HK VP70. I think we all know why. But it was in Aliens and they were being sold really cheap (around $400 back in 2011) and I needed it for the reference collection.
When people say the trigger is shockingly bad, that really doesn’t really get it across. I of course understand that it’s a trigger designed to function in full auto on the M model, but it still kinda sucks.
The shadow front sight is an interesting “concept” but for a shooting firearm, it’s crap. The big oversized and out of balance Tonka Truck slide isn’t as heavy as it looks but it’s damn wonky.
I put one box of ammo through it and was glad to be done when it was over.
This seems like something that went directly from prototype to production with little refinement. I hate to think what these might have sold for at retail in the early 70s and the poor bastards the might have purchased one of these “guns of the future.”
It would be another 15 years before Glock would perfect the “high capacity, polymer frame wonder nine with a crappy trigger.”
If the category was “…that you personally have fired” I would also be in with the VP-70. THE MOST MISERABLE HANDGUN I ever shot, and I’ve shot all sorts of baby nambus, mle 1892s, Nagants,…“Liberator” etc.
I would agree that the sights were a neat trick, but it stopped at that. 3 shots in and I just want to toss it in the nearest pond and walk away. I tried to stop and just hand it back to my buddy who was very pleased with the latest addition to his impressive HK collection. He was quite insulted, so I ended up finishing the mag and then after his redicule of my target I turned the air blue with my thoughts of his 70s wunderwaffe.
It strangely sucked all the fun out of shooting, something I thought only the government was capable of. My staple gun has a better trigger.
Colt Double Eagle, double action 1911. In truth it wasn’t so bad, but the trigger was awful and there was no way to fix it. I didn’t shoot it enough to find out what else might have been wrong with it.
Walther P-22. Unreliable, zamak slide, lots of weirdness in the design. I own Ruger MK 22 autos and still think re-assembly is weird on the P-22. They may be better now. Ruger makes a copy that is reputed to be improved.
The only worse 22 I have experience with was an RG revolver my Dad found (on the side of the road). It shot loose after maybe 500 rounds.
My worse gun was likely the Sig Scorpion I picked up back in 2012.
I really wanted to like it, and boy did I try. It had a lot going for it. I liked the grips, loved the rail and factory night sights, and it was FDE to boot. Wasn’t a fan of the flat trigger, nor the square-cut slide, but I could accept that if it had worked. It really didn’t. We’ve all heard all the “1911s jam” jokes, but this was the first (and thus far, only) 1911 that I experienced it with. It consistently failed to go into battery, sometimes with the round stuck on the feed ramp, other times with the round chambered, but the slide hanging back about half an inch from locking. What was more annoying than anything was that it wasn’t a constant issue, but something that kept popping up after I thought I had fixed it with better lube, stronger springs, or polishing the feed ramp. This was supposed to be my eventual carry gun, but I never was able to get comfortable with it enough to stick with it. I eventually gave up on it, and replaced it with another Sig, a P226 in .40 S&W.
I owned two Sig Sauer USA rifles.
One of them a 5.56 had a seriously canted barrel. I couldn’t get it on paper at 10 yds it was so bad. Naturally it came with a target that had actual bullet holes in it, fake as f+ck.
The second was a 7.62x39 and it started shaving nice aluminum chunks inserting and removing Russian magazines.
Both of these were rather expensive at the time 1600+ dollars, both were sh+t.
Still have the one that I got for the kids back in the day. Still GTG.
Want to really test something out to see what is what? Give it and brick of .22lr to a couple young sons and let them have at it. Repeat weekend after weekend until satisfied with results!
Liked all of the various ‘safeties’ in that gun. Good idea when young ones are shooting it mostly. Boys sent thousands of rounds of cheap ammo downrange with that thing for years with no issues that could not be attributed to the occasional crappy round of cheap .22lr ammo.
The goofy plastic dowel used in reassembly was and is weird. So was the stupid plastic clip that had to pulled down to remove the slide.
I considered posting the names of the manufacturers who made two handguns and an AR carbine that were chronically unreliable. If I posted the company names, this thread would be locked and I would be permanently banned from M4C.
I haven’t yet, but a buddy got a Glock 26 that I suspect was short chambered. Loading cycle would stop just short of lock up with an off center and too weak strike with probably a dozen different types of ammo we had on hand. Went back to Smyrna and allegedly ran through 100 rds with no issues (suspect since I don’t recall it ever making it through a full mag without choking) and returned to him with the same problem.
Think that may have been during a sucky CS phase they had because I got a breech face failure taken care of very well about 3 years back.
Springfield XD’s. Tried 5 different pistols. 3 9mm’s and 2 45 acp’s. Not one of them would pattern a 12" group at 15’. The last one I tried was a xd tactical with a 5" barrel. All 5 were sent back the factory, and returned saying they were in spec. Tried all kinds of ammo and nothing help.
So anything springfield is dead to me. I will keep my m1a for nostalgia, but thats it.
