Bought a little Jennings!

[FunGramps]

Originally Posted by Alan0354

30 years too late, I dumped the barrel and slide at the time already. I just kept the frame because it has the serial number under my name all these years. never even thought of it till today. Never heard of this dreadful name for a long time.

Oh, that's a bingo!

[dgludwig]

(Don't ask, I paid a bit too much for it.)

This is harsh but, in my opinion based on my experience with this piece of crap, if you paid anything for it, you paid too much. A Jennings makes a Raven look like a Korth. So I won't ask.

[Prof Young]

Geez guys!

I really did look on line and it's not hard to find a video of a Jennings 22 running just fine.

From comments above I can see that maybe the larger calibers are the really bad ones.

I'll give a range report when I get thing and have a chance to run it.

Life is good
Prof Young

P.S. Someone above mentioned a Phoenix. I have one of those and I love the little thing. Runs great. Good range toy. Probably would not carry it except maybe as a BUG.

[7.62 man]

I hope you don't plan on shooting it.
I bought one years ago in .380 for my girlfriend to learn to shoot.
It didn't make it through two mag full of ammo before the barrel slipped loose from it's mount & started jamming.

[Alan0354]

Originally Posted by 7.62 man

I hope you don't plan on shooting it.
I bought one years ago in .380 for my girlfriend to learn to shoot.
It didn't make it through two mag full of ammo before the barrel slipped loose from it's mount & started jamming.

With junk metal like what I've shown, just be thankful it did not disintegrate. It's one thing with 22LR, 380 is a completely different animal. that's dangerous.

Funny I did not expect to have such unanimous opinions on the Jennings here.

[PolarFBear]

Alan0354. Steel frame 1911's certainly had frame cracks. On the left side. Had an armory on a USN ship in 1984. Thirty five of the 40 1911's were DANGER TAGGED. We still used them, even with the tags, it was all we had. USN was late in moving to the Berettas. Even the best steel will fail if used enough.

[Alan0354]

Originally Posted by PolarFBear

Alan0354. Steel frame 1911's certainly had frame cracks. On the left side. Had an armory on a USN ship in 1984. Thirty five of the 40 1911's were DANGER TAGGED. We still used them, even with the tags, it was all we had. USN was late in moving to the Berettas. Even the best steel will fail if used enough.

First thing first. I personally would NOT buy another 1911 no matter what. Because I deem it's not safe for self defense being SA only and has to be cocked and locked. So my opinion is actually biased against 1911. BUT saying the steel frame cracked in less than 4000 round. It has to be either one defective gun or exaggerated.

I own a Gold Cup and I shot like 1000 rounds. So many people in US own 1911 and I am sure a lot of them shot over 10K rounds. I want to hear from people actually experience cracked frame on a steal frame 1911. Of cause, I don't mean those that made in China.

Remember, you cannot trust any article 100%. I have nothing against Sig and Sig 2022 40 is on the top of my list to buy at this point. But when I read the article, it's very obvious that it's pro Sig. It's one thing to say Beretta 92 is not as good, it's another thing to trash the 1911 for crack frame.

Now, I do believe 1911 is not as reliable overall, I did a lot of work on my Gold Cup, I still cannot make it feed Brazer hollow points reliably. The design is old, there's no way it can compete with the newer generation Sig or Glock. I don't even understand why people are still so loyal to the 1911. But it is a very robust gun.

One thing 1911 is inferior, the feed ramp composes of two parts with break in between. The frame forms the lower part of the feed ramp, the lower chamber forms the upper part. Imagine when the bullet sliding up to the chamber, it will hit the disconnected part and can make a bounce. It's not smooth. It's an inferior design by default. If people criticizing this part, I would agree 100%. I think that's the part that makes 1911 inferior to the modern guns. Not the robustness of the frame.

[Ernest T Bass]

Back on April 21, 2018 on this forum, there was a thread about Jennings pistols. On the second page of that thread, one user said:

What's up with the Jennings logo, it's a figure of a person with a fencing sword. Does anyone know the history or the significance of the logo?

And another user replied:

The guns jam so much you best have a knife with you, the bigger the better.

I laughed so hard I cried!!! Almost two years later and I'm still giggling over that!

Seriously though, do a search for that thread. It's not just a Jennings bashing thread, it has some good helpful advice/info.

[Bill DeShivs]

Prof Young- Your Jennings will probably work just fine.

[Prof Young]

Thanks Bill. We'll see.

Life is good
Prof Young

[44 AMP]

why is it no one seems to be able to type in "A1" after 1911? Just too much trouble??

Either way, a rant about "1911"s, good or bad, is rather off topic in a thread about a Jennings .22.

I have a Jennings J-22, took it in as part payment from a fellow who owed me some money, a couple decades ago. If I remember right, I allowed him $40 for it, and that was quite generous at the time.

I played with it a bit, tinkered a bit and eventually got it to where it would run 6rnds in a row MOST of the time. But, only if you shot CCI Mini-Mag. I keep it as an example of how not to make a good gun.

Today, I think .22 ammo too valuable to waste in that pocket POS. If the one you got works, great. Its likely that IF it does, it only will on one brand of ammo, but that's not uncommon in .22LR semi auto pistols.

