Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Unexpected Disappointments -Hunting Rifles You Thought You'd Like, But Didn't

Having found the responses to the previous thread I started on the subject of hunting rifles that proved to be unexpected pleasures to be interesting reading, I thought I'd try the flip-side of that coin.

I'll start with one of my biggest all-time gun buying disappointments -my first Ruger No,1B....

The first rifle I have any independent recollection of having any desire to own was the Ruger No.1, As a little boy, I would practically drool over the advertisements for them in my father's American Rifleman magazines.

I started saving for one when I was seven years old. It would be the No 1B -a compromise between heavy barrel accuracy and light barrel portability, and it would be in .30-'06, to serve any hunting I might want to do, and perform well in the recreational target rifle role.

My "Ruger No.1 Savings Plan" got tapped in to and side-tracked along the way. First with a .20 caliber Beeman R-1 pellet rifle; then with a 20 gauge Ugartechea Shotgun and arranging a payment plan to buy a Griffin and Howe on a 1903 Springfield barreled action from the childless widow of my pediatric dentist -a man who became a mentor and shooting buddy in my late teens.

When I was 19, I finally had my funds built up to get my "dream rifle."

The first disappointment was that I couldn't find one in .30-'06 anyhwere in Southern California. I couldn't find anyone willing to order me one, either. I did find a No.1B in .270. I figured that might be as close as I would get, so I bought it and a Leupold to top it off with.

The second disappoint was discovered in shooting the thing. It was as accurate as I hoped it would be, for the first ten shots or so. After that, any semblance of accuracy vanished.

The third disappointment was allied to the second -the thing took an insane amount of scrubbing and the use of some pretty strong copper solvent to get the bore clean.

That's when I noticed something my much younger and slightly stupider self should have paid attention to before any money changed hands -the bore was a mess of chatter-marks. My heart sank. If all I wanted the rifle for was to shoot a few rounds to confirm zero, and a couple more in fall to collect game, it would have been fine even with the rough internal bore finish. But I wanted my "dream rifle" to be a "range toy," too. And the barrel, as it was, wasn't going to get 'er done.

My fourth disappointment was Ruger's renowned customer service after the sale. In this one instance, I was definitely not impressed. After over two years of back and forth with Ruger, they finally replaced the rifle.

The happy ending to this story is that during the period that I was trying rather unsuccessfully to get Ruger to fix my first No.1 to my satisfaction, I found what I really wanted in the first place -a Nol1B in .30-'06. That rifle exceeded expectations, shooting a .770" group on the first try. I still have that one, and it's been a joy for the last 28 years. More "happy ending" is that Ruger ultimately sent me a new No.1 to replace the first one. It was excellent, too. I traded it to a personal friend for a "known good" No.1 Tropical in .375 H&H -a rifle that I still own today.

That first one, though -the rifle of my childhood dreams- was a dud.

Anybody else buy what they thought was going to be "the one" only to be supremely disappointed when it didn't meet expectations?

I guess I can say I've never had a bad rifle, some shot better than others but all would work for what I needed it for. Im not a target shooter if i can hit minute of deer or coyote im happy.Biggest disappointment I've had was a s&w shield. I had just turned 21 and got my carry permit when they first came out. Loved the feel of it so decided it'd become my first cc gun. Firth range trip the magazine would fall out every time I shot it. So back to s&w get it back same issue sent it back and when it returned I sent it to the range with my dad he said it was fixed but I had no confidence in it and traded it soon after.

Tikka T3 in 338fedeal.

First gun I ever bought was a Remington 710 in 7mm RM. The rifle itself was cheap, as expected, but I didn't realize how absolutely cheap they were. The round wasn't pleasant to shoot either.

Savage 99 in 308.

Care to elaborate?

Here in cyberspace, Tikka rifles seem to have a veritable legion of fans. So I'm curious as to specifics regarding what you might not have liked about it.

The 338 Federal chambering is an interesting one.

I've never had a Savage 99. I've long had a desire to get one in .250-3000 Savage, though. So far, I haven't found the right intersection of condition and price. I did have a Savage 1895 in .25-35 that was a fun coyote gun and general plinkin' rifle.

