What is the 1 rifle you regretted buying or wished you never had bought?

[MThuntr]

A Pedersoli SXS 12 ga. muzzleloader shotgun. Actually nothing wrong with the gun, I just never used it like I told myself I would when I made the impulse buy. Carried it in the field a few times, never shot anything with it. Sold it for almost what I paid for it.

I would have used the heck out of it

 

[Kaitum]

I would have used the heck out of it

Exactly what I told myself!

 

[Boarmaster]

Weatherby mark 5 accumark 270 wby. very accurate and a hoot to shoot but too heavy for a hunting rifle for my purposes.

 

[renello]

A used bull barrel ruger that weighs probably 10lbs in 22-250. I hate heavy guns. I have never really got it to shoot well either.

 

[sbhooper]

I really only ever had one rifle that came back to bite me. That being said, I never regretted having it, but it was not how I expected things to go.
Here is the story:
I was working the desk one night, years ago, while I was in the Border Patrol. A friend of mine and I were talking rifles. I said that I was done buying right-handed rifles. He said that he had a friend that had a left-handed Savage that he had traded for. I said that all I had was a Marlin (Westernfield) 30-30 to trade to him. He said that he thought his friend would go for it.

He brought his buddy (who spoke only Spanish) over to the house one evening. It was no issue, as I also speak Spanish, so it was all good and he did not have to translate. We did the trade on the old 7 mag, Savage 110. The rifle was an absolute tack driver and I shot it for many years and killed deer, elk and New Mexico Oryx with it.

Fast forward to 2011. I was trying to decide which rifle to take to Newfoundland on a moose hunt and decided that this rifle was going to make the trip. Just to avoid possible issues, I had a cop buddy run the serial number on the rifle, as I did not want to be caught in Canadian Customs with a stolen rifle. Sure as shit! That rifle was stolen in Phoenix, Arizona, about six months before I traded for it. What was even crazier, was that the insurance company wanted it back! I pulled off the custom stock (which is on another Savage) and put back the old wood stock (luckily I still had it). On top of that, I had replaced the firing pin, so I took the pin out, too. My buddy took it and sent it back to Az. I think that after shooting it for 30+ years, I got my $100 out of it (that is all I had in the original rifle). You can't make this shit up.

I used that as an excuse to buy a new Remington SPS, in 7 mag, which made the trip, killed a moose and now resides in a Bell and Carlson stock. It shoots Nosler Partition 160-grain seconds into 1/2 moa groups and has dumped a lot of game.

 

[JDH]

I think the only gun I almost regret buying is my S&W AR15. It's a nice gun as far as AR's go and shoots fine, I'm just not a fan of the platform. The LOP never feels right, the noise in the buffer tube, just the overall feel. I'm not at all anti-AR and doubt I'll ever get rid of mine, I'm just a bolt guy and my AR will most likely just sit in the safe.

Same here. I've owned one for years and have only taken it out a couple of times right after I got it. I bought a cheap red dot for it that broke so I took the sight back to the store and never bought another one.

 

[tikkaman]

Back in my early thirdty,s I got a ruger m77 in 30-06 and couldn,t hit a barn with it and kicked like a mule .

 

[PsRpOiGrRiAtM]

One that I regret lately is a Weatherby Vanguard First Lite in 300wm. I have used probably close to 2lbs of powder trying to get it to shoot even close to a inch. Tried every load imaginable. Finally worked up and down a load with partitions and just settled on a 1.7 inch group being about the best I'm ever going to squeeze out of it. Thought about changing out the stock but after bedding the action and stiffening the stock with very little improvement I think I'm just going to take a loss on it and send it home with somebody else soon. I wanted so bad to love that rifle too.

Why not talk to Weatherby about it?

 

[OleRedbeard]

Why not talk to Weatherby about it?

I voided my warranty on it after stiffening the stock and bedding it. Doing so tightened up the groups but not enough to have justified the work doing it.

 

[Nick87]

Ruger m77 stainless in 22-250. Heavy, the stainless finish was garbage and the three position safety was constantly getting caught and flipped forward on my coat/ sleeve. I will say one thing though it shot awesome out of the box.

 

[Moose_04]

Savage/Stevens Model 200 in 300 Winchester Magnum. I bought it as my first elk hunting rifle in college. It was a very accurate rifle, but after 3 different types of recoil pads, I got rid of that rifle. I can still feel the recoil to this day!

 

[ntodwild]

Browning A-bolt 325 WSM. Loved the rifle just couldn't afford to practice with it and I don't reload. Ammo is way too expensive! Ended up tricking out my Remington Model 700 30:06 with the money and it was the best thing I ever did!