IF it does prove reliable enough for you, and you decide to use it for CCW I STRONGLY urge you to carry it chamber EMPTY.

[Urbanrecon]

No offense but the Jennings was/is a weapon of necessity for only an individual or individuals in desperate need of a weapon and money.

That would be about the same time one would also be digging around the garage and/or alley for a two foot or similar length of steel pipe.

[Alan0354]

Originally Posted by Urbanrecon

No offense but the Jennings was/is a weapon of necessity for only an individual or individuals in desperate need of a weapon and money.

That would be about the same time one would also be digging around the garage and/or alley for a two foot or similar length of steel pipe.

No, If you want a last ditch to have a self defense gun, get something a little better. Plenty of cheap ones. I have 3 Beretta 950BS that is just a little more expensive but works.

You cannot be cheap. You have to do research. Jennings SUCKS, there's no other ways to put it.

You put your LIFE in saving a penny.?

Get a knife, a pepper spray. it's better than the Jennings.

[Alan0354]

My God, get a knife, a pepper spray. Stay away from Jennings.

OP. You got fooled. Take it as a lesson. Don't try to justify your mistake. It's only $100 dollars or less( I hope you didn't pay over that).

Get over it. Move on.!!!

[Metric]

I will not pile on. They're not expensive, and it's worthwhile as an exercise to see how low-cost pistol technology has evolved since ~1990. I figure $100 in 1990 is probably about like $200 in 2020, which happens to be the MSRP of the Kel Tec P17 (though right now impossible to find at that price). I for one would love to see a head-to-head comparison on youtube or something.

[JERRYS.]

I had a chromed Jennings J22 in the late 80s before I got into law enforcement and needed a small ccw gun when permits were not even mentionable. (I had given my nickeled Raven .25acp to my brother in a pro 2nd Amendment state). if I could have afforded a Beretta M20 or 950bs I'd have gotten one.

anyway, that little gun carried easily and was 100% with Remington Vipers. I'd like another if not for anything but nostalgia.

[Bill DeShivs]

There are many other uses for guns than protection. Some of you "experts" that like to see yourselves type should know that.
I'm quite sure there are literally thousands of Jennings pistols out there that work just fine.

[rwiliff]

I have one of the early Chino models. It works just fine.

Warmest Regards,
Robert

[shurshot]

"Some of you "experts" that like to see yourselves type should know that."(Bill Deshivs)

Says the guy with over 10,500 posts...

And there are literally thousands more Jennings pistols that don't work fine, hence the negative feedback and warnings about them on this thread. I hope the OP gets a good one.

[Bill DeShivs]

The OP has already BOUGHT the gun. I'm sure more of those guns work than don't.
So, why does everyone feel they must caution the OP?

[Alan0354]

Originally Posted by Bill DeShivs

The OP has already BOUGHT the gun. I'm sure more of those guns work than don't.
So, why does everyone feel they must caution the OP?

Because it's dangerous. Not just the money. You think you carry it out to protect youself, then it jams. Some times, you just make a mistake, you wasted say $60dollars, get over it. You don't want to be dead right.

I remember the springs were not good, say you go to the range and happens to shoot a few rounds without jamming, but when you carry it for a year, the springs got compressed and change the tension, you might have a problem.

Too bad I dumped the springs away 30 years ago to show. It was so bad that I deemed it's not worth fixing. I know how to fix guns, I worked on the Walther PPK, Colt Gold Cup and my S&W659 to make them very reliable. they are made of high quality material.


Never have I seen something that is being condemned so unanimously like this Jennings. And you want to take a chance with your life just to save that little money? And try to say you did not make a mistake?

[tangolima]

The company has been sued out of business, more than once. The gun is indeed dangerous. A few turned up in the shop. I declined the work and warned the owners not even to load them. Some one will have to pay me to keep one unloaded. He will never pay me enough to keep one loaded though.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[dgludwig]

I had a chromed Jennings J22 in the late 80s before I got into law enforcement and needed a small ccw gun

You should have kept it-you had the perfect "throw" gun.

[Prof Young]

Picked up the little Jennings (22LR) yesterday. Cleaned and oiled/greased it good. Took it to the range today and put 115 round through it WITH ONLY THREE JAMS!!!!!

There was, however; a lite strike problem until I figured out that when you rack it by hand, it sometimes does not go into battery. It looks like it's in battery but when you push on the back of the slide you get a little click as it goes all the way in. This doesn't happen every time you hand rack it. Once it's in battery you can shoot all six rounds without any problem.

I ran three kinds of ammo, see pic below, and it fed and ate all of them just fine.

Shooting one handed at five yards, I could just barely keep all six shots in a five inch circle and I really had to concentrate to do that.

Safety works just as it should.

All in all, yeah I paid a bit too much, but it's going to be a fun range toy. It will never be a main carry gun. I can't think of any circumstance wherein the Kel Tec P3AT would not be just as concealable and make a much better self defense weapon.

So, to all the nay sayers I say, "Neener, neener, neener." but just in a spirit of fun.

Life is good
Prof Young

[Bill DeShivs]

Glad it's working!