Armscor Snubs?

[Certaindeaf]

I thought I heard that NW Armory is selling Ruger LC9 something somethings (the ones with fixed sights) for $200 freaking dollars!

 

[Jonnyuma]

My last Taurus was a model 609 or maybe it was a 605... ? 5-shot ported .357 snub. A nice gun that always worked and a real blue job that would make guns costing twice as much blush. Prolly should've held on to that one.
Too bad about them back-tracking on the warranty.

 

[CountryGent]

My last Taurus was a model 609 or maybe it was a 605... ? 5-shot ported .357 snub. A nice gun that always worked and a real blue job that would make guns costing twice as much blush.

I've had a 605 since 2005 and have had the same results. That little thing just works.

 

[DeanMk]

There's an M200 for sale at the Bremerton Fred Meyers. $249, IIRC.
I have no personal experience with it, but the general consensus is that the Armscor M200/M206 has a rep similar to the Hi-Point.
However, actual reviews from actual owners I've seen have generally been favourable.
One thing that does seem to help is to field strip the gun and clean all the grease out of works.
Apparently a lot shavings end up getting sealed into the gun as its assembled and cleaning this out can smooth up the action nicely.
Re-grease before re-assembling, of course.
It is a budget gun, so buyer beware, but so far, it seems some of the bad rep this gun receives may be a little uncalled for.

Dean

 

[Cavedweller]

Had a similar experience with Armscor 22 lr ammo. Found it to be dirty and smelly, with many light loads. Had a squib round lodge in the barrel of my revolver. Should have known better - quality control in the PI is non-existent. Will never buy anything Armscor ever again.

 

[Kruel J]

I wouldn't trust my life to it.

 

[raftman]

As an update, I think I can now upgrade my recommendation of the Armscor revolvers from "seems to work ok out of the box" to "would recommend to those on a tight budget."

I now have 300 rounds through my M200 and it hasn't missed a beat. Nothing has worked its way loose and lockup remains as it was when new. 100 rounds were actually Tulammo steel-cased; I bought them deliberately as a test of sorts. They didn't extract as smoothly/effortlessly as brass but still easily-enough handled by the extractor without having to tap spent casings out. This would suggest the chambers aren't quite so tight as many other revolvers that do experience problems with steel-cased ammo.

I realize 300 rounds isn't a hardcore durability test, but in my experience if a gun has problems it's pretty rare to not have them crop up within a couple hundred rounds. Usually a gun just works or it doesn't. I've only ever seen one that just kinda suddenly "broke" after a few hundred rounds of flawless operation (and it was built by Century). But I'll certainly update if that changes.

In my years as a shooter and collector I've learned as a general rule that you should just get the best gun of its type that you can afford. Don't buy a Century AK if you can afford an Arsenal, and don't buy an Armscor/RIA if you can afford a Ruger or S&W. I broke the rule with my RIA (since could have allowed myself a Ruger, Smith, Colt) but I was too tempted by the $190 price tag and yet I'm not disappointed by the purchase. I still say get the nicer guns if you can, but if you can't, the Armscor/RIA is a very functional option.

 

[DeanMk]

raftman,

Do you know if you can swap the wood grips from the 206 onto the 200?

 

[partsed]

Armscor is pretty good stuff so long as it isn't rimfire.... I was ready to throw away 500 rounds of 22LR, but was able to trade it for computer work.

 

[raftman]

raftman,

Do you know if you can swap the wood grips from the 206 onto the 200?

Actually I do happen to know, and the answer is pretty much no. I say "pretty much" because the wood grips will screw on securely but they will not fit flush, especially front to back.

I'll include a pic as to what I mean (please note I bought the grips used and the grip screw was already that boogered-up!)

 

[DeanMk]

AHA!...answers.
Thanks raftman, I've always wondered about that.


Dean