Cousin Mike
Member
Hello all! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
I've got a somewhat unique situation on my hands, and I could use some advice from the good people of THR. I'll try to keep it simple. I've got a friend who has been asking me to take him shooting for the last few months or so. His work schedule is hard to maneuver around, but he has found time this week to go. Sounds good to me, as I need to try out my new (police trade-in) Sig P220!
Well, I started hanging out with this guy through my cousins, who I call 'The Hi-Point crew.' I'm not trolling, this has nothing to do with Hi-Points, but I guess I just assumed that's what he had when he told me he had a 9 millimeter he liked to shoot every now and then. Everything was fine, and the shoot was scheduled for this Wednesday. About a week ago while I was visiting his home, the topic of guns came up. He asked to see my 1911. I unloaded it, retained the magazine and handed it over. I asked to see his 9mm.
Shirt flings up, he whips this silvery-looking thing out of his belt and unloads it, and what do you know? I saw my first Jennings pistol.
He hands it to me, and I'm sitting there looking at it, recalling all the things I read on THR about these pistols.
"Awwww, sh*t," I think to myself. "So this is a Jennings Nine!"
Let me tell you all, straight up. I've known some very undesireable people, and I've lived in some crazy neighborhoods, but I had NEVER seen one of these things before. FWIW, most 'gangbangers' I've known had Glocks. This Jennings thingamabob was ugly - not necessarily my style, but I figure "Hey, everyone doesn't have top dollar to spend," and handed it back to him saying something about how nice it was.
No big deal, I would never be mean enough to not take him shooting because he doesn't have a quality pistol. Although, on the way home my fiancee and I had a few laughs about looking forward to shooting our first Jennings.
I visited this same friend yesterday, and we planned our range trip. In planning the how and why (whose house we would meet at, ammo costs, etc.), I brought up that I clean and grease my guns before and after trips to the range, and asked him how often he broke down/cleaned his weapon.
"Oh... Well, never," he replied with a somewhat embarrased look on his face.
"Oh, well no problem," I said, "we'll just meet up at my house and break them down, and clean them up before we go." I tried hard to hide my disappointment, but realized everyone isn't fanatics like us, and regardless of how taboo it might seem to me, some people DO just buy guns, stick them on their nightstand, and forget about them. I figured I would be a good friend, and do him a favor by teaching him how to care for his firearm. This morning I tried to look for an owner's manual online to learn how to field stip this thing, and could not find anything of the sort. Apparently, Jennings has no website
Not one that I could find anyways.
What I DID find scares the absolute sh*t out of me. Apparently, the new Jennings pistols have some sort of design flaw that causes them to FIRE when the SAFETY IS REMOVED!!!! It seems they are also prone to firing while being unloaded, and the safety HAS to be removed in order to unload the pistol. As sworn by several websites and tests conducted by various experts, these things can malfunction severely enough to fire at a full atuomatic rate! Something about the sear and trigger spring being poorly made is supposed to be the cause of all these problems, but I also seem to remember reading something about the firing pin as well. Then, of course, I came across a website about a family who is suing Jennings/Bryco. Their son was paralyzed from the neck down, struck in the face by such a discharge while (his father, I think) was unloading the pistol
OK, I'm a nice guy and all, but I have my limits! I'd love to take my buddy to the range, but given the things I have read today on other forums and websites, I no longer feel SAFE taking this guy to the range to use this thing. I knew these things had a reputation for being terrible pistols, but I had NEVER heard of the firing pin problems, or the AD problems before today. Any pistol that can discharge itself (let alone in full-auto) just by removing the safety or the magazine is simply too dangerous to be around for me, even at a firing range. I'd like to take my buddy shooting, but not at the risk of catching a discharge in the face due to some crazy, unpredictable malfunction. I don't get scared by very much of anything, but the thought of what could happen at the range with such a device is pretty scary.
So, I have 2 questions for your guys.
1.) How do I tell him about all this stuff I found out without offending the hell out of the guy? I'd like to get him to leave that thing at home and go rent another gun from the range, but I can't figure out how to ask politely. How would you guys and gals handle this somewhat delicate situation?
2.)Is this just a bunch of hype from anti's, or are Jennings pistols REALLY that bad?
help me out?
