Most idiot gun purchase

[VertigoBE]

So wanted to get this off my chest, and was wondering if any of you have made any purchases over the years that you truly regretted afterwards. Too expensive, wrong item, or finally no use for. Might be enlightening

I'll start off:

When I joined AH about a year ago, I had just found out that Mauser had stopped the production of their M03 line of rifles. This line of rifles has a similar type of switch barrel system like the Blaser's. I own a Mauser M03 in .300WinMag that I really like, so I wanted to add a .375H&H barrel to it. Searching high and low, nothing was to be found, until I spoke with Mauser directly, who after a few months managed to source me a new barrel, with magazine, extra bolthead and another optics mount + some other stuff.

Fast forward to today, not everything has arrived in the gunstore still (allthough they have the barrel now) and in the mean time I'm out 2700 EUR.

Knowing what I know now, I would not have bought this extra barrel at such a ridiculous price, but rather listened more to some of the forum members I got to know later on, and just bought myself a good used .375H&H Mauser actioned rifle.

Looking forward to hearing your horror stories!

 

[Dukeisok]

My first gun was a Remington Baikal Spartan spr453 semi auto shotgun. 3 1/2 in gas semi-auto Rough Around the Edges but generally pretty reliable for several years. Favored by waterfowlers as a tank of a shotgun. That is until Obama came into office and shut down importation of Russian Parts. Remington dropped the line and I can't get any parts for it now. The trigger group on it is no longer functional and I've had it to the gunsmith. He charged me $100 on a $275 shotgun to repair the trigger and it worked for 16 shells. I took it back to him and he told me he wouldn't work on it anymore. Won't fire at all. Now I've got a boat paddle. It's certainly not worth finding another gunsmith to rebuild anything. At the time I bought it I didn't have much money and it was the best I could do but now I have many nicer American and Italian shotguns.

To add to the pain, I knew nothing of shotgun fit. I simply tried to use it straight off the rack. I never understood why I couldn't hit any moving target until years later when I was fitted for a shotgun and found that I need a 15 3/4 length of pull and loads of drop to get it to fit.

 

[sestoppelman]

Dumbest trade I ever made was a fine shooting BRNO 602 in .300 Win mag for a complete POS Winchester Coyote in .22-250. I know, one extreme to the other, but I didnt have any use for the BRNO at the time and wanted a light kicking varminter for some reason.
Coyote was garbage and quickly sold off.
Have bought many guns over the years just to see if I liked them, most went down the road, but at least I was able to claim some knowledge of them from first hand experience.
Perfect example of this. A few months ago, I was in the mood for something pretty. I bought a beautiful Taylors Uberti Schofield revolver in .38 Special. Case colored and blued, it was gorgeous. Took it to the range about 3 times and sold it.
It just didnt excite me at all other than being pretty, and that aint enuf.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

A Llama Comanche .44 magnum with a six inch barrel...

I won't call it an idiot purchase, and I don't have regrets... but that's as close as it comes for me and it's not really close.

I bought it for 250 bucks when my wife and I first married. We didn't have a lot of money then, and I wanted something for the tent when we camped and hunted. It was in like new condition, locked up tight, and was accurate. It worked for what I bought it for. As we climbed out of debt I acquired better options and didn't ever use it. A few years ago I sold it to a guy for what I paid for it and used that money towards a Savage 99.

Again, I don't regret buying it. There were reasons for buying it. I do not regret that it's gone.

 

[Rare Breed]

So wanted to get this off my chest, and was wondering if any of you have made any purchases over the years that you truly regretted afterwards. Too expensive, wrong item, or finally no use for. Might be enlightening

I'll start off:

When I joined AH about a year ago, I had just found out that Mauser had stopped the production of their M03 line of rifles. This line of rifles has a similar type of switch barrel system like the Blaser's. I own a Mauser M03 in .300WinMag that I really like, so I wanted to add a .375H&H barrel to it. Searching high and low, nothing was to be found, until I spoke with Mauser directly, who after a few months managed to source me a new barrel, with magazine, extra bolthead and another optics mount + some other stuff.

