Glock 33 and Raven P-25 Range Report

[snubbyfan]

My sister and I went to her local range on Friday. I brought my new Glock 33 in .357Sig and an old Raven P-25 in .25ACP my sister gave me.
I had already put a +1 pinkie extensions on the Glock mags.
The Glock was a snappy little gun but it was still controllable. I put 50 rounds through it without a single glitch.
The only problem was that it wouldn't lock back when empty on one of the mags. I looked closely at it and the follower is down just a tiny bit.
Other than that, not a problem.
The Raven P-25 was also a surprisingly good little shooter.
The only problem was the safety kept sliding into "safe".
I'm considering removing the safety on that one.
Then my sister pulls out her gun. A Glock 41 long slide in .45ACP.
She's 5'5" and 112 pounds.
Between the two of us, we chewed a big hole in the middle of the target.

 

[AlHunt]

I wonder why I sold my Glock 33 ... I found the recoil impulse very controllable. To me, it pushed mostly straight back. I guess I preferred loading 45acp better than the necked cartridge.

 

[DWalt]

Never had a Raven .25, but by all accounts it is a very adequate performer. If you want to carry a .25.

 

[Grayfox]

I own a Raven 25. For a cheap Saturday Night Special, they are amazingly reliable. Mine has never malfunctioned at all and goes bang every single time.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I used to have three Ravens. Bought all of them together for $100 total at a close-out. Gave two away for presents and kept one. I found it to be reliable and as accurate as you could expect. At the time they were popular as as backup with cops that worked beach patrols, etc. The zinc casting was pretty much rust proof. The safety was always an issue. I heard of people just carrying it with chamber empty and disabling the manual safety.

 

[raljr1]

Bought a Raven for $35.95 way back in 1981. It functions just fine and generally shoots where you point it. I have tried to sell it recently, but no takers.

 

[Screwball]

My dad had a Raven years back… remember him putting it in his boot when going to the city.

I got one a couple of years ago. Think I paid $115 for it. Had the safety that locks the slide. Cleaned it up, new springs and a new firing pin. It’s nice, but I’d never carry it.

 

[Valmet]

Just looking at your Glock 33 made me reach for my ears…

 

[Farmer17]

I bougtht a Raven .25 in about 1990 and I remember the gun shop had tall stacks of them in boxes for $39.95 and your choice of blue or nickle. Bought a blue one and it was very reliable and the gun jammed a couple times but I think that was because my thumb hit the slide and also the safety moved very easily and sometimes got turned on by my thumb during firing. I thought about trying to bend the safety a little to give it more resistance but ended up selling it for more than I paid for it. Kel Tec basically made the .25 autos obsolete when they came out with their .32 acp gun but the Raven was certainly a good gun for not much money.

 

[.38SuperMan]

I traded a friend for his Raven in the mid 70’s. I think I had all of $17 in it and didn’t have high expectations for it and unfortunately I was right. I don’t remember any reliability issues but accuracy was terrible. Perhaps I expected too much but at 15 feet it didn’t impress. So the Raven was short lived in my collection. Actually I felt I’d been safer to throw it at an assailant than shoot at one.

 

[Piwo]

Like any other cop, I guess I took my share of these from crime scenes and off of bad guys. I also had a friend who carried one on a trapline and found it perfect for the finishing shot if needed. He thought it perfect for that purpose.

 

[mckenney99]

I picked up one of the little Ravens somewhere really cheap and loaded it with the Winchester loads with the little steel pellet in the soft lead bullet nose. (I still have some in my ammo stash) I carried the little gun when I cut the grass at a previous rural residence, as the yard was infested with snakes at certain times of the year. I got pretty good at drawing from my pocket, cycling the slide and snap shooting the little gun. I made a significant dent in the snake population on that little lot. Somewhere I read that it was best not to carry Ravens with the chamber loaded, because the sear was prone to wear and/or shearing, allowing the guns to go off unexpectedly. Eventually a friend who liked to collect the cheap little guns talked me out of it and I let it go without much protest.

 

[A10]

Ravens and Jennings were about the same quality. Jennings .22s had some magazine issues but that was readily fixed by straitening up the feed lips.

Both are surprisingly reliable.

 

[kaaskop49]

Better to not dry fire a Raven: firing pin can easily break. New firing pins used to cost $6 from a CA parts house.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[CajunBass]

I remember seeing those Ravens at the Army-Navy store in the mall when I was a kid. Those and RG-22's. The only guns the A&N store sold as far as I remember anyway. I guess they must have had some type of FFL or the other, or maybe it was before such things were required. They would be in a glass case at the counter. Anyway I wanted one or the other, but never got either. I could at least imagine being able to afford one of them. A Smith and Wesson or a Colt might as well have been a million dollars.

I don't know what they'd have done if I'd walked in there with the money in my hand. It was probably pre-68, I must have been 12-14? something like that I suppose. I suspect they'd have told me to come back with my mother or something.

 

[681ismyfavorite]

I've had two Raven 25s over the years. With FMJ they never missed a beat even dirty, shooting sideways, upside down, aluminum case... nice little gun.