The worst I can recall of mine was a cheap 22 western style pistol made in Italy. The barrel was loose so it would shoot all over the place. I pulled the barrel pin then took a pair of vice grips and twisted the barrel tight then forced the barrel pin back in. Looked funny with the front sight leaning at a 20 degree angle to the right. but at least the groups got smaller. Just had to guess where the front sight should be when shooting. Sure surprised a couple old fart road hunters when the saw me shoot a blue grouse out of the top of a tree with it. They asked me where I shot it and I replied in the head before I looked at it and one of them picked it up and looked at it and said that was some mighty fine shooting. They wanted to see what type of pistol I was shooting so I handed it to one of them and he held it up to aim it and his eyes got as big as silver dollars. He shook his head, handed me my pistol then got back in the truck and drove of without saying a word. Me and my partner about died laughing.
The worst I can recall of mine was a cheap 22 western style pistol made in Italy. The barrel was loose so it would shoot all over the place. I pulled the barrel pin then took a pair of vice grips and twisted the barrel tight then forced the barrel pin back in. Looked funny with the front sight leaning at a 20 degree angle to the right. but at least the groups got smaller. Just had to guess where the front sight should be when shooting. Sure surprised a couple old fart road hunters when the saw me shoot a blue grouse out of the top of a tree with it. They asked me where I shot it and I replied in the head before I looked at it and one of them picked it up and looked at it and said that was some mighty fine shooting. They wanted to see what type of pistol I was shooting so I handed it to one of them and he held it up to aim it and his eyes got as big as silver dollars. He shook his head, handed me my pistol then got back in the truck and drove of without saying a word. Me and my partner about died laughing.
Little off topic in a thread about the worst AR 15 on the market.
ATI anything ... due to 'soft' parts, like the bolt catch.
Even worse, ATI Omni carbon fiber lower ...
Friends don't let their friends buy ATI!
The metal one was their piston model, equipped w/ Adams Arms piston system. Someone had it set on almost-closed gas setting for 'suppressor', but oiled the snot out of it - still wouldn't fire more 'single rounds' - so they brought it back to their LGS, where I just happeded to be & they wanted it returned for Customer Service.
Customer & shop owner get into a big arguement when the shop owner says the rifle owner needs to contact the company for service. Customer says he wants out of it & will take $500 for the POS 'as is'. Shop owner says he 'won't buy a broken rifle', so I speak up and say "I'll take it!"
Shop Owner already owed me $300 for something else I had consigned, so I got the piston AR for $200 ca$h and free transfer ... just for stopping the arguement in the store. Took it home, cleaned out excess oil (black oily 'Lock-Ease' no less ...), range to range, flipped piston setting to full ON, threw in 20-rnd mag, ... and rattled off 20 w/ zero issues.
The barrel and upper have been fine - kept that - threw on basic M4 upper I made from parts and sold it all for $500.
All of my MZL'drs will shoot into ONE ragged hole ALL day long ... it's just those darn 2nd & 3rd+ shots that tend to open up my groups!
I built a Varmint rifle using a Superior Arms lower. I actually liked it. Came with a set screw under the pistol grip that let me eliminate the trigger take up.
Adding a set screw to reduce take up is pretty simple to do, especially if the maker threaded the grip screw hole all the way. Otherwise, threading can be a bit of a chore, but is doable.
If threading that hole all the way is a chore, stay away from monkeying with trigger parts.
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
They have come a long way. They make some decent rifles these days. Forged uppers & lowers, M4 ramps, chrome lined barrels, proper bolt carriers; they're decent AR's now.
Bought a DPMS Oracle upper for a lightweight assembly about a year ago. The gas key was poorly staked and came loose on the first outing. I staked it and have not had any other issues. Didn't speak well to their QC though.
From what I can tell, with AR's you tend to get what you pay for. Almost every "low cost" or "budget" AR cuts corners somewhere. Whether they are deprived of certain features or use lesser quality parts, the cost savings comes from somewhere.
However, even the cheapest AR's are usually good enough for the average shooter. Many would never know the difference.
John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Bought a DPMS Oracle upper for a lightweight assembly about a year ago. The gas key was poorly staked and came loose on the first outing. I staked it and have not had any other issues. Didn't speak well to their QC though.
I've seen improperly staked bolt carriers from nearly every maker at one point or another. It happens, which is why that is something everyone ought to check from time to time. But I can recall when that was a persistent problem with DPMS. However the one's I've seen in the past few years have all been done near picture perfect. I'm to the point to where I wouldn't turn down a DPMS if the price was right. That didn't used to be the case.
We always talk about our best guns, anyone have a "worst gun" story they want to talk about?
My personal worst was a Bushmaster purchased during the first AR Ban, where no flash hider and bayonet lugs were allowed, I don't know how they managed to do it but the rear sight had to be run all the way over to the right to get the gun on paper at 50 yards with M193 ammunition. It featured a standard FSB.
Had an earlier BM with the same problem - rear sight had to be run all the way over to the right to get the gun on paper at 50 yards. Wont buy another.
I had one like that too. It was a common bushmaster problem during the ban where they 'slightly' over torqued the barrel, distorting the shear pin. This canted the front sight ever so slightly causing the rear to be cranked over to zero. I sent mine back and they fixed it for free with free shipping both ways. The fix is simply to drive the index pin out and replace it. Beyond that, it was as close as you could get to mil spec at the time and has been perfect over thousands of rounds.
Olympic Arms was on my short list of "don't buy again" from years past, but I haven't seen anything recently that might change my mind.
Next one is Ice Arms. I think they finally closed for good in the last two years. I bought two BCGs, and two barrels from them. Received only one BCG with no invoice, and fought the credit card up to the point they closed their doors. One barrel is a tack driver, the other was over-sized in the gas block area to the point that you have to use a clamp-on, nothing slide on would fit.
During the first panic my will to resist was broken by a guy who kept upping the price.
A couple years later I sold the other at a loss.
Worst ad failure I have seen was a high dollar LMT
Last edited by BMT; 11/01/16.
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