A long post:
I made my first pistol when I was 15, it was a muzzle loading pistol with a cherry handle, .50 caliber and was of 1.15" cold roll steel, hand made trigger mechanism, and used a bent silver spoon as the trigger guard. It used a typical cap on the bolster which I made out of a nickle bolt. Used a BB for the front sight. I could hit a pie plate with it at 20 yards. Not too bad for a hand made!
Some history about Stallard Arms Inc. that some members may not know:
The Stallard JS-9MM's were first made starting in a man's garage. Mr. Stallard designed the gun and they were not mass produced like many of the hand guns are, Stallard made one gun at a time starting out, then he later partnered with a man named Haskel. The two men started making 9MM's and then added 45ACP's using the same design.
The 9MM's were stamped with "Stallard" and the 45 ACP's were stamped with "Haskel".
I was surprised the guns had different names stamped on them, over the phone the company told the story I just typed.
The gun I kept for my collection was a JS-9MM which was bought out of a lot of ten pistols, mainly because the name Stallard which is the same as mine. The other 9 pistols, some 9MM's some 45ACP's, were given to close Stallard family members. I think got the price as wholesale holding an FFL license and a Class 3 permit.
Some guns that are considered "cheap" perform well. When we bought these guns like I said for $70.00 was a bulk purchase. $70.00 back then was probably equal to $200.00 - $300.00 today vs US dollar's buying.
It seems reasonable to consider a lot of companies first starting out, gain popularity by almost giving their product away, as you see on TV, just for S/H, and others find it difficult to compete with established companies who have been making guns since the west was wild. So, in order for Stallard to get their handguns out to the public with their pistols they took a loss just to get feedback from buyers. Almost all "small" companies, they have "fire sales" to receive some return on their investment and at the same time get their product out to the public.
IMHO this does not mean that "Stallard Arms" pistols are cheaply made. I would rate them over brands like "RG" and the other hundreds of brands of .25 semi's and .22 revolvers which jam or shred lead, etc.
Since I can roll a pop can 50 feet away down beside the farm with ease with my JS-9MM, tells me that I sure would not want to be on the business end of any of the "Stallard Arms" guns.
That would be a bad day
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