Saturday Night Special collection suggestions

[Dr. Sandman]

I thought it might be cool to put together a collection of "Saturday Night Special" guns. Are there any nominations?

 

[Leanwolf]

Such as these dandies??



L.W.

 

[SlowFuse]

Anything in the "ring of fire" category, or Rohm.

 

[MedWheeler]

Yep. RG revolvers, Jennings J-22 (got one; it's a fun shooter), Raven/Lorcin .25, Davis/Cobra/Lorcin guns in .32 and/or .380.

Some also place the Phoenix HP-series (available in .22 and .25) in this category, but they're actually quite sturdy, good shooters, and priced above the rest. Ditto with Hi-Points.

 

[Midwest]

Here is an ad from July 1960 issue of Guns and Ammo. Back in those days you could have bought one for $13 and have it delivered by mail.





I don't consider Hi-Points to be "Saturday Night Specials". While they are big, ugly and bulky they are good shooters that don't jam.
.

 

[USAF_Vet]

huh, i wonder if that's where the term "Rosco" came from?

 

[pockets]

SEDCO SP22 .... as it gets no respect among the other Ring of Fire pistols!

.

 

[Lord Teapot]

any pistol selling for under $150 falls into that category imo

 

[bannockburn]

Dr.Sandman

If you're interested in more vintage SNS revolvers there were offerings from many manufacturers. Some of the better known ones were Hopkins and Allen, Forehand and Wadsworth, Harrington and Richardson, Allen and Wheelock, and Iver Johnson. Even Colt, Remington, and S&W had something to offer in this handgun category. And these guns had some great names, like Blue Jacket, Chieftain, Dreadnought, Hero, Mohawk, Spitfire, and Western Bulldog.

 

[entropy]

Why, you could start a "Saturday Night Special Assasination Pistol" collection by getting an RG14 (attempt on Reagan) Iver Johnson Cadet (RFK), .32 top break IJ, (McKinley), and a .44 Webley 'Bulldog'. (Garfield) !

 

[Thermactor]

Canik TP9SA, Tristar C100, Sarsilmaz B6P, Tisas "1911", Smith & Wesson Sigma series (inc. SD, SW), Jimenez JA-Nine, Rohm RG14, Beretta Tomcat, USFA Zip 22LR.

 

[joem1945]

There are plenty of little top break pistols on auction sites. It helps to have a C&R so they deliver to your home. LGS will not deal with these guns so you will not see them.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Perspective on those 1960's prices....
Here is an ad from July 1960 issue of Guns and Ammo. ...
$12.95 from 1960 run through the Wikipedia inflation calculator gives $103.24 in 2015. (Minimum wage in 1960 was $1.00 with a buying power of about $8 of 2015.)

 

[Ryanxia]

Raven .25ACP, Jennings .22 as well as the ones listed.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

Dr. Sandman ~ I like your idea for a collection of so-called Saturday Night Specials. The concept has a kitschy appeal to be sure. My only nominee would be the H&A top break .32 safety police--I have an old family owned example in nickel that was described to me as a kid as being only good for "sticking in someone's nose". As said--get your C&R pronto if you don't have one and you could go hog wild on Gunbroker. As many of these get turned in at gun "Buybacks" for more cash than they are worth, they will become ever scarcer. A neat idea for a collection I wish I'd thought of!

 

[Jack.I]

Thermactor
Canik TP9SA, Tristar C100, Sarsilmaz B6P, Tisas "1911", Smith & Wesson Sigma series (inc. SD, SW), Jimenez JA-Nine, Rohm RG14, Beretta Tomcat, USFA Zip 22LR.
__________________

LOL! Never though I'd see the day that a Beretta or S&W would make the list of Saturday Night Specials.

 

[Black Knight]

Midwest that is a good picture of the RG-10. The pic is just like the one my mom had. I remember it as kid and she still had it when she passed in 2002. It isn't worth anything but it has sentimental value to me. Laugh all you want but for me it is a safe gun. I have far better guns for actual use.

 

[mnrivrat]

One problem to try to overcome is that the FFL transfer fee plus the shipping cost makes most of the GB guns in this catigory just not worth the dollars you will spend.
By getting the C&R you overcome much of that so it becomes pretty much a must do if your going for that type of collection.
There are a ton of them with bad finish and broken springs, so perhaps trying to get a collection of better condition ones would make sense. Otherwise I have a dozen or so you can purchase in the $25 - $40 range.

