Llama Handguns...

[AllenM]

How do you say RUN in spanish?

Llama

 

[Colt556]

I've seen some good and some bad. They made a pistol a few years back that was built on the Para Ordnance 13 shot frame. The whole gun was cheaper than a Para frame! I knew a guy that bought one just to get the frame to build another gun with. Some of the smaller .22s are pretty good. But I guess I'm the minority here...

 

[ferg409]

note i have had two or three with no problems also at this time i have a llama .45cal
all the ones ive owned were made before 1992.

 

[clt46910]

In the 70's I had one in .38 super that was a great gun. Got it used and cheap out of a pawnshop. It was my carry gun for a couple years. Accurate and reliable. Got into a couple gunfights with it. Worked everytime I pulled the trigger. Back then I pulled the trigger a lot. Free ammo will let you do that...LOL

I have a couple more that were good as well as a couple was junk. I liked the little .380's they made. Most of them was good guns. Seldom found a bad one of those.

 

[ferg409]

llama handguns i have had 3 or 4 with no problems i now have a
.45cal which is my secound one very good shooters all the ones ive
had were made before 1992. so like these.

 

[JByer323]

Does this guy look like he's got stuff figured out?

 

[muncie21]

As a public service, I'll be happy to relieve anyone of their 'crappy' Llama's that are chambered in .380 for a small fee that is.

 

[Claddagh]

IME, their QC leaves a lot to be desired and their importer's response to warranty claims (at least back when it was Stoeger) s**ked.

I've owned two: an XXII (mini-1911 looking .22) and a Comanche .38 Spl. revolver. The revolver worked decently and lasted quite a while before it had to be retired because I couldn't get a replacement for the part that broke.

The little .22 was a huge disappointment. I ordered it based on looks, price and the fact that I wanted a compact .22 semiauto for camping/tacklebox/woods bumming instead of a revolver.

When it finally came and I got it home I naturally field-stripped it for an initial cleaning. While I wasn't very impressed with all of the tool marks and assorted debris I found inside I went ahead and lubed it lightly, put it back together and headed out to the range to run a couple of boxes of ammo through it and sight it in.

On the second mag full, I had two 'doubles'. When I dropped the slide on the third one, the hammer 'followed" and blew a hole in the ground about 6" from the toe of my left boot.

When I took it home, I did a more detailed take down to see if I could figure out what happened. The action parts looked as if they'd been 'fitted' by a chimp with a wood rasp and the sear/hammer engagement surfaces were in the process of disintegrating. Literally. There were little pieces of metal curling up and breaking off of the sear.

I called Stoeger and sent it back to them with the usual letter describing the problem(s) and my contact info. When I hadn't heard anything back about it in a month, I called again. I was told that "We haven't gotten to yours yet. We'll call you when we do."

Two months later, when I still hadn't heard anything I called again. Same song from a different bird.

This was repeated about 6 weeks later, at which point I was pretty steamed (I thought).

When I finally got the pistol back (after a total time of over 6 mo.!) and took it down to see what the new parts looked like they showed the same sort of ham-handed fitting it had left with. The metal was so 'soft' you could actually bend the edge of the sear with hand pressure and the hammer's 'full-cock' engagement notch was filed so crookedly that there was less than about 30-40% engagement.

Another call (albeit a good deal less politely phrased) and another trip back. Same sort of time frame and results.

As I now had spent about 1/3 of what I paid for it in shipping costs (Stoeger refused to replace the pistol or reimburse) and still didn't have a trustworthy pistol I gave up on it. I sold it to a buddy, with full disclosure and at a substantial loss, who thought that he could buy his own parts and fix it.

He finally did succeed, but it took him three sets of parts and he had to case harden the last ones to get the fit to last past a couple of hundred rds or so.

I've never bought another Llama product, although I will admit that I've seen some examples that the owners seemed satisfied with. I wouldn't trust the metallurgy or the workmanship again at any price.

 

[scububbs]

I had one of the mini 1911s in .22 for years and it was fun to shoot, but not all that reliable. As a cheap plinker they would be fine but for serious social work I wouldn't use one.

 

[Patient Zer0]

I had one of their .45 1911 clones. I used it for my carry gun for 2 years. It never failed to go bang when I pulled the trigger. It was also reasonably accurate. I say go for it. Its only money and you'll earn more.