Raven Arms

{{Short description|Defunct firearms manufacturer}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{split|Raven Arms MP-25|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Raven Arms | logo = File:RavenArmslogo.jpg | type = Private | genre = | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = {{start date and age|1970}} | founder = George Jennings | defunct = {{end date and age|1991}} | location_city = Carson City, Nevada, Irvine, California, City of Industry, California and Costa Mesa, California | location_country = U.S. | location = | locations = | area_served = U.S. | key_people = Paul Jimenez | industry = firearms | products = weapons, Semi-automatic pistols | services = | market cap = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = | footnotes = | intl = }}

'''Raven Arms''' was a firearms manufacturer established in 1970 by firearms designer George Jennings. The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibiting the importation of inexpensive handguns prompted Jennings to design the MP-25, a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and enter the firearms business. Raven has been referred to as the original "Ring of Fire" company, a term describing companies known for producing inexpensive Saturday night special handguns.<ref name="Freudenberg2014">{{cite book|last=Freudenberg|first=Nicholas|title=Lethal But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6M3RAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48|date=January 21, 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-993720-2|pages=48–52}}</ref>

Raven kept manufacturing costs to a minimum by building their guns from injection-molded zamak, a zinc alloy.

==History== Before Jennings developed the MP-25, a friend who owned a pawn shop that sold firearms complained to Jennings that his supply of inexpensive imported handguns (typically made by Röhm Gesellschaft) had been cut off due to the Gun Control Act of 1968, resulting in a significant loss of sales. At the time, Jennings operated a machine shop that made parts for Southern California aerospace companies. Jennings established Raven Arms to produce the first Raven, the P-25 for his friend, and over the next 20 years, the company sold approximately two million variations of the pistols. The first variation of the Raven had a large button sliding safety on the side, and was manufactured in Baldwin Park, California. The second variation changed the safety to a smaller sliding safety, but retained the designation of P-25, and was manufactured in Industry, California (as were all other subsequent Ravens). The third variation changed the design of the pistol slide serrations and was designated the MP-25. The fourth and final variation of the pistol removed the sliding safety and changed it to an upward moving disk safety and retained the designation MP-25.<ref name="BrownAbel2010">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Peter Harry|last2=Abel|first2=Daniel G.|title=Outgunned: Up Against the NRA: The First Complete Insider Account of the Battle Over Gun Control|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgXlZjWcKUUC&pg=PA157|date=June 15, 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4516-0353-8|pages=57, 157}}</ref> In parallel with this growth, gun-control advocates started pushing legislation in Washington, in state capitals, and in city councils to ban inexpensive weapons.

In November 1991, a fire destroyed the Raven Arms factory. Jennings retired and sold his designs to Phoenix Arms.<ref name="BrownAbel2010"/> Phoenix was owned in equal shares by Jennings's ex-wife, his children, four of his grandchildren, and by Raven's former general manager. Phoenix continued to produce the MP-25 as the "Model Raven" and introduced a magazine safety disconnect which rendered the pistol unable to fire without a magazine inserted<ref name="BrownAbel2010"/> Phoenix was run under the management of Jennings's son Bruce, and developed additional .22 and .25-caliber pistols, called the HP22 and HP25.

==MP-25== {{Infobox weapon |name=MP-25 | image= MP25 1.jpg | image_size = 300 |caption=MP-25 with blued finish |origin=United States |type=Semi-automatic pistol  |is_ranged=yes  |service= |used_by= |wars=  |designer=George Jennings |design_date=1960s |manufacturer=Raven Arms |production_date=1970–1991 |number= 3 million<ref>{{cite web |last = PBS |title = frontline: hot guns: Interview with Bruce Jennings |website = PBS |url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/interviews/jennings.html |accessdate = September 24, 2014}}</ref> |variants=P-25  |weight= |length= |part_length= |crew=  |cartridge=.25 ACP |action=Blowback |rate= |velocity= |range= |max_range= |feed=6-round detachable box magazine |sights=Post and rear notch }} thumb|left|Raven MP-25 Chrome with faux mother of pearl grips and push up safety.

