Derringers

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ZVP

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I haven't read many new derringer posts.
Wasn't there a derringer section at one time?
I was hoping that with the proliferation of new double barrel derringers on the market, that I'd see more posts about them.
I shoot my .38 Spec Cobra every time I go out! Just a fascination with the thing! I can't set it down.
I have bullets handloaded from 94 gr squibs to 158 gr full fqctory approximating loads,
The little gun is a ball to shoot!
I bet a .45 is a real handfull!
ZVP
 
Those COP Inc. 4 barrel derringers in .357/.38 spl look very interesting. 4 shots of .38 or .357 is pretty good medicine. Only 1 shot less than a compact revolver, and 2 shots short of a full sized revolver.
 
Is it spelled with one r if it's an original and two rr if it's any other kind?
Long ago, I had a couple of the over and under kind, in .22 and .357.
Can't remember the manufacturers' names, but they both shot pretty straight.
The .22 was a sensible version, the .357 wasn't.
Both long gone, though, traded or sold.
 
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With the advent of revolvers & pocket autoloaders the same size, or only slightly larger than, O/U derringers - and offering twice or more as many shots - they're nowhere near as popular as they once were.


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The only derringers worth any serious consideration, if that's possible, other than as curiosities are the double action derringers such as the old High Standards, American Derringers and Double Taps.
Some of the single action derringers are very well made but even more impractical.
 
Derringers were probablly one of the hardest to shoot well guns ever!
Yes they are ultr short range items but the quality ones are powerful and shoot straight!
My .38 Cobra actually developes slightly more velocity than my Chief's Specisl due to the sealed chamber and barrels.
The flat shape of my Cobra fits my inside the pocket holster nicely! Extra ammo carries in a flatQuickstrip shell carrier.
For rattlers to card cheat's the .38 Cobra is just the ticket!
A lot of fun to plink with also!
I'd like to hear stories from other owners/Shooters! Please tell us your stories?
I also own aan older Derringer A Davis .22 LR with thousands of shots thru it! I especially like shootingit with CB Caps! Like a big capgun. no extraction problems like LR's give. Hunter makes a first clss holster got it!
As was their first chore, the double Derringer (Elloits design) has been in constant production by one company or another since 1866 and I don't see the manufacture getting discontinued as long as the need for a highly concealable weapon exhists. Offered in many calibers, for many duties I anticipate that it'll be around a long while yet!
Lets start a little dreeinger string.

ZVP
 
Many, many, years ago I was out plinking at a local gravel pit when I noticed a couple, man and a woman, plinking away with a pair of derringers. They had the then new Colt Lord and Lady model .22 Short r.f. single shot pistols.

This couple had been 'way up north during the winter and the local co-op had given them a one hundred pound sack of potatoes to keep in the trunk of their car for added traction. (This was before front wheel drive cars!) They would toss a potato out several feet in front of them and then shoot it to pieces with those little pistols. So far as I know, they shot up that whole bag of potatoes.

No great feat of accuracy, nor display of power, but they sure had fun!

Bob Wright
 
I have a .22 High Standard double derringer* but other than being flat I can see no advantage over a small revolver. In .22 LR, it would be marginal at best for defense, but it might be better in .22 WMR, though the trigger pull on those is a bit heavier. Single action derringers are about useless for serious purposes; they are hard to cock, most CF guns are unreliable, hard to hold onto with any real recoil. I would not even suggest carrying one for defense unless it was the only gun available, and concealibility was paramount.

*Henry Deringer spelled his name with one "r", and it is conventional to spell it that way for the guns he or his company made, while using two "r"s for that general type of gun.

BTW, Deringer didn't just make small single shot pistols; the gun pictured is a Deringer.

Jim
 

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think one handed, weak handed shooting to save your life. is the s/a derringer what you'd prefer?

they have a place as an onion fields gun, I guess loaded with snake shot when fishing....
 
Because the guns are small, the hammers are small, and require a heavy mainspring to reliably fire the cartridges, another deficiency of most derringers. One of the worst is the quintessential "derringer", the old Remington double derringer. Those guns have springs that look like they came off the front end of a pickup truck; the movie scene of the hero thumbing off two quick shots and knocking the fleeing villain from his horse at 500 yards is, well, movie stuff.

Jim
 
Derringers are good guns for your opponent to have.

Few shots, non-effective sights, poor trigger, dinky grips, slow reload, etc...

Yep, real good guns for your opponent to have.

Deaf
 
I have one in 22mag I use with ratshot as a snakegun or to dispatch wounded dove. That's all it is equipped for. I think I shot at a jack with it once... 25yards and missed by about a foot which was a pretty decent shot.

Oh yeah, it is VERY loud.
 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIGeMYn3Pqc

The photo shows 4 rounds (gun reloaded one time) of .22 magnum from a High Standard derringer at a distance of 7 yards. Both shots from the lower barrel are within ½” of point of aim.
The YouTube video link shows me shooting the .45 ACP Double Tap Defense derringer using performance ammo. The recoil from the .45 ACPs is substantial.
Mark
 
X2 PetahW. They're not practical compared to todays offerings but with that said, I still really like them. I hope to get a Bond Arms Snake Slayer someday just to have.
 
proofmark

I have an old (1950's) two barrel o and u .22. This is an import that was made in gemany. I am not able to find the manufacturer. Stamped on top of the barrel is Derringer Corp. and under the grip I find the proofmark in the shape of a football with the letter R in thecenter. I have seen this discussed in other forums but have never found the answer as to whose mark this is. I'm assuming that it is the manufacturer's mark.
trademark2.pdf

Does anyone recognize it?
 
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I had an American Derringer 38spl (prone to misfire) and a 45/410 model and sold them both, I like to buy them but after I shoot them I remember why I sold the last one in the first place.:o I did buy one I am going to keep this time and its a American Derringer model DA38, its a two shot 38spl that is double action only and I like it alot better than the single action versions. One of the worst things about the other models is that they are big in size, almost as big as a j frame S&W. I will say they are fun to get and make a great addition to round out a collection, I think they are just because guns because you want one just because:D.

I will now carry my little NAA 22's if I need something that is that small.
 
The major problem with the double derringer format using large center-fire cartridges (.38 and up) is the mechanism to change barrels. The old double guns, like the Remington, fired rimfire cartridges, so the firing pin had only to move from the bottom of the top round to the top of the bottom round, a fraction of an inch. But with a CF .38, the firing pin has to move the full diameter of the cartridge base, plus a gap, from the center of the base of one round to the center of the base of the other. It might not seem like a lot more, but that difference has been one of the biggest problems and causes of misfires in modern double derringers.

Jim
 
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