Welcome to the board, sparkyflint. Yes, guns do break. You might have had a run of bad luck, but it sounds like you just didn't know what to look for before you made your purchases. Stick around here and keep asking questions before you put a lot of money into a double. You will get varied answers as to which gun you should buy, but at least when you see one, you can ask here to get comments about the gun to help you make your decision. Good luck.