Over the course of time, admittedly, many firearms have come into existence—and that includes some of the worst firearms ever made. Guns, as a rule, came into existence for the sole purpose of addressing those situations of a life and death nature. If those same guns are either poorly designed or manufactured, they will often garner feelings of scorn and ire.
Throughout history, there have been those guns that have engrained themselves into our memory, due to how bad they truly were, sealing the fate of many brave soldiers, along with those that proved through their inefficiency to have a long line of lethal consequences for their owners. These are five of the worst firearms ever made.
Chauchat Light Machine Gun
One of the very first automatic weapons ever to be produced for squad level, this machine gun was developed by the Gladiator bicycle company. Designed for the French armies in World War I, and then later for American armies, the Chauchats appearance left no doubt that it was made by a bicycle company, as its parts resembled as such due to the amount of tubing used that was similarly used in the construction of bicycle frames.
The model had its issues as, under the best of conditions, it was prone to jamming after firing three hundred rounds of ammo. When put into action in the trenches of the Great War, this was only compounded by the mud and dirt that was able to work its way inside the Chauchat, due to its many openings, and then only serve to foul up the mechanisms.
With its many issues and problems, the Chauchat continued on as, at the time, there was no viable weapon to replace it. Even though admittedly some credit should be given to the gun, as it was the first of its kind, there is something to say to the fact that all armies chose to retire it after the war.
Colt 1855 Revolving Rifle
Having been inventor by Samuel Colt, its namesake, in 1836, the patent for his revolver system, which was made up of six rapid firing shots before having to reload, has long been adopted into the standard handguns to today.
With the massive success of their handgun, an attempt was made to bring this same great system of firepower to the arena of rifles—thus, the Colt 1855 Revolving Rifle was born. Unfortunately, all did not end up going quite as planned, and it ended up being a dismal failure. One main problem lay in the open nature of the cylinder system, and the noise produced when fired.
Although it did not cause a problem with a weapon that was held at arm’s length, such as a handgun, but was totally unacceptable for a weapon that was discharged while close to the face. Colt only produced 1,000 of the 1855’s before scraping the entire concept and eventually abandoning the firearm.
Colt 2000
The Colt 2000 was the iconic American company’s answer to the Austrian Glock—and quite honestly, the worst of the company’s products. Even though the 2000 was the brainchild of two of the Colt’s most noted designers, Reed Knight, Jr and Eugene Stoner (also the inventor of the ever-popular AR-15), the Colt 2000 only served to become omewhat of an embarrassment for the company.
The overall design of the gun was considered quite good, at least in theory. Still, it wasn’t long before it was apparent that it had some serious problems with reliability—including extraction failure resulting in jams, significantly poor accuracy, and a recall for safety. Having been advertised as the gun that would dominate the twenty-first-century of handguns, it only lasted four years on the market before being discontinued in 1994.
Gewehr 41
Even though Germany began the war loyal to the Karabiner 98k, their engineers soon learned that they needed to come up with a weapon that allowed an increase in the rate of fire for their soldiers. The Gewehr 41 seemed to be the answer to what they were looking for.
Much like the M1 Garand, the Gewehr 41 also features an early gas piston, and a rotating rifle bolt operating system. Seeing that the Garand offered a much better job of implementing this system, it did not work well enough to warrant how expensive it was to produce. In comparison to the 98k, it was also two pounds heavier, when unloaded, and very poorly balanced.
Nambu
Despite its prowess in the realm of technology at both sea and in the air, Imperial Japan continued to prove to be a mess when it came to engagements on the ground. When the Nambu, undeniably one of the worst ergonomically built pistols, was purchased by thousands of members of the Imperial Army and Navy, it was dubbed the unofficial gun for the Japanese military.
Superficially, the Nambu bore a resemblance to the German Luger P-08, except for the additional safety that could only be triggered with the use of the holder’s free hand. The magazine also presented a problem when the owner attempted to remove it, especially when wet or oily. Because the 8mm ammo cartridge was notorious for its weak stopping power, it was never used in another weapon.
As with any new idea, for every hundred that proves successful, there are those that just do not pan out as planned. And when it comes to handguns, they are either deemed some of the best on the planet or labeled as the worst firearms ever made.
Syd
The weapon is spelled M1 Garand not Grand. It was a grand little weapon though.
Prepper Bob
Thanks.. good catch… of course it is.. sometimes spell check really hurts… lol but thanks Syd!