A junk gun is in the eye of the beholder. "Junk gun" was a term coined during the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which enacted a laundry list of minimum specifications for firearms made, imported to, or sold in the US. Some define a junk gun by the type of metal used to make it (zinc ally vs. steel, for example), the reliability, or any other characteristic that someone doesn't like. For example, Hi-Point makes a series of handguns that use low-cost metal alloy for most of the metal parts. Many firearm enthusiasts dismiss them as junk guns, pointing to Colt, Berettam S&W, etc as the real guns. A counterpoint is that a Hi-Point is designed for limited use (not the 10,000+ rounds the major makers would set as a minimum lifespan) by people with limited incomes (a Hi-Point pistol can go for as little as $90 new while a new S&W will set you back at least $300). In this example, the Hi-Point is junk as viewed by the people who expect their firearms to be a generational item (pass down to heirs) and/or see frequent use (recreation, law enforcement, competetion, etc) but the people for whom it was designed do not see it as a junk gun.