Fast forward to today, not everything has arrived in the gunstore still (allthough they have the barrel now) and in the mean time I'm out 2700 EUR.

Knowing what I know now, I would not have bought this extra barrel at such a ridiculous price, but rather listened more to some of the forum members I got to know later on, and just bought myself a good used .375H&H Mauser actioned rifle.

Looking forward to hearing your horror stories!

I bought a gorgeous Rizzini 470 NIB. Problem was I weighted 9 pounds. Kicked me to death and had to sell. If only I had asked…

 

[Justin.]

Ruger Precision in 6.5 Creedmoor.

I know some of you don’t even need an explanation past that LOL!!!

It was a pleasure to shoot off of the bench, but I didn’t personally get a lot of joy of ownership out of it. I rushed into the purchase and realized a little too late that it wasn’t what I was looking for in a range toy! Learned a valuable lesson about first nailing down what I wanted in a gun before jumping in with both feet LOL!

 

[IvW]

Rem model 700 classic 375 H&H biggest piece of sh*t I ever wasted money on......

 

[VertigoBE]

I have a feeling we are about to discover a lot of brands and makes that should not be purchased...

 

[meigsbucks]

Biggest bonehead purchase I made was one of my earliest gun purchases. I bought a new Astra .357 mag revolver. There were two mistakes I made with that purchase. One was that the shop also had a lightly used S&W M58 .41 mag for just a few $$$ more. If I remember the deciding factor was that gun had fixed sights.The Astra was a piece of junk. Spit an inordinate amount jacket or lead out of the cylinder gap. Not very accurate.
A friend wanted to buy it. I informed him of it’s issues but he still wanted it. I gave him a great price. He put about 200 rounds thru it and the forcing cone cracked.

 

[RLL]

S&W model 53, 22 rem jet that had been fitted with a 22mag cylinder. looked great but machined terribly, shot like piss, with both cylinders/rounds. For a collectible Smith and the price, it was over hyped for what it was and should have been.

 

[Dukeisok]

I have bought two winchester model 70s. Both brand new circa 2016 or so.
One was a supergrade maple stock in 270. Beautiful gun. I put Talley mounts and a leupold scope on it and despite 70 moa of windage adjustment in the scope, the gun was 20 feet to the left of the target at 50 yards. Took everything back apart. Looking at the receiver mounting holes, the rear hole was more than 1/4 inch off midline. Too far to upsize and try to straighten. Returned to winchester. They had it for about 4 months then returned a gun with an entirely different serial number and unfortunately, plainer wood stock.

Second model 70 was safari in 375 h&h. Went to mount weaver bases and Warne qd rings only to find that the rear hole had never been tapped. Drilled but not tapped. Not wanting to wait 4 months for winchester to get a second shot at tapping their receiver, I bought the appropriate sized tap and set to work, promptly breaking the tap off in the receiver. Come to find out it was drilled but not to the size required to tap for a 6x32 thread. I had to take it to a gunsmith and drop $75 to get the tap extracted and the receiver appropriately tapped. Probably won't buy another winchester.

Perhaps though I just have bad luck. I bought a ruger gp100 brand new that was so out of time that the cylinder was locked up out of the box. It wouldn't even open to load it before I had to send it back to ruger.

I also have a Savage muzzleloader that was incorrectly headspaced to the breech plug and the bolt would not close from the factory.

I had a Browning Bar Safari in 338 that would never feed correctly.

I bought a new bergara stalker that extracted 50% of the time.

I also had a Ford truck that had to have $4500 of warranty work for cam phasers that tried to hammer themselves apart.

