What is the worst rifle you have ever owned?

[Von Gruff]

I cant think of a single rife I have had that might fall into that category. Any of them that didn't perform as expected or were bought for the purpose were used as a basis for building something that did. The Colombian FN in 06 (I got it cheap) had a barrel that shot patterns but it was the basis for a 7x61 S&H then the 404 Jeffery so not a worst rifle, just one that needed a little love and a 'do over'.
I dont think I met/bought a rifle that I couldn't find something positive on. Many I wouldn't buy so maybe they might qualify as a worst rifle

 

[Andy S]

I bought a Remington 742 semi auto in .280 rem at a farmer's ( my wife's uncle) auction, I put a new nikon prostaff on it and bore sighted it, took it to the range and could not hit a 4x8 piece of plywood at 50 yds...... I found out later it was his tractor gun so it was definitely used and abused and probably never cleaned. After a ridiculous disassemble and cleaning session I was able to shoot a 2 ft group at 50. I later sold to a guy that wanted it for coyote hunting....... I was a 100 percent honest as to the piece of crap he was purchasing but he said it was the cheapest semi-auto he could find. It was a nice looking gun.

 

[bruce moulds]

the old woody is conceptually a good rifle, but I had one in 308 that sometimes failed to feed a round into the chamber.
the gun pointed and grouped well, but its problem was solved by replacing it with a BAR.
the worst ever rifle was a 7mag ruger m77.
it would not group on a piece of foolscap paper at 100 yds, whatever ammo it was fed.
and the forend split.
the agent said that its grouping was my inability to shoot, and they would test it at my expense.
and the forend splitting was somehow my fault as well.!
second worse was a sako 30/06 which also would not group on a foolcap page at 100yds.
in this case I was told that the 30/06 cartridge was not noted for accuracy.
well replacing the barrel with a hart match grade barrel turned it into a tack driver.
it actually won a number of scheutzen matches against such things a Schultz and Larson target rifles.
anything made by man can have a glitch, but when the supply chain fails to back up the product this is noted, and that product is to be avoided in the future.
bruce.

 

[Michael Dean]

The worst rifle I ever owned was a post 1964 Winchester Model 70. It had no recoil pad just a plastic plate and kicked like a mule. Was impossible to get the thing to shoot straight. I ended up trading it in for a Swedish Finbear in 270 caliber. I still have the 270 today. It's a joy to shoot.

 

[Eric Anderson]

Remington 770.
Garbage rifle.

 

[JakeH]

I had a Winchester 94 that WOULD. NOT. GROUP. The first two shots would be touching and the third would be almost off the damned target. Tried different ammo, tightening all screws to the same specs, checked scope, rings, mounts, waited minutes between shots..... Piece of crap would not group. Never did find out what was wrong with it and traded it in for a Marlin 336.

 

[Newboomer]

Remington 600 Mohawk 308 with a 20" bbl. I had the stock cut to fit and a good pad put on but the damn thing still almost knocks my teeth out. It kicks worse than my 375HH. The bolt is sticky and doesn't feed very well. When it shoots it gets good groups, though, but it's miserable to shoot. I've had the bolt worked on but it still is not right. Time for a visit to the gun show.
Ruger 10-22. It won't feed with a banana mag in. One round and I have to remove the mag and reinsert. This happens if I touch the mag while holding the gun. The mag gets out of line and won't feed. If I use the rotary mags it works fine--most of the time.

 

[bruce moulds]

ah yes the humble 94 win that I had forgotten about.
a 44 mag that the magazine tube used to come out past the muzzle after 3 shots.
and the safety device that would not allow it to fire until the lever was fully closed.
in this case would not let it fire at all until I glued a spacer onto it to achieve engagement.
bruce.

 

[BeeMaa]

How about caliber...does caliber count?
I have a Savage Bear Hunter in 300WSM that I have a love/hate relationship with.
It drives tacks like no other rifle I've ever owned, boringly accurate with any 180gr bullet.
I hate the cartridge, the way the gun looks, the camo plastic stock, the push feed, the muzzle break and I can't wait to get rid of it.

