Bryco model 38, 380

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Check out www.bryco-jennings-jimenezarms.com forum for additional information. They are a site dedicated to preserving and enjoying SNS "Ring of Fire" pistols.

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Mr Saturday Night Special wrote:

yale wrote:

lonewolf2810 wrote:

If anyone needs to know I own a Ruger P89 loaded for bear for my personal choice.

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Cool. I own 2 Ruger P-89 pistols. One is the Decocker model and the other is the basic Safety/Decocker model. Great guns.

Regarding the Bryco 380, Not bashing you but passing on my experiance with them. I bought one shortly after getting out of the Army in the early 90s. Small, easily concealable gun and I liked it until the slide rail cracked and the slide came off during recoil hitting my brother-in-law in his forehead while he was practicing with it. I sent it to Bryco and, to their credit, they replaced it quickly with a new pistol. The new pistol had less than 200 rounds through it before it's slide rail cracked and the gun disasembled itself in my hand. Be careful with this pistol and understand it's limits.

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For the record, I've shot a few guns in my lifetime andI think I know what I'm talking about.

I'm not trying to be a gun-snob. There have already been a lot of those on this thread. I'm just trying to demonstrate that I have real life experience.

I've done a lot of research on Bryco pistols.I have yet to find one instance of a slide cracking inhalf and hitting anyone. It just doesn't work that way in real life.

Brycos are made of an alloy called Zamak. A slide/frame made of Zamak will develop a small crack for various reasons...mistakes in the casting, operator abuse... The crack will be self-evident and/or the gun will stop going into battery long before you have a "KB"! It's the beauty of Zamak. It will stretch and bend long before it breaks.

Bryco-Jennings-JimenezArms.com forum has 600 members. Thousands of rounds fired. Not one "KB" to report!

If your cousin's, brother's boss's, girlfriend did get hit in the head by a flying slide I would like to see a picture of it. I know if a gun "KB'ed" on me andI lived, the first thingI would do is take some pictures and call a lawyer!

In short don't BS. We don't need that on this forum.:banghead:

Mr Saturday Night Special

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Notice all of the weapons pictures are pretty high quality, military designed weapons.

Not "zamak" (zinc pot metal) el cheapo pistols.

BTW, nice quadrant sight on the .50 although the handle needs to come off the barrel, and it could stand to be mounted on a M3 tripod so you can get good shoulder pressure.

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RSO1911 wrote:

All I asked is if he had put rounds downrange to make sure it's one of the reliable guns. Lot of "monday" built bryco's.

In fact, If you would like to see the other end of the spectrum you can shoot mine. It slide bites easily, the striker is awfull to get cocked and the thing is hit or miss cycling. It would not, and has not put more than 15 rounds in a row downrange with out a FTF.

If you trust your life to that be my guest. I'll stick to something a little more reliable.

I like how you compare us to "brady's minions" because we're trying to help make sure a fellow shooter is packing a reliable weapon. Sure some flip out and maybe go over the edge but hey, ALOT of people have had sketchy results with Bryco's.

Don't know why you started talking about jennings pistols.

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Jennings pistols was the parent company for Bryco.

In fact, If you would like to see the other end of the spectrum you can shoot mine. It slide bites easily, the striker is awfull to get cocked and the thing is hit or miss cycling. It would not, and has not put more than 15 rounds in a row downrange with out a FTF.

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How long have you owned your pistol? Bryco/Jennings has been out of business for quite some time now. They are a simple blowback design. You haven been able to fix your gun yet? They're like old 67 VW Bugs. Anyone can work on them.

Mr SNS

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I own some Zamak as well.

Mr SNS

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RSO1911 wrote:

Don't know why you started talking about jennings pistols.

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Ummm because Bryco IS Jennings. Oh maybe not on paper, but they are Jennings guns. I'm not in the mood to explain the evolution from Jennings to Bryco/Jennings to Bryco to Jimenez Arms, but a gun with any of those names on them is the same dang thing.

