Thoughts on J-22 as a carry piece.

Sir, put the Jennings down and step away from the...the...no..can't call it a gun.

The best idea I can think of is to wait for a silly, feel good gun buyback program and give it to the city for $50-100. You get more than the gun is worth and they get stuck disposing of it.

Seriously, get rid of that thing before someone gets hurt.

Jennings, Lorcin, Raven et al are what makes life difficult for the Glock, Colt's and Winchesters of the world. They are the true piece of @#$% manufacturers that deserve to be sued.
 
I admit, my 1911 or Glock would get pretty uncomfortable if I wore it while lying on my right hip on the couch. Of course, so would my P32.

The question is, who the heck wears a gun while lying on the couch?;)
 
Back in my younger days when we had no CCW in my state I used to carry a Jenning J-22 in my back pocket when out fishing alone at night. I carried it in the rear pocket with no holster and also carried pair of extra mags in the front pocket all loaded with CCI Stinger ammo.

I may have been one of the lucky guys because that little pistol worked great with CCI Stinger ammo. It would jam once in a while but no more than my current Beretta, S&W or Ruger 22 pistol does with Stinger. It was accurate enough to put 6 shots in 8" paper plate at 10 yards quickly and only cost me $50 for the pistol plus $5 for each extra mag.

I had that pistol for almost 15 years and during that time it was fired more than 15,000 time without anything breaking. Finally the slide developed a crack near the ejection port and I decided it had enough.

For $50 pistol it served me better than some $500 pistols have. While I carry 45 pistols now, I would still carry a Jenning if it was reliable as a backup pistol.
 
I'm not saying it won't work great MOST of the time but it's the other times I'd be concerned about. I have a Beretta 21A (little) and a Browning Buckmark (big) that work great MOST of the time, until they hit that inevitable dud .22 round, or one that had the priming compound missing right where the firing pin happened to hit. It's no problem at the range but it sure would be sobering if it happened when you really needed an uninterrupted flow of .22's. Anybody who says it hasn't happened to them either hasn't fired many .22's, is lying (sorry, I meant has a bad memory) or is veeeery lucky. .22 pistols seem to be more prone to it than .22 rifles. I'm sure right then you'd be thinking what you could have been carrying. It just ain't worth it. I'm not even sure it's better than having a sharp stick to defend yourself with. (I'm not sure why I'm so opinionated on this one. I guess I'd hate to see a good guy get hurt by a bad guy because the good guy was carrying for convenience instead of for dependability). At least get a .25 for the centerfire priming. It's the .22 I'm knocking, not the Jennings.
 
Weldon,

We just had a thread on that very subject, .22 vs. .25, a few days ago.

I've had more dud rounds with Remington centerfire ammo alone that I have had an many thousands of rounds of all makes of .22 ammo.
 
Mike,

What kind of Remington ammo is/was that? And what were you firing it in? I'd really be interested in knowing. I've had one centerfire squib round in my life. A Winchester Silvertip .40 155 grn fired, but felt and sounded weak. It didn't cycle the slide on my Browning HP .40 but did exit the barrel and hit the paper relatively close to the others I'd fired at about 15 yards. In the last six months out of a brick of Remington Golden bullet .22 I've had 2 misfires out of my Buckmark. One I rotated the cartridge 90 degrees and retried it. It did go off. The other I put 6 firing pin dents in and it never went off. I was using the Remingtons after failures with Winchester Super X and Federal Classic. I've only had one dud in my .22 rifle in recent memory. It was a CCI standard velocity 40 grainer. I haven't had a misfire in my Beretta 21A but I don't fire that much ammo in it.
 
Last edited:
Weldon,

Green & yellow box, the good stuff.

Several different calibers, including 7 duds in one box of .38 Spl. I let Remington know that I was NOT pleased.
 
You know, if the reason you're doing this is that you're hard up for money, get in touch with me. I can make you a good deal in a Taurus PT-22 or even a Beretta 92 (early model) with 5 15-round magazines.
Click to expand...

