5 Worst Hunting Rifles Ever Made

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
For the most part, none of our family had or used 44 autos. Until my cousin bought one, he was the oldest of our cousins and had a little more dollars to spend in the rest of us. He made good work of that rifle and I remember it shooting very well for him. Another good friend has one from his father in Michigan and it's not as good a shooter it's pretty reliable but it's a 3 + inch gun at 50 yards with pretty much everything. He shoots at it as much as we've tried different loadings podcast bulletin jacketed it really doesn't get much better. What sentimental value keeps it in his gun cabinet where it will stay. CW
A 3" at 50 yards gun is good out to 150 on a deers heart/lung area. 150 is about as far as I'm gonna shoot an open sighted 44 carbine anyway, actually it's probably twice as far as I'd expect to. I fail to see the downside.
 

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I had a Savage 170 for a while, one of the most accurate .30-30s I ever shot, but it developed that common problem where the slide wouldn't unlock after firing so you had to manually hit the slide release to open it. Seems this was a chronic problem with them. I'd like to have one in .35 Remington.

The 340s got a raw deal in this article.
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
just me...

760. Had one in 300 Savage. Really liked it. Didn't do much with it, for reasons/no fault of the rifle. But I liked it.

Ruger 44 Mag rifle. Hilarious experience from Dad's buddy had one (guy was a real show!). No real experience, but I would like to play with one in my thick woods.

Win 100/88. Buddy had an 88 and LOVED it. No experience. FIL gave son #4 one he had (prob given to him by someone). Kid (now 27!) is not overly fond of it, but I like it for the history. Not shot it more than a few rnds.

340 - I got one - in 222 Rem - and last 1 1/2" of bore was bad. Missed it when I bought it. And hated the scope mount. plus this one have been semi-bubba'd for a poor man's bench gun. all in all - sucked, but not the gun's fault. I would love to play with one in 30-30, or better yet, 35 Rem IF they came in that. And a bolt in 38-55 would be a hoot, I bet!

One I parted with as it was like a mule - Remington 81 in 300 Savage. Everything I read said it beat you. Me said No Way in 300 Savage. Ha! WAY! had to go.

THE one rifle I WILL not try again - Savage 110 heavy bbl. Got one in 308. NOTHING would shoot in it/hated it. At this point, I wouldn't take one if you gave it to me.
 

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
The Savage 340 was actually quite an innovative design for its time. Post WWII when people could buy luxury items like humting rifles again, Savage came up with the design to use up stocks of .30 caliber machine gun barrels they had on hand. That barrel nut system the 340 uses is the same as the 110 series of rifles uses now and that several other makers have copied.

Ky .30-30 one isn't a tack driver so far but is pretty good with everything I've shot in it (cast only) and doesn't seem picky at all. There are much better scope mounts now than the old Weavers, Sun Optics makes a machined aluminum one which is musch more robust and allows a lot better fore and aft adjustment with normal Weaver style rings.

The 110s I've had experience with have all been good shooters, you must have gotten a lemon.
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
I liked the 760/7600 allot. I have had a few. The 740/742/7400's not so much. I have a 742 on my bench for last few months. Some one diss assembled and handed me a bag of parts. I have had it completely assembled twice. It seems ta work. I know it will fire. But like most every one I have looked at the lugs and back of receiver are getting gauled.

Wood on butt is aweful for-stock is as new. Barrel quite rusted. Its a 30/06.
 

