Your Favorite cheap Handgun that everyone else thinks is Junk and makes fun of.

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  • snapping turtle

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Dec 5, 2009
    6,463
    113
    Madison county
    When I first got an auto loader 9mm I had zero cash that was not for thrown at the ladies or bartender.

    Star had the 9mm BM. Heavy for it size. Not a lot of rounds but it worked and was pretty accurate. Traded it off at some time and wish I still had it. New surplus price to me was under 100 dollars. It spent a lot of time in a truck glove box and in the garage tool box top right drawer. Nobody seemed to laugh at it because of the 1911 look.

    Llama made some interesting items in the cheap range. Bersa with the PPK copies which fit the hands very well. While shooting others bersa’s and llamas they seem to have either over harden firing pins or extractors as I replaced several for buddies who had them.

    The Jennings 22 listed had so many companies made them some are great and some not so much. I think somewhere in the parts box is a version with no spring or rod.

    If I was looking for a inexpensive backup/carry/glovebox/tool box drawer style gun the star would be one I would look at.
     

    Leo

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    30   0   0
    Mar 3, 2011
    9,733
    113
    Lafayette, IN
    Charter Arms pocket revolvers were the laughing stock when foreign guns were almost unheard of. Clearly not the fit and finish or sophisticated machining and design of a S&W or Colt of that era, but dependable. Compared to a lot of the molded pocket pistols of today, a 50 year old Charter Arms Undercover looks like a premium piece of equipment.

    The Bersa Thunder Pro in .45acp was amazing. Strictly utilitarian finish but as accurate of .45 pocket pistol as anything I have ever fired. I miss that one.
     

    DadSmith

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Oct 21, 2018
    22,191
    113
    Ripley County
    I've had two Taurus G2c about a year apart that I tested 1k rds in two days for each. I cleaned them and lubed them. Then shot multiple brands, brass, and steel case, reloads, Underwood +P, multiple types of hollowpoint ammunition, and they both worked perfectly.

    My buddy liked the first one I had so much he bought it from me. I had it set up with Sig P226 18rd magazines and sleeves.
    My sister shot it as well and wanted one for her birthday.
    So I bought one for her birthday and I wanted to test its reliability before giving it to her, and I shot it 1k rds in two days as well basically the same regimen as above. It ran perfectly, and I felt confident it would do the job to defend her if need arisen.
     

    snapping turtle

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Dec 5, 2009
    6,463
    113
    Madison county
    charter arms
    Like the Jennings there were so many charter arms companies. Quality can vary as to when they were made. Charter arms charter arms inc. Charter 2000 ect.
    the one in 44 special brings a very nice premium in the used market I have traded them up twice because someone had the have the 44 special because it is well special.
     

    Creedmoor

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Mar 10, 2022
    6,435
    113
    Madison Co Indiana
    I've carried one for several years and duplicated it in a G-45. I've never shot a lighter recoiling 9mm.. I amused as well as annoyed by people that believe everything they read on the webz.

    I have a 19C and a 23C and although Im not a Glock guy, they work extremely well like you said. The "C" models are a very under rated pistols.
     

    Super Bee

    Master
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Nov 2, 2011
    4,798
    149
    Fort Wayne
    I have a couple RIA 1911 45's I really like.

    The black one groups great, a nice shooter. I think I gave $150.00 for it.

    Then I have a polished one with pearl grips. My brother-in-law says it looks like a Mexican drug cartel gun but she shoots nice and straight. Need better grips, just hasnt been on my priority list.
     

    r3126

    Sharpshooter
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    19   0   0
    Dec 3, 2008
    708
    43
    Indy westside
    A bit more expensive than most of the posts above... A number of years ago (I am old - maybe 10, maybe 20) I bought this Bugarian Makarov for $100. 9x18 ammo, fixed barrel, former Soviet Bloc standard sidearm. Accurate as all get out and as reliable as the sun coming up in the morning. Ammo about the same price as 9x19. Got the bug. Started collecting East German manufactured Maks. Have a bunch now.
     

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    92FSTech

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Dec 24, 2020
    1,157
    113
    North Central
    I've regretted every cheap gun that I've ever bought in the long run. I'm not a high end collector by any means, but quality well-manufactured stuff doesn't just happen, and in my experience, you've got to pay to play. There's a happy medium, though...there are diminishing returns after a certain point, and a $5000 handgun isn't 5x more reliable or 5x more accurate than a $1000 handgun...but a $1000 handgun is probably going to be at least 5x better in every way than a $200 handgun, at least in my experience.

    Probably the cheapest gun I have that actually serves a purpose is my Kel-Tec P32. It's a cheap plastic piece of junk, and I had to basically rebuild it, recontour the frame with a heat gun, fit the extractor, machine a groove for the takedown pin spring, plus a few other things that I can't remember, just to get it working reliably. But there's nothing else out there in that size bracket, weight, and caliber that really competes with it...so I own one. It's not a nice gun by any means, but it fills a niche, and is smaller and more shootable for me than the micro-compact .380s.
     
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