How "unsafe" is (Bryco) Jennings?

[prospero1919]

Luckily for me the .380 I owned broke in two while stored in a gun case for a year. The pressure of the recoil spring on the slide caused it to crack on both sides. If that happened at the range I would've gotten a face full of slide. Luckily it was so un-reliable it was annoying to even shoot at the range.

My cousin had a Davis 380 that did the same thing - took it out of his range bag to put some rounds thru it and the front half of the slide fell right off - he learned his lesson about cheap guns that day - thankfully w/o getting hurt.

[rebootit]

Also I will add that in the article about the shooting in Lakeland Fl. the reporter quotes the police as saying the gun may have been modified. Typical of the liberal rag that is the St. Pete Times they never followed up. However FOX news local did a few weeks later and the findings were that the gun was NOT modified in any way. These guns are garbage. For home protection if you can't afford anything else they beat no gun at all, but they are NOT something to take out to the range or field and shoot all the time. I would estimate I put 500 rounds through mine in 10 years. I started to have problems with it after 300 or less. Would stop firing because you couldn't pull the trigger. I would take it home and tear apart and find the pin holding the trigger was half way out. After the range incident I put it away and never used it again. Eventually traded it in for a S&W for $5.00 with the understanding that the store would only sell as parts. The ONLY reason I used it for a trade was so I could take the new gun home that day. Otherwise I would have melted it down with a propane torch. Not to many guns you can do that with but it's no problem with a Bryco. Now some people may wonder why a Fl. Cracker would bother posting to a forum of PA gun owners. Well my brother was asking why I got rid of the sat. night special. I did a quick google search of safety issues on Jennings 9's to show him why and the first post in the search was this forum.

[dogngun]

A lot of people collect them and carry them. Here's a link to the website for fans :
http://bryco-jennings-jimenezarms.com/forum/index.php


I have owned several J.22's and I find them to be more reliable than the DA .22 Beretta.
FWIW, the most reliable of the bunch is the old Raven .25 ACP, but the Jennings and the Jimenez can be made very reliable, too.


They really don't "explode" either...internet BS.


mark

[Azzy]

We have a similar construction and reputation Phoenix P22. While it has gone boom every time I pulled the trigger, and 90% of those times cycles correctly. Last time we were out, the mag release decided to exit the gun after a shot, which confused the heck out of us and made unloading something of an issue. I think a previous owner overtightened and stripped it, and it finally let go.

Other than that, its has been a solid shooter. It is highly picky on ammo, more so than any other 22 I have used.

[Neko456]

I have a Jennings Nine that I bought several years ago. At first, it misfired like crazy and seemed to be a total piece of junk. I sent it back to Bryco and told them I was unhappy with it. They sent it back to me a few weeks later and had rebuilt it and apparently did some grinding on the inside of the slide. Ever since then, it fires great. It's very accurate and reliable. It's a nice size, a little heavy, but great for CCW.

Now all I can find on the internet is articles about how bad an unsafe these guns are. Lots of forums seemed littered with claims that these guns can blow up in your hand if the firing pin hits a primer on a jam or misfire.

Is this truth or urban legend?

I can't find any verification of these rumors, just scores of claims that they are unsafe.

I can't afford to drop $600 on a new handgun, so I'd like to be able to continue carrying this gun in good conscience. But I can't afford to lose my fingers either. So anyone have any experience or know anything about the Bryco Arms Jennings Nine?

456 - My only experience with this brand of gun was in 25 caliber and really it was a fairly reliable gun unless you tried to shoot jhp or shell rounds. But why would you penetration with this caliber was a shame couldn't go through a thin garbage can top at 7 yards, whereas a 22lr hp torn it up. Thats common for any 25 caliber, though they do have a fair kill ratio on the street some kind of way. Your Jenning 9mm shouldn't have this problem but I don't know about reliability. What I have founded is Internet reporting is biases. Your personal experience with the weapon mean more to you then others unless it over whelming. For example I've heard statements on the Net that Beretta and Glocks are unreliable and unaccurate guns, these are my favorite I own several versions of them and thats not my finding they are everything I want in a handgun, along with my 1911s. So you can't believe what you read on the net without proof. And there no proof better then your own.

The High Point C9 though Ugly seems to cost near the same as Jenning 9mm
but with higher reliability remarks.

[lemko]

Don't know if this has already been posted, but here's a pic of the "infamous" Talon 200 pistol:

[darkstar28645]

OK, so I know this thread is old but it appears to be the only one that is listed on the google search results for bryco jennings and safety :-)

So, the following is first-hand experience regarding the safety of the Bryco Jennings Nine.

Just got back from the range and due to my experience decided to research the safety of these guns. While firing at medium range torso targets, my Jennings failed to eject the spent cartridge. This is the first time in well over 2K rounds. I suspected that it may have been a damaged shell as I was using dirty practice rounds. I cleared the jam and ejected the mag to ensure it was not damaged and visually inspected the chamber and barrel. No damage was detected nor any signs of wear. I fired approx 6 more rounds before another shell failed to eject. Went through the same process as before and began firing again. Here is where it gets interesting... The 3rd shot after the second jam, the shell is ejected and the slide slams back but does not close completely. The rounds is partially out of the chamber and the slide has nearly cut the round off the shell. I pried the slide back and locked it in place and extracted the round. It was not easy as the force of the slide had nearly welded the round to the chamber housing. Now, I've seen rounds misload and they are nearly always the result of a damaged mag. I replaced the mag and attempted to fire again. (As I said before, I have fired thousands of rounds with this gun and while many will say they would have given up at this point, it really wasn't as discouraging as it might sound). I fired 2 more shots. On the third shot, the shell was ejected and the gun went into full-auto mode and emptied the entire mag (7 rounds) without me once touching the trigger. It was just luck that I kept the gun pointed down-range.

While I have fond memories of that gun, I have decided to destroy it. I do not feel comfortable selling it to an unsuspecting buyer. There was no explosion and to be honest, the only "explosion" I have ever witnessed in 20+ years of range shooting was caused by a muzzle-loader with a jammed ball.

[The_War_Wagon]

If you pull the slide and THROW it, it doubles as a grenade!

[crazy_driver_78]

On the third shot, the shell was ejected and the gun went into full-auto mode and emptied the entire mag (7 rounds) without me once touching the trigger. It was just luck that I kept the gun pointed down-range.

sounds like the trigger disconnector came out or the sear broke causing it to slam fire