clerke revolver

[Sum1_Special]

i know, i gone and done it... i made a thread about the clerke... if it helps, i'm sorry.

i have recently started collecting saturday night specials again, and this one is next up in line. i've searched google for hours but haven't found all that much past 'its a POS'. i was hoping if i post it here i could get some history on the gun along with people who had first or second hand experiences with them. i have called quite a few pawn shops and the only one that had it wanted $40. there is no doubt i will haggle down the price, but i want to go in there knowing how much a clerke is actually worth.

and for those of you who have experience with both types, how would the clerke compare to say, an RG model 23 or the like in terms of the quality and performance?

 

[walter in florida]

Clerke, HUMM

I saw on one of rhe Auctions (some time back) some one had a Clerke and said it was sort of becomming a collertor's item. he wanted about a 100.00 and NO BIDS. I saw one a year or two ago for 29.95 and he was sure trying to talk me into buying it. Who knows what will happen in gun collecting hobby. I could become a collectors item but on the other hand it may not.

 

[BillCA]

It's been a long time since I've laid eyes on a Clerke -- thank goodness!

If memory serves me right, Clerke's were prototypical of what was referred to as a "Saturday night special". Made from cast alloy (Zinc and/or low grade aluminum primarily) most were chambered for low-pressure cartridges -- .22LR, .32 S&W (not long) mostly and the .38 S&W (not special). If one of these guns survived firing more that 200 rounds, I'd be surprised. One specimen that I saw -- in .22 caliber -- you could see where the sprue holes were in the casting mould as they had barely polished (not machined) them off. The .38 S&W was better finished but it had fallen from an idiot's pocket in a parking lot. The fall not only popped the cylinder open, it cracked it and fractured the joke they called the cylinder crane.

Clerkes made the RG/Rohm guns look like premium guns.

 

[walter in florida]

Clerke Revolver?

If you are interested sum1 special, there are two on gunbroker.com
Item 32844574, 22 LR?? open bid 100.00 ZERO BIDS so far

Item 32999576 32 open bid 50.00 or buy it now for 100.00 ZERO BIDS so far.

I am not going to make any bad remarks about the clerke and I am not going to make a GOOD REMARKS about the Clerke, however I thing every one knows how I feel if I passed up one for 29.95.

Both the 22 and 32 50.00 excelent, 25.00 Very Good. Ref. Antique and Modern Firearms 8th edition.

 

[texmex]

I fired a Clerke

I actually fired a Clerke 32. I had to pound the cartridges into the cylinder with a plastic hammer (always wear eye and ear protection when doing this, or better yet DON'T DO IT). I had so much confidence in the revolver that I test fired it under a bridge so I could (using my left hand just in case) reach around a concrete pillar so if the thing blew up I was only risking my hand. I think I even wore a welding glove. It did fire. It did not blow up. I never fired it again. It was not tested for accuracy. It is a good example of how cheaply a firearm can be made that will actually fire. It had to be the cheapest repeating firearm ever made. Liberators were cheaper but they weren't repeaters and were of better quality.

 

[XavierBreath]

i have recently started collecting saturday night specials again

I think that would be an interesting collection. I'd love to see a wall of about 100 Saturday Night Specials. I enjoy accumulating old carry guns. I will accept a cheapo model if the price is right, but my real love is old guns that have been modified for concealed carry. The modifications destroy the collector value, making the price reasonable for me.

I saw a Clerke for $40 in a pawn shop. After reading about them, I just could not bring myself to buy it.

 

[Sum1_Special]

i dont know why but everytime i think saturday night special it always brings up images of a dream i once had. i was a child in a Big creepy old abandoned mansion and was locked inside with a killer stalking me. no way out, sturdy doors and bars on the windows... macgyver couldn't of made it out . think the shining and you'll know what i mean . i remember being chased around until i crept my way up into the attic to hide. the attic was filled with old junk and in a chest, under a pile of books was an old, cheap revolver(this part actually happened when i was a kid, i broke into an abandoned house and found an old revolver in the attic, IIRC, i think it was an RG or iver johnson). as soon as i picked it up the door to the attic slammed open and i woke up in a cold sweat.

ever since then i had a strange fascination with these cheap guns. i dont care what people say, i will continue to shoot, collect and enjoy them.

 

[DoItRight]

I have one!

This past Thanksgiving, I "came into" a Clerke 22lr.

I was visiting my folks for the holiday and talking guns. After learning that I'd taken up the hobby (and being totally AGHAST about it-- my family is not "anti" guns -- they're more like "afraid of" guns.), my mother told me that she had her Father's gun and has been holding onto it for the 20+ years since he passed away.

She gave it to me to take a look at and after I took it out of the old sock it was in (which was inside a plastic bag that was buried in the bottom of an old hamper!), I discovered that it was a Clerke 22lr.

That process was pretty cool in and of itself because my Mom (and my Dad) were both scared silly when I pulled the gun out. I calmly safed the weapon, inspected the barrel, then handed it to her (with the cylinder open, of course), and in my manliest of manly voices said, "Here -- take it. It's perfectly safe."

Regarding the gun, I will have to echo what everyone else has said about the Clerke -- it is a total POS! Ugly, cheap, pot metal, crappy F&F -- I'm afraid to even fire the thing! :barf:

That said, I will probably never get rid of it because it was my Grandaddy's Gun! He and I were very close and I kinda like the idea of having his gun around.