 

[johnnyblues]

Honestly every Weatherby I’ve owned gave me some sort of problem. IMO they are crap.

 

[JakeH]

How about caliber...does caliber count?
I have a Savage Bear Hunter in 300WSM that I have a love/hate relationship with.
It drives tacks like no other rifle I've ever owned, boringly accurate with any 180gr bullet.
I hate the cartridge, the way the gun looks, the camo plastic stock, the push feed, the muzzle break and I can't wait to get rid of it.

How much?

 

[Savage Hunter]

How much?

yeah, how much?

 

[BeeMaa]

How much?

yeah, how much?

PM sent.

Savage Bear Hunter model 16 300 WSM

• BeeMaa
• Mar 10, 2019

Savage Bear Hunter model 16 300 WSM

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Many years ago, I had a huge passion for predator control, and enjoyed my time in the off season calling for Jackal and Caracal on the land of small stock farmers in the area.
I built myself a rig, which I thought would give me a bit more reach. It was in a .243 Win, fitted with a bull barrel. I hand loaded 69gr GS Customs , flying in the upper 3000's fps. I fitted the rifle with a Swarovski Z5 5-25x 50.
The end result was that I missed 5 consecutive shots at 5 different Jackal, which as anyone who has hunted with me knows, almost put me in the mental ward. I had never missed a Jackal before that rifle in my life.
The rifle, had everything of the best, from being glass bedded, top quality optics, bull barrel etc, but could not get it to print a tight group.
After contemplating burning the rifle and scope, I came to my senses, and took it apart and sold it piece by piece.
Still to this day, I don't know what the problem was.

 

[bruce moulds]

needing to adjust parallax on the scope when it was set on over 8 power?

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

needing to adjust parallax on the scope when it was set on over 8 power?

Bruce, as far as I know, parallax only occur from above 12x power. That is why you get scopes up to 12x , with no adjustable parallax. One thing was apparent that I do recall now that you mentioned parallax and that was that there seemed to be a parallax problem , even with the scope turned to 5x.

 

[GeoffB]

In the 1980's I bought a brand new Savage model 340 in .22 Hornet.
It regularly failed to extract cases after firing, would not feed well or group under 4 inches at 100 yards with its side mounted scope (factory mount).
I tried a number of hand loads and bullet combinations but could not get it to shoot.
I remember walking around shooting rabbits with it with an old two piece cleaning rod in my backpack to knock the fired cases out if I had a jam.
Eventually as I saved up more money and traded the Savage in and upgraded to a Brno ZKW 465 in 22 Hornet.
I still have this Brno today and love it.

 

[Dr Ray]

I had a rubber stock Remington stainless steel in 270. I could not sight it in! I fired over 90 shots! I checked the scope mounts and the scope was of a very good quality (Leupold from memory or it may have been an Austrian made one - sorry cannot recall which).
The recoil was terrible and I could compare to my other 270 at the time - Browning).
I did competition shooting so I had confidence in my ability to sight in. Began to think it was myself after 90 shots and still couldn’t sight in.
Sold later on. Perhaps I should have had it restocked. Friend of mine’s wife has exactly the same rifle. It shoots ok but both my friend and his wife hate the thing.
I suggested it would make a great tomato stake!

 

[Dr Ray]

I consider myself blessed with never having a really dud rifle, shotgun or pistol.
Bur then, I have not owned very many of them either.
All S& W revolvers and pistols
All Winchester rifles
All Parker shotguns.
The few exceptions to the above were VERY carefully selected and used. Some of those guns required customizing and tuning to best suit my needs and I still own nearly every gun I ever bought. Maybe my expectations are too low?

Boring is it not?

I had a Parker Hale in 270 many years ago. I swapped a 30:06 for it. The barrel had never been cleaned properly and I took 9 months of literally daily cleaning with solvents to clean it. I also used lead alloy Bullets in it and I must say that the rifle eventually shot good groups.
I traded it in for s rubber stocked Ruger rifle. What a disaster.

 

[Dr Ray]

Must correct the make of rifle with the rubber stock. It was a Ruger not a Remington.