Jennings, Davis, Bryco, Raven etc... did anyone have one?

Back in the day a friend in the States (his father) had a Jennings Model J-22 and a Davis Industries Model D-22 derringer. I never got to try them out but I remember thinking how small they were...You had to be close to the target to hit anything, Hence the name.... gut busters
 
Back in the day (pre 9/11) I had a friend in Buffalo who had an FFL and he would import firearms for me. On a whim I had him bring in a Bryco 38 in 32 ACP and to be honest it wasn't all that bad. Trigger was a little hard but it cycled reliably and was reasonably accurate at 7 yards (probably its accuracy sweet spot). The biggest issue were the sights which were miniscule so aiming was a challenge. I didn't shoot it that much so I can't speak to its longevity. Four or five years ago I decided to thin out my 12/6 collection and I sold it to someone on this board so it's kicking around out there somewhere in Canada.
 
In a futile attempt to get the gun to run I imported extra magazines - three, I think - which would have cost more than the gun did. All of them were sharp to the touch. None of them would feed with any kind of reliability. If I recall correctly, Mini-Mags and Stingers seemed to work better than Blazer or anything Federal, but nothing worked well enough to rely upon it. It wasn't fit for anything. Sure, it looked great and it fit nicely in any pocket, but the only shot you could count on was the first - after that, who knew.

I suspect that a version chambered in 25ACP would have run much better.
 
The intended markets for those products:

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Had one in early 80s - worked fine with Stingers or Mini Mags but not consistent. Went to a Iver Johnson TP22 SA which shot well and were popular ... alot' of Depts. used as back up guns back in the day - you also had to qualify on them -
 

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9.3 Hunter said:
Had one in early 80s - worked fine with Stingers or Mini Mags but not consistent. Went to a Iver Johnson TP22 SA which shot well and were popular ... alot' of Depts. used as back up guns back in the day - you also had to qualify on them -
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That Iver Johnson looks eerily familiar.... I had an Irma Model 552 .22lr pistol back in the day. Kinda scaled down Walther PPK.

Ran fine with hi-vel .22lr but didn't like Stingers at all!

Pic scooped off 'Net:

z ERMA 552 1024768.jpg
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NAA.
 
Four pictures of a J-22 converted to Restricted Class by lengthening the barrel.
Original barrel drilled out, pre-rifled barrel sleeve permanently installed inside.

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