Cheap Guns

[Bzcraig]

I don't know why but I'm attracted to some of the really cheap guns! Today I bought a Davis IND. (Predecessor to Cobra) 32acp. It is 99%, owner claimed to have purchased it new and fired 24 rounds through it and it's chrome. I gave him the $95 he was asking for it. This is the first time I have given in to the urge to buy one, now I'm afraid I'll have several before it ends! 😎

[sghart3578]

I am the same way myself. For years I have bought any cheap gun that comes my way. I think it is because I always root for the underdog.

I recently tried a new Charter Arms Bulldog in 44 spl. I loved it so much I bought one in 357 mag.

I also just bought a Hi-Point carbine in 9mm. That rifle is indestructible and feeds everything.

Let's hear it for budget guns.


Steve in N CA

[jonp]

I buy guns like that. I have a Jennings and a Lorcen in the safe. I bought them just to see if they worked and to tear them apart and take a look. Surprisingly, they work fine.

On High Point: Budget and cheap are not the same thing. Hi-Point's are budget but the ones I have and from people I talk to always go bang. Cheap guns are cheap and may or may not work right.

[Multigunner]

I was given a Davis .380 pocket pistol that had been found in the effects of a deceased relative. I'd never buy one of these after seeing the sad shape of most of them after only light use.
I was surprised to find this example was not that badly put together, and so far it has fed and fired without a hiccup.

The Davis has a bad reputation for misfires, but I think I figured out why.

When racking the slide there's a distinct click before the slide moves far enough back for the sear to engage. I suspect many who have used these guns think the first click means its cocked, but when they pull the trigger nothing happens.

Still I'd never trust my life to this type of low end pocket pistol. The firing pins seem especially prone to breakage.

While small in profile it appears to be heavier than strictly necessary and makes a noticeable lump in the pocket. The grip is way too small for my hand making extracting it from a pocket awkward. A snub nose revolver is much handier.

A cheap .22 German made revolver my older brother allowed me to borrow many times when I was a youngster was one of the most accurate handguns I've ever seen. I had no problem popping 6 oz Coke bottles at a full 50 yards with that little gun, I never missed even once.
It looked like a child's toy gun vaguely resembling a Colt SAA, but was double action. It was very small, much smaller than a Ruger Bearcat with about a 4" barrel. I think it held seven rounds. Only thing I fired in it were .22 Shorts.

Another good cheap German Revolver he owned was a very simple but sturdy .38 Special snubbie with solid milled steel frame. It was about the size of a Model 13 but held only five shots. A good honest no frills revolver with excellent trigger pull and uncommonly accurate for a snub nose.
There was no cylinder latch, you just pulled the cylinder pin forward to swing out the cylinder.

[richhodg66]

Not handguns much, but rifles and especially shotguns here lately. I have become kind of enamored with single barrel break open shotguns of late for a lot of reasons and have several. I spied a little 20 gauge Savage 220B in 20 gauge in a shop I liked, asking price was $85 bucks and wife picked it up for me sometime after we left for a present. Anyway, it has a nice, if plain walnut on it and things like the wood to metal fit and finish of the overall gun is better than even good stuff nowadays. I've been squirrel hunting with it when I can lately and really like how trim and light it is and it kills squirrels as well as an expensive gun.

I like the savage 340s and Remington 788s which many sneered at for being cheapies when they were made. The list could go on and on. Most of the guns I own I have no plans to ever have my life depend on or even an important hunt.

[GhostHawk]

3 weeks ago I was browsing through Bud's Gun shop, wife looks over points What's that??

Why that is a Phoenix Arms HP-22a in .22lr and it is for sale at the unheard of price of 107$.

It looks small, roughly 4x5 inches. "I wants it precious"

Ok. I'll be test shooting it today at the range.

Holds 10, granted it is .22lr which means better than nothing, but not a lot better.

Way I looked at it, for less than 150 $ total I can throw a gun in a soft case under my wifes seat.
And if she ever needs it, it will be there. Damm cheap insurance.

My wife struggles with Arthritis in her hands. She won't shoot anything that recoils now. She's a crack shot, i've seen her light things up with a variety of handguns. But for now it is .22lr or nothing.

I did spend a half hour tweaking it, disabling safety's that prevented you from removing the magazine if gun is on safe, magazine disconect so gun won't fire if magazine is removed.

Seems decent, considering spending the 37$ to get the 5" barrel for it and a spare mag.

