Name me the cheapest gun you can find.

Name me the worst possible handgun there is.

Now notice how those that own those guns will defend them until their final breath.

One of the guns I own is made of something akin to pewter and is coming apart. It was last fired years ago and the blast split the cylinder. Yet I was on another forum where a guy was praising what a great gun it was and is over 50 yrs old.

BTW: I gave $40 dollars for the 38 special when new with a four inch barrel back in 1966.

I know we all treasure what we have but why is it that people will pay homage to the things they know is junk?

One of the worst I have seen is the Clerke Revolver from the early 1970's Pot metal blank guns were better made.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

Hi Point makes the bestest darn handguns around.

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- The Federalist #46 -

Worst I ever saw was a Clerke 1st revolver. A little 5 shot .22. Bought it at a yard sale for $5. I was robbed.
I knew it was junk when I bought it. Figured it might be fun to see how it worked.
It was a real piece of work. Front of the frame was held on by a couple of sheetmetal screws. I was so confident in it that the first time I tried to shoot it I duct taped it to a sawhorse and pulled the trigger with a string.
It actually went off one out of five times, and it didn`t even blow up.
I soldered the cylinder pin to the frame so it couldn`t be loaded (was one of those that you had to remove the cylinder to load or unload) and used it for a paper weight.
A couple of years after that I was telling the local sheriff about that little piece of junk. He asked to see it, and I ended up giving it to him.
For a year or so he had it hanging from a string on the rear view mirror of his car like fuzzy dice. Don`t know what became of it after that.

I had a Noble .22 pump one time................... Ahhh nuts.

I once owned a Raven 25. A brother in law found it under the seat of a truck he bought and sold it to me for $10.

OK, it isn't a handgun, but I just gotta post this: a single-shot 12 gauge shotgun for under $5. . .






Bullseye

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Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

Easy!!! Anything made by Jennings. And the J-22 was particularly bad.

Be safe.

An RG30... .38 Spl revolver that a friend had. Luckily I talked him into finally disposing of it in one of those "cash for guns" exchanges, a most suitable end, he got back more than what he paid for it.

Reloading was accomplished by unscrewing what looked like the ejector rod, but was actually a base pin that held the cylinder in place like an SA revolver. After it is removed, the cylinder swung out and the rod is used to push the empties out from the front of the cylinder.

Plastic grips and looked to be made of cast pot metal painted black... a total ***.

It sounds like the one the OP describes as I remember looking it up in Gun Digest at the time and it was listed at $39.95

Another vote for the Clerke .22 revolver. I think they also made a .32 center fire version.

The RG .22 short revolver gives the Clerke a run for its money.

you ever shot one? i figured that would be one of the first to come up. I can shoot out the P's on a pepsi can from 20 ft with my hi-point

Exactly right.

Just playing into the post. Hi Point is a good example of cheap guns a lot of people don't like but have loyal owners.

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- The Federalist #46 -

Rossi


grizz

RG and Clerke get my vote.

I'd also suggest the Colt All American 2000, from my experience with it- but it wasn't cheap.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

They are heavy, ugly and cheap. But they sell the **** out of them and they really do work. They even have great customer service. That being said, I would not want one.

There are way worse guns out there. They still sell the RG's I think those are worse.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Raven .25 auto's are, as far as I can tell, like Smith & Wessons, in that there are good ones that go bang every time and some that don't. Some are fairly accurate, and some are not. Some last a long long time and others blow up. I have to agree with the "cheapest", aspect of the Raven, but I have owned two, of which I still own one, that is very reliable and fairly accurate, with a lot of inexpensive practice. It is my lawnmower gun. If I can't hit the snake, I can sure scare hell out of him.
I'll agree that Ravens are probably one of the cheapest guns around, but I believe that whatever model RG .22 I had one time had to be the poorest excuse for a handgun I have ever seen. I gave the dude $7.00 for it 'cause he needed a 12 pack or something. I don't know where the rounds actually went after leaving the barrel, but a lot of the lead came backward and covered my arms and face. I shot one cylinder through it and I don't even remember what I did with it after that. I think I threw it in a load of scrap metal I sold, but I can't be sure.
Cheapest: Raven .25
Junkiest: RG .22 (mine had a little tiny barrel) 1.5"
Peace,
gordon

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better have that checked

My best friend has one of those cheap RG 22 Short revolvers for a bedside gun. He has killed at least three raccoons that were on his porch roof by shooting from his bedroom window. According to his wife, whom I believe, they were all head shots and one shot kills. Believe me, he has much nicer firearms, but for some reason he can actually hit what he's aiming at with that little pistol. At least by moonlight. That is not his home defense firearms by any means. Except maybe against marauding raccoons and opossums. And I think he paid $12 for it so he's invested more in 22 short ammo by now than he ever did in the pistol.

