Opinions about the Jennings .380?

Question

Was thinking about buying one from a friend... but he wants $80 for what I think is a (at best) $60 gun. Anyone have experience with that gun?

Answer 1

I'd offer him $25.  They're not real high-quality guns.

H

Answer 2

not worth 60 cents yet alone $60. they jam all the time and have been known to have the firing pin blow back in your face. if you have to get a cheap 380 try a lorcin.

Answer 3

JUNK!! don't waste your money.

Answer 4

I have owned about 30 different Jennings pistols through the years, and the one piece of advice I would give is to shoot it before you buy it. As long as it will shoot through a full box of ammo with out jamming it should be fine.  Some of the ones I have owned wouldn't function at all and some were just pitifull but two of them {which I still have} can hit a praire dog at 75 yds.

Answer 5

The only gun that I have ever seen that I have absolutely nothing good to say about is RavenJenningsBrycoJiminez line

I have owned for one reason or another every incarnation except Bryco

Answer 6

It's not an $80 gun, but it will go bang when you pull the trigger.  Not a very respected brand name, but one that's very popular among the fixed budget folks.

Offer him no more than $50.  The ammo is going to eat up the $30 savings really quick.

Clean it well and lube the slide before you fire it.  They ship from the factory dry and they don't tend to feed well til they get lubed.

Answer 7

Out of the box, the gun sucks!!! I bought a jennings 9mm new about 15 years ago, and It hung up every other round. I gave it to a friend of mine who is a gun smith. He put some type of mild cream abrasive on the feed ramp, and used a dremmel tool to buff it smooth. It took some doing, but it then fired flawlessly. I still got rid of it, and figgured it was not worth hanging on to.

Save about 200 dollars, and get a used ruger sp101 in .357. I wouldn't trust anyones life to a jennings as a defense weapon. If you only want to shoot target, get a ruger target .22 pistol, and shoot away.

The only thing a jennigs  is good for, is a paperweight!!!

Answer 8

If I had no gun and only $100, I'd offer him $60, but I'd eventually buy it for his original price, just to be armed.  However, i'd try my damnedest to upgrade to a better gun as soon as possible.

If I already had a good gun, no, I'd pass, and put that $80 toward buying a kel-tec or other inexpensive small gun