Why do "saturday night" pistols have such a horrible reputation?

Its a recession and 22 guns and ammo are cheap and reliable. I can shoot my 22 all day and its the same price as a mag of 9mm. 22 for me it is haha

reply to post by cosmicts


Well, at least it's not a 25 ACP!

Seriously, I think 22 LR is better than a 25. The 22 will penetrate and ricochet around doing some damage. If a 25 hits bone it'll stop.

Shot my friends Raven arms 25. Hit a tin can 15 feet away flush, it knocked the can over and didn't penetrate it. That's all I had to see to never own a 25 auto!

Originally posted by cosmicts
Its a recession and 22 guns and ammo are cheap and reliable. I can shoot my 22 all day and its the same price as a mag of 9mm. 22 for me it is haha

22s have their place and are sure fun/cheap to shoot, but would you bet your life on facing an armed intruder with a 22? Obviously if that's all you have or all you can get the answer would be YES.

Although to be honest I much rather use, say a Ketec PMR30 as opposed to a .32/.25/.380 Most of the figures I've seen for the .22 wmr are most likely for longer barreled rifles and not pistols, but considering the wmr is a little over 300ft lbs and a .380 is like 200ft lbs, I'd imagine the PMR 30 would probably be more potent. Plus you have 30 rounds to pump into an intruder instead of the 5-9 rounds that most of your other tiny caliber guns hold.

i always took Saturday night specials to mean homemade guns.

reply to post by James1982


Cool, never even heard of the PMR 30. 30 Rounds of 22 mag has got to be fun. Keltec just does some cool stuff sometimes!

Still, I guess the "Saturday Night Special" point is a pocket pistol and the PMR 30 is closer to a full size pistol than a pocket gun. You could probably find a 9 mm close to it's size

Originally posted by dizziedame

Originally posted by crudos
If someone wants to trust their lives with .25 or .380 acp, then by all means. But excuse me if I won't be anywhere near you when the person you tried to shoot just gets even more p.o.'d at you with anemic rounds like that.

When I was 10 years old I was turned lose in the woods to hunt squirrel.
Mom told me to shoot them in the head because if we got the bullet in the meat we could break a tooth when we ate it.

Little brother and I practised by shooting bottle caps.

Being shot with a 22 pistol or long gun can and will kill effectivly.

The Mafia enjoys the 22 as weapon of choice to kill their enemy.

Edit to add that I misread and thought you were talking about a 22.

My husband died as a result of a shot to the head with a 22 pistol.

It all depends on what you want to do to the object you are going to shoot.

And it matters how well you can hit what you aim for.

I hope no one ever thinks a 22 is a toy and will just make some one more angry.

If I shoot someone with a 22 I can drop them where they stand and they will not get back up.

Respect all weapons no matter how large or small.
Death knows no size.

edit on 27-3-2011 by dizziedame because: To add sentance. Pay no attention to my spelling errors.

I'm a believer in the often underrated potential of the.22lr. got em but theres an 18" 12ga 870 in my closet
with 5roundsof 2.75" OO in the closet on household duty.

Sorry to hear of your husband; my eyes are too blearyat1am. to read the entire thread but "saturday night specials like the lorcin and raven were always made of cheap "pot metal" castings.they broke easily. Small calibers will kill but "lethality"and "stopping power" are two entirely different things. and no handgun is gonna knock somebody off their feet by impact alone or it would knock the shooter over also.( newton's equal and opposite reactions):

but:
YOU DON'T SHOOT AN ASSAILANT TO "KILL HIM/HER" .YOU SHOOT TO "STOP"THEM FROM KILLING YOU OR SOMEBODY ELSE..A small caliber can kill by destroying the central nervous system or perforating an artery and you bleed out slowly over a few hours. a.45 opens a better than half inch hole in the same plumbing. an assailant with a knife within 21feet can close and kill you before you react; draw your sidearm and defend yourself and his central nervous system shuts down there's no time to wait to see if hes got the where with all to comedown with his knife slash.

You can kill a deer with a rifle; you can kill a deer with a tennis racket. both are pieces of sporting equipment. Its about adequate tools for the job at hand: Stopping an assailant before he kills you or someone else.where he stands.

reply to post by SilntShdw


I think a "Saturday Night Special" is basically defined as a cheap pocket pistol:
en.wikipedia.org...

Thugs and wanna bees could get them for $60.

Basically inaccurate noise makers to put some distance between you and trouble (for the defense minded) or a cheap gun to throw away if a thug committed a crime with it.

