Got an auto locked up help

[giturgun]

Ok here's the story
    I had a friend where I work ask me if I worked on guns . After a breif discussion I agreed to take one home and try to get it working for him. The slide would only come back about 1/2 way , finally removed a cross pin and discovered the spring to the cocked indicater was on the wrong side of the pin that protudes out the rear to indicate a cocked condition. The spring and a short piece of the indicater came out.
     
    Now the slide will travel almost all the way to the rear , but not quite far enough. The owner has said whatever it takes to get it apart, but I am trying to save his gun.

The brand is JIMENE. It is made in Costa Rica Ca. and the model is JA9.

iF ANYONE HAS ONE OF THESE OR HAS HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM i WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THERE IS SOME WAY TO FIX IT FOR HIM. hE SAID HIS SON TOOK IT APART TO CLEAN AND IT HAS NEVER WORKED SINCE. i SUSPECT SOMETHING IS IN WRONG OR BROKEN . Thanks in advance

[Questor]

Sounds like a basket case to me. He really shouldn't have taken it apart if he isn't mechanically inclined.  Now he leaves it up to you to look up the diagrams and figure out how to get it back together.

[Savage]

A quick search revealed the following information on you friends gun:

Unfortunately, I've some bad news. Jimenez Arms was formed from the wreckage of Bryco Arms, which declared bankruptcy after a court awarded damages to someone injured by one of their defective handguns. The LA Times reported on Feb. 4, 2005, that the California Department of Justice ordered Jimenez Arms (which is based in Costa Mesa) to stop manufacturing the JA-9 pistol on Jan. 13 of this year. (The story can be found at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-bryco4feb04,1,5596038.story?coll=la-editions-orange&ctrack=2&cset=true)

With firearms, the old adage "You get what you pay for" is truer than in many other situations. You're not alone, the very first pistol I ever bought was a $50 Jennings/Bryco J-22 that quickly shot itself apart. It's still in pieces in my gun safe waiting for the next gun buy-back program in Detroit.

As for your JA-9, I wouldn't shoot it. The article mentioned "parts coming off" the guns during testing. Considering that 9mm semi-automatic pistols harness the 360 or so foot-pounds of energy the 9mm cartridge generates upon firing to operate the weapon, that's a considerable amount of force being applied to a firearm of suspect workmanship. The last thing you'd want is for the slide to break free of the frame while firing (since when you're aiming, your face is behind the slide and that's where it's heading). At any rate, I'd find the dealer who sold you the pistol and give him a good chewing out as he should have known about the DOJ order to Jimenez Arms in January.

Chunk it!!

Savage

[rockbilly]

Best way to fix it is to get the welder out, select a heavy rod, jack the power up to about 400 amps, lay the gun on the grounding table and run the rod down the barrel, across the the action, all the way to the end, and finally down across the trigger guard and magazine housing. 

Sounds harsh, but it may save someone's life.  I have seen several of the Braycos or Jennings pistols come apart.  One incident, the slide was blown to the rear so hard that it sent peices of metal all over the shooter.  He wasn't hurt bad, but was bleeding from several places on this face and shooting hand/arm.  Had he not been wearing shooting glasses, he could have been blinded.

You always stand a chance of an accident with any gun, but these were made so poor the change of and accident/incident is very high.  As a collector, I do own a couple of them, but their station in life is restricted to "wall hanger."