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

Ruger Mini Thirty, four in groups with its best ammo with a horrendous trigger pull.


Ruger PC-40, cool tough as a Sherman tank. A trigger that took two good men to pull. Wish it was in .45 ACP.


Remington 673 in 6.5 Rem Mag, fast and accurate. Rifle weighed a ton. Wasn't as compact as it could have been.

Savage model 24C. 22lr over 20 gauge.

One of the extractors had a burr from the factory and wouldn't work.

.22 was inaccurate as hell and the 20 gauge kicked like a mule.
The stock would scratch if you looked too hard at it.
I bought it new when I was 14 and sold it to a friend by the time I was 15.

Much happier with a Winchester 1200 in 20 gauge and a Ruger 10/22 back then.

Dan

Didn't like this new rifle (30-06 EW):



......as much as this old rifle ('56 30-06 fwt):


Tit for tat, the EW wouldn't keep up...

Three different Kimber Montanas. Most expensive inaccurate POS's I have ever owned. Sent them back to Kimber for "check ups". Came back just as bad as before. Sold them.

Should have gotten Tikkas!

Ruger M77 stainless.
boat paddle 308.

My shotguns shoot better...

Browning T-Bolt .22 made in 1969 in Belgium, a Grade II with beautiful wood. Shot everything but Stingers into a 6" group at 25 yards. Stingers went into 2" at 25 yards. Had two gunsmiths look at it but they couldn't do any better. Traded it off.

So the action type determined the accuracy?

Went into the lgs for a pound of powder, walked out with left handed Savage 110 in .338 Win mag. Got home and found the stock cracked. The shop made good and repaired it, I found a Lee Six fiberglass stock finished it and swapped it out. Put a couple hundred rounds thru it and decided it kicked to damn much. Sold it and bought an 06. I have its little brother, a 110 built in 59 (my birth year) short action in .308. Much better handling.

I didn't like mine (same gun in .30-06 UL) either until I found what it likes to shoot. Absolutely love it now.

I must say my Kimber Montana... would not even chamber a factor round... that was the first trip back to Kimber.... Happy day when I finally sold that POS

I purchased a Remington model 7 ss .308 shortly after the rifle was introduced. Absolutely horrible by every measure... CP.

Ruger m77 RSI in .308


Kicked like a bish and couldn't shoots four inch group.Plus it was ugly.

Saying this may get me banned, but every custom firearm I've ever had made falls into this category. They just don't live up to the expectations I had for them. I have much luck finding an off-the-rack model that's close to what I want and tweaking it just a bit.


Okie John

When I was hunting elk a lot I thought a 7 1/4-7.5#,scoped,300 Win Mag would be the ultimate rough country elk rifle. Never mind that I had one weighing 8.5#'s that was a hammer and had killed bulls with it,but delusion has no boundaries.Neither does stupidity.

So I had a lightweight 300 Win Mag built to the specs and worked up loads with 180 and 200 gr Partitions.

It kicked like a mule,despite a good stock,and after range sessions my head and neck hurt and I felt like I had gone a few rounds with a professional boxer.I learned my lesson,pulled the rifle apart and built something else. This was quite a few years ago and ever since have thought lightweight 300 magnums ain't such a hot idea.

I love my Tikkas in smaller cartridges, but every time I see one in 300Mag for sale in the classifieds I'm not the least bit tempted. Ouch!!

Let's see...
Uberti Rolling Block 45-70 - weighed a ton and was minute of wall at 75 yards.
Sako (Forrester I think) in 7mm Mag. After 5 different bullets and 5 or 6 powders, the best group I could get was 2.5". See ya!
Beretta Silver Pigeon 12 gauge - didn't fit and just plain hurt to shoot.
Colt HBAR 24" - Best group I ever got out this beast was around 2". Sold it to a friend who had the same problem (I warned him about it) and he has since sold it off.
After reading all of the others, I know I've left a few off. But those are the one's that stick in my mind.

That one would have been a good candidate for a barrel chambered to 257 Weatherby.

Savage 99 358 win, great gun but I never fell in love with it like I thought I would so I moved on and it went down the road.

MM

Another SS Ruger Mini 14, purchased about 1979. Had it drilled and tapped, and mounted a Leupold 2-7x, the worst scope I ever had.
I could throw rocks with better accuracy.
Finally traded it straight across a few years later on a Ruger 77 in .243, and since made a half dozen of the best shots I may ever make.
So, good trade.

Original LNIB Browning T-Bolt.

Too much plastic!

CZ 527 Varmint. Great rifle - just didn't do it for me ergonomically.