TexasCHLforum.com

Worst gun I've ever owned? Easy.

Charter Arms Bulldog .44

In all fairness this was 30 years ago. Blasted thing was so inaccurate you couldn't hit a 4 x 4 foot piece of butcher paper at 10 yards with it. I worked with the mfg for a year and a half - never got one bit better. Tried custom reloads, factory ammo, everything I could find. It was shaving lead, but no amount of work seemed to help. Even the factory was stumped, if you can believe that. I finally got a full refund from my great dealer and the thing went back to Charter. I presume it is mounted on a wall somewhere there to remind someone of the need for quality.

Worst gun I've never owned? Easy.

Smith & Wesson Sigma 9mm

My daughter bought it and despite numerous trips back to S&W, it never got through as many as 4 rounds without a stovepipe. Finally traded it off at a gunshow.

Mike from Texas wrote:To be honest, my Kimber Ultra Carry is on the cusp as well. I keep having issues on not going back into battery.

The ultras are sensitive to wrist strength. Limp wristing will cause the problems you're having, just a thought.

Do you own any other 1911 styles?

Davis Industries .380 - nickel plated (or Chrome?) - jammo-matic with a cracked slide. I've heard of these things actually exploding in people's hands. Busts my thumb knuckle open too. It's tucked away in a quiet corner of my safe, never to see the light of day.

particle wrote:Davis Industries .380 - nickel plated (or Chrome?) - jammo-matic with a cracked slide. I've heard of these things actually exploding in people's hands. Busts my thumb knuckle open too. It's tucked away in a quiet corner of my safe, never to see the light of day.

DO one of those "Gun Buybacks" and get some cash.

That or a gun show

7075-T7 wrote:

Mike from Texas wrote:To be honest, my Kimber Ultra Carry is on the cusp as well. I keep having issues on not going back into battery.

The ultras are sensitive to wrist strength. Limp wristing will cause the problems you're having, just a thought.

Do you own any other 1911 styles?

That's the only one I presently own, oh except for my DW CBOB which I have not shot.

Pretty sure it's not limp wristing as I am not the only one that it happens to. Several guys that I know that shoot 1911s religiously have the same problem with this gun in particular. And I consider myself a pretty decent shooter as well. I don't have any problems with my Glock pistols and they are notorious for stovepiping and such when limp wristed.

particle wrote:Davis Industries .380 - nickel plated (or Chrome?) - jammo-matic with a cracked slide. I've heard of these things actually exploding in people's hands. Busts my thumb knuckle open too. It's tucked away in a quiet corner of my safe, never to see the light of day.

Indeed.

Mike from Texas wrote:

7075-T7 wrote:

Mike from Texas wrote:To be honest, my Kimber Ultra Carry is on the cusp as well. I keep having issues on not going back into battery.

The ultras are sensitive to wrist strength. Limp wristing will cause the problems you're having, just a thought.

Do you own any other 1911 styles?

That's the only one I presently own, oh except for my DW CBOB which I have not shot.

Pretty sure it's not limp wristing as I am not the only one that it happens to. Several guys that I know that shoot 1911s religiously have the same problem with this gun in particular. And I consider myself a pretty decent shooter as well. I don't have any problems with my Glock pistols and they are notorious for stovepiping and such when limp wristed.

How many rounds through the pistol? My Pro has issues with the first 150, then after a wolff recoil & firing pin spring, it's been flawless ever since (700+ rounds). I switched from oil to Mil-comm grease on the rails and slide as well (TW-25B) and it feels like it's riding on bearings. Use a small paint brush ans put enough on to just be able to see it. Might help reduce the resistance enough for the FTRB problems.

7075-T7 wrote:

Mike from Texas wrote:

7075-T7 wrote:

Mike from Texas wrote:To be honest, my Kimber Ultra Carry is on the cusp as well. I keep having issues on not going back into battery.

The ultras are sensitive to wrist strength. Limp wristing will cause the problems you're having, just a thought.

Do you own any other 1911 styles?

That's the only one I presently own, oh except for my DW CBOB which I have not shot.