IIRC you are in Western Washington? I'll gladly take that Bryco off your hands that you have. And I'll make it purr. How much you want for it?

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Heheh give 'em heck Mr. SNS!:celebrate

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I'm another forum member shooting the heck out of my Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez Arms pistols. I CC one every day. I'm lucky in that I have a pistol/rifle range beside my home and I shoot the pistol I'm going to carry every morning before I leave the ranch. I've done it for years now and haven't had one blow up on me yet!

First things first. A holster that fits the original poster's application is the DeSantis Yaqui (23A SA). It comes either as a slip on (belt) or paddle. It retails for $50 but I've picked up three now for half that. I bought my third one yesterday from a member on the Cast Boolit forum for $20 shipped.

I see posts like this all the time. I don't ever get in a wad as I know it is absolute BS. I shot my JA-Nine 200 rounds Sunday morning and 800 rounds this morning. Nothing like blowing 1K rounds out the barrel at todays prices but I needed to do it. I haven't given it a good cycle since December and I need it this week. Oh heck, it didn't blow up.

Honestly, if you can't take a pistol like a Bryco/Jennings/Jimenez Arms 380 and make it sing, you ought to consider not shooting or carrying. They are as simple as it gets and can perform 100% of the time. I am a proud member of theByco/Jennings/JimenezForumand as far as I know every member of thatoutfit supports this open carry venue. I believeANY gun will do, it's the shooter that matters!

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What, on earth, is that?

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Come on Ranch Dog, quit challenging RSO1911. I'm trying to buy that evil, unsafe, malfunctioning POS Bryco from him. I need a self destructing paperweight after all.

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Ranch Dog wrote:

What, on earth, is that?

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LOL valve stem?

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This is NOT my Jennings .22 but is identical in every way to it. I can reliably hit a milk jug with it at engagement distances. I feel quite comfortable carrying it, and am 100% certain it will function reliably for me should the need arise.

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LOL!:what:It was my first try at a home-brew grip sleeve.

Mr SNS



RSO1911 wrote:

Ranch Dog wrote:

What, on earth, is that?

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LOL valve stem?

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You gonna tell the story of your long barrel .380 target model you built Mr. SNS?

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Sorry for the OT post, but this is a reply to the "Haters."

I bought a Lorcin LT-25 with an aluminum frame and slide and it's one of my favorite guns to CC for pocket carry when I have to leave the house and OWB CC with my Serpa holster of my Glock 27 just won't cut it. As much as I love to OC, sometimes it's just more prudent to CC.

Every time I've run through a full mag of ammo with this, it's run flawlessly. I even made sure to check the first few rounds for any bulges, signs of over-pressure or burrs. This thing is VERY used... and I bought it that way.

Here she is:


Oh, and this should really chaff your britches, an SNS that not only fires 7+1 without issue, but hits with half the shots at 7 yards... note: this was the very first time I'd taken this pistol out:


This pistol is a lot of fun and if I had more money and/or .25acp was cheaper, I'd shoot it a bunch more!

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Hmm what is the bryco worth... Well the EAA witness match .38 super I want is 499.99... So yes, I'd sell the bryco for 499.99

If I want to carry a cheap .380 I'd rather carry the Firearms international Pony sitting next to the Bryco (oops pot called the kettle black!:lol. eh, scratch that I'd carry the Colt 1903 .32 thats ran like a dream for around 100 years .

Now THATS a quality gun! It's over 100 years old, still shoots great, and gets shot regularly (same with the 1917 built 1911 but I digress).

I just don't see a Bryco holding up for 100 years.

As far as making it "purr" I have no doubt that you could. Anyone who has a passion for anything mechanical finds out how to make it run better. As fror myself, between the 1911's, Hi-Powers, revolvers and such, that Bryco is back burner for sure.

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Dunno, I'll bet a Bryco can last 100 years. Like anything it's all in the use and care it gets. If you shoot any gun too much you'll simply wear it out. For the kind of use most pocket pistols see, I could believe seeing Brycos in 100 years.

As far as price, well for $499 I could probably buy 10 of those Brycos...