 

[Jbotto]

Savage/Stevens Model 200 in 300 Winchester Magnum. I bought it as my first elk hunting rifle in college. It was a very accurate rifle, but after 3 different types of recoil pads, I got rid of that rifle. I can still feel the recoil to this day!

I bought a Stevens 200 in .223 when they first came out. Bought a .30-06 a few years later in the same model. I always felt like a wuss when I complain about recoil. Then I’d have other people shoot it and the eye-open expression was always the same after the first shot. I calmed it by loading down a bit and using lighter bullets than the first 180gr factory loads I first put through it. Still have the rifle and bought another a couple yeera ago, but I turned that one into a .338-06 with a heavier stock.

 

[wvmedic]

Savage 11 in 7mm-08 bought new December 2019. The only thing I can get it to shot so far is Winchester ballistic Silvertips 140gr. Will not shoot interlocks, fusion, core-locks. It will shoot the ballistic Silvertips at about .75 MOA, the others 3 to 6 inch MOA. I wanted to use this rifle for Whitetail and Maine Black Bear. Though I'm not sure that I trust the ballistic tips on Bear at 50 yards.

Bought a Savage 11 in .243 at the same time for my Daughter to shoot and it will shoot .5 MOA.

Jeff

 

[Dsnow9]

Savage 11 in 7mm-08 bought new December 2019. The only thing I can get it to shot so far is Winchester ballistic Silvertips 140gr. Will not shoot interlocks, fusion, core-locks. It will shoot the ballistic Silvertips at about .75 MOA, the others 3 to 6 inch MOA. I wanted to use this rifle for Whitetail and Maine Black Bear. Though I'm not sure that I trust the ballistic tips on Bear at 50 yards.

Bought a Savage 11 in .243 at the same time for my Daughter to shoot and it will shoot .5 MOA.

Jeff

Have you contacted savage?

 

[Jim Bradbury]

As for a rifle that I regretted buying it was a Winchester Model 70 chambered in 7mm Mag. For some reason, me and that rifle just never got along. I did shoot several deer with it but I always wasted a lot of meat. Now the wasted meat very well could of been the Speer bullets I was shooting in it. Sold the gun, bought a Browning A-Bolt in 338 Win Mag and switched to Nosler 210 grain partitions for deer and never looked back. I have taken over 15 deer with my 338 and there have been two that I had bloodshot meat, the rest of them you could eat to within an inch of the bullet hole. When I get rid of the 338, it will be when my wife sells it after I am dead and gone. I am in the process of having a 338 edge built for long range (1200+ yards) target shooting looking forward to getting it later this summer.

 

[lpcoutdoors]

Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 30/06. The first rifle I ever bought. Man did that lightweight thing kick! I thought I was just a wuss, but a cousin who is a real shooter finally got tired of watching me miss with it and shot it. After one shot he stood up and said, "I'll never touch that beast again." I sold it and bought a 7/08 before they were so cool. Been shooting that ever since.

 

[howl]

Every Savage.

 

[wvmedic]

Have you contacted savage?

Yes, shipped it back. They say that they polished the chamber and cleaned the copper fouled bore. However, when I sent it back I cleaned it prior to sending it to them. I don't have a bore scope but my bore light showed nothing but a clean shiny bore. There is a Guy I believe it was on the Savage board said they told him the exact same thing word for word about his rifle that he sent back. Savage said it passed their range test. They use the Winchester ballistic Silvertips 140gr for testing the 7mm-08. That particular cartridge does shoot very well. I haven't got anything to shoot though.

 

[Brian in Montana]

I while back I spent about $760 on a Weatherby Vanguard Wilderness in .270. I got interested mainly because it had a 24" barrel. I was jealous of my wife's Rem700 that usually gets a little faster velocities than my T3X (700 has a 24" barrel, my Tikka's is 22.4"). That and the fact the Wilderness is relatively light weight.

The Wilderness has a lot of good reviews online, but I just found it really finicky and high maintenance. Accuracy was hard to come by. I did find a couple loads that were acceptable, but it seemed that just a little bit of fouling openned up my groups in a hurry, which was odd. I had to clean it about every 15 to 20 shots. Also it had a fluted barrel, which made it lighter, but it seemed to heat up very fast. I had to wait between shots to really get a good representation of a load's grouping.

Also, it came stock with a 2-stage trigger, which I certainly would have replaced had I kept it. I hate 2-stage triggers, but thought maybe I could get used to. Ultimately, I found myself trying to talk myself into liking that gun quite a bit, and eventually just went, pfffft. I sold it and accepted the fact that my .270 will be 80 or so FPS slower than my wife's. Haven't missed it a bit.