zip ?? 22
got one of these when they first came out...never could get it to work right...jammomatic...and to hard to crank one in without pushing against something...dumped it for a loss...anything improve on them ????? some neat engineering but a no go for me then
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Huh?? 0 -
I assume you mean one of these. They do nothing for me and I was sorry to see USFA stop making their high-quality SAA's.
http://www.GunBroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=451472982
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quote:Originally posted by spasmcreek
got one of these when they first came out...never could get it to work right...jammomatic...and to hard to crank one in without pushing against something...dumped it for a loss...anything improve on them ????? some neat engineering but a no go for me then
I don't think I'd describe poor engineering as "neat." The original idea was to create a "gun bayonet"; it was supposed to mount on a rifle, sort of like a bayonet, and be a back-up weapon.
I haven't owned one, but from reading, its intended function required it be made as light weight as possible, so instead of significant mass for the bolt, a very heavy spring was used -- that resulted in the bolt moving too quickly for reliable stripping of rounds from the magazine.
The problem if one wants to use it in the function it was intended to be used (mounted on a rifle) one has to register it (and pay the $200 for the tax stamp) as a Short-Barrled-Rifle as the ATF considers a pistol mounted on a rifle as "adding a stock" to a pistol.
If I found one really cheap, NIB, I might buy it on speculation that 30-40 years from now it might have some status of "one of the worst" firearms ever produced, but I'm not sure if the production numbers are low enough where it could command collectors premium like some of the other firearm failures in the past.0 -
quote:Originally posted by spasmcreek
got one of these when they first came out...never could get it to work right...jammomatic...and to hard to crank one in without pushing against something...dumped it for a loss...anything improve on them ????? some neat engineering but a no go for me then
The company has come out with all sorts of accessories (Glock sight adapter, Picatinny rail, bolt hold back, threaded barrel, gun mount, mountable stock to turn the thing into a rifle). So those could be termed "improvements".
They also claim to have done some tweaking to make later guns more reliable than the earlier ones, and there is an upgrade kit out now that supposedly improves reliability of the earlier guns. Not sure how well it actually works, but yes, the company at least addressed this.
Of course, there are things you can do with ANY gun to improve reliability, like trying different types of ammo, springs, running different mags, polishing and lubing internal parts, etc. I'm sure with enough tweaking you could probably get this thing to run OK. . .not sure its worth the effort, though.
This review (which the writer calls a "non review") is fairly instructive: http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2013/03/usfa-zip-not-a-review.html Ouch.
IMO, out of battery strikes or not, the gun itself is pointless.
Take away the "sci-fi" look and you have a non-ergonomic mostly plastic gun with poor trigger, poor reliability, and dangerous charging handle location. At $180 cost new (though I bet you can find used ones for a LOT less), its not really all that inexpensive. EG, for about $200 you can buy a used Smith 22A, and from experience, that's actually an excellent pistol at its price point.
I'm just not sure what this gun does (apart from look weird) that would make you want to buy it. Its not really suitable for hunting, defense, or serious target shooting. I suppose shooting it is "fun", but wouldn't you have more fun shooting a gun that's more comfortable, reliable, and safe? 15 ounce weight is light, but if that's the main criterion, there are other .22s as light (eg Smith 317 J frame revolver weighs less; polymer Taurus .22 PLY only weighs 11 ounces; etc).
Yeah, you "could" mount it onto an AR rifle, but why WOULD you? If I'm fighting with my AR and it goes down, I don't think a .22 pistol is going to be my backup of choice. How are you going to get this pistol to shoot to point of aim when mounted on a rifle?
If you added the cost of this pistol and the $200 SBR stamp cost, together, you'd have $400 with which you could buy an ACTUAL service pistol to serve as a backup. . .wouldn't that be better?
Bottom line, to me this is another one of those "answers" to a question nobody asked. The gun does multiple things poorly and nothing well. Even if I had one of these I still wouldn't shoot it. . .with .22 ammo still scarce and expensive, I think I'd rather shoot it through a better platform.0
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