Gun 'Slumming

[SA1911a1]

A couple of weeks ago, a poster on another forum brought up the subject of Raven MP-25s. One of many tiny Saturday Night Specials, that came into production after the tiny imports were banned from importation. I went to my "get to it later stash" and dug out three of these that I had bought a long time ago in a single deal. If I remember right, it may have been a hundred bucks out the door for all three. I bought a box or two of .25, took them home, shot them, and stuck them back. Now of all of the pot-metal, dirt cheap, mouse guns, my hero, J. B. Wood had commented that these were among the best of a bad breed.

The post prompted me to dig these back out. I had some .25 acp, probably from the original purchase era, so I took them out and played with them. Two were reliable but were really rough feeling. The third one was hanging up with a FTF about one round per six round magazine. I found a really good you tube post of a grizzled on goat, going through these guns, cleaning up the problems and really improving on reliability. Now it is no question, that the time spent doing the "fix" was worth five time what the gun is, it looked like an interesting project.

Being some what of a Tom Sawyer type, I discussed this with my son, who is becoming a pretty damn good, self-taught pistol smith. He has the patience to understand what makes things work and solving problems. I made a deal with him that if he cleaned up one of them, he could have the other two. Anecdotal evidence seem to conclude that he worst problems with these are crappy firing pins that are subject to bend or break, depending on how bungled the hardening process was. Accepting that, I ordered three, hardened, SS replacement firing pins as part of the deal.

My son spent some time going through the one in the photo, and the results were amazing. The trigger is not awful, and the reliability has been 100% from the shooting I have done with it in the last couple of days. It cycles as fast as you can pull the trigger without problem. While the little pistol has not much in saving social graces, and is in a caliber that may be worse than .22 LR, it is still a cool piece. If it works out to be as reliable as the Jet Fires I have owned in the past I will be very pleased.

I am not going to replace my Colt 1911 carry pistol with this, but I might just hide it in my hat as a bug!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Oh I remember these, I knew someone who was smuggling these up from down south back in the early 90's and selling them to 'bangers down in Westchester. He went down for a major drug trafficking bust before they got him on the guns. He was a fucking asshole anyway who's existence I contemplated ending on several occasions but self control got the better of me. Potmetal? Well, that's why they feel rough, the cheap potmetal mix is suffering from internal corrosion and swelling.

[awalker1829]

I've got a Bryco 25 ACP in my collection. I don't shoot it, but it's there. Got it off a relative who was a prohibited possessor due to drug addiction after they died, along with a Savage .22LR rifle. I do occasionally shoot the rifle but don't care to mess with the Bryco. Too small for my big hands. As for my BUG, it's currently a P64.

[Ironnewt]

I remember recovering these guns from various dirt balls that were being arrested and one guy trying to tell me that it wasn’t really a “real” gun so I couldn’t put a handgun charge on him. Mentioned that statement at trial and even his attorney smirked.

[awalker1829]

I remember recovering these guns from various dirt balls that were being arrested and one guy trying to tell me that it wasn’t really a “real” gun so I couldn’t put a handgun charge on him. Mentioned that statement at trial and even his attorney smirked.

I was reading through some recent federal cases a few months ago and came across one that was a robbery case (bank robbery I believe). The weapon involved was a reproduction black powder revolver, so the US Attorney couldn’t charge it as an armed robbery, prohibited possessor or get enhanced sentencing for the offense. I don’t know if the state decided to try to bring a case in that matter. In fact, I think it might have been a case that got appealed and the appeals court found that the US Attorney erred in charging the firearms offenses.

One sorta neat part of my job is that I get to see all the civil asset forfeiture cases that get filed in my county. That means I get to see the information on all property that is involved, including the guns. I have to review all of the property and item descriptions to verify that the clerk that filed the case entered ALL of the information correctly. Usually they do, but sometimes they slip up-not entirely unexpected if it’s a big case with several pages of property. The big thing with vehicles and guns is that the VIN, license number and serial numbers have to be input correctly.