[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Problems with guns common? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/18/2008 6:54:37 PM EDT
I see where people talk a lot about having guns and having problems with them. I have had over 70 different guns in the last 15 years and can't remember one of them giving me problems other than one time I had a bad mag which I fixed in 2 minutes. I have not allways bought the name brand guns or mags etc... and still can't remember having problems. Am I just lucky or is it not really all that common a problem. Or could it be that the people that have a lot of problems are not  I allways make sure my guns are kept clean and lubed could that be it
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So, what do you get? Like, the "generic" guns with the plain white labels on them? 
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I have had, or personally seen major issued with many brands of guns. Brand new Springfields, Kimbers, Ruger, Smith&Wesson, Colts, LMT's, Auto Ordnance(dont get me started on their crap), Glock, etc. Some companies don't have good QC, and ever the ones with the best QC, things will sometimes slip by. |
They're all painted white and say GUN on the side!   - Clint |
Store brand? Dick's generic hunt'n gun, guaranteed to take whatever rusted ammo you bought 30 years ago and not work! |
| I have my guns divided into 2 classes. CCW carry guns that I expect to be 100%reliable. I don't mess with them or make changes to them. If I need sights put on or other work done, it gets done by a professional. These are reliable guns that almost never give me trouble. The other guns are range toys or projects. Some I've built from parts, others I bought as derelict "projects". I spend time tinkering and messing with them, refinishing them...they are the ones that will give me a bit of trouble...and I expect it and it gives me something more to tinker with...but I wouldn't stake my life on them. |
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I've had problems with three 1911's feeding .45 ACP JHP. I had a chambered live round stuck in an AR one time. I finally just poked the damned thing really hard from the muzzle with a cleaning rod. (discharging the round was not a viable option under the circumstances) I shot a tree with birdshot from a 12 gauge while standing 2 feet from the tree and received splashback into my face. There were no survivors. Except me. I had a safety on a Beretta 92FS that failed to engage, resulting in a Negligent Discharge while I was finger-fucking the weapon. |
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I can say that the 2 problems I've ever had with a gun is my new Keltec PF9. The mag release is balky, and very inconsistent. Called them today and they're sending me a new release. I had a S&W 1911 go full-auto on me, called S&W and they sent me a return label...fixed it, and had it back within the week. Simply amazing service by both companies. HH |
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I only have problems with three of my guns: My Savage Model 110 has no stock. My Mauser c96 Bolo has a missing extractor, broken magazine spring, shot-out barrel, and was parkerized instead of left blued. My WASR-10 has a fucked-up magazine well. It only takes three of my seven magazines, and only two of them reliably. |
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Ruger Security Six - "end shake" - cylinder would not turn. S&W Model 29 - out of the box, timing off, cylinder would turn but hammer would not go back. Colt GM - firing pin retainer shattered, firing pin and spring popped out; center leaf of 3-leaf spring broke, gun inoperable; aftermarket Wilson barrel bushing broke, recoil spring and plug went downrange. (This gun has well over 100K rounds through it.) Kimber Stainless Target II - adjustable sight elevation screw kept backing out, did not have the little ball bearing installed. Repaired under warranty. Glock 17 (early one) - rear sight fell out; plastic-clad magazine split and bulged, had to be pried out of the mag well. Nighthawk Predator - out of the box, FTF last round in mag, replaced recoil spring, problem solved. AR10T - Don't get me started. Spent thousands getting it to run. Nothing worked. Runs fine now, but it took me seven years. Prof. Ord. Carbon 15 - cracked gas block, warranty repair. Kahr .40 "Covert" - FTC every shot out of the box; warranty replacement. Walther TPH - FTF every shot out of the box, warranty repair. Charter Bulldog .44 - keyholing, one misaligned chamber. Many, many more. Not enough space on the internet to list them all. OTOH, I have never had a malfunction of any kind with an AR15, and numerous other Kimber, Springfield and Para-Ordnance .45's, S&W and Taurus autos and revolvers, Kel-Tecs, and many other guns. |
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I have problems with crappy ammo and occasionally cleaning issues (apparently some guns need cleaned every decade), very damn rarely do I have problems with my guns. A magazine prob once, and the AR I built didn't work at all well, until I fixed the stuff I screwed up during assembly. One time I had a Llama .45 that was junk and before that a Davis .32 that had more problems than I can list. So two out of 50 or so... 4%? Something like that. |
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I think a lot of it depends on how hard you're pushing the gun or system. Frankly not much is going to go wrong with any halfway decent gun when you're sitting at a bench and plinking or just running through a magazine or two once a year. But if you're shooting in competition (practical style or otherwise) I think just about everyone has some problem every now and then. The key is to learn how to repair it at the time and then prevent it from happening in the future. It's a good skill to have, imo. Also the comments above apply which is that folks are coming on here to find out 'why' and 'what to do' about it when they do have problems. It's a good way to learn. |
