Posted on 06/01/2010 5:21:55 AM PDT by beericus
I've been shooting several compact pistols in the Jimenez Arms lineup, including the JA-380 chambered in 380 Auto, for a number of years. My interest in the pistols really blossomed when I finally got tired of waiting on non-polygonal Glock barrels for my cast bullet design work. These pistols are part of the "Ring of Fire" linage from Southern California, the Bryco-Jennings line-up, but have survived and are doing well as they cycle pistols out of the plant on the outskirts of Las Vegas. You can find a lot of negative stuff about them on-line but after approximately 10.0K rounds through the various models I think those writing the comments have never laid palm to stock. I've found the pistols dependable and accurate.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangicus.com ...
Assume that the current owner is legitimate. Is the gun trustworthy?
“The best” and “works reliably” are two completely different things. There’s no reason to spend 2 grand on a top of the line piece when a good reliable alternative is under $400.
Looking at some of the other posts, it’ kinda hard for me to say. If they were Jennings at one time, I don’t know. As far as I know (which ain’t far) they were inexpensive (cheap) sorta reliable. Would I trust my life on it? Only if I had no other choice. Trade up maybe. Colt Mustang II’s are pretty pricey these days. Maybe a nice little Ruger? I’m looking at a S&W 9mm Shield model for everyday carry right now. Just gotta decide if Momma really wants to let me trade her Walther PP22 or not. Probably better to just sell it myself and use the cash I get + a little more out of pocket. Scheels has them for around $429.00
Yeah—those were my thoughts as well after doing a little research. I’d hate for the thing to disintegrate on the user when needed the most.
Apparantly not. I bought the JA .380 about a month ago. I put almost 100 rounds through it. Every other magazine had either stovepipes, failure to feeds, or failure to ejects.
Eventually, I noticed that the bullets became much easier to put into the magazines. This was because the springs had lost their compression. Both magazine’s have springs that’re so weak, they won’t feed rounds. I’ve used five different types of ammo in the gun from reputable makers. They were FMJ bullets since the gun will NOT shoot hollow points.
I sent the mags to Jimenez. In a week I got an envelope from them. In it, were either my two original mags that hadn’t been touched or two more mags that’re just as bad!
Even though it shoots accurately, the reliability is atrocious. When your life is on the line, you better have something that will work and work well.
You would be much better off taking the $120 bucks you would spend on a Jimenez and buy lottery tickets. At least you some type of chance with those. With the Jimenez, you have no chance at all.
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I too own the Jimenez Arms JA-380 as well as the Jimenez JA-9. I am very pleased with both pistols and have not had any problems with either gun. I personally carry the JA-380 on a daily basis for personal protection and use the JA-9 for a home defense weapon. I find both to be reliable and they both shoot very well. I could not ask for better than that.
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