I was completely clueless to the existence of Raven and the other Ring of Fire companies, until my mother expressed an interest in obtaining her CHP. I found a Raven for her, just so she'd have something to keep her interest up and keep her motivated. My sister's father in law caught wind of it, and said, "You don't want that; take this Jimenez, instead." I'm not sure if he realized that they may as well be the same company.
I told Mom to take them both; the price was right. Mom said that she never realized how badly she wanted a gun, until people started giving them to her, lol.
From what I've read, Raven, Bryco, et al., are like the Yugo automobile. They get a lot of bad press. If you treat them like disposable items, they won't last long.
I think they have a purpose. I can remember living off of $450-600 a month, and I probably would have bought one at the time, had I run across one. As it was, I bought a Heritage Arms .22, SA revolver for about $150, and carried that, openly, in one of those cheap Walmart holsters that everyone loves to hate. It's what I could afford, at the time. And, I still had to borrow money to get it.
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