Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Dumb gun purchases

Made to carry everyday, just not shoot everyday. 🤣

Also a mossberg 695 turkey. Got caught up in and estate auction and paid too much. Shot it a couple times it's too heavy to carry turkey hunting.

Years back I bought a Para Ordnance 1911 double stack and decided that it could be fixed even better. I took it to an armorer in Milwaukee with pretty much a blank check to rework and Armaloy plate it. I still have it because for what I have into it, I'll never get even half of what I've spent on that pistol. I'd have been money ahead if I'd just bought a Les Baer or Wilson Combat 1911 in the first place.

I have owned a couple N-frame Smiths I was sorely disappointed in, a 24-3 and a 25-2/. Both came highly regarded as target-grade wheelguns, and both spit lead and shot like crap. Both of them. The 25-2 was used, so I just sold it and moved along, but the 24-3 I bought new, and I sent it back to Smith to get it fixed. It came back even worse, so I swapped it off to a dealer with full disclosure about it's poor attributes. He was just a collector, not a shooter, and a jerk besides (he runs a gun show enterprise), so I didn't feel bad about dumping it on him.
I've owned a M28 and two M27s that were superb, but the bigger bores were crap from the start. I haven't bought an N-frame Smith since, and likely never will.

Personal experience collecting "N (large) Frame" Smiths from Triple Lock genre through Fourth Models. Never such personal negative experiences. I have 'heard of occasional "timing issues", as occurring. Never referenced as "factory errors, even as there have to be 'some'! As noted above, new production errors one matter, as purchased used, the spectrum of problems 'out there' as with all guns and 'stuff' generally.

The Model 25-2 in .45 ACP Target. Mid fifties era, some considerable numbers with known nomenclature error on barrel. Not affecting functionality. The Model 24-3 an eighties era recreation of the original Model 24 in .44 Special chambering. The recreation offered in limited edition sets of two reflecting 4" & 6" barrels. No known history of complaints/recalls to my knowledge.

By late '79 or so, Smith was "simplifying" its models. Nicety of recessed cylinders deleted as well as "Pinned barrels" Nothing great, but 'on that road...' The so-called "Pinned & recessed" referenced genre as generally heralded as "wide era" of more collectible Smiths.

I enjoy and revere mine!
Just my take!
John

And those Kevlar KS stocks were none too good in the recoil department. I have a .338 Win built on that stock, and it’s borderline vicious ...

iskra, I'm glad you've been happy with your N-frames. My experiences with them have been spotty at best, the .357s were fine, but the .44 Special (4", in my case) and the 25-2 (an older 6 1/2", before they went to a straight 6") were just plain awful. I fully expected the 24-3 to come back from Smith fixed, but when the cylinder rotated backwards while trying to shoot it DA, I'd had enough. Smith did me no favors there. I don't know what, if anything, they did to try to fix it, but it was a failure of epic proportions. I'd had BearHug grips made for it (big expense for me at the time), and it just wasn't up to par, even if that par was a Par 8 or 9.
The only Smith revolvers I've bought since the have been K or L-framed guns, which have been "okay" at best.

A currently owned 617 shoots 4 inches high right now, with the rear sight buried, at 50 feet, using pretty common plinking ammo. I am not especially happy with it's antics right now. Smith wheelguns are hit and/or miss for me, and it's usually a "miss".

We have all made dumb gun purchase. Mine were usually finding something old school and getting caught up in the moment, Now dumb sales are more likely. Lots of second guessing after selling way too many nice ones.

I love mine and have actually bought it twice. I made the mistake of selling once and ended up buying it back.

In terms of Dumb purchases:

Yildiz 12 Gauge over/under. Kicked like a mule and didn't shoot that well either. I just wanted to try and over under.

Worst POS I ever purchased was an Iver Johnson TP-22 back in the 80s. I'm not sure just what the hell I was thinking...I guess I believed the BS in the gun rag I'd read.

Swapped into a Kimber 84M Classic in .243 once...that was one of the most disappointing rifles to ever sully my gunsafe. I am happy that it's long gone. Sure was a gorgeous rifle, though.