Pretty sure it's not limp wristing as I am not the only one that it happens to. Several guys that I know that shoot 1911s religiously have the same problem with this gun in particular. And I consider myself a pretty decent shooter as well. I don't have any problems with my Glock pistols and they are notorious for stovepiping and such when limp wristed.

How many rounds through the pistol? My Pro has issues with the first 150, then after a wolff recoil & firing pin spring, it's been flawless ever since (700+ rounds). I switched from oil to Mil-comm grease on the rails and slide as well (TW-25B) and it feels like it's riding on bearings. Use a small paint brush ans put enough on to just be able to see it. Might help reduce the resistance enough for the FTRB problems.

It has in the neighborhood of 1500 rounds through it. I have changed the recoil spring to a Wolff, had the ramp polished and chamber slightly throated and heavily polished, I use Wilson mags and Kimpro mags exclusively. I just don't understand it. Next step is to send it to Kimber. I have read that some guns need the extractor tuned for this but I will let them perform that work. It's just a little disappointing to pay that kind of money for a weapon and it not work out of the box. My $300 Kel_tec P3AT has proven to be more reliable than the Kimber has.

frazzled wrote:

particle wrote:Davis Industries .380 - nickel plated (or Chrome?) - jammo-matic with a cracked slide. I've heard of these things actually exploding in people's hands. Busts my thumb knuckle open too. It's tucked away in a quiet corner of my safe, never to see the light of day.

Indeed.

But it's cuuuute.

My worst as far as reliability and accuracy were actually pretty valuable. I had a prewar Walther P-38 that at 10 yards would shoot about 4 inches low and left. Any further out and forget it. I also had a Colt 1895 .38 long double action. The DA trigger pull approached 15 # and SA was every bit of 7 #. Trigger control was an almost unattainable discipline. Both were sold for a reasonable amount and bought some other more practical equipment...including some food for my baby (G23).

I also had a couple of Belgian made Damascus twist dbl barrel shotguns, one muzzle loader and on break open. I wouldn't shoot a shell through the break open on a bet. BP through the muzzle loader in the 75-90 grain range is safe enough. The Break open I donated to a theater and I'm waiting on someone who needs a wall hanger for the other. I inherited all of these and have unloaded (pun intended) several of the ones with lesser usability.

Owned one of these back in the late 70's.



Raven P25 .25 auto. It was the cheapest and worst piece of junk I could think of. I bought it as a boot BUG, but after shooting it a few times decided it would probably go off in my boot.

I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Sold it to my Brother-In-Law.

Interesting thread. I am lucky, because all my guns have been good. I haven't gotten a lemon yet, but as noted here earlier, anything mechanical is subject to failure. It is interesting to see that Sig, Kimber, Colt, S&W, are all getting dishonorable mentions on someone's list. I guess when you get a cheap pistol, you almost expect problems, but it must be especially frustrating to get a lemon when you are forking over a lot of money for something that is supposed to be top quality. Still, I wouldn't give up on a brand because of one bad experience.

Do the letters "RG" mean anything to you?

Mine was an ancient small ring Mauser converted to 308Win and heavily bubba'ed. The firing pin was too long to fully retract when the bolt was lifted, and the cock on close action would shoot the bolt+live rounds back hard enough that the one time my hand slipped the protruding firing pin detonated the round in my face.

I ground the firing pin down to reasonable dimensions and passed it on down the line.

Keith B wrote:Owned one of these back in the late 70's.



Raven P25 .25 auto. It was the cheapest and worst piece of junk I could think of. I bought it as a boot BUG, but after shooting it a few times decided it would probably go off in my boot.

I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Sold it to my Brother-In-Law.

Same one I have been posting about, Keith! I got to where I was afraid it would go off also. I bought it to keep in the map pocket of my auto. Yikes!!!

Still have it! Don't know how to dispose of it. A friend of mine with police said bring it down we will destroy it. Hmmmmm. Then I was worried about it being in a stick up somewhere!!!!

I've had 2. The Kahr PM40 and Kimber Ultra Classic. Both wen through a lot more that the break in rounds but both would FTF and FTE about every 3-5 rounds. Didn't matter what ammo. Both were sent back to factory 3 times with no resolution.

Wasn't caused by limp wristing as I could shoot very similar guns without problems.