I've got a somewhat unique situation on my hands, and I could use some advice from the good people of THR. I'll try to keep it simple. I've got a friend who has been asking me to take him shooting for the last few months or so. His work schedule is hard to maneuver around, but he has found time this week to go. Sounds good to me, as I need to try out my new (police trade-in) Sig P220!
Well, I started hanging out with this guy through my cousins, who I call 'The Hi-Point crew.' I'm not trolling, this has nothing to do with Hi-Points, but I guess I just assumed that's what he had when he told me he had a 9 millimeter he liked to shoot every now and then. Everything was fine, and the shoot was scheduled for this Wednesday. About a week ago while I was visiting his home, the topic of guns came up. He asked to see my 1911. I unloaded it, retained the magazine and handed it over. I asked to see his 9mm.
Shirt flings up, he whips this silvery-looking thing out of his belt and unloads it, and what do you know? I saw my first Jennings pistol.
He hands it to me, and I'm sitting there looking at it, recalling all the things I read on THR about these pistols. "Awwww, sh*t," I think to myself. "So this is a Jennings Nine!"
Let me tell you all, straight up. I've known some very undesireable people, and I've lived in some crazy neighborhoods, but I had NEVER seen one of these things before. FWIW, most 'gangbangers' I've known had Glocks. This Jennings thingamabob was ugly - not necessarily my style, but I figure "Hey, everyone doesn't have top dollar to spend," and handed it back to him saying something about how nice it was.
No big deal, I would never be mean enough to not take him shooting because he doesn't have a quality pistol. Although, on the way home my fiancee and I had a few laughs about looking forward to shooting our first Jennings. I visited this same friend yesterday, and we planned our range trip. In planning the how and why (whose house we would meet at, ammo costs, etc.), I brought up that I clean and grease my guns before and after trips to the range, and asked him how often he broke down/cleaned his weapon.
"Oh... Well, never," he replied with a somewhat embarrased look on his face.
"Oh, well no problem," I said, "we'll just meet up at my house and break them down, and clean them up before we go." I tried hard to hide my disappointment, but realized everyone isn't fanatics like us, and regardless of how taboo it might seem to me, some people DO just buy guns, stick them on their nightstand, and forget about them. I figured I would be a good friend, and do him a favor by teaching him how to care for his firearm. This morning I tried to look for an owner's manual online to learn how to field stip this thing, and could not find anything of the sort. Apparently, Jennings has no website
Not one that I could find anyways.What I DID find scares the absolute sh*t out of me. Apparently, the new Jennings pistols have some sort of design flaw that causes them to FIRE when the SAFETY IS REMOVED!!!! It seems they are also prone to firing while being unloaded, and the safety HAS to be removed in order to unload the pistol. As sworn by several websites and tests conducted by various experts, these things can malfunction severely enough to fire at a full atuomatic rate! Something about the sear and trigger spring being poorly made is supposed to be the cause of all these problems, but I also seem to remember reading something about the firing pin as well. Then, of course, I came across a website about a family who is suing Jennings/Bryco. Their son was paralyzed from the neck down, struck in the face by such a discharge while (his father, I think) was unloading the pistol
OK, I'm a nice guy and all, but I have my limits! I'd love to take my buddy to the range, but given the things I have read today on other forums and websites, I no longer feel SAFE taking this guy to the range to use this thing. I knew these things had a reputation for being terrible pistols, but I had NEVER heard of the firing pin problems, or the AD problems before today. Any pistol that can discharge itself (let alone in full-auto) just by removing the safety or the magazine is simply too dangerous to be around for me, even at a firing range. I'd like to take my buddy shooting, but not at the risk of catching a discharge in the face due to some crazy, unpredictable malfunction. I don't get scared by very much of anything, but the thought of what could happen at the range with such a device is pretty scary.
So, I have 2 questions for your guys.
1.) How do I tell him about all this stuff I found out without offending the hell out of the guy? I'd like to get him to leave that thing at home and go rent another gun from the range, but I can't figure out how to ask politely. How would you guys and gals handle this somewhat delicate situation?
2.)Is this just a bunch of hype from anti's, or are Jennings pistols REALLY that bad?
help me out?