Swapped into a 77V in .220 many years ago. Couldn't get it to shoot under an inch consistently, and when I scoped the bore I could see why...it was pitted from leade to muzzle. PacNor fixed that one up very nicely for me.

Purchased a 70 HV in .223 years ago, and it was as frustrating as the 77V Swift. Scoped the bore on that one and found what looked like lands smashed badly. Spun on a barrel from Numrich, and it's now probably the most accurate rifle I own.

Remington 504 in .22 LR was a disappointment for sure. Sweet little rifle, but just couldn't even nearly keep up with my 541-T. Hated to sell it. Outa sight, outa mind.

I’ve also been burned by a Remington700 in 300WSM CDL-SF. I own several REM 700s in multiple calibers, and all of them are great shooters, except that one. I tried everything to get that rifle to shoot well, and nothing worked, so I sold it.

Selling guns that I regretted later? To many to count. Probably the worst was a sporterized Mauser 98 in 25-06. Shot coke cans at 200 yards consistently. A serious tack driver. Sold it to fund other guns. Sigh.

Had a semi-custom 375 RUM built and scoped was a good bit less than 7lbs. Cool gun but was hell to shoot lol

Several poor choices:

A Taurus .22mag revolver that I needed plugs and muffs to make it comfortable to shoot. If I ran a full cylinder through it, I’d have to put the ejector rod against the bench to be able to punch out the empties….. DTR (down the road).

A Mossberg 835 12ga that was a heavy, noisy rattletrap. With 3 1/2” shells it kick harder than my .338 mag. DTR

A Thompson Center Big Bore .58 cal muzzleloader.
It had a horrible trigger and was simply way more gun than our little blacktails required. Like all the other TC black powder rifles I had, it left my cheek bone bruised after only a few shots…DTR - replaced with a Knight inline .50.

And finally, a Jennings J22 the simply blew apart while shooting at the local range. Finally found all the springs and such…. Had to replace a broken piece to get it running - danged thing did it again a few weeks later. DTR

Slightly off topic, but a friend of mine bought either a 700 or a 721 several years ago and it didnt shoot well at all. He sat it aside and forgot about it. Later on a guy made him an offer on it and he almost sold it cheap but hesitated. He took it to a gunsmith and let him shoot it, once again poor grouping. Gunsmith told him to leave it over night and he would solve the issue.
Recrowned it and it shot like a dream. I believe he still owns it.

If I lived in the States, I would trade my stainless Model 70 in 375 for your Talkeetna.

Probably dumb, but don't regret it yet, I ended up buying two older 12 ga Ithaca Deerslayers a few years ago. Figure I can put together one nice slug gun if I ever get some extraction issues solved. Dumb part - I don't hunt with slugs.

Have had a bunch where I saw something on GunBroker and clicked in a low bid and then spent a couple days hoping someone would outbid me lol

Mid-1950s Steyr Mannlicher full stock double trigger in 308. Beautiful gun, pretty wood, butter knife bolt. Only problem was recoil was just unreal. Finally realized the butt on it was less than 3/8” wide, was like hitting my shoulder with the back of a hatchet. Felt recoil was far worse than my 10G Browning BPS. Fortunately it was pretty so I traded it for a much nicer to shoot Wby mk 5 in 257 wby. Love it.

RAS

A Savage 340 in 222 very awkward for lefty me . Crappy extractor but bought one for $40 bucks (looked like a grain of rice ) Did not live up to the deuce reputation for accuracy ! I do not miss it .

First bad buy was early 70's, Spanish cheapie 20ga SxS, constantly only firing on one bbl.
Next one was a Rem Nylon 66, couldn't get thru a mag without a FTE, and they are a PITA to clear.
Next was a Lakefield .22LR repeater, it was easier to clear than the 66, but also had feed problems.
Rem 870, didn't like cheap low brass hulls, suspect it had a rough chamber, same with a Mossberg 500 and Fed 3" steel rds, wonder I didn't crack the stocks on those two beating them on the ground to open them.
Looks like I'll have to pull the stock on a 3 yr old from new #1, safety is jammed in off position, not impressed with that, no idea how long ago it even happened, maybe 100 rds thru it, hopefully a minor detail.