Jimenez JA 380 Question

[LoriM]

A friend recently gifted me with a new Jimenez JA 380. I was excited at first but after all the negative online reviews and YouTube videos, as well as the negative history of the company, I'm going to look for a better handgun. Thinking about a Glock G26, Gen 5. Need a good handgun for the trails.

Has anyone had experience with Jimenez?
I would love to hear your input.

[bac1023]

Complete and utter garbage would be kind.

Throw it in the river.

[Aguila Blanca]

Jiminez is one of a number of junk brands that, collectively, are (or were) known as the "ring of fire" pistols. These are the cheap pistols that led to the term "Saturday night special."

Treat it as a toy, and consider yourself lucky if it fires. DO NOT, under any circumstances, think that it's a suitable firearm for any sort of self defense.

[Gunfu_blaster]

I was gifted one as well. The design is exactly like that of a hi point except for the way it looks. Their build quality is definitely not the best. They one I got jammed after every round. It did fire everytime though. I cleaned the gun very well and oiled it. I would up lightly polishing the feed ramp and the barrel on which the slide soley rides on until it felt smoother. It still jammed. Looking into the magazine and checking the strength of the spring as I loaded and unload rounds I noticed the mag was feeding slow. The spring was awfully long. I knew that from working on Glock ETS mags that a very long spring will not feed well. EtS mags provide a long enough spring for one to add a big extension base to it without having to hunt for a longer spring. Replacing with Glock springs of equal length or cutting the coils off the bottom and making the appropriate length for the mag fixes them and they run beautifully after that. Glock recommends a 2-3 coils extra length longer than the magazines total length for a brand new spring. After compressing the spring for a few hours by loading the mag the length of the spring should be about 1 1/2- 2 coils longer than the mag. I followed this same rule of thumb with the Jimenez mag and it fired a 50 round box without jamming.

This is my daughter shooting the Jimenez9
https://youtube.com/shorts/ERkOvJKtS...FlCbzHiMRxFxGN

I only shot that one box and a collector bought it from me for $400 the next day.

[Drm50]

Piece of junk and a waster or ammo. Do not depend on it for anything. All the Ring of Fire guns are cheap trash. They make a Hy-Point look like an Olympic grade pistol.

[JohnKSa]

Thinking about a Glock G26, Gen 5.

The G26 is a good gun, and any generation should serve you well if you find one on the used market. See if you can get a chance to shoot it before you buy it. Maybe a rental range in your area has one you can try out.

If you are going to carry it, keep in mind that the Glock safety system must include a holster that covers the trigger area and prevents access to the trigger. If you carry it in a pack, be sure the trigger is protected.

If you don't like the 26 after shooting it, there are many other options out there. I'm sure you can get some good suggestions here if you decide to look for something else.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by LoriM

Need a good handgun for the trails.

I’m not you, but I’d rather have a GP100 in 38/357 or something like a S&W Shield Plus with thumb safety for going on a walk or hike. The S&W is lighter, has optic options, holds a few rounds, provides a full grip barely.

IMO, the Glock offers incredible popularity of name(you will feel like you joined a club), poor grip, poor shootability, poor trigger, no manual safety, poor sight(you can buy good sights), extra width, etc. It’s not a horrible gun, I just find other than popularity, it offers little value to me.

There are so many other options. Is your trail open carry friendly?

[Recycled bullet]

Hello Lori.

The Glock 26 is a good handgun.

The Jimenez JA 380 is not a good handgun.

[armoredman]

if it is all you have, you can pretty much believe you WILL get one shot, the one loaded in the chamber. After that is up the Good Lord Above if that Zamak cast pile of junk will cycle. If it's all you have, well, it's better than harsh language, at least for one round.
Please invest in something better as soon as you can.

[10-96]

A friend recently gifted me with a new Jimenez JA 380.

Friends shouldn't do that to friends.

If cost is a concern- the Bersa Thunder line of handguns make a reliable shooter friendly weapon that should not run over $300 to $350 no matter where you are.

[Tom Servo]

Has anyone had experience with Jimenez?

Yes. They're made cheaply, using a zinc/aluminum alloy. The parts themselves are poorly fitted. I've seen several of these pistols fail in dramatic, and often unsafe, ways over the years.

At best, it would be unreliable. At worst, it could hurt you.

Glock or any other reputable name brand will serve you well. It depends on what you're comfortable with and what your budget is. My recommendation would be to find a local range that rents pistols and try a few out.

[armoredman]

I forgot - when I was working a rental range, the boss decided to put a Jiminez 9mm on the rental shelf, just to see how long it would last. It fell apart on the first day.

[Skans]

Originally Posted by LoriM

A friend recently gifted me with a new Jimenez JA 380. I was excited at first but after all the negative online reviews and YouTube videos, as well as the negative history of the company, I'm going to look for a better handgun. Thinking about a Glock G26, Gen 5. Need a good handgun for the trails.

Has anyone had experience with Jimenez?
I would love to hear your input.

LOL! I had a friend give me a Lorcin 380 (same thing) once too. Still have it. I've used it to practice polishing certain parts, the feed ramp, etc.

What I'll likely end up doing with it is strip the parts out and sell them off - can get a few bucks for them, and then melt the ZAMAK frame. Shouldn't take much heat to melt it.

[tangolima]

Originally Posted by Skans

LOL! I had a friend give me a Lorcin 380 (same thing) once too. Still have it. I've used it to practice polishing certain parts, the feed ramp, etc.



What I'll likely end up doing with it is strip the parts out and sell them off - can get a few bucks for them, and then melt the ZAMAK frame. Shouldn't take much heat to melt it.

You probably will get more than sell the whole pistol.

A young woman came to our shop. Her father had passed and she found a shiny pistol in father's drawer. She planned to keep it as a tool for self defense. It was that. I suggested in clear wordings that she should not even load the gun with live ammo. She understood and was going to put it back to the draw as a token to remember her dear father with. The old man was known to be frugal. It didn't surprise her a bit he would buy a gun like that.

It couldn't even compare high point. That particular one had dangerous negative sear engagement, and it couldn't reset the trigger if you abort before firing. Not sure whether it came out of the factory like that, or the old man did it to lighten the pull weight.

-TL

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