Cadillac Jeff

Well-Known Member
The Ruger I spoke about, Dad bought new probably not a box ran through it, I brought it back to MI. couple years ago scoped with an old weaver 1 1/2 sighted it in,cleaned &oiled &in the safe it went.
Should get it out this summer try some cast in it.
Not shooting autoloader very much I thought it was different but perty cool, just felt different.
Yea that one is going to see some daylight this year, Jeff
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I've worked with several Savages.
The 325 C circa 1950 in 30-30 refused to shoot anything even close to reasonable poorly . If you have a 230 30 cal you have to try these things because it's there . It shot every other bullet into an 1.5" with the Whiting peep sight .
The 340C in 222 shot RP , FC , Hornady, and Win 50 gr 5 at a time all inside a 1" circle with the Weaver side mofine and I think it was a 3×9 32 Weaver .
I've had 4 110 pattern rifles only the so dubbed "Prima Donna" gave me any trouble . Would not shoot any factory ammo , turns out it was about case capacity and ammo QC .
The 308 shot no more than 2" within 4" of the scope with whatever fell in the action under175 gr . Nope it wasn't a length thing well it was a 12" twist but 162/168 and 173s were fine , 180s nope not even shorter than 150 spitzer RN 180 .

There's a 760 around here somewhere . Only 2 things about it . 1st why would anyone cut a factory match chamber in a slide action field gun . 2nd shooting a pump rifle is almost a discipline in its own right and has only 2 points of reference in common with rifles or shotguns........ it wasn't bad once I figured out what I needed do and was able to shoot it like a Schnabel rifle and forget it operated like a shotgun .
The Model 14 has a horrible trigger . I only lump it in because it's a RP pump rifle .
 

Rushcreek

Well-Known Member
The Ruger 44 was perfectly reliable but it made dad’s 94 Winchester look like a bench rest gun in comparison. Just kidding. Barely.
Mine was a late issue that had ROPD electro etched on the bolt side for River Oaks Police Dept. I traded a Beretta auto shotgun for it to a retired cop.
I wonder if the author considered the Harry Lawson “Cochise Thumbhole” custom bolt rifles to be as horrible as the Winslows?
Any of you old farts remember those
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Oh yeah! There used to be some very bizarre looking rifles in the 50's, 60's and 70's, all trying to profit off Roy Weatherbys "California look" IMO. Get an old Gun Digest from anywhere in that era and you'll see some real eye poppers. Wasn't until the late 70's the classic look began to be appreciated again.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Yup! Carving, contrasting inlays or forends and pistol grip caps, roll over combs, thumbholes, all sorts of stuff was "cool" once. Now they're just bizarre and gaudy. Fads come and go.
 

Missionary

Well-Known Member
The Winchester 1910 .401 is not known for any contest winning. But it was not designed to "ooh and aw". Heavy, throws brass at wounding velocities, and 4 shot mag.
But will stop running escapees, perforate corn crunchers and did put the hurt on a few WW1 German aircraft that got to close to allied observers.
Wish I could come across one of those 10 shot mags.
 

Tom

Well-Known Member
I really wanted one of the ruger 44 autos back when I was unable to buy a pot to pee in. They just seemed so cool to me. While I did hunt whitetail in the river bottom, most of my hunting was in the big coulees of n central Montana. Probably wouldn't be a good choice for that.
 

Reloader762

Active Member
I had a Savage 340 in 22 Hornet and it was one of my favorite rifles to load and shoot, it was my first center fire rifle. I had a K-Mart All Pro Japanese made 3 X 9 X 32 Weaver side mounted scope on it. I loved that rifle but it was stolen some years later and I finally sold the dies and brass ten years later hoping to get another but I never did. It was one of the most accurate rifle I've ever owned and gave a lot of groundhogs a dirt nap headshot out to 200 yds. with it on a regular basis.
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I had 2- 340s in 222 Rem in the shop. No one wanted them at that time (early 80's) because everyone was looking for 3500fps out of a 22-250. I should have kept at least one of them. No idea whatever happened to them after the shop was turned over to other family.
 

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
In reality, the .222 Remington is probably the best of the .22 centerfires.

I do have a 340 in .222. Someone put some work into it at some point, it's been restocked. Shot pretty well with jacketed bulllets, but the triggers on 340s are never going to be very good.

A really nice .222 is on my bucket list. Probably one of the Sakos. When I really get serious, I'll spend the time really searching and be picky about it.