Saturday Night Special

OK folks, now fess up...has anyone here ever bought a handgun just because it was cheap? Maybe a used Jennings out of the newspaper for $30 or $40? Just curious. The thought of an inexpensive and unregistered handgun could prove useful if the laws turn on us later on.

Keep in mind, a "Saturday Night Special" or "Junk Gun" are terms invented by those that are uneducated about the right to self defense. They assume that all inexpensive guns are used for crime and that is wrong. I did use the term rather loosely here. I am not implying that anyone should ever use a firearm in the comission of a crime.

[MilesTeg]

What is "cheap" is relative to the spender.

I bought a Taurus PT22 because of that very fact. It was cheap, reliable and fun to shoot. Wish I had never sold it. I have not been bitten by the Hi-Point bug and probably never will. However, the re-released Charter Arms .44 Special is a calling my name and fits my criteria for a "cheap" firearm.

[Hal]

Yes, quite a few in fact. With one lone exception, that being a Davies .22 derringer, all went bang, fed and functioned like a "real gun" (ie: something costing 2, 3 or 4 times more) and were accurate, a couple being more reliable and more accurate than the "real thing".
However, when I buy these *burgers*, I don't try to fool myself into thinking they're *Fillet Mignon*. Don't mean I don't love burgers though.

Also, cheap is a relative term. The main reason I bought a CZ75b was because it was priced right. ( I know a $350.00 gun isn't wuite the same as a typical SNS, but I bought mine with "found money" (ie:an unexpected bonus) If it would have been higher priced, I never would have bought it. Sometimes, those *burgers* end up being *crab legs*. I love crab legs too.

[Ala Dan]

Saturday Night Special's

Dunno if you can call this one a Saturday
Night Special or not; but when I was first
introduced to fine firearms I had a job
with a very poor pay scale. With that said,
I didn't have very much extra cash at all;
so, I had to bypass good gun's and settle
for a piece of junk.

My first purchase was an Arminus "Burgo"
.22 caliber revolver purchased from K-Mart,
for $42.50 + sales tax out the door. This
thing was a nine shot wheel gun; and boy I
must have thought I was in business? Well,
anyway as it turns out I kept this "junker"
for quite a while; then sold it to my father
in-law, who still has it. Now day's with
prosperity being brighter, I look back on
this "junker" as a true Saturday Night Special.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.

[neal bloom]

Bought an HP22 from a coworker who needed some cash. Most inexepensive weapon I ever purchased. It is fun to go plinking with. Don't know if this is a SNS.

[Ragin Cajun]

Didn't the term "Saturday Night Special" get its name from VERY cheaply made pistols of poor steel (or pot metal) that may or may not actually shoot and if they did it was not many rounds before they were non-functional? Oh, and they were bought for cash only from a shady charracter for a relatively cheep price in the alley - on Saturday night, of course.

[Tropical Z]

I purchased my Hi-Point compensated 9mm and Tanfoglio .25acp because of price.The Tanfoglio is COMPLETE GARBAGE,but i'll keep it as it was my first gun purchase and it would not be worth selling anyway!

[Hard Ball]

I once bought an NRA excellent 1912 DWM luger for $25 including the original holster and spare magazine. I hope that does not make it a "Saturday Night Special'!

[Ledbetter]

The Hungarian FEG SMC-380 is the smallest handgun imported into the USA since the '60's Firearms Act. Holds 6+1 rounds of .380. Looks like a clone of a Walther PPK.



http://www.makarov.com/others


Bought it at a gun show for around $150. Actually, it's a pretty neat and well made little gun. Shoots straight too.

Regards.

[Apple a Day]

I bought a Jennings J-22 because it was butt-cheap and, well, because I COULD darnit! It's not my home defense gun or my concealed carry gun [that's a Makarov... does that count as an SNS?]
I just got back from the range. I got 17 rounds through it before it jammed the first time. That's about normal.

[David Scott]

Back in the '70s I bought a Llama .357 because it was cheaper than the S&W Model 19 it was cloned from. Big mistake. The trigger pull was a smooth as dragging a wildcat on meth over broken glass, and the first day I took it to the range, the firing pin punched through a primer and stuck there. I took it back and paid the extra for the Smith.

[Frodo the Hobbit]

trigger pull was a smooth as dragging a wildcat on meth over broken glass

[9mmPlinker]

Define cheap < $150 , <$100? In either case thats why I bought my HP-22($100). After 3500 rounds the frame broke and the barrel almost popped completely out. I sent it back to the factory and got a new replacement. It's a cheap fun little plinker and definitely a keeper. If this one breaks, I'll send it back and get another replacement.

