The Five Worst Guns I Own

My name is Travis and I have a weakness for weird guns. Weird, strange, and even ineffective. Sometimes, I buy a gun just because of its story and general weirdness. Oftentimes, purchasing a story can mean purchasing a fairly terrible firearm. Going through my firearms to catalog serial numbers reminded me of just how many truly terrible guns I own. After putting some thought into them, I’ve managed to narrow the field down to the worst five.

To be completely fair, I purchased four out of five of these knowing full well that they were terrible guns. I was aware they were bad with poor reputations, but I liked their quirks, their stories, or some other intrinsic quality I just couldn’t name. The other one, the number one sport of the five worst guns I own, was a major disappointment, and I thought it would be a very fun gun.

5. Richardson Industries Guerilla Gun

If you looked at this gun and assumed it was a weapon produced from stuff I bought at Home Depot, I’d understand. The Richardson Guerrilla Gun is a gun I bought for its story. It’s a slam-fire 12-gauge shotgun consisting of an extremely blocky stock and two metal tubes. The shooter slams the inner barrel rearwards into a firing pen, and the gun goes bang. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

A man named Iliff Richardson owned Richardson Industries and attempted to market the gun. Mr. Richardson was a fascinating man. In World War II, he found himself working with Filipino guerrillas to fight the Japanese after the Philippines were invaded. He had initially served as an ensign on a PT boat, but the boat was docked for repairs. With the city occupied, Richardson became a guerrilla.

He helped the guerrillas establish communications and worked with them to gain American support. During his time with the guerrillas, he observed their use of primitive shotguns, a tool often used to kill a Japanese soldier and then seize a better weapon. Richardson produced replicas in the United States as dirt-cheap shotguns…but there weren’t many fans.

Shooting the gun is an interesting experience. Due to safety concerns, I only fire mini shells through it. It always fires, but extracting polymer hulls can be difficult. It’s tough to aim when you slam the barrel. Of all the guns on this list, the Guerilla Gun is the most reliable.

4. Intratec TEC-DC9

Before the AR-15 became the go-to boogeyman of the anti-gun industry, the TEC-9 and its many variants were the anti-gunners’ main enemy. They were often banned by name, so Intratec constantly changed it. That’s why this is the TEC-DC9. The TEC-9 family of guns was derived from submachine guns originally designed by George Kellgren.

When Mr. Kellgren failed to sell the design to military forces, he produced semi-automatic pistol variants, namely the open bolt semi-automatic KG-99. The KG-99 would become famous for its use in shows like Miami Vice, where armourers would convert them to full auto and arm legions of bad guys with the guns. Eventually, ATF came after open bolt pistols because they are easy to convert to full auto.

The KG series eventually became the TEC-9 series. For all the hoopla and efforts to ban the TEC-9, it was a craptastic gun. First, it’s a massive, oversized, overweight pistol. It uses direct blowback actions and heavy bolts, which creates more recoil than comparable designs. They aren’t very accurate and mine jams a lot.

I shot each of these for this article and was shocked to get through ten rounds without malfunctioning. It’s really a garbage gun, but at least the anti-gunners still hate it.

3. High Standard Model 10B

Weird shotguns are my bread and butter. When I stumbled into a High Standard Model 10B, I knew I was overpaying from the jump. Police officer Alfred Crouch designed a bullpup, a semi-auto shotgun intended to be the ultimate entry weapon for police. High Standard liked the idea enough that they purchase it. By 1967, they were in full production.

The High Standard Model 10B is the simpler model. It’s a gas-operated semi-auto gun with some neat features, like the ability to attach a light and an ambidextrous charging handle. The bullpup format, in particular, wasn’t common back then. It was a neat idea, but suffered from terrible execution.

The 10B rarely works reliably. It constantly jams, fails to fire, and has feeding problems. Silly features like the rotating stock are uncomfortable, and the carry handle likes to pop you in the nose. The sights are hard to use, and the front sight doesn’t lock open. Loading it can be difficult since you have to press a button to lower the shell elevator.

For some reason or another, the recoil is brutal. I don’t mind shotgun recoil, but this thing just hammers you. I hate shooting it. The design had potential and looks like it belongs in an episode of ‘Flash Gordon,’ but I’d rather take the Guerilla Gun into a fight than this thing.

2. The Taurus Curve

Taurus used to have its U.S. facility based in Florida and I think during that time, they got some of the same stuff that inspires KelTec. They released the View and Curve at about the same time. The Curve was a pocket .380 pistol intended for IWB carry, specifically strong side IWB carry. They literally created a curved gun.

The curved frame was intended to follow the body’s natural contour. The idea was to enhance concealment. To further enhance concealment, they left the sights off the Contour…because nothing prints as much as pistol sights. In their place, you had a cross-shaped marking at the rear of the gun and an integrated laser and light. The light gave you all of 25 lumens of power.

To be clear, I think integrated lights and lasers are neat, but it just wasn’t very functional. The Curve had a built-in waistband clip and a trigger cover so the user could strap it on and go. The gun lacks a standard magazine release. Instead, you have to pinch the sides of the magazine to remove it. The ergonomics are just a mess, and the idea is odd, but does the gun run?

No, not really. I might have shot one full mag with the gun. It constantly jams and fails to go into battery. The trigger is atrocious, but surprisingly, the recoil really isn’t bad. The gun’s lack of sights sucks, and the laser is too dim to see in most conditions. The Curve was a bizarre experiment that failed.

1. USFA Zip .22

I bought my first Zip with hope in my heart. I thought it would be a ton of fun, and the .22LR pistol was only about $120 new. It was a weird, weird-looking gun. It seemed to be the perfect plinker for people who like weird guns. Doug Donnelly threw his weight behind the gun, and as the guy behind some excellent revolvers, people were hopeful.

Sadly, the Zip ended up being a total piece of crap. It didn’t work with the best or hottest .22LR ammo. It constantly jammed. Zip released fixes, but none of them ever worked. The USFA Zip .22 disappointed me, and I wasn’t alone. I ended up selling mine just to purchase another one sitting in the back of a store.

The owner wouldn’t sell it because of its bad reputation, but after telling him I knew all about it and offering $50 and a handshake, it was mine. Why? I guess I wanted the story. Doug killed USFA to create the Zip by selling off the machinery to fund it. The gun was a disaster, an utter failure, and it’s sad to see a great company killed by a .22LR plinker.

My latest example doesn’t run either and barely fires. It seems the entire line was plagued with problems, and what could have been never was.

The Worst

So these are the worst guns I own. They suck in just about every way. The best thing they do is tell stories and provide material for what I hope are entertaining articles. What’s your worst gun? Share below.