Derringers!

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samsmix

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From the butt-ugly Leinad's, to the Bond Arms defender, to the gun that killed Lincoln. Who has 'em, and when do you carry them & why, and how well do they perform their assigned duty.
 
I have an American Arms in .357 that was left to me. It is a very well made gun but is useless. You only have 2 shots, have to cock it for both shots and the hammer spring is so strong that you have to use both hands to cock it. I guess you could make a case for it's viability if you could cock it with one hand but it would be a weak case with todays small autoloaders.
 
As to being fun plinkers, I am reminded of a couple who had a pair of those Colt "Lord and Lady" derringers in .22 Short r.f. that were sold a couple of years ago. These little pistols were the single shot pivot barrel pistols, and were sold as a boxed set, one being gold plated, the other nickeled.

These people had been up north in the winter time, and the local co-op have given folks one hundred pound sacks of potatoes to put in the trunk of their cars for added weight over the rear wheels for better traction.

This couple were gleefully tossing out a potato and shooting it to pieces with those little derringers, rolling it on the ground until nothing big enough was left to shoot.

A fun plinker? I think so.

Bob Wright
 
derringers are fun guns in a way, conversational pieces, a lot of people's dirty secret which they do not like to admit.
 
Davies .22lr POS special here.

Loaded with a shot shell and a CB cap it's a good quiet garter snake gun.
Not that I enjoy killing one of natures top pest controllers....they get tangled up in the mower deck in the Spring when the grass is long.
I just put them put of their misery.
 
They were quite effective when Yancy Derringer shot a rampaging leopard with one (well, Pahoo's double barrel shotgun did help). They saved Paladin quite few times.

Thus based on TV, I recommend them.
 
Everyone I know who's owned one (accidentally) shot themselves with them.
Click to expand...
LOL!
How did you know???


I did shoot a 2x4 once and the bullet bounced off it & came back and hit me in the arm!
 
I inherited one of these / American derringer...model 6 .../ from my brother in law....( chambered in .45 Colt / .410 )

http://www.amderringer.com/m68.html

( it has a trigger pull on it, that is way over 10lbs..) ...and I've loaded up some " OO " Buck in .410 ....and fired half a dozen shots thru it for the heck of it ....very few of my buddies wanted to fire the thing...and while I guess they have a purpose as a belly gun ...( he paid about $ 500 for it new....about 10 yrs ago ....and gave it to his 3rd or 4th wife at the time to carry / of his 5 ex-wives..)...but I've lost count over the years...

....why he thought I wanted it, is beyond me. :confused:

I'd never buy one ....and I don't know why I keep it around ...except for a laugh...when I'm showing someone the guns in my safe....it comes out as a - "You won't believe this !! ".....:D
 
I have a little Cobra .38 special. At 7 yards it'll print within a 4 inch circle. The recoil isn't bad but the trigger is gawd awful. I don't have any legitimate use for it, but it's fun to plink with on occasion. I guess I can imagine an instance where one might use a derringer in defense of his life, but I'd rather not be that person.
 
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I have a set of the Butler (Colt) derringers my dad gave me for my 21st birthday. Not knowing any better, I shot the heck out of them. They are pretty accurate.
My very first handgun was a Svendsen "4 Aces" derringer-a 4 barrelled miniature Sharps in .22 short caliber. Still have it.
I bought a "Thunder" derringer in the 1980s that has a .44 Spl./.410 chamber. It came with inserts to shoot 9mm, etc.
Ended up with a Davis .32 acp derringer-the small one. It has some purpose as a coat pocket gun. The safety works well for the left hand.
 
I had a Bond Cowboy Defender in 9mm which I actually bought for SD and because it looked really cool. It was fun at the range, but I really couldn't hit anything with it, it took forever to reload the two tubes, hard to cock, heavy trigger pull, weighs a ton for only two shots ... basically a bit better than a rock for protection, but not much ... traded to my lgs several months later, where it languished in the used case for more than a year ... If you have the money and enjoy people asking to see it at the range, be my guest. I'll never own another ...
 
