Jennings Pocket Pistol

[WizeGuy_]

Do any of you know anything about the Jennings Pocket Pistol? I know it comes in either .22LR or .25ACP and its cheap. I know you get what you pay for but what is your guy's opinions on it?

Here is a pic I found of one.

[Steven Mace]

WizeGuy_, cheap not just in price but in quality too. Hopefully you're not considering this for any type of self defense. The Jennings/Bryco J-22 & J-25 shouldn't be thought of anything more than a possible plinker at best. Just my thoughts.

Steve Mace

[WizeGuy_]

ya...i was looking at one to plink with at my girl friends house. she lives pretty rural. I know this sounds bad but I wanted a cheap gun that I wouldn't worry about cleaning everytime I shot it and one that was cheap to shoot. Thought the jennings might do the trick.

[Onslaught]

Plinking with a pistol that malfs frequently stops being fun very quickly...

Check out the Kel-Tecs... Either P32 or P11... I know they're not $75, but at @$200, they're still not expensive. There's also lots of other .22lr options to consider that I'm sure you'll hear about soon on this thread.

I wouldn't consider a .25 for plinking even if the quality was there... the rounds are too expensive. The .32 can be very cheap if you order in bulk online, 9mm is cheap if you go to Wal Mart and buy the 100 rounds for $11.00 deal, and .22lr is cheap just about ANYWHERE... $8.95 for 550 rounds at Wally World.

[Coronach]

Dude...don't.

The gun is a jammomatic and is, IMNSHO, worthless. It is for gangbangers who don't want to cut into their drug money too much and need a shoot-and-toss piece.

If you want a .22 plinker, look for a used .22 revo. Or get a Makarov (sub $200) and a slew of russian ammo (9x18). The Mak has the added benefits of being unbefreakinlevably reliable and also powerful enough to double as a self-defense weapon, if need be.

Mike

[Blackhawk]

Penny wise, dollar foolish, IMO. :D

Get a used Ruger MKII or Browning Buckmark. Shoot it to your heart's content. Don't bother cleaning it. Toss it around. If you want, clean it and sell it. You'll probably get more than you paid for it. Much better deal than wasting $75+ on a Jennings.... :D

[22x9]

if you want a cheap plinker, but beter quality than the Jennings, try Phoenix Arms's HP-22. You can put a 5" barrel on it and it is a little more accurate.

I picked my last one up for $80 new + transfer fees.

[CWL]

Ditto what Blackhawk said, or a .22 revolver for plinking.

[Erich]

I am not presently a big fan of pocket pistols, and the Jennings is not going to be the best pistol in the world for plinking.

That said, in days gone by I owned a J-22 that looked just like that one, and I was always very happy with its performance. It liked Stingers, and had no jamming problems with them. The pistol was reliable enough that I used to carry it in my back pocket (back when I lived in good ol' IN, a great CCW state) with a back up mag in the watch pocket of my jeans - as a back up to my S&W .357 or 9x19 (I lived in a bad area, and I was also a teensy bit paranoid :rolleyes: and young).

On the basis of my satisfaction with the J-22, I bought a J-25 as well - I was managing a gun store at the time and seemed worth the $33-odd it cost. It was much more expensive to shoot, and also reliable. (I've found micro-.25s are generally more reliable than micro-.22s . . . has to do with both feeding and ignition.) But by then I had a better idea of what mouseguns could NOT do, so I wasn't carrying the Jenningses anymore.

I've gotten rid of all my mouseguns since then. Believe it or not, I sometimes long for the little nickel J-22. . . . :(

There are a lot of people who report having bad results with their Jennings J series pistols, and it looks like they're not being shy about telling you. Can't blame them; believe me, I'd be the first one to cry foul if the Jenningses hadn't worked for me. They did work for me, though, and that left me with a favorable impression. Beats me, maybe I just got lucky. But if the price was right, I'd grab another nickel J-22 today.

Hope your decision works out well for you! :)

[johnwill]

You can pick up any number of really nice guns in the $125-150 range that'll be reliable shooters, no reason to screw around with the Jennings. I'd look for a used Ruger MK-II, or perhaps a Ruger Standard Model. I bought one for $130 in really nice condition, and I'd far rather shoot it than a Jennings. :)

[David4516]

Get a Makarov. Its the best thing since sliced bread. My mak has NEVER jamed or mis-fired. It is the most dependable semi-auto I've seen, and it's fairly cheap. And it would make a great CCW gun too.

[David4516]

I found a good pic of a mak on www.makarov.com this one looks just like mine...

[CZ Gunner]

I'd stay away from it. There are better options, for example:

I saw an interesting looking Beretta U22 NEOS Blue .22 LR 6" ... on GunBroker.com for the first time.

Interesting looking, and for $199 ... worth a second look:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=4804227

I have also heard good reports (for the money) on the Heritage 22LR/22Mag guns. $109. See example at:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=4775013

Either would be a vastly better than the Jennings.