Yeah I like cheap guns. Single shots 100$ and down, Hipoint Carbines and pistols.

Yeah, I live there.

[Hogdaddy]

3 weeks ago I was browsing through Bud's Gun shop, wife looks over points What's that??

Why that is a Phoenix Arms HP-22a in .22lr and it is for sale at the unheard of price of 107$.

It looks small, roughly 4x5 inches. "I wants it precious"

Ok. I'll be test shooting it today at the range.

Holds 10, granted it is .22lr which means better than nothing, but not a lot better.

Way I looked at it, for less than 150 $ total I can throw a gun in a soft case under my wifes seat.
And if she ever needs it, it will be there. Damm cheap insurance.

My wife struggles with Arthritis in her hands. She won't shoot anything that recoils now. She's a crack shot, i've seen her light things up with a variety of handguns. But for now it is .22lr or nothing.

I did spend a half hour tweaking it, disabling safety's that prevented you from removing the magazine if gun is on safe, magazine disconect so gun won't fire if magazine is removed.

Seems decent, considering spending the 37$ to get the 5" barrel for it and a spare mag.

Yeah I like cheap guns. Single shots 100$ and down, Hipoint Carbines and pistols.

Yeah, I live there.

^^^Had one when they first came out, cheap ,One jam as far as I remembered, It came with
2 size barrels about $150, The safeties were awful but shot to POA. Kind of a pain to take down & cleanso I sold it JMO ; )
H/D

[rancher1913]

to me guns are tools to be used. don't have a single top end high dollar gun but have a few middle of the road guns. if I had to be scared to let a gun bump around in my truck it would not be worth owning to me. I can see the fascination with the top end and collector guns but just can't justify spending the money.

[dverna]

If we were all the same, there would not be the range of offerings we are blessed with.

My cheap guns are Mossberg 500's for when things go bad. I have a Model 94 I paid $135 for that has some rust on it but is shoots OK.

Cheap is different than junk.

Don Verna

[atr]

here....it was a nice single shot break open .410 ($80.00) and a old J.C. Higgins .22 9-shot revolver ( $75.00)

[country gent]

As stated above there is a diffrerence between cheap and inexpensive. Inexpensive works and is a budget based fire arm desighned to a lower price point. Think Some savages, Rem 788, Some rugers and a few others. Lower cost than whats available top of the line. They work well are reliable function and are accurate. Cheap is just that poor fit and finish, not always reliable or accurate and usually a pain from day one.

[Budzilla 19]

I'll buy cheap Remington 870's all day long. Just a rock solid gun, and it's almost indestructible!!! Mossberg 500's same way, have yet to see one fail! I don't think a normal person will ever wear out either shotgun, in my opinion only. As for pistols, nothing cheap in quality for me! I want it to work, every time, every way, all the time. That being said, there are lower price point handguns that are great quality! Just my .02.

[jcwit]

Pistols? I own them all the way from $2,000 Kimbers to the lowly .22 Raven. Wife also has the Arthritis problem and finds it impossible to rack the slide of those that have a strong recoil spring. Sooooooooooo she carries one of the Ravens, I've watched her put a full mag into the standard size notebook paper 8 1/2 X 11? at 25 yds, didn't think that was possible, but she did it! Some dude at the range said to her "with that thing your just going to piss someone off" Her reply was "Look at the target, how pissed do you want them get!!!!

Now then, who am I to argue, she's happy, and we yet to have a jam with the little thing.

I also have a 9mm Hi-Point, amazing gun, ugly "so they say" as all get out, but it never forgets to go "BANG" and if my shaking hand does OK it does hit the target. Now if I wanted accuracy to the utmost, one of my Kimbers or Springfields with custom barrels and custom gunsmithing done to them would be the way to go, but at my age of 73, with all the shakes, it just seems fruitless.

[RayinNH]

Pistols? I own them all the way from $2,000 Kimbers to the lowly .22 Raven. Wife also has the Arthritis problem and finds it impossible to rack the slide of those that have a strong recoil spring. Sooooooooooo she carries one of the Ravens, I've watched her put a full mag into the standard size notebook paper 8 1/2 X 11? at 25 yds, didn't think that was possible, but she did it! Some dude at the range said to her "with that thing your just going to piss someone off" Her reply was "Look at the target, how pissed do you want them get!!!!

Now then, who am I to argue, she's happy, and we yet to have a jam with the little thing.

