NESCO BJX-5, Jerky Works Jumbo Kit, Red

Product Description

Delight family, outdoor enthusiasts or hunters with the NESCO Jerky Works Jumbo Kit original flavor seasoning that makes up to 4 lbs. of meat. Two packs of seasoning & two packs of cure are included to make fresh homemade jerky from lean ground or sliced beef, pork, turkey, or other meat. To use, simply mix the spice and cure packs with lean ground meat or add a ½ cup of water to the spice and cure when making sliced jerky. Use the included jerky gun kit to make strips or sticks or place slices onto a NESCO dehydrator or in a conventional oven for a great-tasting snack. Jerky will be ready in a matter of hours and at a fraction of the cost of store-bought. Tuck a few bags of jerky into a school backpack or camping gear for a thoughtful and tasty treat perfect for any student or sportsman. The NESCO Jerky Works Jumbo Kit Original Flavor Seasoning is gluten free and made in the USA.

Top Reviews

Not a long term relationship
by K. Liang (3 out of 5 stars)
March 10, 2011

This is a great product designed to make your ground beef jerky making process easier.

What I like:

The gun itself is very helpful in forming strips and sticks of jerky. The different nozzles allow me to make my jerky into whatever shape I like. The gun is easy to use and quite precise. All you have to do is load it with seasoned ground beef and squeeze it out. You can control the length of the jerky. It even makes a pleasant clicking sound as you watch your neat strips/sticks of jerky come out from the other end. I would not know how to form ground beef otherwise. Your hand WILL get tired after a while, but that is why we have two hands =)

I LOVE the seasoning & cure packets that came with it. They were delicious, and make your jerky taste exactly like store bought stuff. They give you a good amount, too. Enough to make 5-10 pounds of jerky depending on your taste. After finishing them I decided to mix my own cure & seasoning by buying salt cure and liquid smoke, etc. but so far I haven't been able to come up with a consistently tasty seasoning for my jerky. If you want consistent great tasting jerky, I highly recommend ordering more of these packets individually.

However, this jerky gun, as convenient as it is, does have a major, major, MARJOR problem...

Major problem:

The VITAL piece that pushes out the jerky is made of PLASTIC!!!! Oh lord, what are they thinking?! I am talking about the piece that connects to the end of the core metal stick. It is made of a thin piece of plastic! I understand that it needs to come off so it can be cleaned, but can't they make it metal too? My jerky gun is lying in the bottom storage drawer of my oven right now, because that one little piece of plastic cracked after making jerky 9-10 times. Yes, I made a lot of jerky with it, yes, it was great while it lasted --- but if you want a long term relationship with your jerky gun, and not have to toss the whole thing just because one little piece malfunctioned, you need to look else where for a sturdy gun.

One (not so good) way to fix it:

This vital piece began cracking after my 6th batch of jerky. It did not fall apart, just a little crack, so I found a temporary solution: I found a metal jar cap that is the same size, cleaned it well, and placed it in front of the plastic piece. It worked for a while, but eventually the meat escaped from the space around it and made a mess (what was I thinking). Also, you can try super glue. I haven't tried it yet, but super glue works wonders with plastic.

Over all:

With all its imperfections, this one does seem to be the most economic jerky gun--- precisely because it is imperfect. So I would say if you are a first time jerky maker, and you're not sure if you would want to make jerky forever, then give this a try. If you are like me, and eat jerky as a part of your stable diet, please skip this item and buy an all metal jerky gun. They do have those, though they are much more expensive.

Thanks for reading!
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Isn't perfect, but is still worth your money!
by AverageJoe (4 out of 5 stars)
February 1, 2016

The price is right, but the materials could be better. Works as intended, but only so long. But I'd buy it again.

As a lot of other reviewers have mentioned, the downside is that it's 90% plastic. But on the flipside, it's not hard to maintain and one of the biggest benefits is that parts won't rust. It's very easy to use, and comes with lots of different attachments. Over the span of a year I've made both strips and sticks, and both have turned out great. Mine never cracked, but after about 8 batches the part that pushes the meat began out began to wear down and lacked the grip needed provide enough force. After that, it took me twice as long to use the gun as it did when I first bought the product.

The seasoning & cure packets are mild by themselves, but I found they tasted great when I spiced them up a bit. They don't taste like store bought - but it's good. What they lack most is a smoky flavor - if you add a little liquid smoke to your meat beforehand it helps a little, but it's not quite there.

This thing is 20 dollars. It works like it's supposed to, and unless you're making jerky for your entire extended family on a regular basis, I see no reason why you shouldn't buy this product. I definitely think it was worth the investment.
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Won't make jerky without this!
by KD Florida (5 out of 5 stars)
February 13, 2015

I use this all the time! I use ground turkey and the original Nesco jerky spice with a small hit of the hot & spicy seasonings. Good stuff right there! Everyone loves it. This gun makes it super easy to use. Try using the round tip for "Slim Jim" type jerky and the tip with 2 slats for flat jerky. I used to always use the round, but tried the 2 slat flat tip and now, that is all I use! I've never tried it with any other ground meat. Just the turkey. Love the turkey jerky!!! This gun is well worth the price!
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Disappointed; Bigger Not Always Better!
by JOHERN (1 out of 5 stars)
July 8, 2018

