Bob as a great post up of a Defensive Gun Use in Texas where a home owner repels a home invader with a Jennings 9mm pistol.
Now Jennings has a reputation of making “Junk Guns”, I own a Jennings J-22, and I’ll just say I won’t claim them to be high-quality pistols. That being said this attack was repelled with what appears to be a single shot fired. Even my beat-up .22 Jennings is good for a single-shot, and actually I can often get a few magazines through the gun without issue, given that it’s properly cleaned and lubricated.
Now for both my personal carry guns which I would consider “Mid-level” in price that little quip is horrible. Heck both my carry guns are currently dirty having ran a box of ammo through them the day after Thanksgiving. For my 1911 and my Kahr 20+ rounds is small potatoes, and I don’t feel compelled to clean and lube them unless they’ve ingested 200 or more rounds. Even then I’ve seen endurance challenges where lesser guns than these have eaten THOUSANDS of rounds with no maintenance.
That’s all well-and-good if I’m going to be fighting in the scrub of Afghanistan or clearing a tunnel bunker in Viet Nam, but I’m not, I work in a lab and come home to my armory every night. The only reason why I’ve been lugging around a pair of dirty guns all week is because I didn’t want to clean them, and the reliability of said guns doesn’t compel me to do otherwise.
That being said would my cheap Jennings that last got “Cleaned” by hosing the inside of the slide with WD40 and scrapping a bore brush down the bore, then a quick swab with a Q-tip. (I was struggling to pop the slide off and just said “Fuck it, it’s a Jennings!” and reached for the WD) Would it be able to rip off a few shots right now if I was in need? (I’m going to hit the range this weekend, I’ll bring it and see!)
I know for a fact I can get a round to chamber and fire, and I’m betting a few more without a jam. While not something I’d depend my life on, that’s a decent enough show of force to repel many attackers. More so if the Jennings you’re reaching for is in 9×19.
This is a topic I’ve talked about a lot, but I thought I’d have a little fun crowd-sourcing. What are some “Bargain Guns” that are inexpensive but of surprisingly good quality.
I’ll start you off. The CZ-82, Compact Double-stack pistol in 9x18mm. This pistol was nice but not great until recently when EVERYBODY started making quality defensive ammo for it like this stuff. So now you can have an all-steel 12+1 gun which you can generally get for under $300. Also if you prefer .380 Auto the CZ-83 is the civilain model in .380 Auto (Tho I will say that cheap 9×18 training ammo is easy to find, and quality defensive ammo isn’t unobtainable, plus the round IS slightly more powerful than .380, I prefer the 82)
Some other great deals are Kahr’s CM and CW lines like the CW9 and CM9, essentially Kahr cut some costs on their P and PM series guns so they could match up with competition. Overall the cost-saving measures aren’t things most people will miss, but you get all the quality that I’ve certainly grown to love of a Kahr. Also these are small, light, and powerful pistols in 9×19 and .40 S&W, so you aren’t skimping on power, nor are you buying a big bulky gun that may be difficult to carry.
While Hi-Points are cheap, ugly, and unrefined guns, and generally bulky and heavy for carry, one thing they seem to do well is run reliably. They aren’t great for carry, but not impossible, but certainly if you tucked one in your night stand it would certainly go “bang” when you needed it to if you kept it properly cleaned and lubed.
OK those are my primers. What are guns you would offer as the best quality for the cheapest buck?
What guns are inexpensive but you would NOT recommend?