I regret buying my Cobra CA380, it is the same thing as the P.O.S. that is in the video, without the shiny crap. It was really dry so I cleaned and oiled it following the manual. I took it to the range and it stove piped after 20 rounds at least once a magazine. I showed it to the on-site gun smith, and the first words out of his mouth were "haven't seen a Saturday night special in a while" he also said that him and any other respectable gun smith won't even work on it. He put some good lube on the slide rails and I tried again. After 10 rounds it started jamming again. I gave up and called the manufacturer. They sent fed ex to my door to pick it up on their dime. I got it back and they said that they replaced the slide. I went to the range and had the same problems and the gun smith laughed at me and told me that I got what I paid for. $150 of crap. So it is currently back at the manufacturers for the fourth time. I only bought the weapon because I worked in a bad neighborhood at night with a cash register, and I was surrounded by tweakers. I figured what was the point if my only option was to throw the gun at the robber because I did not trust it to go bang. Long story medium, the "saturday night special" pistol is not worth betting your life with. I ate the $150 and saved up. I am now the proud owner of a reliable Kel-Tec .32 for the pocket and a Glock 23 for the hip. Well worth the extra money. The Kel-Tec was about $280 and the Glock 23 was $500. I spent a lot more than what I wanted but feel a million times more secure. I more than likely would never buy a saturday night special pistol for under $200 ever again. My Cobra 380 is currently in for repair for the fourth time. When I get it back, I am only putting one round in the chamber and saving it until SHTF and I am surrounded by zombies and all out of ammo.

reply to post by AP-Chris


Yeah I really like Keltecs stuff, they seem to have a bad rep among some because of their older stuff, but they have been good in my book for awhile now.

About the PMR30, it's definitely not a "Saturday night special" or a compact carry gun. The damn thing is huge! I was just kind of wandering off-topic and showing that even a .22mags have better performance than .25/.32/.380

reply to post by 1MrMarc


That sucks about the Cobra, but it is true you get what ya pay for

I still don't get why the OP has such love for these guns.... even if the ballistic performance of the cartridge didn't suck so bad, the quality of the guns themselves are so bad they are next to useless. Your post only proves that

If you are looking for a cheap semi auto pistol in all big caliberssuch as 9mm- 45 then buy a hi-point. They are indeed heavy and bulky but you can pick them up all day long for $125-$150 brand new at gun stores. oh and they carry a lifetime warranty plus made in the usa

ive never fired a real gun. although i am deadly with the compound, ( australian )

The pistol I would love to test the ballistics of the most is the Mateba Auto Revolver.

I would LOVE to own one of these some day. Or find a company that would build it for me.

Kicks the crap out of a Saturday Night Special any day.

reply to post by EarthCitizen07




Why? Probably because ordinary people do not usually have those types whereas low end crooks very often do.

Those are usually the cheapo versions of real guns. Many are made in Pakistan where probably half the population are gunsmiths or know someone who is.

My neighbor has several of these (why I don't know since he can afford real guns) and I've fired a few. They typically are chambered for ammo which one would think is too big for the physical size of the pistol. I envisioned my hand being blown off because of inadequate design when I pulled the trigger of one and fire about 10" long came out the barrel.

The connection of these to Saturday nights is pretty obvious. It is typically on Saturday night that so many party. Since "party" can mean getting wasted and going "shooting", well.... not hard to see the connection.

They are totally scary in my opinion.

reply to post by projectvxn




Hey thanks for the link. The Italians are very good arms designers. I've been looking for a .44 magnum and now I've decided that I'll order one of these. I don't even care what it costs. They are beautiful as works of high end craftsmanship and collectible without a doubt.

In case any critic is reading this be it known that since Vietnam in the sixties I've never shot at a person and don't plan on it. My shooting is usually at an outdoor range where other guys gather to vent frustrations by pretending they are frontiersmen again. Or something like that. Hey I believe in global warming so I can't be a gun freek. Right?

reply to post by cosmicts


You are correct. Many .22 cal versions of larger rifles exist designed to have a similar kick and are intended to be used for practice wherein the cost of ammo is a consideration.

Pistols too. Why spend big bucks just to practice?

ps I have a box of 50 .22 lr that you can have if you come over to my place. I don't use 'em. I can afford the big boys.

reply to post by crudos



I agree and have a .44 magnum because if you ever have to use it the guy you shoot isn't going to laugh at you... Most of the time just showing it to a punk is enough.

reply to post by trailertrash


That Mateba is the ONLY revolver I would EVER consider owning. If I ever get the chance to purchase one I will.

I've never been a fan of revolver designs. but that particular gun offers the best of both worlds semi-auto/cylinder revolver.

The stupid government banned Saturday night specials that were less likely to kill you.

Now the criminal have to get good guns that are more likely to kill you.

I had a cheap saturday night special that you could not hit the broad side of a barn with at over 25 feet. something was wrong with it because it shot about 3 feet to the right at 25 feet.

Another one a friend had would tumble the bullet every time you shot it and would keyhole the target.
In that one we found that you could actually drop a bullet down the front of the barrel and it would go about a inch before stopping.

I would rather a criminal was shooting at me with a Saturday night special then a real will made gun as i would have a better chance of surviving to shoot back with my 1911.

Originally posted by crudos
If someone wants to trust their lives with .25 or .380 acp, then by all means. But excuse me if I won't be anywhere near you when the person you tried to shoot just gets even more p.o.'d at you with anemic rounds like that.

100% agree. Shoot the biggest round that you can shoot accurately. Personally, I wouldn't carry anything smaller than a .38 or 9mm. I carry a 45 and my wife carries a .38.