A lot of people just want a gun for self protection. They are motivated to get one by an incident in their life that causes them to fear for their safety. They don't care about caliber or brand. Cost is a major factor since they are often poor. The gun may be purchased on a payment plan from a pawn shop. They buy the gun and a box of ammo. They may (or may not) take it out to shoot before putting it in their closet or night stand. It may stay there for years. Hi Points and other low cost guns work well for this use. The cheapest gun that I ever owned was one of the .38 special pot metal copies of the double barreled derringers that were commmon 20 or so years ago. I shot maybe a box of shells through it before trading it off. It worked every time.

RG for sure, also Lorcin, Jennings, Raven, Taurus...

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I hope I copied that right

Armenius 22 . . . as a lark the club held a "junker" match one time; the only criteria was that the firearm could not be worth more than $30 ( this was in the 1970's . . . )

A guy showed up with an Armenius .22 revolver that had a large rubber band stretched from the front of the crane to up under the hammer spur - that was the only way it would hit the rims hard enough to set off the 22's

I'll cast my lot with Raven...looks like it was assembled in shop class. That being said, it has always functioned properly when I dare use it!

RG-10, .22 short. Traded a six pak of Busch for it, I got took. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I am the "handejector" of the "RG Forum" and I take great offense to all your remarks concerning these fine but underappreciated guns!

dude ... your not supposed to admit even KNOWING the "J" word.
The mere mention of the "J" word has been known to cause break open single shots to jam and even the finest of revolvers to stovepipe in display cases!!!!!!!!!!
What have you DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

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it just needs more voltage

If jamming and stove piping were the biggest problems with the "J" word guns that would be a huge improvement. Carrying one of those with a round chambered is about as smart as lighting a stick of dynamite and putting it in your pocket.

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sticks-n-stones&hollowpoints

My RG-23 is the worst one I own. I bought it because a) it was cheap and b) I have an RG-66 that is accurate, reliable and fun. So I took a chance and lost. I think the RG-66 is the cheapest one I own, though. I bought a box of **** at an auction, took it to a pawn shop, and traded about half of my $4 box of ****, + $20, for the RG-66.

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Insert short witty words here

I don't know if this is true or not, but I do like it:

Someone once ask the owner of the company how many of his Clerke revolvers were ever used. He said 15%. When he was asked how he arrived at that figure, he replied that 15% of his guns were returned for repairs.

Great topic. My opinion is anything other than a S&W.

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Inconsistently consistent

Another vote for the RGs. At one time, it was prohobited to sell this brand of gun in Illinois.

I had a brand new "stainless"(not sure what) NEF 32 mag 5 shot revolver once. Put a few cylinders thru it, put it in a drawer for about 10 years, took it out and the springs were gone. No trigger, no hammer return, cylinder would turn with finger pressure.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

Tossup between the RG and the Clerke for #1 on the junk list. Both present a greater danger to the shooter than to the target...
Based on personal experience, I would not include the Hi Point. They are butt ugly clunkers and I would never want to own one, but after ordering a number of them for various customers, who were very happy with them, I would put them on the "cheap" list, but not the junk list. I was curious and ran several mags of ammo through several different Hi Points before the customers picked them up, and each one shot to point of aim and never had a single jam or misfeed...big surprise to me and customers had same results.

Cheapist? Well in 1963 I bought a MKVI Webley for $12.95 (including S&H)

Worst? I have a RG .22 short. I won't try shooting it because I'm afraid it might break. (it is the HIGHLY desireable/collecteble 'Roscoe vest pocket' model)

As far as the most difficult functioning, most awkward and unhandy to use, I'd have to nominate the .35 S&W semi-auto. Anyone who has ever taken a close look at one of them see's no mystery in why S&W stuck with revolvers for 40 yrs or so after they finaly got rid of the last of them.

I'll see your Jennings.......... and raise you a LORCAN..

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

The cheapest, RG, Clerke and Arminus.
The worse, for me, from personal experience, S&W M-59. That poor 59 was a shineing example of a monday morning/friday afternoon assembily nightmare, everything was wrong with it and it never did work right. S&W never did sort it out and two gunsmith's gave it a go. Traded it to a dealer that deserved it!

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Stay safe people!

I don’t know if the Jennings J.22 is the cheapest but it is the most dangerous. These little pop-guns were made on the cheap—zinc and who knows what other low grade alloys. If the round doesn’t seat properly, it can fire out of battery and send shrapnel everywhere. If you carry it with a round in the chamber be prepared for an unexpected discharge—its striker fired and the safety assembly is made out of plastic. And yet, you’ll find people who say it's the greatest thing ever.

The now defunct Grendel P-10 .380 semi auto would be at the top of my list. The Grendel was an innovative design with many interesting features but with several lousy characteristics. First, it was totally unreliable! I don't think I ever fired an entire magazine without at least one jam. Secondly, it was a bear to strip for cleaning. Getting the slide stop pin back in position was a matter of sheer luck and I never accomplished it in less than an hour. Finally, the trigger spring was a circular affair much like the spring in an old clock and it broke in the gun I owned. With all those negatives the gun still had a lot of potential and exhibited real design innovation.

