The 8 worst guns in the world

One glaring problem with the bazooka was the massive flare it created when fired, which both exposed the shooters position and shot dust, debris, and flames back at the soldier firing the weapon. Later versions of the bazooka included a back-blast shield.

"The best thing about the bazooka was that it formed the basis for better weapons that came along later," Dougherty wrote.

Country: United States

Entered service: 1942

Type: Unguided antitank weapon

Range: Under 500 feet

Capacity: Single-shot rocket launcher/ 3.5 pound explosive

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

The LeMat grapeshot revolver is another great idea for the battlefield that suffered from poor execution. Designed as a cavalry weapon late in the US Civil War, the LeMat revolver stored nine pistol rounds in a revolver setup, with an additional barrel and single shotgun shell in the middle.

The user would toggle the movable firing pin to select which round they wanted to fire. While it was a great idea in theory, in practice the guns proved to be poorly made.

Country: United States

Entered service: 1856

Type: Handgun

Range: 164 feet

Capacity: nine rounds

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

The Krummlauf looks like a good idea, if only the physics from Elmer Fudd cartoons held true in real life.

This gun was meant to shoot around corners with its curved barrel, between 30 and 45 degrees, and a mounted periscope sight on a fairly standard assault rifle.

After much time and money spent tinkering with the design, it was deemed too expensive and unsuccessful to produce on a larger scale.

Country: Nazi Germany

Entered service: 1945

Type: Longarm

Range: 6,561 feet

Capacity: 30 rounds

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

In 1915, at the height of World War I, France's Chauchat light machine gun exemplified everything a light machine gun should not be.

The weapon was poorly manufactured to the point that it kicked like a mule. The firing mechanism frequently jammed, and, even when it did work perfectly, the gun's 20-round capacity was inadequate for combat.

Country: France

Entered service: 1915

Type: Support weapon

Range: 3,280 feet

Capacity: 20 rounds

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

The Gyrojet pistol was one of the most creative ideas in modern history of firearms.

Gyrojet pistols used rocket propulsion to fire its ammunition. However, the guns were terribly inaccurate and were therefore discontinued.

Country: United States

Entered service: 1965

Type: Handgun

Range: 165 feet

Capacity: six rounds

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

At the beginning of the 20th century, inventors tried to create a self-loading pistol. Eventually, the Colt M1911 would become the standard, but before that, many mistakes, like the Mars pistol, were made.

The Mars was very complicated to operate and ejected used cartridges directly into the shooters face.

"About 80 were made, after which the Mars quite rightly faded from the scene," Dougherty wrote.

Country: United Kingdom

Entered service: 1900

Type: Handgun

Range: 131 feet

Capacity: six rounds

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"

Perhaps no other gun on this list overpromises and underperforms like the Apache pistol. This pistol appears to combine the effective ingredients of a knife, brass knuckles, and a small-caliber revolver into a neat, foldout package.

In practice, none of the three components of the weapon deliver.

The brass-knuckle component works well enough, but the knife is thin and flimsy on its hinge. The revolver, with virtually no barrel to speak of, is terribly underpowered and inaccurate.

Additionally, because of the unguarded trigger, the user is likely to accidentally fire the weapon often.

Country: United States

Entered service: 1880

Type: Personal defense

Range: Close combat

Source: "The World's Worst Weapons"