Worst gun to work on “ opinions”

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

Just commented on another thread about bad guns to work on and was wondering what was the worst any of you had seen, I was a 45B20 “weapon repairman “ in the Army in 80-84“I worked on every small arm the army still used and a lot they dident still use but the worst gun I ever messed with was a Remington nylon 66, Makes-me wonder what’s worse out there and I bet some of you know

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

The hardest I have ever worked on in regards to frustration was the complete disassembly and reassembly of a High Standard Sentinel Mk IV.

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

I came here to say nylon 66, but a kel-tec .32 / .380 might be worse.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

I have disassembled a Nylon 66 (and other Nylon variants) but I am hesitant to disassemble my Stevens "Visible Loader" (or as most gunsmiths call it - the "miserable loader"). 

 

I have also disassembled Mauser Broomhandles and Lugers. They are not too bad.

[Alpo]

I have not, personally, been inside one, but I have heard that anything Mr Pederson designed is a nightmare to work on.

[Chantry]

Colt 1903, it requires either three hands or two hands and a vise.  Other than that and the small sights, it's a great gun.

 

 

[LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L]

50 minutes ago, Chantry said:

Colt 1903, it requires either three hands or two hands and a vise.  Other than that and the small sights, it's a great gun.

 

 

You beat me to saying that.

 

  I bought one disassembled in a box.  Took me a couple of nights to figure out which one of my wood working clamps to use, but I got her back together.  Hated to sell that gun, but $450 profit was hard to turn down.  

 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

Any of the .22 semi auto rifles. Too many parts & springs and they get pretty dirty.

[Warden Callaway]

14 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

The hardest I have ever worked on in regards to frustration was the complete disassembly and reassembly of a High Standard Sentinel Mk IV.

 

Some folks at the gun club was cleaning out an estate and in the bottom of a box in the basement,  they found a High Standard target model made way back.  They cleaned and oiled it a month and couldn't get it to open and eject.  Sawmill Mary jumped in and said that I was good with guns, I'd fix it. 

 

What a dreadful task.  I got the cylinder, crane, and extractor working.  But there was some little hiccup in the action.  I learned long ago to hate guns that were pinned together.   It would shoot if you did something I can't remember now.   I took it back and explained and told them I wasn't going to try to fix the inside problem.  Gunsmith Frank was also a member.  They fell on him to fix it.  He explained he would have to make a fixture or tool to hold parts together in assembly and disassembly.  Said the gun wasn't worth it.  They persisted and he took it on.   I never heard the outcome.

[Buckshot Bob]

I’ve always disliked Parker SxS’s , they are an extreme pia to time everything properly. Always also hated Remington 742’s. They would usually destroy themselves within 500 rounds or less , but everyone that owned one always wanted it fixed, I never understood the love for that gun. The 7400 solved many of the issues. I would highly recommend the BAR if you’re interested in that type of hunting gun. 
Ravens, RG’s,Jennings , allot of the Spanish import SxS’s from the 70’s and 80’s 

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

The question was answered almost immediately.

The Nylon 66.

I would rather reassemble a Ruger Mk 1 22 pistol while hanging from my toes over an about to erupt volvano while being swarmed by bees.

And I aint fond of Ruger Mk 1 pistols.

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

4 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

Some folks at the gun club was cleaning out an estate and in the bottom of a box in the basement,  they found a High Standard target model made way back.  They cleaned and oiled it a month and couldn't get it to open and eject.  Sawmill Mary jumped in and said that I was good with guns, I'd fix it. 

 

What a dreadful task.  I got the cylinder, crane, and extractor working.  But there was some little hiccup in the action.  I learned long ago to hate guns that were pinned together.   It would shoot if you did something I can't remember now.   I took it back and explained and told them I wasn't going to try to fix the inside problem.  Gunsmith Frank was also a member.  They fell on him to fix it.  He explained he would have to make a fixture or tool to hold parts together in assembly and disassembly.  Said the gun wasn't worth it.  They persisted and he took it on.   I never heard the outcome.