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Mr Saturday Night Special wrote:

I've done a lot of research on Bryco pistols.I have yet to find one instance of a slide cracking inhalf and hitting anyone. It just doesn't work that way in real life.

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I'm not arguing but I was there and saw it happen. We were fireing at a target in my Brother-in-Laws back yard with the Bryco .380. The slide rail cracked, the slide flew back off of the gun and hit him hust above his eyebrow. No injury or blood. Just startled him.

The gun had ~300 rounds through it. We put everything in the original box and mailed it to Bryco with a letter explaining what happened. About 2 weeks later another one showed up in my mail with a letter saying they stand behind thier product, here's a new gun, it's up to you to comply with registration laws, yada yada. I thought that it was very cool of them to do that. We hadn't asked for it nor were we expecting anything from them.

I had the new gun about a yearand put about 400 rounds through it. Then one day theslide didn't go back into battery. As I cleared thegun and pulled the slide back it came off the rail. I noticed that the sliderail had a minor crack in it in nearly the same place as the old gun. I took the 2 pieces of gun and boxed them up and the next time we burned a bunch of brush I threw the box into the fire.

Maybe I abused the guns. Maybe the cheap pocket pistols weren't built to be regular range guns. Who knows. I'm just passing on what happened to me. This isn't hearsay.It'sall first hand.

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Ok, there is a huge difference between a slide CRACKING IN HALF, and a rail failing. I'll bet they had a bad batch of slides, as there are many bryco .380's with many more rounds than you've fired out there still running fine. Ya made it sound like a catastrophic failure.

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yale wrote:

Mr Saturday Night Special wrote:

I've done a lot of research on Bryco pistols.I have yet to find one instance of a slide cracking inhalf and hitting anyone. It just doesn't work that way in real life.

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I'm not arguing but I was there and saw it happen. We were fireing at a target in my Brother-in-Laws back yard with the Bryco .380. The slide rail cracked, the slide flew back off of the gun and hit him hust above his eyebrow. No injury or blood. Just startled him.

The gun had ~300 rounds through it. We put everything in the original box and mailed it to Bryco with a letter explaining what happened. About 2 weeks later another one showed up in my mail with a letter saying they stand behind thier product, here's a new gun, it's up to you to comply with registration laws, yada yada. I thought that it was very cool of them to do that. We hadn't asked for it nor were we expecting anything from them.

I had the new gun about a yearand put about 400 rounds through it. Then one day theslide didn't go back into battery. As I cleared thegun and pulled the slide back it came off the rail. I noticed that the sliderail had a minor crack in it in nearly the same place as the old gun. I took the 2 pieces of gun and boxed them up and the next time we burned a bunch of brush I threw the box into the fire.

Maybe I abused the guns. Maybe the cheap pocket pistols weren't built to be regular range guns. Who knows. I'm just passing on what happened to me. This isn't hearsay.It'sall first hand.

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Good job at shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.

Bryco slide rails can't break... you know why? THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!

The slide rides along the bottom of the barrel, just like most other Saturday Night Specials. The only way the slide flew back at you is if either A) the barrel snapped off of the frame, which is highly unlikely or B) the whole front end of the slide snapped off and the recoil spring sent it downrange with the rear part of the slide coming back at you... again, highly unlikely.

Please, review the illustrated parts list from Numrich: http://www.e-gunparts.com/productschem.asp?chrMasterModel=1190z48
And then review these two pictures:



At this point you are likely sweating like a pig from being called-out or you've run to the bathroom to deal with the mess in your pants from sheer embarrassment. When you're back dealing with any issues resulting from having your falsities uncovered, please enlighten us as to how sliderails got onto a gun that doesn't have any.

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And just a reminder folks, Jennings/Bryco/Calwestco/Jimenez Arms are ALL THE SAME GUNS. Also ALL THEIR GUNS use the SAME BASIC DESIGN. So as just_a_car describes it is pretty dang near impossible to have slides come flying off at ya. Good bit of gun snob rumor mongering though.