YMMV

Gunner

[Watch-Six]

I was given a Jennings 22 as a "gift". Don't you hate it when someone thinks they are doing you a favor but don't know what they are doing? It actually did work. Shot way to the left and the bullets keyholed. I dumped it for peanuts ASAP at the local pawn shop. I was afraid my other guns might catch something from it and keyhole too. Watch-Six

[bad_dad_brad]

Total junk. Get a Beretta Jetfire, or KelTec P32.

[glockorama]

I had one for awhile and it actually performed fairly well. Then one day shooting up in the woods, after a coupla mags, I went to fire off a round and the slide and all of it's internal parts flew off the gun when the round went off. I bent the slide, smashed the frame and left it up there. Total POS.:barf:

[Eric Larsen]

Heres another vote for the Phoenix 22...if $ is tight, look for a clean one owner at a pawn shop...should be around or less than $100 and they are a good little gun
Shoot well

[alphado]

Jennings j-22 = junk. I had one completely fall apart in my hand while shooting it. I am waiting for a gun buy-back day so I can get rid of it.

[blux0179]

I have a Jennings J22 that I bought when I first turned 21 and was too broke to buy a good pistol. Suprisingly it has been a good little gun. I take it to the range every few months and fire a few magazines worth of ammo for the hell of it. I wouldn't want to depend on it in a life a death situation but it seems to function ok. I prefer my XD-9, but the J22 is fun every now and then.

[pt92]

Go with the Taurus PT-25 (they can be had for $180).

-Cheers

[all4cwa]

I would not practice with what I would not carry the cheapest weapon that functions everytime in my opinion is the keltec 32 but I would not store any weapon dirty if I had a choice

[281 Quad Cam]

I'd say go with a Kel-tec.

[kozak6]

I definitely do not recommend the Phoenix Arms HP-22.

A friend of mind has one, and it is the absolute worst pistol I have ever had the misfortune to shoot.

At it's very best, it will jam or misfire every 3 rounds. At worst, every single round in the magazine will jam.

It doesn't even malfunction consistently. It will stovepipe. It will fail to extract, after which it will often try to feed another shell into the case stuck in the chamber. It has light hammer strikes. It's terrible.

It's also ridiculously inaccurate.

Don't buy one, whatever you do.

[whitebb]

Interesting info on Bryco/Jennings:

http://www.brandonsarms.org/bryco.php

[Taurus_9mm]

I purchased one many years ago after my 21st birthday. Initially, it seemed like a good little pistol and I had no problems with it for about two weeks.

However, not long after it began to not want to fire the first round that was chambered. It got to the point, that no matter how many times I would cycle the slide and squeeze the trigger, it just wouldn't fire. I ended up getting rid of it shortly thereafter, though in retrospect, it would have made a great paperweight. :p

[mini14jac]

I guess I'll swim against the current here......

The Jennings can be fun plinker.
(I'm speaking from experience. I've owned two.)
Most people who bash the inexpensive .22s have never owned one.
They just have a friend, who had a cousin, who's brother knew a guy....... :rolleyes:

I currently own a Phoenix, and it may be a better quality gun.

If you go with Jennings, only get the .22.
It makes no sense to buy a .32 or .380 for plinking.
Ammo is too expensive.

With the Jennings and the Phoenix, many people want to buy the cheap bricks of ammo, then proclaim that the gun is junk. :confused:

Even with a small Taurus or Beretta .22 if you use cheap ammo, you'll discover that your pocket .22 is "junk".
But... if you'll feed any of these mouse guns high velocity ammo, you'll find out that your piece of junk just turned into a sweet shooting gun. :eek:

Having owned both guns, I will say that the Phoenix seems more accurate, and they have excellent customer support.
I've bought one for myself, and several family members.
Interestingly, after shooting a few hundred rounds of CCI Stingers, all of our Phoenix HP22s now shoot the cheap ammo just fine.

So, if you want a Jennings or Phoenix as a plinker, they're hard to beat for <$125.
(Don't buy either gun for self defense!)
I wouldn't consider either one safe to carry with a round in the chamber, and a .22 is not great for self defense.

If buying a used gun, I recommend the Phoenix.
I got a used one for my son that was beat to pieces. Sent it back to Phoenix and they turned it into a new gun for free.:p
(You guys that have problematic HP22s: They have a lifetime warranty. It will cost you shipping, but they will fix it.)

Feed your mouse gun CCI minimags and you may be pleasantly surprised.

[gdeal]

don't these things jam a lot? this looks like what you win in an arcade.

[lee n. field]

Had one, back in the early 1990s. The stamped sheet-velveta extractor broke twice. I experienced frequently (at least once per magazine) every imaginable sort of failure short of catastrophic disassembly with it -- failure to feed, failure to fire, failure to extract, failure to eject, stovepipeing.

I eventually gave it away.

I don't care for them.