Saturday Night Special collection suggestions

[larryh1108]

I, also, love my Raven P25. It does not jam if you keep it clean. Why you lost accuracy and reliability when you cleaned it means you didn't put it back together right, IMO.

It is accurate for a short barreled gun. The barrel is fixed to the frame so there is no variance in shots. I solved the expensive ammo issue by reloading for it. It is a fun gun.

I always laugh at those who swear their hand will blow off if they shoot a Raven. It's obvious they never shot one.



I also love my HP22a. If you change the recoil springs every 600-800 rounds, you get a nice looking, relatively accurate and reliable .22LR great for plinking. I will also buy one in .25ACP to supplement my collection of that small caliber since I do reload for them. Paying $18 for a box of .25ACP is crazy. $5 a box of 50 sounds a lot better to me.



I am especially fond of my Llama .25ACP. Beautiful gun, nice bluing, accurate and reliable as well. Reloading for .25ACP makes shooting these a lot of fun.

 

[HB]

There is a forum out there that is dedicated to these type of guns. I spent and evenin checking it out and suddenly wanted a raven.

The next morning I can to my senses however and remain firm I'll never buy a crappy gun. Especially when you can get a 100% reliable gun for a days pay more.


HB

 

[Midwest]

Pretty interesting read over at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_night_special .


"The term "Saturday night special" came into wider use with the passing of the Gun Control Act of 1968. The term (and the gun control act itself) have been described as racist in origin[3][4] because the act banned the importation and manufacture of many inexpensive firearms, most notably a large number of revolvers made by Röhm Gesellschaft, which were typically purchased and owned by low-income African Americans.[2][4] With importation banned, a number of companies in the United States began production of inexpensive handguns, including Raven Arms, Jennings Firearms, Phoenix Arms, Lorcin Engineering Company, Davis Industries, Arcadia Machine & Tool, and Sundance Industries, which collectively came to be known as the "Ring of Fire companies".[5]"



Rohm 66 Banned from import by the GCA in 1968


.

 

[ilbob]

Not all low cost guns were complete junk. My neighbor in about 1980 had a 38 special RG revolver that was a decent shooter. DA, but the cylinder did not swing out so was slow to reload. IIRC, it was like $40 brand new.

 

[MedWheeler]

HB writes:

There is a forum out there that is dedicated to these type of guns. I spent and evenin checking it out and suddenly wanted a raven.

The next morning I can to my senses however and remain firm I'll never buy a crappy gun. Especially when you can get a 100% reliable gun for a days pay more.


HB

You also missed the entire point of this thread.

 

[Blade First]

I've had a half-dozen Armi Galesi .25s and they've all worked well after a thorough detail-strip and cleaning.

Have become a bit of a collector item in my neck of the woods as parts are available to keep them running. The Italians copied the Browning 1906 design and used decent quality steel instead of that crapppy zinc alloy that American companies used for their knockoffs.

 

[JERRY]

ive owned RGs in: .22, .32, .38. ive owned a Davis P32 and D32, a Jennings J22, and a Raven P25. I'd really like the Jennings .22 again.

 

[Archie]

Sounds reasonable to me

A collection of "Saturday Night Special" pistols would be interesting from an historical viewpoint. Another benefit for a collector would be the relatively low expense involved in obtaining them.

A downside would be the relative scarcity of some models. As a group, they were not designed to last long and in general they haven't had a good reputation. So they don't 'last' like a pre-war Smith & Wesson revolver, for instance.

If it strikes you as an interesting and 'fun' project, go for it. I collect .32 ACP pistols from the Art Deco period (for my purposes, about 1900 until just prior to the Second World War.) Initially they were cheap (at least relatively) and not too hard to find. They have been 'discovered' and the costs are going up, but the historical research is simply marvelous.

Just make sure you can research them, be able to tell people from where they came and so forth.

My understanding of Saturday Night Special derived from some time ago (I know I've heard it prior to GCA 68). They were owned by women who kept them at home for those men who couldn't remember which house they lived in, upon return from Saturday Night entertainment (being liquored up stupid). But words do change over time.

 

[pockets]

I actually DO collect ZAMAK wonders....a whole lot of them (in addition to other pocket pistols).
Everyone needs at least one 'Assault' Raven or Sundance.
.
.

 

[CajunBass]

When I was a very young man, many years ago, I wanted an RG-22, or a Raven 25 in the worst way you can imagine. They had the one essential feature I absolutely had to have in a handgun.

They were inexpensive. OK...they were cheap.

In a day when a Smith & Wesson revolver sold NIB for about $120.00 or so, I couldn't even dream of spending that much money on a gun. I was making about $3.00 an hour, and that $120.00 for a S&W was about a full weeks pay. Before taxes. (And that $3.00 an hour was considered BIG money in those days. I had stepped up from a job that paid $1.60.)

I was 21 years old, married, with rent and car payments, and such...I didn't think I'd ever be able to save up A HUNDRED AND TWENTY dollars...it might as well have been a million.

But a Raven, or an RG at $29.95...Well, I could at least imagine scraping that together. I never did, but seeing those guns at the local GEM store helped keep the dream alive.

So, I kinda got a soft spot for those old boys.

 

[Nacho Man]

I've had a half-dozen Armi Galesi .25s and they've all worked well after a thorough detail-strip and cleaning.

Have become a bit of a collector item in my neck of the woods as parts are available to keep them running. The Italians copied the Browning 1906 design and used decent quality steel instead of that crapppy zinc alloy that American companies used for their knockoffs.