I'm sure others have a few laying around as well. It takes a pretty decent one to sell for over $50 so gun buy backs are a good source for many to shead themselves of these.

 

[WestKentucky]

You absolutely have to have the worst gun I have ever personally fired. I forget the brand but it was billboard type cast into the barrel. The city was ducktown tennessee. Get the double barrel for a conversation piece. If you ever decide to fire it, wear gloves. The trigger lobes bite your middle finger pretty bad.

Here's a link to the Google image search. Warning though, if you look you will want to buy.

http://www.google.com/search?q=leinad+double+barrel+derringer&biw=360&bih=615&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=aJ6DVZTUG5LkgwSbsJmYAQ&ved=0CAQQ_AUoAQ

 

[WJThompson]

I had an uncle back in the early 60s he was collecting SNS. Anything $10 or less. He had a top shelf in a closet filled with cardboard gun boxes and shoe boxes with more than a single gun in them. I know he had close to 100 but I only remember a small Rohm. He claimed he was keeping away from the riffraff. I don't think he fully understood how demand effects supply. Didn't the 1968 Gun Control Act reclassify guns like the Walther PPK and the FN Browning 1910 SNS ? They were not exactly cheap guns that might fly apart or blow up as the SNS designation was thought or suggested to exist back then.

 

[Cee Zee]

The gun that caused people to come up with the term Saturday Night Special - the Raven P25! It has to be on the list near the top. I used to see all sorts of junk guns in the early 60's / late 50's though. I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on one for no amount of money. I prefer keeping my hand right where it is. Seriously they were junk.

Here's my very own piece of crap pistol history, my Raven P25. It actually shot very accurate until I figured out how to clean it. Stupid me had to much with a good thing. Well it wasn't that good. In fact it was bad. You couldn't dare carry it with one in the pipe. Notice the sliding safety lever. That would never get pushed around in a pocket or a holster or just laying on a table. And forget getting the thing to fire more than once in a row without clearing a jam.



But looking at earlier junk guns this one has the wonderful habit of firing the breechblock at a high rate of speed. In other words if you see one of these DO NOT FIRE THIS GUN!!! It was call a Warner Infallible if you can believe that. They must have a good laugh when they named it.

 

[Bullseye]

Not all Phoenix Arms Raven 25's are junk. I am sorry, but I have this and it always feeds perfectly and goes bang with 6 in the magazine. I never had a failure with it. I don't shoot it anymore because I'm not going to buy the ammo. I have stuck it in my top shirt pocket a few times in a pinch.
I have 50 or so rounds left and that's all I need.
It's not the reliability of it shooting when I want it to, and it shoots pretty straight. I would worry in a SD situation that is it isn't enough of a stopper, but on the other hand I sure wouldn't want to be looking at the barrel of it.

 

[Cee Zee]

My Raven was fairly reliable for the first few hundred rounds but cleaning the thing remained a mystery to me for a long time. Then when I did figure out how to get it apart to properly clean it the thing lost all the accuracy it had. It was a very accurate pistol up to that point which I have to admit surprised me all to heck. That short barrel just didn't seem like it could control a bullet for more than 10 feet but I made some shots at 60-70 yards with it that amazed me. I never dreamed it would what it did. For one thing I shot a leaf in a pond at least 60 yards away. I sank it the first shot. I had been shooting a 1' size group before that and that was shooting it pretty fast.

But without being able to clean it and considering the poor available ammo it didn't take long before it just wouldn't feed reliably. Someone showed me how to break it down after I had it for years. After that it still wouldn't cycle but it wouldn't hit anything either. It shot like I expected it to shoot from the beginning and like every other Raven I ever shot.

 

[BigBL87]

Canik TP9SA, Tristar C100, Sarsilmaz B6P, Tisas "1911", Smith & Wesson Sigma series (inc. SD, SW), Jimenez JA-Nine, Rohm RG14, Beretta Tomcat, USFA Zip 22LR.

I have a hard time agreeing with your first 3-5. I guess if the only requirement is that they are inexpensive, but those are all pretty nice and pretty reliable for what they are (not sure on the Tisas, don't know alot about them), i.e. not what comes to mind when I think of a "Saturday Night Special." The others I'm not familiar enough with to comment on.

 

[Bullseye]

Isn't the term "Saturday Night Special" used for a "hot" gun bought on the streets for criminal purposes by criminals that get disposed of in the river afterwards? That's why the cheap models are usually the ones used I guess. I suppose the better "hot" ones are kept by the more sophisticated criminals til they get caught with them.