I truly believe that we live in a disposable world and they don't make things like they used to. My son recently inherited an lc Smith side by side 20 gauge made in 1919 and used by his great great grandfather. Other than trigger springs that had lightened over time, it is flawless. I no longer buy cheap guns but even so, I doubt much that I have will still be going to the 5th generation of my offspring. My last gun purchases have all been used (savage 99, marlin 37, kimber talkeetna)

 

[Nomadx2]

Wanted to buy my first handgun ... on the way home from a road trip, I stopped at the gun store that was on my way home (this was not the issue as I enjoyed stopping there after a long week on the road).

I looked at their display case and a Sig P226 .40 cal in chrome and beautiful wood grips. Well like any pretty thing that smiles at you, i had to buy it.

At the time, hadn't really thought through how to set-up my plan for handguns & ammo as all are 9 mm or .380. A great gun, but it is now the odd one ammo wise that I own.

 

[mark-hunter]

Calculated and planned purchase of available firearms is not "idiot purchase".

Calculated and planned purchase of firearm not available in gun shop, by thrusting the salesman promises of soonest delivery is not "idiot purchase" - because it is a lesson learned.
so, its a lesson learned.

Many have gone this route

I had similar enlightening experience, which costed me almost a year of my life.
Not money lost, but almost a year of my life. (how much is a year of life worth, or a 6 months?)

I had a firearm purchase permit valid for six months.
I trusted a salesman, that he will import a shotgun of my choice, as a matter of time, in month or two, top!
So I waited.
He did not import anything.
Shotgun of my choice and our agreement, never imported.

Finally, my permit duly expired after 6 months (salesman is aware of validity of permits, and what is consequence of empty promises and delays in delivery)

So, I went, and made a new permit and bought AVAILABLE shotgun, in another shop. Different model, but I was happy the same with my new choice. maybe 7 months after my original intention,.

Since then, I buy only what is visible on the racks, in LGS.
And, I have not been disappointed in my shopping ever since.
No regrets.

And the salesaman in question never saw me again. Costumer lost.

 

[TOBY458]

Where do I start?

 

[CoElkHunter]

So wanted to get this off my chest, and was wondering if any of you have made any purchases over the years that you truly regretted afterwards. Too expensive, wrong item, or finally no use for. Might be enlightening

I'll start off:

When I joined AH about a year ago, I had just found out that Mauser had stopped the production of their M03 line of rifles. This line of rifles has a similar type of switch barrel system like the Blaser's. I own a Mauser M03 in .300WinMag that I really like, so I wanted to add a .375H&H barrel to it. Searching high and low, nothing was to be found, until I spoke with Mauser directly, who after a few months managed to source me a new barrel, with magazine, extra bolthead and another optics mount + some other stuff.

Fast forward to today, not everything has arrived in the gunstore still (allthough they have the barrel now) and in the mean time I'm out 2700 EUR.

Knowing what I know now, I would not have bought this extra barrel at such a ridiculous price, but rather listened more to some of the forum members I got to know later on, and just bought myself a good used .375H&H Mauser actioned rifle.

Looking forward to hearing your horror stories!

"I'm out 2700EUR". Wow, that's 19,420.89 Chinese Yuan! That really sucks!

 

[Newboomer]

Calculated and planned purchase of available firearms is not "idiot purchase".

Calculated and planned purchase of firearm not available in gun shop, by thrusting the salesman promises of soonest delivery is not "idiot purchase" - because it is a lesson learned.
so, its a lesson learned.

Many have gone this route

I had similar enlightening experience, which costed me almost a year of my life.
Not money lost, but almost a year of my life. (how much is a year of life worth, or a 6 months?)

I had a firearm purchase permit valid for six months.
I trusted a salesman, that he will import a shotgun of my choice, as a matter of time, in month or two, top!
So I waited.
He did not import anything.
Shotgun of my choice and our agreement, never imported.