The WORST that I have had the misfortune to deal with is the previously mentioned Clerke 22. I have one from an ex-GF.

Only the hope of turning it in at a gun buy back has kept from going to a landfill, in several pieces. Its true value is about 25 cents as a trot line sinker.

Bekeart

I have a Jennings J22 that scares the heck out of me. Paid $60 buck for it new 25 years ago. I don't shoot it anymore it jams all the time. I have a brother in law that told me my Smith 1911 was junk I should have bought a Taurus. Go figure.

Unfortunely, unless you catch someone napping, you generaly get what you pay for.

Had a Raven .25 that I bought for $10 from a guy who needed gas money back when you could actually get a tank of gas or two with $10... the thing was the most inaccurate pistol I ever shot. I figured if I needed to be that close to shoot a BG I might as well just hit him with it, probably do more damage. Never had any problems with it working, just hitting what it was pointed at.

Yeah, lots of twice told tales and a few negative anecdotes. The usual when this topic comes up. Here's the thing though, the cheap guns usually worked just fine. Oh, a lot of them wouldn't stand up to heavy use, but they did just fine for what most people did with them - load them, shoot them a few times, and then they sit in a drawer. Some actually are surprisingly useful.

For example a friend's Phoenix HP 22 always outshot and was more reliable than my Beretta 21A that cost twice as much, despite the use of ballpoint pen grade springs.

There's nothing wrong with Zinc alloy frames at lower chamber pressures. It isn't going to last as long as steel, but neither will a gun with an alum. alloy frame....

I have always had decent luck with cheap guns, save a Taurus 85 that died after about that many rounds fired.

I have a Lorcin. I traded a couple of boxes of .45 FMJ for it. Works fine, my wife loves it. It's a lot better than the Beretta Tomcat (early that I had) which made a crunching noise and spit out parts.

My wife's grand mother has an ancient RG .22 with a frong sight brazed on, the DA function stopped working over a decade ago, SA still works. She carries it around sometimes in a homemade leather holster. Hits what she aims at every time.

The Stars and Llamas that I played with all worked great too. Even the PA63 that shot a hole in my futon when I decocked it worked fine.

There's a reason many people who've actually owned and used a number of cheap guns defend them and have good things to say about them - more often than not, they work just fine.

Homemade water pipe shotguns work fine too, but pipe isn't made as well as it was in the 60s so it works best if you use black powder shells or make a homemade black powder muzzle loader instead.

I will have to say that, so far, I've had enough sense to stay away from all of the aforementioned guns.

However.... I think the biggest piece of junk I actually have owned was one of the original AR-7 "survival" rifles. (You know, the one that floats.) Talk about a jam-o-matic.
I understand that the various reincarnations of the same aren't much better.

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I've owned several of the old Charter Arms versions and never had any function problems with them. Haven't tried any of the newer offerings . . . .

Davis Derringer 38 spec.

Although Jennings and Bryco come to mind too

When I was about 16, I got some kind of European semi-auto pistol in a trade. No manufacturer or even caliber was marked on it. I bought a box of .32 acp (I think) ammo and could fire them in it as a single shot but could not hit a barn (from the inside) with it.

I would agree with gatorfarmer, a lot of the cheap, ****** guns actually do work. They just are not very durable in the long run, parts break, sights fall off but for many people they do what they need to do which is provide a small measure of security. Most get fired a few times then put away for an emergency. About a century ago there were lots of cheap revolvers available, later the cheap auto pistol came to dominate the market but there is always a demand for an inexpensive firearm for those who aren't really "gun people" but who feel the need to have a gun.

I had a couple of the Jennings J-22 autos. One would jam regularly; the other was capable of hitting gallon milk jugs at 100 yeards!!!!!!!!!!!!

The worst gun I've ever had was a Kimel Industries .22 LR single action revolver. It had a cast frame and the rifling was barely there. It wouldn't group under 1 foot at 20 yeards.

What a waste of $40!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

My vote still goes for the Clerke revolver, but there are more than a few other contenders. Several people named the RG guns. Around here we used to say that RG stood for "Rotten Gun".

Below are a couple of others. Honest, I didn`t buy them. They were a birthday gift and a christmas gift from an ex-girlfriend. Didn`t have the heart to tell her they were junk, she ment well and didn`t know any better. (also not smart to tell a woman you don`t like a gift, no matter what it is)

Believe it or not, these derringers do work. Kind of.
The Davis is in .32acp. Works ok, if you don`t mind the fact that it shoots two and a half feet (yes, feet) to the left of point of aim at 7 yards!
The FMJ .45/.410 does work, provided what you are aiming at is close enough that you could club the target with it. Very crude.

So far this has been a good as well as informative thread. It also shows, just as with the 9mm caliber, that someone can swear by the good poerformance they got from a cheap, poorly made gun. Please note that only a few of those commenting on the worst gun of their life mentioned getting rid fo that gun. In other words, they still have it.