I bought this to replace my nesco jerky gun that came with dehydrator that had broken(spring). First time I loaded this up, the handle broke off trying to push ground turkey through. Amazon did replace it. However, the attachments are not good . You get a small one that would in theory make slim jim's, however I think that might be the reason the first one I tried broke, and it was too much trying to go through that tiny hole & snap! I will not try this one again for fear it might break it again. The other attachment is for typical flat jerky but it has a divider in it, so 2 strips of small jerky going through at same time. Problem there is that once meat pushed through the 2 openings, come right back together as soon as it's out, as the divider piece is so small. Never had this issue with the smaller gun that came with Nesco's dehydrator. Would've been better off paying a few more $$'s and just gotten another dehydrator w/gun set.
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Works perfectly...
by Adventure_Some (5 out of 5 stars)
February 7, 2018

I am so glad I bought this kit on Amazon. Making beef jerky using ground beef is awesome. It is inexpensive and easy to chew. If I use 2 pounds I always get 1 pound of jerky back or there abouts. I use 97% lean and it works nicely. Hardly any fatty mess to clean up. I also bought the Nesco Professional Dehydrator to go with it and works good too. Finally, I have used it at least a dozen times and not had one problem. Hope this helps.

Update: After about a 14 uses the ratchet mechanism broke. Nesco provides a 1 year warranty so I called them and they immediately sent out a new one. Great customer service. When it broke I had been using the 2 piece attachment the last 3 batches. This attachment gives you narrower strips. My guess is this attachment put's more force on the ratchet mechanism. So I think I am just going to stick with the single piece attachment and/ or let the meat sit for an hour, in a closed container, at room temp so the hamburger is softer/ more malleable making it easier to extrude. Now it could have just been I just received a faulty one too. This is just my opinion... Others may not have had this issue. Just something to think about.
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Works perfectly just as described
by LoLo,Top Contributor: Coloring (5 out of 5 stars)
August 19, 2018

So far we have made 2 batches of Jerky with this gun. It works just as described. No problems at all. Yes, you will have to clean it thoroughly to get out all the left behind bits but it was really effortless. I am very pleased with it so far & I am so glad I went with this lesser priced option for me needs. We don't make jerky weekly. It came with 5 packs each of seasoning & cure. My recommendation if you use these packs is to mix them together before adding to meat & cut the cure pack in 1/2 it's very salty. Unless you like it that way. We are now trying our own marinade. All in all we are having fun with this. Enjoy!
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I did not like this one at all
by Amazon Customer (1 out of 5 stars)
March 3, 2018

I did not like this one at all, I guess I was spoiled by my Weston original jerky gun but it is big and hard to clean the tips. I thought the plastic tips without the divider in the middle would be easier to get the meat out of. I used ground beef for my Jerky and I like the flats not the tube. The gun would barely push the meat out. My niece wanted to help but she could not pull the trigger it was so hard and feels totally flimsy. Kudos for the ease of washing but the mechanism needs work!
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Eh
by Katelyn (2 out of 5 stars)
June 24, 2018

Overall, this gun is great for a beginner... if it wasn't made of junk. It's super easy to load the seasoned meat in there. It comes with the seasonings and 3 different nozzles so you can change the shape or size of your jerky. The worst thing about all of this though is that it's made of plastic. It broke the first time it was used. My husband was able to MacGyver it so we could at least finish the batch but I don't know how long industrial super glue will hold. If you're wondering how it broke, look at all the pictures that were upload by other customers.

The handle snapped clean off. My advice, spend your money on one made out of metal if you plan on making this often enough as I do.
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Deliciously Effortless
by VWork (5 out of 5 stars)
October 13, 2015

Using this to make jerky couldn't be easier! I wish my cookie gun was as durable as this!

I've only made the original flavor so far so I can't attest to the flavor of the variety pack that I also bought with this. I used 1lb of ground turkey and they came out delicious! The instructions had drying time much longer than ended up being necessary but I have a very dry house. It was about 4 hours at 160 degrees F and I used the thinner strips.

Delicious and only took about 20 minutes of effort.

I do wish it was a little less salty, but the salt is needed to cure the meat so not much I can do about that!

Update 11/15/16:

Here I am over a year later ordering more seasoning flavors from a variety of brands to try out for the holidays. This jerky gun still works as perfectly as it did the first day I tried it. Easy to clean; we always hand wash it.
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Good concept but low quality
by Jackie (2 out of 5 stars)
December 18, 2015

I had one of these in the past and it worked fine until the plastic cracked. So I bought a replacement. I was able to struggle through using this for one 5 lb batch of jerky. And after that, I cleaned it, put it in the donation bin, and bought a different METAL jerky gun. I am not sure if the design changed, or if I had a defective unit, but the thing would pop apart while you were using it, then the metal railing started to bind up. I actually hurt my hand from trying to struggle through using this. I was only loading 1 lb of meat at a time, or less than 1 lb, and using the large double jerky nozzle-- do there shouldn't have been too much pressure. It works but not efficiently. Spend a little more for a metal gun for a less frustrating experience.

I do have a Nesco dehydrator and it works great-- quality issues may be limited to this model.

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