Most of the guns I had did not get a lot of use most of them I put between 1K and 2K through them but I have had at least 5 with over 10K and I had a Colt AR15 with over 25K through the lower and upper I did swap out barrels a few times but that was just for a different look. |
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Truly only twice , and a Ceiner kit and Wolf ammo were involved. Once the Ceiner kit/.22 made the chamber/bore grubby , and once the Wolf failed to have enough power to cycle my new buffer/spring assembly. Different days at the range FWIW. Wolf is lame. Otherwise I would say my issues were related to mag probs with the Ciener as well. Not the gun. I have had issue with Advantage Arms kits and ammo too , but not really the gun per say..... -JC |
You didn't really say what kind of guns you had. I have had firing pins break , extractors break , feed ramps that I had to polish and a few others . Some of these I consider common and will happen to all firearms eventualy once you start shooting 1000's of rounds through them. I do have a couple of HK USP's that one has close to 10,000 rounds and have not had any issues with . My M14's I have worked on them a few times. ... but they get a lot of use. |
You obviously don't have a 1911 that need to be toyed with continuously to get it to work properly. |
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For the first 300 rds or so, my Bushmaster refused to function with Q3131A, XM193, or any other first-rate ammo, preferring instead cheap steel-cased S&B. I never did figure that one out, but since the thing has worked perfectly ever since, wtf... Had a Yugo M48 that challenged you to a wrestling match every time you tried to cycle the bolt after firing. Had a Marlin 39A with such a stout mag spring that unless you were very careful when you opened the tube to reload, it would launch the inner mag tube downrange like a little brass javelin. I mean like 50ft downrange; this thing had the strongest mag spring I've ever seen in my life! Not really a "problem though, I guess...more of a PITA. Had 2 different Taurus 94's that would randomly lock up tight, forcing you to open the cylinder and reclose it before the gun would work. |
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Let's see, of the 4 Kel-Tecs I've owned only one worked properly right out of the box, the other 3 were bad jokes. The 2 AMT Backups I've owned either didn't work right or broke. I had a Colt Series 70 Gold Cup that was as bad any of the Kel-Tecs and a Kahr PM9 that was a complete POS, but the company is a bigger POS than the gun was. On the other hand I've never had a problem with a Ruger, Glock, Sig or S&W. Well, the finish on the Sig sucked, but the gun ran properly. I've never had a problem with an AR or an AK. Never had a problem with a High Power either. Never had a problem with a Marlin, Winchester or a Remington either. Lee Enfield, Mauser and Mosin have all been good to me as well. I guess I've had more good luck than bad. Stay away from known problem guns and known problem manufacturers and your luck will get better. |
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I went for most of my life without EVER having a single problem with a firearm. Many, many moons ago I bought a full size M1A that was just awesome. So, I bought a Springfield 1911.....absolutely the biggest piece of shit I ever owned. But, hey, I thought, considering all of the guns I've bought, it was about time I got a lemon. I got it running again by gutting it and fully refitting it with ALL new internals. It took forever to get there...but I got it. Then my dumb ass got one of their "new"Garands" for a decent price. Had to replace a few parts on that, too. You'd think I'd have learned.....but nOOOOOOOOOO. I bought a Scout Squad.....and it had a ncie chip in the neck of the chamber ( which was almost impossible to see...which is why it took forever to diagnose ) that caused cartridges to stick during extraction. That caused me to lose an extractor every few hundred rounds. To credit SA, they did rebarrel the gun with a damn fine chrome moly barrel that shoots DAMN good. But I'd rather eat my own foot before I EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER EVER buy anything else from Springfield Armory. Theyyyyyy SUCK! eta: AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON MY AR-10T FROM ARMALITE. That NEVER got fixed to my satisfaction. |
Depends I guess on how much you shoot. I have a Springfield M1A that has less than 50rds through it. So in that case its 100% reliable, so far. But my first AR15, that has about 5500rds through it has had encountered one or two stoppages in its lifetime, but that is expected the more use it has. |
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I've had accuracy and failure to fire problems with Remington "Yellow Jacket" "Hyper-Velocity" .22LR. I had the failure to fire problems with 2 rounds out of the 15 or so I fired out of a Marlin 60, and I mostly noticed the bad accuracy out of a Ruger MKII pistol. I was shooting at an empty 2-liter 7-up bottle at about 50 feet with the Ruger, and it looked like I had been spraying with a submachine gun. "Standard-velocity" .22 LR is much better, my preference is for Winchester Super-X lead round nose over most others. The stuff has gone bang every time for me, and has had acceptable accuracy. I have a really lousy Rohm RG10 revolver in .22 Short that was giving me light primer strikes due to a mainspring tension issue. The accuracy of this revolver is pretty much nil, as its' barrel is screwed up. The revolver can't even be counted on to hit a Coke can at 10 feet. The tension is adjustable via a screw on the bottom of the grip. Unfortunately, increasing the tension via the screw also increases the pull weight on the already lousy trigger. Other than the aforementioned things, I've never had firearm problems. |
| I like to tinker and experiment so yes i have problems sometimes when working out the bugs, but i always figure out how to make it work though. Once I have a weapon working well and don't mess with it after that then it is good for a long time until i shoot it so much i wear out a spring or something. |