Raven P25 Dangerous?

I found an old Raven P25 in the gun closet. I took it to the range today along with some other guns and after asking if they had any 25 cal to shoot the owner said that the Raven was too dangerous to shoot and wouldn't let me shoot it at his range. What's the deal with these. It looks like it is in near perfect condition an I just want to try it out. Should I just put it back in the closet and forget about it?

From my experience with Ravens, It might possibly be the only firearm I would take to the local PD and have them dispose of it. Poor design, poor materials, prone to small parts breakage. Lorcin has the same type of issues.

The smartass reply: Any 25 is dangerous to shoot, but only if you fire it at an assailant to stop him from harming you.

Other answer: I wouldn't worry too much about what someone at the range told you. Some hate them because they're inexpensive. Others hate them because "low income types" who "shouldn't have guns" buy them. No one wants to admit being a racist, of course, so we say the gun's a cheap piece of chit.

Don't remember any folklore or fact about a Raven "blowing up", or being dangerous for any bystanders.

Years ago, a friend brought one to me, becuse he couldn't figure out to disasemble it to clean it.

After an hour of messing with it, I got it apart showed him to clean and assemble and then we went out back and shot it.

Couldn't hit a soda can three feet away, but it didn't blow up, malfunction or anything.

Granted they are pieces of shit, but they're not dangerous.

I'm not a gun snob as I think that some of the Davis .25's and .380 were a little superior to the Raven, but i've seen more than a few Ravens on the street that had part#106 and #105 partially sheared off:

http://www.e-gunparts.com/productschem.asp?chrMasterModel=1870zMP25

only dangerous if you get shot with one

I had gotten a few at law enforcement auctions for around $20 to 25 several years back. They worked reliably and I could hit regular 8" falling plates easily at 7 yards.

I've only owned one Raven, and it was NOT reliable. Had issues pushing a cartridge into battery, like the recoil spring was weak. Stretch out the recoil spring, and it would work ok for a mag or so.

As far as safe to shoot.....I would say the guns are safe enough, although they ain't much of a gun.

I own 2 of them, one all black and one chromed out

I don't shoot them often as they are prone to small parts breakage, mainly the firing pin. Definitely don't dry fire it, it will break in a few clicks

Firing pin replacements are out there, last time I bought a couple, they were $15/ea, Too rich for my blood on a gun I don't shoot and is more just fun to have the pair of.

If you do disassemble it to replace parts or check it out, BE VERY AWARE of: the retaining piece on the back of the slide, it WILL fly about 30 feet away and be eaten by goblins and never found again
Seriously though, I've lost 2 of them.

I've shot both mine, none have Kaboomed in my hand, and I'd shoot them again if they weren't cheap Saturday night specials with parts that cost half the gun.

If you want a reliable pocket pistol, get an old colt, astra, or FN deuce-five

i have several, and while all teh above complaionts are valid, they are in no way "unsafe" and more than any other striker fired pistol. they have a lifespan of about 200-250 rounds, and make good pocket guns when there is nothing else available. ive given several to family who had no money and nothing to protect themselves with. i buy them at anywhere from 50-80$. perfect for giveaway guns.

SW

Perfect for a $100 buy-back as well.

Seen pictures of them KB'd, but then again you can find the same for any gun. I personally wouldn't shoot it much because .25 ACP is too damned expensive to just plink with.

If you don't want it, I'm sure you could find someone that collects Saturday Night Special pistols to buy it from you. Hell if you were closer I probably would. Mostly just the sort of thing to have for the sake of having one.

Put them inside a clear plastic bag the next time that you disassemble them..

I have a 25 Raven I bought in 1975 it works fine though It only has had 50 rounds in it . I would fire yours .

i remember a co-worker years ago telling me he used to have one. said every time he would fire it the damn thing would start to fall apart. he finally decided to sell it cheap

EDIT: looked it up, based on the Jennings pistol. My stepfather used to have a J-22, i remember shooting it. couldnt hit a coke can from 10 feet away with it, and i remeber firing it one time and the slide actually come off and i dont know how in the hell that happened.

raven predated jennings/bryco. one fo the designers from raven was teh lead in that company IIRC.

SW

Lets talk about the Raven ! My wife went to get her CCW about 3 years ago and took her Raven 25 that was her moms to the course. We had a various assortment of other choices ie Glock/Springfield/Styer but as she was the only female in a class of so many males with the 1000 set-ups and million dollar egos she made her choice. She was laughed at and made fun of
the whole nine yards but she out shot them all and their "set ups" and mind you she had to reload way more than the others there. Half way through the course the instructor asked for voulenters to shoot with her Raven, none tried. She only had one malfunction during the course , failure to seat the clip fully.

By the way she is a Army O.I.F. Vet , 2xer and has done more than most of the guys around !

I finally took the Raven to the ranch yesterday and put 2 boxes (100) through it and only had one problem, failure to feed due to old mag spring. It shot very well, and very straight. I like the little guy.

The Raven gets a super bad rap because of who (financially poor minorities) bought them, and that they were seen on the street a lot for a certain time period. Now I am not saying the Raven is a quality firearm by any stretch.
I fired a Raven that belonged to a friend's father. During five mags, no issues.
My grandfather was given a NAA .25acp as a gift when he retired from law enforcement in 1974. According to him it was a costly pistol at the time. I have put about 300 rounds through it with zero failures. While it is no doubt made with superior parts, metallurgy, and craftmanship over the Raven; a .25acp belly gun is a .25acp belly gun . . .

that's a good point, but I would like to see what .25 could do in a short rifle(short, but legal length). 16 inch barrel and a full stock might be fun to experiment with. As expensive as it is, does anyone bother to reload for .25? I can't remember ever seeing bullets or dies-then again, I've never looked either. That said, I'm not curious enough to spend the money to get a .25 rifle, especially since it would have to be a custom conversion-a custom ordered Contender barrel might be the cheapest way to go.

So you shot two boxes of ammo through the gun,,,,
That means you have about another half box of ammo to go before something breaks,,,,

Long time ago, my cousin and I bought one - We bounced an empty gallon milk jug around the yard for a bit, upon retrieving the target; not one hole in the jug, just a bunch of dents.

The only thing is not to go around with "one" in the chamber. That, for the Raven, is unsafe. Charge it at the time of firing.

While teaching a CCW class, one of my students was shooting one he had just purchased new the day before. Bore was clear and it appeared to be in perfect working order. Shooting Remington .25 through it. 3rd round and KABOOM! The slide split near the rear. Shooter was fine, minor cut on his hand. Not sure if it was an over powered round, as a taurus .25 shot the rest of that box with no issues. I suspect firing out of battery.

Got one from a friend for free. Chrome with pink grips. The thing has not missed a beat over 4 boxes of ammo. Better reliability than my NAA Guardian 380.

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