Jimenez Arms was an American firearms manufacturer based in Henderson, Nevada. The company was started in August 2004 using the molds and machinery from bankrupt Bryco Arms and made six models of firearm. Under its Bryco name, the company was described by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as one of the inexpensive firearm manufacturers known as the "Ring of Fire" companies. All firearms manufactured by Jimenez Arms were constructed of injection-molded Zamak, a zinc alloy. Jimenez Arms filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 2020.
History
Jennings Firearms
Jennings Firearms was founded in 1978 by Bruce Jennings, the son of Raven Arms founder George Jennings. After declaring bankruptcy, the company was renamed Bryco Arms, but the Jennings name was retained for many years even while Bryco Arms used its own brand name for firearms.
Bryco Arms
Bryco Arms was the successor company to Jennings Firearms, a U.S. firearm manufacturing company, based at various times in Carson City, Nevada, Irvine, California, and Costa Mesa, California. The company's most famous product, along with the Jennings J-22, was the Bryco Arms Model 38 semi-automatic pistol, available in both 32 ACP and 380 ACP calibers. As with Jennings, the company was owned by Bruce Jennings. Bryco Arms was one of several manufacturers of so-called Saturday night special firearms based in the Los Angeles, California vicinity, descended from George Jennings' Raven Arms. It produced firearms variously branded as Jennings Firearms at its Irvine, California facility, as well as under the brand name of Bryco Arms at its former Carson City, Nevada facility, and at its Costa Mesa, California facility. Bryco Arms declared bankruptcy in 2003 as a result of losing a lawsuit filed in Oakland, California and which resulted in a jury award of a record $24 million judgment against Bryco Arms. The lawsuit stemmed from an injury to a then 7-year-old boy named Brandon Maxfield received from a 20-year-old family friend who was attempting to unload the 380 ACP version of the Bryco Arms Model 38. The pistol discharged while the 20-year-old was attempting to clear the chamber, the gun inadvertently pointed at Maxfield. The discharge paralyzed Brandon Maxfield from the neck down. The plaintiffs convinced the court that due to a design defect, the gun had a cartridge feed problem, made evident when the safety was on and the user pulled back the slide to check the chamber or load a cartridge into the chamber. Rather than re-design the gun to correct the jamming problem, the instruction manual for the weapon was changed to require that the safety be placed in the fire position when checking the chamber or chambering a cartridge, which hid the problem from the user.
Jimenez Arms
Bryco's former factory foreman, Paul Jimenez, bought the bankrupt Bryco Arms for $510,000 in August 2004, and renamed the company Jimenez Arms. Operations resumed in Costa Mesa, California. Jimenez Arms later ceased California operations and on August 30, 2006, a license was granted for Jimenez Arms to commence operation in Henderson, Nevada, and production resumed there.