Criminy, Mike, where were you when I was tryin to trade my M1 Carbine for a decent carry-size pistol? Had to trade it for a dang 1911 - another gun I probably won't carry much due to it's size.
 
You won't carry a 1911 but you'll carry a Jennings?!!! Don't go to the pistolsmith.com web site. You may just cause hysterical screaming fits among the members. ;) To each his own. Take care and don't drop that J-22, you don't want it to break. :D
 
I had a Jennings 22 several years ago that I received as a gift. I didn't keep the thing very long, but it did work ok. Many of the bullets keyholed even at close range. I just couldn't stand to own such an embarrassing thing. I sold it at a pawn shop for $20. I have not missed it much. Watch-Six
 
I've slept MANY a night wearing a 1911, on concrete

with nothing but an Army field jacket as a pad, while we were in THEORY walking dogs around nuke missles. we HAD to be ready to jump up and go retreive our (tethered) dogs if the lifers came up the hill. If you cant sleep with as small and lw a pc as an alloy Mustang in your pocket, you have a problem, Princess. The J'22's safety is a joke, slow to operate and it BARELY locks the striker, at the best of times. Only a wino is so hard up that he cant afford a MUCH better gun. Man, for a lousy $200, you can take your pick of TONS of good used guns, and if you cant BORROW $200, you cant even afford to shoot .22's, much less a rd with some real defensive potential. I wrote THE book on silencing .22's and THAT is why it is the favorite tool of hitmen, because .22 autos have protruding barrels that can be threaded to mount a silencer, with a LOT less hassle than doing so on something that its slide covers the barrel completely. I have silenced the J22, dozens of times, but it requires a 40 tpi thread, 5/16ths, and the resulting connection isnt very strong. The Jennings is a throwaway, for punks to commit crimes with, basically. Just ANY gun is not NECESSARILY better than no gun. That is baloney. A good walking stick is better than MOST guns, most of the time. A junk, no real power gun is false confidence, waiting to cause your fall.
 
Uhh, yer gettin a little harsh there, bub. I can take a hit, but you're lack of 'smilies' makes me wonder how serious you really are.

For one, I'm not in a daily combat situation as you describe. If I were in combat, I could put up with carrying a full-size, because I know I don't have any backup like, oh, lessay, 911. I'm going to stop a guy in fear, or if that doesn't work, drop him to his knees with a small ball of lead in the gut, knee, arm, cheek, whatever, so the boys in blue can show up.

Next, you say the 22 can't stop someone? You know that's false as well as I do, especially if you are, indeed, THE expert on the subject. Proper practice and training with any weapon, whether it be stick, firearm, knife, or even the right BB-gun, can be effective weapons.

I like the idea of a smaller caliber firearm not only for it's lethality in defensive situations, but the potential for the non-lethality of it, when necessary, also.

Do you blow a guy's head off, or blow his guts all over the store, if he's asking for "all the money in register", across the counter from a clerk, out of arm's reach, with a knife, or no knife, with his back to you? I have the option of a clean kill, or just dropping him to ground with an injury that can be fixed with 2 stitches, depending on the situation. Do you? If not, you'll probably end up posting on the boards from jail.

Worse yet - you only seriously maim the perp for life. You use potentially lethal force in a situation that doesn't call for it, and you're sued for everything you got by the very bad guy you were trying to stop. He gets out of jail in 5-7 years and drives off in a new Jag paid for with your salary.

Somethin to think about anyway. Can you kill every time?;)
 
shucks sure writes like a very abrasive and pontificating individual who has been booted off another site a few times. He has considerable knowledge but his aggressive and opiniated delivery tick most people off. I hope you administrators keep an eye on him and don't let him make this site a downer like the other site(s) he's ruined.

Big&Bad, is that you?
 
opinions are also like armpits... there are two on opposite sides and quite often both of them stink.
What's that smell? It reminds me of cow pastures and salt water... shucks, it must be a SEEL! :eek:
Hey, Shucks, can you send me a copy of that book you wrote on .22s?:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top