Mistakes/regrets in purchasing a firearm?

C

cannonfire

New member
Just wondering what people's regrets or mistakes they made while buying a new gun. Didn't shop around, paid too much, etc.

I was not into shooting when I bought my first gun (Springfield XD service .40). I had turned 21 while in Iraq and I thought that now that I can buy a handgun and had the money to do it, that I would. I started talking to buddies who were into firearms and the overall opinion was that it should be a Glock or XD and it had to be .40 because apparently that is the perfect round. So when I got back I went to GT Distributors and bought the XD .40 without shopping for other options.

I like the XD a lot actually (prefer it to a glock by far) but I'm not in love with it. To me it's just meh. Another quality gun but nothing special. I don't care for the .40sw much either. I am lucky that I was able to learn (taught myself) to shoot handguns and that I am not sensitive to the snappiness of the .40.

Hindsight I wish I would have done more research, found something I would have liked more and probably get it in 9mm.

I still have the pistol 4 years later and I won't sell it but I wish I would have done it right the first time.

Your stories?
 
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Five or so years ago everyone at the range was bragging about how great their Glocks were. Didn't have the cash to buy new but I was talked into buying a used trade in that appeared to be like new. Bad choice, grip angle was terrible, for me anyway, and on the first visit to a very busy indoor range I had a major malfunction after just three rounds. Just glad to still have my hand, fingers, eyes and no scars. I no longer buy just on the prompting of others but now do an indepth study prior to any gun purchase. Want to see something scary? Google glock kabooms or any other brand.
 
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I think there's a Jennings .380 somewhere in the mists of time that could claim I owned it at one point.
That 10" barreled Ruger MkII didn't last long.

That's all I care to remember at this point. Anything more will cause depression and a desire to rectify past mistakes with new purchases, which same I cannot afford at this point.
 
I won't consider my flop a total loss, but I regret it nonetheless. As an owner of two Remington 700s, I figured "hell, they got it goin on" so I wanted to see what the 770 was all about and picked one up as my first 30-06 rifle.
Chalk it up to insufficient research, the first of my young gun blunders which I hope to be far and few between.
Having owned a .300RUM and shot rifles much larger than that I wasn't concerned with the recoil at all, but was shocked to find how poorly it handled it. The stiff and creepy trigger pull which is non adjustable as opposed to my X-marks on the R700 which certainly didn't help anything.
Onto the next flaw, which I figured may be the case, was the scope. Normally I hear very little negative about Bushnell but this one was absolutely awful. Went to sight it in, boresighted beforehand, and I didn't hit paper which contradicts Remington's own statement about the rifle on their website. Went to adjust elevation, got bottom half of the paper, went up more. Next was something I have never seen, Elevation was increasing in a line more similar to that of a perfectly linear equation "y=x"(otherwise, 45 degrees diagonally). Windage adjusting in the same manner in a y=-x equation or from upper left to bottom right.
Bolt is subpar but to be expected. Magazine fed decent although the spring feels kind of shabby.
All in all, I'm sure if I got a new scope for it the rifle might perform admirably, but I've seen enough.
Long story short, you get what you pay for, even from a highly regarded manufacturer.:rolleyes:
 
It was an aesthetic mistake,,,

I have a passion for owning a pair of pistols,,,
One chambered in centerfire and the other in .22 LR.

I own a 4" Colt Trooper Mk-III in .357 Magnum,,,
I wanted a .22 LR version to match with it,,,
I couldn't find a 4" model of the .22 gun,,,
So I purchased a pristine 6" version.

I've never been happy with them because they don't match exactly,,,
I got in a hurry and rushed to make the buy.

Now I'm searching for a .357 version with 6" barrel.

Aarond

.
 
Granted, I'm relatively new to owning firearms...but I was able to avoid a mistake. For my first handgun, I was leaning heavily towards a Springfield XD, but I was also thinking Beretta since that's what I learned on in the military. Luckily, a local shooting range offers handgun rentals. I was able to try out both, and I learned very quickly that I simply didn't like how the XD fit me. If ever given the chance, I'll be sure to test fire 50-100 rounds before I purchase a handgun to make sure it works for me.

(I ended up getting the Beretta PX4 in 9mm)
 
Very wise words,,,

Very wise words indeed.

If ever given the chance, I'll be sure to test fire 50-100 rounds before I purchase a handgun to make sure it works for me.
Click to expand...

I personally know way too many folk,,,
Who bought a gun simply on it's specifications,,,
And then found out the one feature that made them hate the gun.

Aarond

.
 