I'm curious as to the specifics about your 99 in .308 that caused you to find it lacking and whether your displeasure was limited to that specific example, as was the case with me and first No.1, or if you just decided that the 99 platform in general didn't meet your needs as you perhaps hoped it might?

Years ago I bought an encore. Loved the pistol set ups. I bought a few rifle barrels. 270/ 204. They both shot great. No problems with them.
I thought I would like it but after hunting with it a while I didnt care for it. Rather just have easy to handle straight comb bolt action rifles. As I get older and more experienced I get less interested in any gimmicks and novelties.

Browning A bolt in .243. Biggest POS I ever owned. It would not shoot. Only rifle I never regretted selling.

Mine was not representative of the 99s. I can't remember the model but it had a magazine. It shot minute of barn at best, terrible fit and finish, and was not reliable. I was young and dumb and had to have a Savage 99. A waste of hard earned money at the time but it was a giant POS. Thankfully the shop owner took pity on me and allowed a nice trade in on a Sako.

I'd love to have a nice 300 but like you I haven't seen condition vs. price point intersection yet.

Ruger 77's! We've had four of them between my son and I and none of them were shooters. We bought a Mark II in .270, 7mm Rem mag, and .338 Win mag. None of them shot so we ordered a new Hawkeye All Weather .270 and while it shot better than the others, it still wasn't impressive. But the thing that did the Hawkeye in ultimately (I can live with a 1 1/4" gun) was how easily it rusted in our humid weather. It rusted before my blued rifles did. Between those Rugers and three Husqvarnas that wouldn't shoot to please me, I swore off CRF's and buy only push feeds now.

As a young man, I always liked the Weatherby Mark V's but I was in no danger of being able to afford one. I really liked the "California" look of the rifle, and those Weatherby calibers were good for killing game that was miles away.

Now that I could afford one, I find that no matter how good they look to my eye, they just don't fit when I shoulder them. Too short and comb too high I think. I might buy one in 300 Weatherby just to have it and look at it.

I'm confused...please explain why CRFs are more culpable to rust than push feeds?

Ithaca lightweight deer slayer 12 gauge. Just about broke my nose shooting 1-1/4 oz.slugs.

I never said anthing about CRF's and rust. Only said my All Weather was prone to rust.

I've had a few over the years. Some that come to mind

Sako 22 hornet. Pretty disappointing in workmanship and accuracy

Savage 24 combo guns. Seemed like such a great idea when I was 12-13 but later after getting one I was sort of lost as to it usefulness.

I have had 2-3 remington 788's. OK but not anymore accurate than most off the shelf rifles and really sort of cheaply made. I prefer my stevens 200 by quite a bit for a budget rifle.

For years my grail was a 16 ga o/u. finally got a citori and it just never seemed to fit me like my skb.

I have owned 2-3 7x57s a model 70 fwt, a #1 and a Mauser, none shot that well not bad but not great and I never got the speed that others claim. It was always a struggle to get the accuracy and speed I can get more easily out of my 308 and 270 and the deer never seemed impressed by its reputation more than the others.

Most sxs shotguns. Never shot that well with them and for all of their reputation for being reliable I've had more trigger, extractor/ ejector issues with double guns than with repeaters. Am I the only one that ever noted that double gun affectionodos sp? will regail you about all their benefits and superior reliability but in the next breath tell you they have a guy that is great at fixing poi problems, loose ribs, triggers, broken ejectors etc. ask a pump gun shooter who his guy is and 9 out of 10 will go huh? The 10th will probably tell you about the time he slipped getting into the duck boat and broke the toe of the butt off when it hit the gunnel. He got a replacement off ebay. I will admit to having a pretty likeable Uggie sxs that I bought because I have a group of friends that like to hold sxs shoots and look down on my model 12.

There have been others but those are a few.

Early 90s Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle in stainless. Most miserable rifle I've ever owned. Never did get it to shoot better then a pattern. Finally traded it for a VLS 223. Still don't miss it.

Apologies. Reread your post and the light bulb flickered on!

Savage never chambered the 1895 in 25-35.

I've bought lots of factory rifles, expecting to be disappointed....in lots of cases, I wasn't disappointed.

This was not unexpected.