I made a jig to reassemble mine after reading a lot about it. The thing that worked in the end was my decision to win…and holding my mouth a certain way while reciting a litany of verbiage that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap. Lots and lots of soap. 
In the end the jig was useless. 

[Warden Callaway]

3 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:

I’ve always disliked Parker SxS’s , they are an extreme pia to time everything properly. Always also hated Remington 742’s. They would usually destroy themselves within 500 rounds or less , but everyone that owned one always wanted it fixed, I never understood the love for that gun. The 7400 solved many of the issues. I would highly recommend the BAR if you’re interested in that type of hunting gun. 
Ravens, RG’s,Jennings , allot of the Spanish import SxS’s from the 70’s and 80’s 

 

 

Got this Parker as a jigsaw puzzle in an ammo can with a few parts missing. Bit of a challenge as I had never worked on one before. 

 

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

In the days before the internet a friend of mine brought me a nylon 66, it belonged to a friend of his. It did not work , he told his buddy I might be able to fix it. Took it all apart, filthy dirty. Could not figure out how it went back together. I vaguely remembered seeing a magazine about tear downs of guns, drove all over town looking for that magazine. I found it, table of contents showed a nylon 66, got excited went to that page, it said " what ever you do, do not take this gun apart. Put it in a PVC tube fill with solvent and shake." Took a day off from that gun and calmed down, looked at all the parts decided what they were and got it back together, except for the last part. It was a small piece of angle metal that would go in either way, took a guess. Wrong, took it back apart in the woods, turned that piece around, and it worked perfectly. I told that guy to quit shooting Winchester ammo, he wanted to know how I knew. I knew because that was the dirties ammo there was at the time.

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

Ruger SR 22!

[Buckshot Bear]

My wife's Walther SSP, only Germans could have overengineered a gun like this!

 

[Chantry]

H&K P7M8.  Took the grips off, saw all the little parts and promptly put the grips back on.  Fortunately the gun only need to be field stripped to clean it and to get the carbon out of the gas tube. 

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

any thing that came in in a baggie and a box 

 

  CB 

 

  quit before the Final Rule , came into effect , that was my FINAL straw 

[Three Foot Johnson]

12 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:

I’ve always disliked Parker SxS’s , they are an extreme pia to time everything properly. Always also hated Remington 742’s. They would usually destroy themselves within 500 rounds or less... 

What? Dang, a little over 21 years ago, I loaned an employee $250 with his 742 .30-06 and a Winchester M74 .22 as collateral. He left, and I haven't heard from him since, so I guess they're mine. I've shot it a few times, but if it's only good for 500 rounds, mebbe it should go on Gunbroker. 

[Buckshot Bob]

3 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

What? Dang, a little over 21 years ago, I loaned an employee $250 with his 742 .30-06 and a Winchester M74 .22 as collateral. He left, and I haven't heard from him since, so I guess they're mine. I've shot it a few times, but if it's only good for 500 rounds, mebbe it should go on Gunbroker. 

Back when I was still gunsmithing for a living 742 bolts and receivers we’re getting hard to find. I’d imagine it’s darn near impossible now. The two most common things were the lip on the bolt breaking so the the extractor wasn’t held in by anything but the rivet anymore or the lugs of the bolt pounding a recess in the receiver rails so it would lock back on every shot. If you look at a 742 vs a 7400 they went to a more bolt action style lug vs the square thread style on the 742. The ones that are still around have probably been well cared for and have not been shot much. When I worked for Gander Mountain many moons ago we wouldn’t even take them in on trade because we guaranteed what we sold. They were extremely popular with deer hunters in the middle of the country.

[Buckshot Bob]

4 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

What? Dang, a little over 21 years ago, I loaned an employee $250 with his 742 .30-06 and a Winchester M74 .22 as collateral. He left, and I haven't heard from him since, so I guess they're mine. I've shot it a few times, but if it's only good for 500 rounds, mebbe it should go on Gunbroker. 