Finally, my permit duly expired after 6 months (salesman is aware of validity of permits, and what is consequence of empty promises and delays in delivery)

So, I went, and made a new permit and bought AVAILABLE shotgun, in another shop. Different model, but I was happy the same with my new choice. maybe 7 months after my original intention,.

Since then, I buy only what is visible on the racks, in LGS.
And, I have not been disappointed in my shopping ever since.
No regrets.

And the salesaman in question never saw me again. Costumer lost.

Kahr 40S&W. The grip shape was wrong and the slide bit me on every round fired. Took it to a smith to get the grip reconfigured and it still bit. It went down the road.

Win 88 308 lever gun. Cracked the stock after just a few rounds and the lever wouldn't seat right so it malfunctioned regularly. Took it back to the gunshop and got a refund.

I've acquired several on different occasions that caught my eye but soon wore thin or didn't get used so they found new homes. I have since learned to beware of impulse buying. Lotta looky, little spendy.

 

[fourfive8]

Most everything in this thread triggers a memory. Anyone who has experience in buying, selling, trading guns for any length of time will relate at least to one if not most of these stories. Most of them are trips down memory lane for me. I call it the price of my education. That seems to help me justify the stupidity…

 

[CoElkHunter]

I have bought two winchester model 70s. Both brand new circa 2016 or so.
One was a supergrade maple stock in 270. Beautiful gun. I put Talley mounts and a leupold scope on it and despite 70 moa of windage adjustment in the scope, the gun was 20 feet to the left of the target at 50 yards. Took everything back apart. Looking at the receiver mounting holes, the rear hole was more than 1/4 inch off midline. Too far to upsize and try to straighten. Returned to winchester. They had it for about 4 months then returned a gun with an entirely different serial number and unfortunately, plainer wood stock.

Second model 70 was safari in 375 h&h. Went to mount weaver bases and Warne qd rings only to find that the rear hole had never been tapped. Drilled but not tapped. Not wanting to wait 4 months for winchester to get a second shot at tapping their receiver, I bought the appropriate sized tap and set to work, promptly breaking the tap off in the receiver. Come to find out it was drilled but not to the size required to tap for a 6x32 thread. I had to take it to a gunsmith and drop $75 to get the tap extracted and the receiver appropriately tapped. Probably won't buy another winchester.

Perhaps though I just have bad luck. I bought a ruger gp100 brand new that was so out of time that the cylinder was locked up out of the box. It wouldn't even open to load it before I had to send it back to ruger.

I also have a Savage muzzleloader that was incorrectly headspaced to the breech plug and the bolt would not close from the factory.

I had a Browning Bar Safari in 338 that would never feed correctly.

I bought a new bergara stalker that extracted 50% of the time.

I also had a Ford truck that had to have $4500 of warranty work for cam phasers that tried to hammer themselves apart.

I truly believe that we live in a disposable world and they don't make things like they used to. My son recently inherited an lc Smith side by side 20 gauge made in 1919 and used by his great great grandfather. Other than trigger springs that had lightened over time, it is flawless. I no longer buy cheap guns but even so, I doubt much that I have will still be going to the 5th generation of my offspring. My last gun purchases have all been used (savage 99, marlin 37, kimber talkeetna)

Wow! That is the largest number of firearm "disasters" that I've ever heard of owned by one person. I would think statistically that can't go on forever? Your luck has to change as you've had way more problem guns than you should have ever had.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

@Dukeisok ... Totally agree on that disposable comment.
@Newboomer ... Different strokes eh? My EDC is a Kahr 40, and a big part is how it fits my hand. Sorry yours was a different experience.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I bought a Federal Interarms .380 semi auto pistol back in the '90s. It wouldn't feed hollow points reliably even after ramp polishing by a gunsmith. That isn't acceptable for a back up. But, this seems to be a common theme mentioned here, when you don't have much money at the time, one compromises on quality and ends up paying for it later? Not always, but enough times to make the news, so to speak. Down the highway to hell my .380 went.