I'll stick with 19th century guns thanks.

[perry owens]

Stoeger Coach Gun Supreme Fired only 50 rounds black powder from new. Sent to London Proof House - failed.
Sent to top gunsmith to fix - failed proof again. After failing proof for the fourth time the gunsmith and proof house agreed that it would never pass because of the poor design of the locking lugs.
Wrote to Stoeger on September 8th with their findings and inviting comments. NO RESPONSE
Emailed copy of the letter to Stoeger on November 1st. NO RESPONSE

Ubert Burgess Rifle Brand new gun had 40% light strikes. Returned to importer.
Importer first tried to blame my handloads so I told him to use a box of factory ammo and if there were no light strikes I would pay for the ammo.
Gun returned after 6 weeks. Firing pin was bent and had been replaced. Mainspring had been incorrectly tempered and was also replaced. Only got it back today so don't know if it is really fixed.

To strike a balance I should say that my Ruger Old Armys and Browning 1886 perform flawlessly but I think those guns were built with a little more attention to detail.
Meanwhile my original 1873, 1886 and 1897 continue to crank out lead like they were made yesterday, but probably because they weren't made yesterday!
Perry Owens

[Borregos]

That seems to be how it is these days!!

[Bill in Oregon]

Perry: Sorry to hear of your tribulations. I just don't think it is right for a company to distribute products without carefully testing them, especially when we're talking firearms. Uberti usually does a little better than most, but they have had problems with their Winchester 1876 lever guns.

[Nath]

Annoying but must be expected today sadly, acceptable, hell NO!

On a side note, I got a replacemnt spring for an airgun recently. The thing collapsed soon after fitting, I could stretch and compress it with my own hands! Shocking.

The world is going to hell on a hand cart and fast!

Nath.

[J Miller]

Planned obsolescence is part of it. Economy and politics another. And just plain out greed as well.

The firearm industry isn't the only industry that's doing this, they all are.



Joe

[kimwcook]

I just about can't stand to buy anything anymore because in short order it won't be in working order. I've bought numerous things lately and some of them haven't worked right out of the box. The wife and I are on the third refrigerator in almost as many years. Ice makers just won't keep working and these are $1,000+ a whack. Drives me nuts. Buy the extended warranty or don't buy it. I buy it and I can't get them to come out and service it or it takes 6 months of haggling.

[hightime]

You are very lucky if you have original leverguns from the last century. I tried and failed to come up with one that was still in good shape. It seems like if you do spend the bucks for one you shouldn't shoot it a lot. Thank gad for Uberti. I shoot and shoot and shoot. I am happy with all my Uberti's and have had only one small issue with expected accuracy on my 1873. I wish they had the petina of an orignal, but I'm having fun. From what I see there arn't too many originals that win competitions.

Owen

[Larkbill]

I'm surprised and disappointed you had trouble with the Stoeger. I have Uplanders in 16 and 20 ga. and have at least 1200 rounds through the 16, and that's just the wads I've used up, I know I have also run a couple hundred rounds of factory ammo too. The 20 has about half that. Only problem was a failure to cock on the 16, caused by a piece of cornstalk in the hinge while duck hunting. Easily fixed in the field without tools.


No corn here, but you get the idea. That's my home built skiff, built to run my old outboards on, but evolved into a hunting boat.

[Rube Burrows]

Hmmm, I use a Stoeger 12 gauge in my Cowboy shooting matches and it has taken much abuse and keeps on going. I have several Uberti rifles that also take the same abuse and work perfectly.

I am sorry that you have found a few wrong doings in your dealings with the companies but I dont feel that you are in the many....but rather that few.

[.45colt]

Today ,"You pay Your Money and take Your Chances". on everything, guns, appliances,cars and anything else We all took for granted.most warrentys mean nothing.

[adirondakjack]

There was a time when Winchesters and Smith and Wessons were made by recent immigrants to the US working dark to dark for wages so low many of these skilled (often German) craftsmen came to work with cardboard in their worn out shoes and lived in dirty, dangerous tenements, etc.