Im in the market for a Sat Night Special and will be looking to get one at the gunshow next weekend. How much should I pay for a Galesi .25 in fair cond?
Heres my list of guns I'll hopefully find to look at,
Galesi .25
Astra 200 Firecat
Beretta 950 Jetfire
Cz/Vz45
Any other ones you suggest I should look for? Im probably be able to bring $275 with me so no vest pocket or baby browning for me lol.

 

[TruthTellers]

Any Saturday Night Special collection absolutely has to have a Raven MP-25 preferably one from the 70's and early 80's. The early MP-25's were probably the best .25 automatics that were part of the ring of fire companies.

After Raven, I'd say Rohm .22's and .38 special revolvers and Cobra derringers.

Also, you gotta make some space for the original Saturday Night Special:

 

[Kaeto]

Would you call these Saturday Night Specials?





I know I wouldn't. They shoot accurately, and reliably. I want to get ones like them from other manufacturers for my collection.

 

[Radagast]

Cheap guns used to be called suicide specials.
Saturday Night Special was a term invented by the MSM to further Negro Control.
http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/05/12/the-saturday-night-special/

From Wiki:
In his book Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, civil rights attorney and gun scholar Don Kates found racial overtones in the focus on the Saturday night special[20] ("******town Saturday night special"). Gun control advocate Robert Sherrill claimed: "The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks."[21]

The earliest known use of the term "Saturday night special" in print is in August 17, 1968 issue of The New York Times. In a front-page article titled Handgun Imports Held Up by U.S, author Fred Graham wrote, "... cheap, small-caliber 'Saturday night specials' that are a favorite of holdup men..."

That said, I used to collect the old Suicide Specials, they were cheap, interesting and didn't require a license here in OZ.
I once turned down a Australian stocked S&W No.3 because I could buy 4 Iver Johnsons for the same money! *head desk*

 

[BobWright]

USAF_VET asked:

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

Believe that term originated long before that revolver existed!

And from 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.

Not by mail, even in 1960. Had to be delivered by Railway Express Agency, as was my first real revolver was in 1954.

Bob Wright

 

[lechiffre]

Im in the market for a Sat Night Special and will be looking to get one at the gunshow next weekend. How much should I pay for a Galesi .25 in fair cond?
Heres my list of guns I'll hopefully find to look at,
Galesi .25
Astra 200 Firecat
Beretta 950 Jetfire
Cz/Vz45
Any other ones you suggest I should look for? Im probably be able to bring $275 with me so no vest pocket or baby browning for me lol.

"Saturday Night Special" ?

Those range from "Perfectly Acceptable" to "Best Pocket .25 Ever Made".

 

[Jim K]

Some terminology problems here.

For many years, cheap revolvers made in the roughly 1870-1910 period were called "suicide specials". Whether that was because they were good for only the one shot needed to kill oneself or because pulling one on a better armed opponent would be suicide is debatable. The guns were generally .22 or .32, spur trigger, and made of cast iron. Guns made by H&R, Iver Johnson, and H&A were all of much better quality and generally are not included in the group. (The H&A Safety Police, mentioned above, is quite a good quality revolver, and I know of no one who would call it a "suicide special.")

The term "Saturday night special" originated in the 1950's period and comes from the phrase "N*town Saturday Night", used by police to refer to a wild time in certain communities. Those guns were generally cheap imported revolvers, such as the RG series or, later, cheap .22 and .25 caliber auto pistols.

Knowing that such guns were generally held in scorn by most gun owners, the anti-gun crowd seized on the term, using it for all handguns to create the idea that handguns were all cheap junk, suitable only for murder. Even guns like the Colt Python were used on TV as examples of a Saturday Night Special.

So the two terms, "suicide special" and "Saturday night special" date from different eras and generally include very different guns, even without the anti-gunner's distortions.

Jim

 

[Tallball]

I have bought four H&R/NEF revolvers in the past couple of years. I have not paid as much as $150 for any of them. All of them were barely used with little or no drag line. They all go bang every time and are fun to shoot.

 

[Jim K]

I don't know anyone, except the above-mentioned antis, who considers H&R/NEF revolvers in the SNS category. They are not in the top tier of handguns, but they don't deserve the SNS label.

Jim

 

[Tallball]

I wasn't trying to insult them. I like mine a lot. (And have three of their shotguns as well).

I was just trying to suggest some handguns that were originally inexpensive, and still are.

 

[Monac]

Deleted

 

[TruthTellers]

I don't know anyone, except the above-mentioned antis, who considers H&R/NEF revolvers in the SNS category. They are not in the top tier of handguns, but they don't deserve the SNS label.

Jim

IDK, those H&R/NEF revolvers were the reason the .32 H&R Magnum never was able to be loaded as powerful as it could have and should have been. Maybe not cheap, but cheaply made.

I'd say some of them are top tier SNS.

 

[Drail]

or the same reason.

What's in a name? It's important to keep in mind that the term "Saturday night special" was given to us by the same idiots who want us to believe that an AR 15 is an "assault rifle". For the same reason. It is nothing but brainwashing.

 

[Tallball]

So, here is a Tier Above SNS that my FiL talked me out of. I paid around $115 for it. In the late 1980's when it was new, I remember them costing less than $100. It is somewhere between old-fashioned and crude. I doubt it's good for tens of thousands of rounds. It goes bang every time. A poor person back when this was new could have done a lot worse for hd.

 

[george burns]

The term ROSCO was used in primarily poor black neighborhoods in the 20-50's as a term for a handgun. As, "I got me a Roscoe here boy".