The MP-25 can hold six .25 ACP rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber, and is finished in chrome, satin nickel or black. The grips can be either wood or imitation mother-of-pearl handles. There is a similar model called the Raven Arms P-25. Both have similar blowback and envelope designs and are essentially identical firearms.<ref name="Wood2007">{{cite book|last=Wood|first=J B|title=Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYQC7ukSMKcC&pg=PA535|date=October 21, 2007|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-1-4402-2401-0|page=535}}</ref>

Early models have a sliding bar safety that will not allow the pistol to chamber a round or cock the striker if the safety is not in the fire position when the slide is pulled back. Later models have a push up safety that will not allow the action to be cycled at all when engaged.<ref name="Wood2007"/>

The firing pin also acts as the ejector. It protrudes from its hole when the slide nears the end of its rearward travel, contacting the spent case and sending it up and out of the pistol. The gun's fixed sights are cast into the top of the slide. The trigger pull is fairly stiff, at about 8 pounds, 6 ounces.<ref name=Benedikt/>

There are conflicting views on the MP-25. Critics refer to it by the pejorative term "Saturday night special", as it is both easily concealed and affordable enough that the poor can afford to purchase it.<ref name="Freudenberg2014"/> Some advocates of the pistol say that it is reliable, despite its low cost.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wood|first=J.B.|title=Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYQC7ukSMKcC&q=raven+MP-25+reliable&pg=PA535|date=October 22, 2007|publisher=Gun Digest Books|isbn=9781440224010}}</ref><ref name=Benedikt>{{cite magazine|last=von Benedikt|first=Joseph|date=2021|title=Raven Arms MP-25|quote=Known as a 'Saturday Night Special,' the little Raven MP-25 belly gun was cheap but reliable|magazine=Shooting Times|url=https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/raven-arms-mp25/389100}}</ref> Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners (AFTE) reported that a Phoenix Arms Model Raven with an altered or damaged sear tip discharged unintentionally when the safety was moved "off" after the trigger had been pulled with the safety "on".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.firearmsid.com/Recalls/FA_Recalls%203.htm#Phoenix|title=Firearm Recalls & Warnings Index|accessdate=July 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116100320/https://www.firearmsid.com/Recalls/FA_Recalls%203.htm#Phoenix|archive-date=16 November 2022}}</ref> thumb|Original flyer that came with the purchase of a P25. thumb|Raven P-25 parts list

===Criminal uses=== *During a 1998 mass shooting at a school in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, the perpetrator used his father's MP-25.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9804/25/school.shooting.pm/ | title=CNN - Pennsylvania students cope with shooting spree - April 25, 1998 | website=CNN }}</ref><ref name="Lieberman">{{cite book |last1=Lieberman |first1=Joseph A. |title=School Shootings:: What Every Parent and Educator Needs to Know to Protect Our Children |date=September 1, 2008 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Corp |isbn=9780806535692 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ozse_FSOXtMC&dq=Parker+Middle+School+dance+shooting+raven&pg=PT116}}</ref> *American serial killer Robert Lee Yates murdered his victims using two 25-caliber Raven Arms semi-automatic pistols.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://prezi.com/gf8crc85u_qq/robert-lee-yates-jr/ | title=Robert Lee Yates Jr }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/serialkillers/yates.htm |title=Serial Killer Robert Lee Yates Jr |website=www.francesfarmersrevenge.com |access-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422025822/http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/serialkillers/yates.htm |archive-date=April 22, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> *During a 1999 shooting spree at two day trading firms in Atlanta, Georgia, the perpetrator used an MP-25, purchased from a pawnshop by another person in 1991, among other handguns.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newsweek.com/its-bad-trading-day-and-its-about-get-165768 | title='It's a Bad Trading Day ...And It's About to Get | website=Newsweek | date=August 8, 1999 }}</ref> *During a 2020 mass shooting at a school in Torreón, Mexico, the perpetrator used an MP-25 alongside another handgun. The shooter's grandfather was later arrested and charged with homicide by neglect in leaving his guns where his grandson could access them.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 January 2020 |title=Detienen a abuelo del niño que realizó tiroteo en Torreón |url=https://aristeguinoticias.com/1301/mexico/detienen-a-abuelo-del-nino-que-realizo-tiroteo-en-torreon-fiscalia-de-coahuila/ |website=aristeguinoticias.com}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{commons-inline}} * [http://www.louiscandell.com/pdf/firearms/raven_mp25.pdf Instruction Manual]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raven Arms}} Category:1970 establishments in California Category:1991 disestablishments in California Category:Companies based in the City of Industry, California Category:Defunct firearms manufacturers of the United States Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1991 Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1970 Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in California Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Nevada