Like EVERY manufacturing industry, we went through a time when we'd won the BIG war, had the only major economy with it's factories still intact, and a "Rocket 88" Olds in the driveway was the goal of every well-paid Union man.....

Meanwhile nobody listened when they told us "look to Britain, your future awaits" as the Empire was dismantled, and social program and other costs, combined with an entitlement mentality of workers heralded the withering of industry. British cars went away, and so many other firms moved abroad or sold out to Upstarts in less "unionized" places.

We rebuilt a war-torn world, and in a few short decades "Japanese junk" gave way to "fine craftsmenship", places like taiwan, Korea, and Brazil built respectable mnufacturing without AFL-CIO costs......

So what have we learned? it's a global market, and until and unless JUST ENOUGH quality is built in to make an item serviceable and no more costs are incurred, SOMEBODY will knock the item off cheaper and put you out of business, leaving the ONLY supplier the "just enough" guy....

Don't believe it? Ruger couldn't make and sell a SxS shotgun at a profit when they asked HUGE money for one..... Ya want a GOOD SXS that will hold up and not cost a fortune? The RUSSIANS make a durn good one in the Baikal, at least until they "get" the idea to charge more or build less to compete with the other bargain basement guns....

[Lastmohecken]

There was a time when Winchesters and Smith and Wessons were made by recent immigrants to the US working dark to dark for wages so low many of these skilled (often German) craftsmen came to work with cardboard in their worn out shoes and lived in dirty, dangerous tenements, etc.

Like EVERY manufacturing industry, we went through a time when we'd won the BIG war, had the only major economy with it's factories still intact, and a "Rocket 88" Olds in the driveway was the goal of every well-paid Union man.....

Meanwhile nobody listened when they told us "look to Britain, your future awaits" as the Empire was dismantled, and social program and other costs, combined with an entitlement mentality of workers heralded the withering of industry. British cars went away, and so many other firms moved abroad or sold out to Upstarts in less "unionized" places.

We rebuilt a war-torn world, and in a few short decades "Japanese junk" gave way to "fine craftsmenship", places like taiwan, Korea, and Brazil built respectable mnufacturing without AFL-CIO costs......

So what have we learned? it's a global market, and until and unless JUST ENOUGH quality is built in to make an item serviceable and no more costs are incurred, SOMEBODY will knock the item off cheaper and put you out of business, leaving the ONLY supplier the "just enough" guy....

Don't believe it? Ruger couldn't make and sell a SxS shotgun at a profit when they asked HUGE money for one..... Ya want a GOOD SXS that will hold up and not cost a fortune? The RUSSIANS make a durn good one in the Baikal, at least until they "get" the idea to charge more or build less to compete with the other bargain basement guns....

I agree with most of what you said, but Ruger couldn't make and sell a SxS shotgun, because They couldn't make one that worked right. I examined what few I seen and there was something wrong with every one of them. I prefer to find the old guns, like L.C. Smiths, and they still work even after 75 years. I would have purchased one of the Rugers if they had been worth a darn. But then again you can still find Winchester 23's for around $2000 or so and they are much better the the Ruger would have ever been. I have shot thousands of rounds through two of my Winchester 23's and my L.C. Smith

Nobody seems to make a decent gun now days, of most anykind that works good without having to fix it first, it seems. And they have so many safetys on them, that pretty much render the guns useless for serious work.

[MrMurphy]

Any major brand auto pistol generally works right out of the box.

Any serious manufacturer (Colt, Daniel Defense, Noveske, LaRue, BCM, etc) AR-15 works right out of the box.


Remington 870s rarely have troubles.

Not everything's a piece of junk.



For the OP, sorry to hear about your troubles, but both Uberti and Stoeger usually have good track records.

Since your country mostly gave up on anything worthwhile, I have a pair of Lee-Enfields over here since you can't really have them anymore. They have an honored place in the safe, the No.4 Mk1 was my first rifle while the SMLE is more recent.