himself to how the gun wants to be shot.
 
I own 2 Taurus pistols, both are a lot of pistol for what I spent..... However my much more expensive Sig Trumps (Capital T) both of them.. Taurus is great for the money in my experience but above a certain price point it just doesn't matter.

Im sure the day will come when it happens but not so far.
:o
 
Had the opposite happen. I bought a Henry .22 and wasn't impressed at all with the thing. Sold it at a gun show and bought an old Marlin 39 Mountie the same trip. What a difference. I can pop a starling at 75 yards with it 9/10 shots.
 
Nope, but I bought a cheap gun, a Taurus M85 bought NIB that froze up around 250 rounds that made me appreciate the merits of a more expensive gun, my S&W 637.

The way I see it, replacing that Taurus cost me not only the price of a new S&W 637 but I also lost roughly half of what the Taurus cost me on a trade in.

It was an expensive lesson, but one well learned.
 
I usually have good experiences with the more expensive guns and the less as well. But honestly it seems to me that for what they do if you are paying between $500 and $1000 they are all pretty equal. Love my SW1911 as much as my Glock 19 and I love my M&P9 more than both of those. Didn't like my SIG P226, guess you could say I was disappointed in that one. Shooting a P226 would make me appreciate my Glock or my M&P I guess. Dunno.
 
I had an HK USP45c that has made me better appreciate just about any other handgun, for everything I have owned before or since has had a much better trigger than that kludgey piece of overengineered crap.

HK is a friggin' money making racket run by non-shooters in my estimation. I'll keep on trusting the Americans, Italians, and the upper crust Brazilians rather than drink that overpriced and overhyped German kool-aid again.
 
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