There’s another one of those (I suspect) A.I. videos talking about the ten guns that are sitting unsold on shelves, and have been almost since their introduction to the market.
There are a couple of obvious losers — the Remington R51 9mm, for example, which was the harbinger of the downfall of the once-great company because it was a shoddy, badly-engineered piece of junk (very much like the company).
The next were those which somehow thought that an expensive 5.7mm bullet was just the thing that the market wanted, and tied that belief to their launch in $900+ guns that were too bulky to carry and too flimsy to be serious rifles. They were, in essence, expensive range toys, and in the post-Covid years were precisely what the market did not need.
In fact, “expensive range toys” is a pretty good description of most of these ten stinkers. In saner times, one would have hoped that cooler heads in Marketing would have figured out that mistake; but there weren’t sane times, anything but. They were the early Biden-Covid years, when the feral ATF, FBI and Department of Justice looked for any excuse to deny gun owners guns, take away their guns and criminalize gun owners. And the Covid-era panic buying of toilet paper (FFS) was a perfect companion to the rush to buy guns, any guns, by people who didn’t know anything about guns, where price hikes followed shortage as inevitably as night follows day, where dropping $3,000 on a semi-auto piece of crap seemed an obvious ploy to increase profits, or to plug up a gap in a gun manufacturer’s product portfolio.
Meanwhile, the real gun buyers — guys like most Readers of this website — didn’t fall for any of this nonsense, and spent out money (if we did at all) on proven guns and, while gritting our teeth, insanely-expensive ammo.
Then the waters started to recede, Covid panic ended, and suddenly gun dealers were confronted with a plethora of guns to be sold on consignment, as the panic buyers turned into gun-free zones as before. Many gun stores which previously had not offered consignment sales now realized that there was money to be made in the commission business as a way of keeping the doors open.
Of course, the idiots who’d purchased awful guns like like our top ten rascals in the video handed in their geegaws, and now the dealers were left with cluttered shelves full of expensive range toys which nobody wanted.
So when the godless gun-grabbers of the Biden Party lost the White House, the gun market as a whole cooled off, as always happens when the Happy Times return and people are no longer thinking they need to gun up in case of you-know-what. It happened after Obama was term-limited out of office and conservative voters made sure that Hillary Fucking Clinton didn’t get to play her little Commie reindeer games, and one would have thought that gun manufacturers would have learned their lesson, but of course they didn’t because that has to be the only reason they launched those terrible guns.
It’s funny; I looked at all the guns on the list, and realized that I, as big a gun lover as exists anywhere in the universe, wouldn’t be interested in any single one of them now, even as a gift let alone at their severely-discounted-but-still-insane prices.
Screw that, and them.
(Read the comments from @reaver6666 in the video’s comments for an excellent overview of the products’ common failings.)
By the way, there’s another A.I. crappy that breathlessly announces that these are the 12 guns you can buy on the cheap. Yeah, right.
One, the AI videos are annoying as fuck. I pretty much click next as soon as I hear the tell-tale voice over. But two, this style of video is prevalent in guns, cars, boats, etc. And every time, I think OK, maybe there’s some deals to be had here. And I go look at dealer websites – and no fucking deals. Dodge/Ram has had the worst fucking year on record, but you go look at the list prices for any vehicle and still way too high.
I didn’t even finish the above video, but from the first few minutes I didn’t see any guns I would spend money on. At this point I have a very few and selected firearms that will grab my attention. I’ve already satisfied my self-defense and zombie apocalypse needs so everything else will simply be what I like. Lever action rifles and single action revolvers.
This dood could be me. Everything you wrote came right out of my brain.
I will only buy lightly used guns from private owners from now on, just like the last 5 I bought.
I am desperately wanting a model 94 in 30/30 and a colt python silver/wood.
Oh yeah, the small glock 9mm (17?, 19?) I get the models confused.
Lastly, a Barrett .50. or an M2 twin on a tripod.
I remember back in the 80’s and 90’s, every gun show you could find some model 94’s, usually in well used but well cared for condition, for $200 or so. All day long. That’s where I got mine. Good luck finding an original for under $1000 today. Still kicking myself for not buying 3 or 4 at the time. I passed up a hell of a deal on a 44-40 too, thinking it was a dead caliber and I’d never find ammo for it. God but I was stupid back then.