Just looked on gunbroker, it amazes me what these are going for. Some people probably don’t know and many probably just don’t have a conscience. Just duck duck go 742 problems. 

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

2 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:

Just looked on gunbroker, it amazes me what these are going for. Some people probably don’t know and many probably just don’t have a conscience. Just duck duck go 742 problems. 

I have been noticing a lot of unscrupulous people selling things these past couple of years using “nostalgia” or “you can’t get these any more” tactics on younger naive guys that want to own a gun from the past. In some ways it’s no different than those buttheads making Garand “Tankers” and spare parts Mausers of the 80’s and 90’s, but Scum is Scum and they are with us always. 

[Buckshot Bob]

1 minute ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I have been noticing a lot of unscrupulous people selling things these past couple of years using “nostalgia” or “you can’t get these any more” tactics on younger naive guys that want to own a gun from the past. In some ways it’s no different than those buttheads making Garand “Tankers” and spare parts Mausers of the 80’s and 90’s, but Scum is Scum and they are with us always. 

I have seen people get emotional about these guns because it was a family heirloom. And have talked to people who really wanted one because it’s what dad or grandpa used. I guess it all depends on how you view it. A Japanese Nambu will break if you shoot it much but people still collect them. And shoot them. Personally to me the 742 is a problematic gun that was only ever worth anything as parts so I could restore a gun that someone was emotionally attached to. But with the explanation that it wasn’t really fixing the problem just prolonging the guns life. 
I once had a guy want to have a set of custom stocks made for his 742 . When I showed him the condition his gun was in and some broken 742 parts I kept around to discourage him from it he just got pissed at me and said he would go to someone else to get his stocks made. 
To his credit about 6 months later he stopped back in and apologized for his behavior. He said he went to a couple other gunsmiths and got the same explanation. 
They weren’t typically reliable or accurate, plus the most used scope mount on them was the see through ironsighter mount which put the scope so high over bore as to make it really uncomfortable to use. Or the weaver tip off mount which was like a door hinge so you could flip your scope out of the way. All neat concepts that sounded good at the time but worked very poorly. They’re kinda like chevettes . If you use them much they are going to destroy themselves and Remington stopped supporting them with spare parts. I had heard of a few people getting ahold of the right person at Remington and getting offered a discount on a 7400 if they wanted it , but I definitely don’t that was the norm 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

The Nylon 66 wasn't bad for me.   Heck, I even managed to identify a problem and fix it on my friends Nylon 66, which now runs great.

 

But, I did own a Ruger 10/22 once that I fixed and discovered it had too many parts.  Sooooo, I left those parts out during the 

reassembly and the little rifle worked great afterwards.................... in full auto.

 

..........Widder

 

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

It just dawned on me that I forgot a gun that literally pizzed me off to reassemble. So much so that I took it apart one day to troubleshoot yet again another stupid and aggravating problem with it and left it sit for over a week in pieces before allotting time to begrudgingly reassemble it so I could ship it back to Remington AGAIN so they could lie about fixing that piece of $#!¥.
 

The Remington R51. 

They finally replaced it with a Gen 1 reman’d gun. I put 250 rounds through it to waste ammo…I mean, make sure it worked then sold it a at loss, which I was happy to do. 
 

If I enter a gun store and there is an R51 in the store I can feel its presence that manifests itself as a sudden surge of hatefulness along with the faint aroma of human $#!¥.

 

I must have blocked these things from my memory…

[Trailrider #896]

Colt's M1877 Lightning/Thunderer.  Friend of mine has worked on them and swears never again! When I want to pull his chain, I threaten to send him a boxcar full of Lightnings that "just need a little work"! 

[Finagler 6853 Life]

Winchester Model 74, .22 LR.  I have watched videos on experts taking them apart and they always have caution about this, that and the other thing.  I agree, put them in a PVC tube, fill it with solvent and shake, shake, shake.

