Killer bought his weapon legally, passed screening (anti-gun media? no way!)

SF Gate ^ | Matthew B. Stannard

[supercat]

Bryco SUCKS! Cheap guns!!!

I bought one to see how bad they were. Got 240 rounds through the thing without a single malfunction. Very rapidly downhill from there. Still, the gun was completely reliable for that first 240 rounds and if I'd treated it a bit nicer (i.e. not shot too much in a session, so as to avoid letting the metal get too hot) it might have been good for 500 or so.

Pretty crummy life for a gun, I'll admit, but good reliability within that life.

Problem is none of the "buybacks" these days are as generous as when I bought the thing...

[F.J. Mitchell]

Huang,.....Huang, that name has a familiar ring to it.

[Standing Wolf]

Leftists are to American civil rights
as the A.I.D.S. virus is to health!

[F.J. Mitchell]

I should have added: Just kidding, John.

[JusticeLives]

Amen, Brother. It makes no difference whether we have a Republican or a Democrat president, we need to be vigilant. I know, I know. It can't happen here. We used to have fairly decent corporations in the US and then someone got smart and discovered that the CEOs and CFOs could make a killing off the peons by taking their benefits away. Remember when a good job meant good health coverage, a pension plan and maybe a 401 account? In the last 10-15 years corporate presidents and high corporate officials started demanding the golden parachute when they left a company after fleecing the company's assets. Now they demand the Golden Coffin. They want to make as much as the famous (but morally bankrupt) football, basketball and baseball greats. Who ever thought we'd end up with US corporations as corrupt as politicians? They've taken away the incentive to work hard and diligently. There's no company loyalty either. Now, they're going to try to put the last nails in the coffin of civil liberties and our right to keep and bear arms to defend ourselves from physical injury or death, or another Hitler.

[JusticeLives]

Amen, Brother. It makes no difference whether we have a Republican or a Democrat president, we need to be vigilant. I know, I know. It can't happen here. We used to have fairly decent corporations in the US and then someone got smart and discovered that the CEOs and CFOs could make a killing off the peons by taking their benefits away. Remember when a good job meant good health coverage, a pension plan and maybe a 401 account? In the last 10-15 years corporate presidents and high corporate officials started demanding the golden parachute when they left a company after fleecing the company's assets. Now they demand the Golden Coffin. They want to make as much as the famous (but morally bankrupt) football, basketball and baseball greats. Who ever thought we'd end up with US corporations as corrupt as politicians? They've taken away the incentive to work hard and diligently. There's no company loyalty either. Now, they're going to try to put the last nails in the coffin of civil liberties and our right to keep and bear arms to defend ourselves from physical injury or death, or another Hitler.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It would have been better if he had bought a $600 Sig?

[Feiny]

Ummm NO. I was just commenting that BRYCO sucks. Their guns are pieces of crap. That is all.

[FreeTally]

I bought one to see how bad they were. Got 240 rounds through the thing without a single malfunction. Very rapidly downhill from there. Still, the gun was completely reliable for that first 240 rounds and if I'd treated it a bit nicer (i.e. not shot too much in a session, so as to avoid letting the metal get too hot) it might have been good for 500 or so.

I have one also. I fired maybe 50 rounds through it, and had a friend tell me he had two that went downhill after 100 or so rounds. I just stopped using it at the range(like I can hit anything on the 15 yard target anyway). Its size/weight is awesome for me here in Florida in the summer. I hate that its only .380, but I always explain that it will at least stop someone long enough for me to get back to my truck and get the Glock 27. They are so cheap too. If it wasn't for the price, I would never had bought one. If price was no issue, I would have just gotten a Kahr(and I still want one).

However, I hate that damn orange/red "loaded" indicator that sticks out the back(of the Bryco). Anyone out there clip that thing off?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Sorry, the comment wasn't aimed at any one specifically.

[supercat]

I fired maybe 50 rounds through it, and had a friend tell me he had two that went downhill after 100 or so rounds.

Out of curiosity, what was the failure mechanism? Mine had the barrel shift in the frame slightly such that the chamber got slightly mis-shaped and would no longer chamber ammunition properly. If I were to file the chamber slightly I could probably put a few more rounds through it, but I'm not crazy enough to fire a cheap pistol on which I've reamed out the chamber.

Having not tried to carry the thing, I didn't find the red cocking indicator a problem. Is your difficulty with it that it snags? If you really don't want it, you can pull it off the firing pin, though unless you paint the back of the firing pin red you'll risk having a prosecuting attourney insist that you didn't really mean to shoot the crook who was mugging you, but you forgot the gun was loaded (without the red plastic thingie to remind you) and you should thus be charged for a negligent shooting.

Otherwise, the Bryco .38 actually fits my hand better than just about anything else, except that if I hold it comfortably when I try to shoot it I get "vampire bites" on my hand. Gripping the pistol with one finger and thumb (two fingers off the bottom) works decently, though it's awkward. Probably no less accurate than a better grip at least.

Overall, I reasonably like the Bryco (for what it is). Maybe I have weird taste, but I think it looks decent and has a decently-light weight. Unlike a Lorcin or a Hi-Point (those things are UG-LY!) Of course, any gun that costs less than $50,000 is purely evil in the eyes of Brady et al.