My other inexpensive purchase was a CZ-52($150). Definitely happy with that purchase.

[Rusty S]

Remember, always loudly object to the liberals who denounce "Saturday Night Specials" that the COMPLETE phrase the "SNS" is taken from is "**gger-town Saturday Night".

It is indeed a very racist phrase, and this should be pointed out repeatedly until it disappears from use.

To me, the little Iver Johnson and Harrington and Richardson 32 and 38 S&W's that were still on the shelves a decade ago epitomize the essence of what a poor man could afford to buy to defend his home and family with. Today, the Makarov and FEG and CZ70's would be candidates for their 21st century successor. Inexpensive, somewhat cruder than top of the line, but reliable and well worth the money for what you get in a caliber that gives you a better than even chance of stopping an assailant by the time the gun is empty.

I'd definately put Makarov and CZ above what I consider a Saturday Night Special to be. The only exception would be if they were badly beaten and purchased in an alley for around $50. I was thinking along the lines of a used Jennings, Bryco, Iver Johnson, Raven, Lorcin, or Phoenix Arms handgun. Probably anyone would buy a new one for the right price, but how many would see a worn out model and get it just because it was cheap ($50 or less)?

[blades67]

My first gun was a Colt Python and my most recent purchase was a SIG Sauer P225. The cheapest handgun I own is my used (but only a little) Colt Mustang. I figure that if I'm going to buy a gun, I'm going to get the best one I can afford.

[SgtGunner]

The term "Saturday Night Special" has been touted by moronic liberals and the mainstream media, ie. Klintons Kronies. A true SNS is not a gun at all, be it cheap, junk, or otherwise. A Saturday Night Special originally referred to the person, not the weapon bent on doing harm to us decent folks, so no I have never owned one of those.

hehe

[Ledbetter]

On where the phrase came from and what it means to try and disarm the poorer members of society, regardless of color.

[Tamara]

Some that I have bought on a lark because they were cheap:

Disappointments:
Jennings "Bryco" 9mm $99 (I should have known better)
Hi-Point Compact 9mm $89 (ditto)
Charco Bulldog Pug .44 $179 (good gun 'til it died from only 2-300 heavy bullet loads)

Surprises:
Ruger Old Model Bearcat $149 (police confiscated gun; trigger broken, some gravel dings in frame. Welded up the trigger and it shoots like a champ.)
Manurhin PPK $99 (A "prewar"-style gun that we had to "rig" a Walther mag for; fun, if less-than-perfectly-accurate, plinker)
Grendel P-10 $105 (I think they made five or six of the early fixed-mag guns that weren't total junk. I lucked into one.)

[Jason Demond]

CZ70 in 95% $79.00

[dntorbert]

I have purchased 3 different derringers in 38 special (fie) and wor out 2 of them already. I don't think I paid more that $50 dollars for any of them. Since I reload I would just load down some light wadcutters and shoot them about 50 times each trip to the range.

[Chris D]

A Jennings J22 as well. $59.95 about 10-12 years ago. I still have it.... It sits in the safe and makes it to the range every once and a while. I do NOT carry it! Yet it's been pretty reliable.

[Marko Kloos]

Chinese Norinco M59 Makarov, original box, 98% condition, $80 at a gun show last year. That's the least expensive one I've bought in recent memory...

[Big Lou]

When I was a kid, my father was a notorious tightwad and he bought a little RG revolver in .22 Short with about a 1.5" barrel. He bought my mom a little .25 auto (don't remember the brand, but it was cheap). Both of these guns were a POS!

After I graduated college and started working, one of the first things I did was buy my dad a Dan Wesson revolver in .357Mag and made him promise to get rid of those hunks of junk.

[Larry Wright]

I walked into a gun store in Columbia, SC eleven years ago and saw an Arminius "Hombre" SA 44 Magnum for $125.00. I bought it right then. I took my wife out to the range at Fort Jackson and let her fire it. It looked like a flame-thrower and she immediately set it down in favor of a 9mm. I have had to have a little work on the trigger spring but it still shoots. Speaking of Saturday Night Special; when I had the trigger worked on while still in SC about three years ago, the gunsmith had to check against some list to see if it was an SNS. If it had been an SNS, he wasn't allowed by law to work on the gun. That is what he said and I have no reason to disbelief him.