If memory serves me right, Clerke's were prototypical of what was referred to as a "Saturday night special". Made from cast alloy (Zinc and/or low grade aluminum primarily) most were chambered for low-pressure cartridges -- .22LR, .32 S&W (not long) mostly and the .38 S&W (not special). If one of these guns survived firing more that 200 rounds, I'd be surprised. One specimen that I saw -- in .22 caliber -- you could see where the sprue holes were in the casting mould as they had barely polished (not machined) them off. The .38 S&W was better finished but it had fallen from an idiot's pocket in a parking lot. The fall not only popped the cylinder open, it cracked it and fractured the joke they called the cylinder crane.
Clerkes made the RG/Rohm guns look like premium guns.
Chat with our AI personalities