[John E. Law]

In all of the firearms I have worked on the Winchester 88 was a beast because you have to have/make 3 slave pins to get it back together. 

 

The new M&P Shield EZs are a pain because you need 4 hands to hold everything in place while simultaneously trying to drop it back into the frame, but look out for that eency weency plunger on the right side...you know the one that if you breath on it the wrong way it goes flying out.   

 

JEL

[John E. Law]

Oh, and the MecTec rifle upper for Glock and 1911 lowers?? they will tear your fingers off....literally they are dangerous to work on. 

 

JEL

[Warden Callaway]

I've never worked on one but just watching this video makes me cringe.

 

 

 

[John Kloehr]

When I changed the grip on my Sig SP2022 way back when, I saw all sorts of amazing bent pieces of metal and springs and dabs of certain lubes on certain spots under the grip. I'm sure each of them has a purpose. I immediately finished swapping grips without touching anything.

 

Today I started my first AR 15 build. Tried at least four times to install the detent and front takedown pin. Launched either the spring or the detent four times. On the last launch, considered myself very lucky to have recovered the parts. On the last launch, I'm sure the pin barely missed a trans-dimensional portal; it would have come back either as a sock or a wire hanger.

 

Decided it is tomorrow's problem, and installing the rear detent and buffer tube seems to require manipulating 8 parts simultaneously not including tools. Several are part of a pre-assembly, but still... I got rid of all my wire hangers months ago and do not need new ones. And at the moment, all my socks match too.

 

The Maverick 88 shotgun is really not bad to work on, unless you are following the manual. None of the parts look like the pictures in the manual!

[Muley Gil SASS # 57795]

NEVER take a NAA mini revolver apart. The bolt spring is the size of a hair pin in diameter and extremely easy to bend out of shape. One day I was given two to reassemble. One went back together easily. The second, I ruined two springs trying to reassemble it. Sent that one back to the factory.

 

Putting the cylinder release back together in a Charter Arms revolver is also a pain.  Working on H&R top break shotguns requires a few slave pins as well.

[Sedalia Dave]

2 hours ago, John Kloehr said:

When I changed the grip on my Sig SP2022 way back when, I saw all sorts of amazing bent pieces of metal and springs and dabs of certain lubes on certain spots under the grip. I'm sure each of them has a purpose. I immediately finished swapping grips without touching anything.

 

Today I started my first AR 15 build. Tried at least four times to install the detent and front takedown pin. Launched either the spring or the detent four times. On the last launch, considered myself very lucky to have recovered the parts. On the last launch, I'm sure the pin barely missed a trans-dimensional portal; it would have come back either as a sock or a wire hanger.

 

Decided it is tomorrow's problem, and installing the rear detent and buffer tube seems to require manipulating 8 parts simultaneously not including tools. Several are part of a pre-assembly, but still... I got rid of all my wire hangers months ago and do not need new ones. And at the moment, all my socks match too.

 

The Maverick 88 shotgun is really not bad to work on, unless you are following the manual. None of the parts look like the pictures in the manual!

 

Work under a large sheet.  It will stop all those flying parts from getting too far away.

[Dusty Devil Dale]

For me, it was either a Browning side-by-side, an old Lefevre side-by-side,  or my Browning BLR lever action rifle (revolving bolt).  All three made me wish I hadn't started.

[Highwall]

I'm a dedicated single shot guy so the need to work on them is almost zero.

Over the years I've seen more work and repairs done on semi-auto .22r LR rifles  and pistols than any others.

 I personally think it's mostly due to the quality of ammo and the lack of regimental cleaning.

Keep in mind 22lr firearms are the most frequently used.

 When I competed in IHMSA,  Wolf brand was accurate but needed cleaning of the barrel after each match while CCI was just as accurate   

but didn't. 

So I'll say the worst (quality) gun to work on solely depends on the ammo most used.