Kimber

Bought the Kimber Solo when it came out. Beautiful gun. Never worked. At the time Kimber listed 15 different ammunitions that they promised would work in the gun. Nope. Getting through a magazine without a FTE was a pipe dream. Sent it back. Got one (1) magazine through it before everything went south.
Took it back to the LGS where I bought it. The gunsmith asked me how many rounds I'd fired? Now the "break in" was 50 rounds. At that time I had about 600. The guy stared and said he'd guessed several thousand. The slide went forward if you shook the gun. The slide and the barrel were knocking metal off each other. The gun went back with a letter from the gunsmith. Kimber sent a new gun. I looked, sighed, then traded it for a Springfield EMP. That never has given me an issue.

Kimber here also. when they left Clackamas, the quality stayed there. Owned three over the years, always beautiful looking pistols that could not fire a full magazine of rounds. Bang, bang, jam. Bang, jam. still think they are some of the best looking pistols out there, but I much prefer my Dan Wessons' that work on a very regular basis.

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:
Colt has disappointed me over the years.

Financial problems, labor problems, quality control problems.

Colt was my first thought. They ought to be able to be successful, but they keep screwing it up.

Smith and Wesson quality control on their revolvers through the late 80's and 90's.

S&W and their stupid internal locks with the fugly key hole on the side.

I'll never spend my money on one. I do have a 40 year old Model 36.

The current company posing as s&w.

They have cheapened the brand. Poor designs. Cheap parts, misaligned barrels, internal locks.
Non existent QA/QC.
Scalpers prices. Eliminated the actual Performance Center and sell you slightly modified mass produced junk wearing the famous Performance Center seal - at REAL Performance Center prices.

Ugly plastic guns with lousy triggers and droopy dust covers that you have to rebuild with aftermarket Apex parts - to give them everything the factory couldn't be bothered to..........

I could go on but why bother. I have not purchased a new s&w product in over 17 years. And have no intention of doing so. As far as I'm concerned, S&W went out of business in 2001. Regards 18DAI

Smith and Wesson gets my vote for reasons other have mentioned.

quote:

Originally posted by 18DAI:
The current company posing as s&w.

They have cheapened the brand. Poor designs. Cheap parts, misaligned barrels, internal locks.
Non existent QA/QC.
Scalpers prices. Eliminated the actual Performance Center and sell you slightly modified mass produced junk wearing the famous Performance Center seal - at REAL Performance Center prices.

Ugly plastic guns with lousy triggers and droopy dust covers that you have to rebuild with aftermarket Apex parts - to give them everything the factory couldn't be bothered to..........

I could go on but why bother. I have not purchased a new s&w product in over 17 years. And have no intention of doing so. As far as I'm concerned, S&W went out of business in 2001. Regards 18DAI

THIS! The Beancounters are running most of the manufacturers anymore. It's about cheapening up production and zero QC. S&W really pains me, as I've been a fanboy for half a Century.

EAA, while not making the Tanfoglio guns, they're bringing them in and their lack of customer service and after market accessories blow. Not having holsters available or dummy guns available for leather craftsman to make holsters is very unfortunate.

SIG Sauer.

Those morons will not build 550 and 553 rifles in the US.

I'd be throwing money at them is they did.

MagPul

For never seeing their Masada through with all the barrel/caliber options that they hyped for years. Selling it off to Remington who also didn't follow through with the options. Could have been the "new standard" if MagPul would have kept it and made it for the masses.

Just think where they could be right now in the firearms industry. Hell they would probably be the new "Colt" for the military at this point. They would still own the accessory market AND own the firearm market. I'm sure if they would have never given up on the Masada they would have eventually made a pistol to match.

Way too many fan boys and those who drink their kool-aid to not make it work if they had made it to begin with. Imagine if you will what the past 10 years could have been. Dammit MagPul.

quote:

Ruger... my LCP failed out of the box (50% of rounds wouldn't eject even after 100 through the barrel)

SR-22 Trigger refused to reset every time a round was fired.

The only two Ruger semi-autos I've owned and they were both duds out of the box.

I had some problems with the LCP and the SR 22, sent both in and no problems now. They paid shipping and had guns back within a week. Both had seen very heavy use and are now 100 per cent reliable.

I agree with several of the posts about chasing the bottom line. I'd gladly pay a few dollars more for good finishes and sights etc. a little goes a long way in this regard.

Chiappa

My wife did a T&E on their Rhino revolver. Great concept, the thing actually did mitigate recoil incredibly well. But the fit and finish was crappy, it wouldn't eject cases, extractor star would go right past the case heads.

It was so awful she sent it back and didn't do a review on it.