As someone who owns a Python, what you really want is a classic Smith or a good Ruger. The Python is very pretty, and smooth, but not reliable at all. When it shoots well, it’s like a dream, but I’d pick up a chunky Ruger first if I ever needed to use one in anger.
My niece and her husband own a gun store in the Midwest. They had a sign on the door a couple of years that said “No, we do NOT want your Remington R51 in trade.”
Don’t recall just which panic it was now, but it warmed my black heart to see the lines at gun stores in Kalifornia stretch out the doors and down the sidewalk, and then listening to the howls as the libs in line as they discovered the 10-day waiting period.
I’m with Don C. above. Something like a nice 1892 Winchester in 44-40. In my callow, ignorant youth, I had a chance at a Spanish made El Tigre chambered in 44 Largo. At the time, I did not know that 44 Largo is the Spanish name for 44-40.
Honest question. I will preface with this
We have all, myself included, bought guns on sale because they were cheap and realized other than price, they did not fit a good purpose.
Now with inflation hitting hard, and ammo costing far far far far far more than the gun itself, especially if you shoot the gun a lot – why not just “buy once cry once” and buy a couple of really good guns.
For example, instead of a bunch of cheap junk, save up and buy one good gun.
Like,
Ruger or Smith & Wesson revolvers (I prefer ruger, some like S&W) – but these will last a long time and work well generally.
Name brand quality pistols in known calibers – 1911 – Glock – Sig – Springfield etc. Something of a known quantity brand in a caliber that is widely available.
YMMV. I carefully spend my money now, but I did buy shit I didn’t really need years ago.
“Meanwhile, the real gun buyers — guys like most Readers of this website — didn’t fall for any of this nonsense, and spent out money (if we did at all) on proven guns and, while gritting our teeth, insanely-expensive ammo.”
Kim – your website is the best on the web – and your content is ALWAYS AWESOME – so this is NOT criticism in any way – but – can I politely ask PLEASE more range reviews or even just writing about with some more pictures of that AWESOME Ruger Redhawk in 45 that you have? And also maybe a little more info on the AK 47?
I know you did the pics and range review stuff on the AR and plastic pistola recently – and those are all much appreciated, any gun stuff is
But – ya know – the Ruger Redhawk and the AK – those are just CLASSIC guns that deserve to be showcased, talked about and bragged on,
Sorry to be a pain in the ass – but I had to ask – can’t blame me for trying right?
I am shocked that the 30 Super carry even came to market. 9MM, 380, 45 and even the 40 and 10 MM are all great semi auto cartridges with old and new pistols available.
What the fuck was the need for the 30 super carry?
Obviously, the 30 super carry was absolutely necessary. Otherwise, there’d be roughly 1000 magazine articles that would have never been written. Think of the poor writers and the neglected magazine sales. And the manufacturers need a new cartridge to hit hot every few years to increase sales. Otherwise people will realize they already own a 9, a 38, 357, 40, 10, 45, 44 and whatever else. And then why buy anything else?
Although to be fair, I’m a big fan of the 38 snub for daily carry. I’d be interested in a similar sized revolver that could hold 6 or even 7 rounds versus 5 while still having the lethality of a good 38. I understand they can fit 6 rounds of .32 in a S&W Airweight, so maybe 7 rounds of 30 super carry with a full moon clip? IDK, I’d have to see it first.
I don’t think you find one in that size, but I have a Ruger GP100 (Model:1759) in .327 that holds 7 rounds and it’s a helluva gun. Mine has the 6″ barrel, but I’ve seen more than a few with a 5″.
Speaking of new stuff, John Farnam is at the SHOT show. You can read about it here–
https://defense-training.com/2026-shot-show-range-day/
The guns I’m interested in are the Smith & Wesson Model 41 from the 80s on back. Browning HiPower or clone, metal semi autos and revolvers. The revolvers are low on my list because I have what I want.
Shotguns -None
Rifles -I still want a good quality bolt action in 6.5×55 Swede and another in 7mm-08. No semi autos are really on my list.
There is nothing really new on my list other than a couple of bolt action rifles. I don’t want anything in these new calibers either because I remember when the Winchester Short Magnums came out as well as the .45GAP came out and they pretty much went extinct. .30 SUper Carry was a solution in search of a question or problem to steal a phrase from Lt Colonel Cooper.
We have very cold weather moving in so it looks like indoor range time.
The AI voices are horrible. Why can’t someone just read the script that they wrote?