I also have a 9mm Hi-Point, amazing gun, ugly "so they say" as all get out, but it never forgets to go "BANG" and if my shaking hand does OK it does hit the target. Now if I wanted accuracy to the utmost, one of my Kimbers or Springfields with custom barrels and custom gunsmithing done to them would be the way to go, but at my age of 73, with all the shakes, it just seems fruitless.

As long as you're still having fun JC, that's all that counts.

[Multigunner]

"I did spend a half hour tweaking it, disabling safety's that prevented you from removing the magazine if gun is on safe, magazine disconect so gun won't fire if magazine is removed. "

I had one of those I bought cheap because the previous owner had somehow pulled the floorplate out of the magazine trying to get the mag out while the safety was on.
After finding a new magazine I found the interlocking safety features taxing so I sold it for what I had in it at first opportunity.
These could be customized with a longer barrel which was fairly cheap and a magazine with finger spur. In that form they made a pretty decent field companion.

[Big Boomer]

I read about a CZ-75 9mm knock-off/clone made in Turkey in the American Rifleman (IIRC) some time back and ran into one in a local gun shop. The price was so low after dickering and including an out-the-door deal that I gave in and bought the thing. Sure have not been disappointed in this pistol. Only furriner I've ever owned except for my carry piece, a Sig P938 in 9mm. It is accurate for a 9mm and my Lee 356-125 boolits lubed with my own concoction shoot into nice small groups out to 25 yds off sandbags. I'm not likely to do something like this again because I already own enough guns. All my other shooters are either Ruger or S&W in handguns. Rifles are all U. S. made. Big Boomer

[Walkingwolf]

OK, let's get this out of the way~~owning a Saturday night special is like riding a moped. It feels good but you don't want your biker buddies to see you.

That said I have two charter arms, and my wife has a JA380, and a HP CF380, all have never failed. My wife uses the two for car guns when she travels. If they get stolen there is not a lot invested in them, and they work.

One thing about SNS is if involved in a shooting it is not like having your prize handgun seized by police for weeks, or months.

[Bookworm]

Back in the early 90's I was wandering thru a gun show, and somehow came out with a NEF .410 single shot - break open, full choke. Paid $40, IIRC, and it came with a sack of assorted shells - maybe 15 total.

I used it for squirrel, and a few yard varmints, for a few years, then it just sat in the safe.

Then, a couple years ago, a friend of mine with 5 year old boy saw it, and wanted it. He had a Ruger 44 Mag Carbine that I had been eyeing, and we worked out a trade that involved me giving him that shotgun (and considerable boot). He valued the NEF at $150 in the trade.

I think I did okay.

[gpidaho]

Love my Handi's, I own eight from 223 up to 444 and if they were still made I'd have a couple more. Also, my Hi-point 40S&W carbine never misses a beat. You can have a lot of fun out of inexpensive guns. Gp

[Blackwater]

Craig, et al, I have a friend who's used those little guns, provided he found them reliable in some test firing, to good effect on several occasions in his younger years, when it was all he could afford. He played in a little country band from the age of 13, and some of it was literally in those "bars" in the back woods that nobody knew about unless they were invited, and had chicken wire strung between posts to protect the band from flying bottles, and who knows what. He was cut a few times, and shot a few, always with small guns like the Davis .25. Had a vet's asst. sew him up to keep it out of the papers and off the sheriff's blotter. He always got "even," though.

He also was fishing once with a friend who's less than a mental giant, but is a really good ol' boy, and a pair of wood ducks came screaming in at the end of the day, coming to roost. His buddy said, "Take out that one in the lead, Jimmie!," just being a bit mocking. My buddy had one of those little .25's in his shirt pocket, drew it and swung ahead, just aiming instinctively, and fired. That lead duck folded up in classic style, and hit the water hard. His friend just looked back at Jimmie, and said, "Well, why didn't you take the other one. I've got a big family, ya' know?" There's no way he could have been convinced that Jimmie couldn't do that at will!

So never underestimate them, but don't OVERestimate them, eihter. He had no better option that he could reach. You do. But yeah, those shiny little things DO have appeal, don't they? Function testing is the first thing that MUST be done. Not all of them will feed. Magazines are hard to find, too, and expensive when and if you do. Mostly, their best use is either as trotline sinkers, or just for your viewing pleasure, but with some luck, they can - on RARE occasions - do some amazing things.