S&W 22A

Stupid plastic recoil buffer cracked in less than 100 rounds. Once that was gone the gun began to have all kinds of FTF despite being told the gun would be fine.

Found out the current guns are given like 6 or so extra recoil buffers. S&W didn't even fix the problem. I bought it because S&W had a reputation for being rock solid dependable. Guess that's just the 5906 series because the 22A was horrible.
 
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I'll admit, I also jumped on a PS90 without doing research. Although I am happy with it, next time I will do more research about the caliber and the down sides of the gun.

It is really fun and a great conversation piece!
 
1. S&W M-59. I wanted another wondernine to go along with my Browning HP.
Realized I didn't like aluminum frames.
 
Bought a used Beretta 92 kind of on a whim. It was rather beat up in terms of the finish and it had this Hogue grip on it. Found out later that I could have gotten one in better condition for almost a full 100 bucks cheaper at another gun shop. That being said, the one I have hasn't malfunctioned once in over 1000 rounds with several different brands of ammo.
 
In the 70s, when I was young man, I would buy what ever gun would fit the amount of money in my pocket. I didn't comprehend the nuances of what constituted a quality gun and, consequently, bought several POS guns.

Now... I don't succumb to the knee-jerk reactions of youth.
I decide on a gun, or guns, that interest me, do my research to make sure the gun is what I think it is (or can be), shop around a bit... then if all criteria are met, I buy it.

Thankfully, I have little interest in things like Boss shotguns or H&H rifles. :p

Cheers,
C
 
I probably have, but I don't really remember them. If I paid too much, so what? I either kept it, and it didn't matter, or I sold it and took a loss, and it didn't matter much either. If I bought a gun I didn't like I just sold it and moved on.

I can't remember any specific one though.
 
One day I was picking my Nieces up from school and running a little early. So, I stopped by a gun shop near the school just to kill a little time. I asked if they had anything new and they showed me a XD Subcompact .40S&W which I had never seen before. So, without doing any research and barely even holding the gun I bought it because I thought it was cool. :D

Big mistake. :o Although mechanical the thing was fine it just never seemed to fit my hand right. I never enjoyed shooting it or even tried to carry it. I own other .40 caliber guns so that wasn’t really the issue and I have some smaller frame guns, but just something didn’t click. Eventually I traded it in on a 1911.
 
Two for me, one a mistake, the other a regret.

1) Several years ago I bought a used Colt 1911 from several states away, through the old Guns America. When the pistol arrived, it looked as good as the photos had portrayed it -- but it was badly worn internally, and it wouldn't extract. Ultimately, I got it working with a new extractor and some tuning, but the barrel link pin is still sloppy in the barrel and there's nothing I can do about that short of either TIG welding and re-drilling, or replacing the barrel. I don't need to shoot it so I'm not likely to wear it out any more than it is, so I keep it as is.

2) Many years ago, when they were new, I bought a Henry H001 lever action carbine in .22LR. Great little rifle, but I agonized over the choice between .22LR and .22WMR. I chose based on ammo cost, anticipating that I'd be shooting it a lot. That hasn't happened, and in retrospect I wish I had bought the Magnum.
 
The one I regret is a Glock 32. I sold an XD sub compact 40 to buy it, and while it functioned fine, I found out there are a few little things I just don' tlike about Glocks. I sold it and bought another XD.

I regret not purchasing a S&W 38spl revolver, a model 36 I believe. It was right after a family friend had died and the estate asked if I wanted to buy it. I didn't have a use for a snubbie at the time so I declined. Turned out they only wanted $75 for it! I should have just bought it and sold it for a nice profit.
 
Should have bought more AMMO

I ALWAYS research a firearm before I commit to buy it. The only regret I can think of reguarding any of my past weapon purchases was not having bought more ammo!
 
The only gun I regret buying was a Taurus M85 that I thought I'd save a few bucks with. I knew their reputation was spotty, but I had read that their QA was a lot better than what it used to be so I took a chance and bought the M85 NIB.

I'll admit that at first it seemed like that was the case. The gun shot well and the trigger was nice. 200 rounds later however, the gun locked up solid. After dealing with Taurus's customer service, that was my first and last Taurus.

Once I got the gun back, and knowing that I would never trust it as a CCW gun, I sold it and of course took a beating on the resale. I then replaced it with a S&W 637 Airweight which, oddly enough, I wanted to buy at first but didn't want to spend the extra money.

Had I just spent a little more up front, I'd have saved a lot of money in the long run. There has to be a moral in there someplace.....
 
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