Best ever for “junk” brands

[unclenunzie]

My first Ruger was a post-recall gen 1 LCP, brand new 2009. At the start it was a mess with failures to extract and eject. I sent it in and they replaced the slide and all slide parts, basically a new upper. It's been reliable since with roughly 2000 rounds. Had I just got mad at it and not sent it back I'd probably have thought it was junk. Still have it and will keep it forever.

I could say my 1920-25 Eibar Ruby-type (Gabilando Y Cia) 25 is junk, but I really can't. The frame steel is somewhat soft, the bore is a sewer pipe from neglect, yet the fitment is very good, and it runs without a hitch 100 years later. Much respect to those long gone gun makers.

The closest I can come to junk status - and this is just my experience with one German made revolver - is the Windicator. Apologies to any who are offended. It seemed like a good deal at the time, a 357 snub with 6 rounds that was $300? Cylinder binding after a box of ammo, Zamak, soft/thin ejector rod, off center primer strikes - some showing up on the rim of snap caps. It never failed to fire live rounds though. But I could see I'd never be happy with it even if they made it right. I owned it for about a week before trading it back in on a GP-100 + some cash.

It's really weird that Weihrauch is known for very high quality air rifles, yet also produces the Windicator. I guess you produce to a cost level not to be exceeded.

 

[WestKentucky]

I always thought these with over under barrels in .410 made okay sense for a biker boot or car seat. I know Bond Arms makes one with long barrels but that's real money. We need a cheap version that doesn't explode in your hand or cost $700.

Bond Arms are down to about $300 now for a “BARN” gun and I have recently seen a new “inland” “liberator” that sure did look a lot like A bond arms pistol.

 

[Styx]

What constitutes a "Junk" gun? What's the criteria?

 

[gunlaw]

I had a .25 Raven that was not a bad pistol. Probably ran 2 or 3 boxes through it. Don’t recall any problems.

 

[Swampman]

The worst firearms company that I'm aware of has to be the The J. Kimball Arms Company of Detroit Michigan, makers of the .30 Carbine Kimball Auto Pistol.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/detroits-short-lived-kimball-30-carbine-pistol/

It was well made, handled pretty good and had a decent trigger, it was even attractive. Unfortunately it had one small fault, the nonexistent locking system.

Instead the design featured a groove around the circumference of the chamber just behind where the case mouth would go. The idea was that when fired, chamber pressure would force the case to fire form into the groove, then during extraction the case would be swaged back into normal .30 carbine shape. This was supposed to delay and slow down the slide during recoil.

It probably worked OK with the ammo used to develop and test the pistol, but variations in pressure and brass quality meant that it often failed to slow things down much. This could cause the folding slide stop to fail and potentially launch the slide into the shooters face which for some strange reason negatively affected sales.

And as to why Cobray survived so long...

I'm pretty sure it was Mitch Werbell's mustache.

 

[Alex Clayton]

The worst firearms company that I'm aware of has to be the The J. Kimball Arms Company of Detroit Michigan, makers of the .30 Carbine Kimball Auto Pistol.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/detroits-short-lived-kimball-30-carbine-pistol/

It was well made, handled pretty good and had a decent trigger, it was even attractive. Unfortunately it had one small fault, the nonexistent locking system.

Instead the design featured a groove around the circumference of the chamber just behind where the case mouth would go. The idea was that when fired, chamber pressure would force the case to fire form into the groove, then during extraction the case would be swaged back into normal .30 carbine shape. This was supposed to delay and slow down the slide during recoil.

It probably worked OK with the ammo used to develop and test the pistol, but variations in pressure and brass quality meant that it often failed to slow things down much. This could cause the folding slide stop to fail and potentially launch the slide into the shooters face which for some strange reason negatively affected sales.

And as to why Cobray survived so long...
View attachment 936298
I'm pretty sure it was Mitch Werbell's mustache.

Interesting bit of history. Kind of surprised the people who spent the time and money to come up with that did not see right off the bat it would not work before going further. Of course I guess maybe since they did not have to worry about lawyers in their day maybe they thought they could sell enough of them before the public got the word that they were a short lived gun?

 

[Meeks36]

All the highpoints ive owned and shot have been 100% reliable. The couple raven 25s ive owned where ok. Biggest piece of junk was a springfield compact 45. Cant remember all the details. Boss asked me to take it to the range and see if i could get it to work. 10 different mags. Different ammo brands. Never worked right. Springfield bought it back from him. Went back ro the factory twice. Just couldn't get it to run.

 

[Mn Fats]

What constitutes a "Junk" gun? What's the criteria?

I'm having a hard time answering too. "Best ever of 'junk' brands". If they're truly junk then there was never a "best".

There's budget brands that let more junk through than others. Taurus, Rossi, Kel-Tec, Charter Arms (might get kicked for that one) etc.

I was told Baikal side by sides were junk by more than a few guys. But my coach gun branded under Remington did real well. First gun I bought when I turned 18 cause it reminded me of Ash Williams' Boomstick.

Maybe 5000 rounds of mixed high brass and trap rounds before I sold it. Still locked up tight and is probably still going strong today. So that would be the best "junk" brand I've owned.

The other junk brands have been...well junk. No best of's.

 

[KodeFore]

Had an earlier henry ar 7 that went click more than it went bang

Had a guy at work had a Jennings more than it shot and when it did shoot I had to aim about a foot low to hit cans at about 4 yds away