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

No problem. I often read posts too fast myself and get mixed up.

Wby Mark 5

H&R Buffalo in .308 Win. Every time I fired it the action would break open. Bye, bye.

Sold my Ruger #1 in .280 Rem not because it disappointed but because it didn't fit my hunting needs. Bought a Ruger All-Weather in .280 Rem as a replacement. Much better.

Sold my Savage 110E in .22-250 after several thousand rounds when the barrel went. Daughter #2 called it "homely" and she was being charitable. But that sucker could shoot until the barrel went, 5 shots into a group you could cover with a dime.

Also sold my Ruger American that Dad gave me. After two years, two different scopes and many different types of factory loads and handloads, I still couldn't get it to shoot. Bye, bye.

Browning M-71 .348 carbine. I thought I had to have it, as a means of scratching the big bore Winchester levergun itch. I found it to be extremely well made, and very accurate after I installed a receiver sight on it. I also found it to be heavy for my tastes in a lightweight woods loafing rifle, recoil was not all that bad but more than I care for. The more I worked with it, the more I asked myself "why". Since no trips to the north woods for moose or bear were in my future, away it went down the road. (I did whack an unfortunate groundhog with it- splattered across the landscape.)

Three - one rifle, one handgun and one shotgun.

Rifle - Win M70 FWT SS/walnut in 22-250.. Keyholed the shots - found out it had the wrong twist from the factory.. I sold it (before I got into this business - now I wish I had it.. )

Shotgun - Perazzi TM-1 Special.. I couldn't miss at 16 yards with it - but couldn't hit a damn thing at 27.. For $3 grand it wasn't worth hanging onto when I could take any of my SKBs and hit birds at long range rather easily..

Handgun - AMT Automag II in .22 mag.. I, and the company at the time, tried everything to make that pos work.. OFF it went.

Got talked into trading for a Winchester 94 Big Bore in 356 by a huckster. It wouldn't keep 3 shots on a dinner plate at 100 yards no matter what load I tried. It went down the road. Nice looking gun but never could make it shoot.

Model 100 Winchester in 308. I bought it for my wife. We both liked the looks of it but it didn't feed reliably nor would it group consistently.

Ruger Mini 14. Same as most of them. Patterns rather than groups.

Ruger 77 7x57. Never really warmed up to it. It shot well but it just never really grew on me. I like the cartridge and I like the 77, I have one in a varmint model 220 Swift that I really like, but that particular rifle left me cold.

Ive always been a fan of the weatherby Mark V rifles, action design, 60 degree bolt lift and the 340 weatherby ballistics... but hated the idea of hunting with a fancy flashy wood stocks,or scratching one up badly, and they reflected light like a chrome bumper on a new caddy ,when you pay well over $1600 for a rifle its a P.I.T.A. if you need too replace the stock,

I'm glad they are now available in synthetic stock versions. and those fancy wood stocks were as durable as cotton candy in a rain storm, so I purchased a fiberglass fibermark stock and had it camo striped with dull tan,dark green and gray,as soon as they became an option for my wood stock. the subsequent 340 wby rifles I bought for both my sons were the fiber mark versions, then they came out with the stainless synthetic stock version and I bought one, as a back-up to my old dependable 340 wby
every one of those rifles is accurate with my hand loaded 250 hornady bullets and H4831 but I vastly prefer a carefully epoxy bedded synthetic stock that you can touch up if it gets scratched with a bit of dull spray paint.

I have gone through many styles as I look for perfect mousetraps.

Weatherby Mk 5 Accumark in 280AI- It was very accurate but the recoil profile was horrid. Though I think it was more that stock shape that didn't fit me. A 280 should not hurt more than my magnums.

Savage 24 - Conceptually great for bumping grouse and bunnies but another swing and a miss for me.

Kimber Montana and Classic - They are just too small for my size.

The 338-06 and 35 Whelen chamberings. Had one of each and felt they gave 300 WM recoil and were a step down compared to 30-06.

Steyr Mt rifle. The 20" barrel was handy and the gun was exceptionally accurate. Just too darn heavy and the handling wasn't right for me.

HK 45. I liked everything about it until I started shooting it. Can't explain it, I just never warmed up to it.

Model Sevens, an Encore, four, out of six, Model 70's and two Sakos.

Here's a MkV that was bordering on being a disappointment, until the revised bedding and stock work warmed it up.

Two different Ruger #1s, both in 7x57. One was a 1A light sporter, the other a RSI. Both looked and handled great. Both suffered from the same long throat and scope mount that is way too far forward even with offset rings. I have always loved the looks of these two #1s, but could not make them work for me.

Bought a Stainless and wood M70 when they first came out with the Left hand version in the late 90s. It was a 30-06. Could never get it to shoot better than 3" groups at 100 yards with ammo it lied....worse if it did not like it. Finally was so frustrated I traded it in on the same rifle but with the BOSS. Hate the loos and noise of the BOSS but this 06 is a tack driver.

Any rifle that says Ruger on the side is a disappointment. Any rifle that says Remington on it is about 2% better than one that has Ruger on the side of it.

Dink

Remington Model 7 SS in 260 remington...bought one of the first ones to show up in the area. Disappointing accuracy

Salvage 110 in 300 WIn mag...poor stock design, worse accuracy

Kimber 84m in 7mm-08, sent back to kimber only the original barrelled action returned, everything else was replaced and I mean everything. I wish I still had the returned gun, they did it right on the second go around.

Model 70 SS Classic in 338, should have never left the plant.

700 KS 7mm Rem mag that was a single shot, fired its first shot at the range and then needed to pound on the bolt handle with the palm of my hand a few times to get out the shell. It went back to the "custom" shop for a few months. Bless their hearts

Other then those mentioned above no issues with anything else. I mean every rifle with a few exceptions needs tweaking . These were past the point of tweaking.

Kimber 84L in .270WIN. Warped stock out of the box and when it was returned for repair they scared up the finish. Never again.

Bravo Company Precision AR-15. Shot 4" groups. After numberous emails and messages left on a phone THEY NEVER ANSWER. They finally returned one email that said "keep shooting it and hopefully it'll get better." Never again.

+1 on the Ruger 77s

donsm70

Kimber 84m Classic in .260. I couldn't really warm up to the ergonomics of the gun, but could have dealt with that if the accuracy had been worth a crap. I tried half a dozen loads and two factory ammo and all groups were between 2.5" and 3.5". I took it to a friend that shoots competitively and has forgotten more about guns and handloading than I'll ever know. He spent 6 months trying to get it to shoot and the best he could do was 1.25" but the bullets were seated out too long and would not fit in magazine. So a year after I bought it, I sold it at a $15 loss. :-)
I feel pretty sure with some gun-smithing and lots of patient loading, we could have made a decent hunting rifle out of it, but why? I have since bought an x-bolt 7-08 ($300 less and 8 oz heavier) that shoots 1/2" groups out of the box and a Model seven .243 ($350 less and 8 oz heavier) that shoots 1" groups with factory ammo.
I certainly expected more from an $850 rifle.

Sakos

Browning BLR in 7-08. It just felt clunky and the trigger was only so-so.