I have no practical use for a derringer. I also have no practical use for a Ruger Alaskan in .44 magnum. I own one of each, purely for fun and the "interesting" factor.

My American Derringer Corp. M11 (alloy-framed .45ACP) is markedly more compact and a LOT lighter (10 oz, I think) than the Bond derringers, It's actually small and light enough to be considered a counterpart to the old Remington .41 RF double derringer. The Bond models strike me as too bulky and heavy to fit the same mold.

I can hit two pie plates at 10 yards with my ADC derringer: one hung above my aiming point, with the top barrel, and one hung below my aiming point, with the lower barrel. That's shooting two-handed, slowly and deliberately, focusing on the rudimentary sights while overcoming the extremely heavy trigger and ignoring the sharp recoil in my immediate future.

The only "work" ever done with the derringer has been as a vermin/venomous snake removal device, when loaded with Speer .45ACP shotshells. The .45ACP rounds have a good payload of shot, and the short derringer barrel apparently doesn't impart much spin to the shot capsule. They are good medicine out to 5 yards or so on a small critter (including large moccasins). The derringer can be loaded, slipped into a hip pocket (in a pocket holster), and forgotten until and unless needed.

I don't spend much time around the lowcountry rivers, creeks and swamps these days, and haven't taken it from the safe in years.

It is still an "interesting" little pistol, though ...
 
I don't own a derringer,,,

I don't own a derringer,,,
I had a no-name in .38 Special way back when.

A friend of mine inherited a nice .38 derringer from her father-in-law,,,
She found out that it fits perfectly in a slot on her shifter console,,,
I mean it looks like it was made as a spot for that gun,,,
She keeps the derringer there covered with a tissue.

Initially I was afraid it would get stolen,,,
But you have to look hard to even see the white Kleenex,,,
So through a bit of fortunate happenstance she has a nice little car gun.

I wouldn't mind owning one,,,
But I'm not in a hurry to make a buy either.

I find their triggers to be atrocious,,,
I'm happier with a teensy Taurus 22 or 25 PLY.

Aarond

.
 
Have a Davis in 38. Sent it back to Davis and they lightened the trigger from 15lbs to 10 lbs. Shot it last week for fun but it is used for Cowboy side matches. Knew a guy who said he carried one. The "story" Walking babysitter home a group of men on the porch watched him. On his way back one was standing in the way and said" Hey brother you look like you are doing real well". My friend heard the chairs scraping on the porch so he put the derringer in the guys gut and said when they get here you are dead. Bad guy said he has gun boys sit down. He walked back home end of story. Don't know if it is true or not but it was good story when he told it. I asked about if he shot the guy you only had one shot left. He said no one would volunteer to take that second shot so the others could grab him. Had a point I guess. He has since passed but he was a colorful and good guy. RIP Joe.
 
Because of the small, light hammer, most of those guns have a very heavy hammer spring and a horrible trigger pull. No one suggests that they could be used for target guns, but most are so hard to get into action that they are not a good choice for defense purposes. One of the hardest to cock is the original double derringer, the old Remington. Those things have springs like a Ford truck. When you see some movie actor get off two quick rounds and hit the bad guy at 400 yards from a running horse, you are looking at pure fantasy.

Jim
 
What is going on with the guns in that story? What is that a pistol of? It doesn't make sense. A 26 with a conversion slide or what - 15 years old?

Huh?

The story mentions a 5 shot 22 LR - sounds like a NAA Mini.

BTW, for the utility of a derringer. I have a story of two old men in Florida who shot a guy robbing a restaurant and holding a waitress at gun point with a 12 gauge. One gent had a 22 Mag two shot derringer and the other had a 22 Mag NAA. They shot at the guy and I think hit him the belly and he fled.
 
Newspapers and TV stations have clips they routinely run with any story that is remotely connected to the clip. They almost always show a gun in a crime story, even if no gun was involved, to make sure the public associates guns with crime. One TV station in the area pictures a Ruger revolver in all crime stories, even a recent one involving forged checks!

Jim
 
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