Is Derringer barrel rifled?

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Prof Young

New member
So I posted earlier about getting a Davis derringer in 22 mag. Have had fun shooting it and gave it first cleaning today.

Either the barrel is not rifled or the rifling is very, very thin. Which would it be?

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
.22 rimfire rifling isn't real deep.
And it's always possible for a gun to slip through and out the door without any rifling.
But more than likely it's there,and if you shine a bright light down the barrel at just the right angle, you'll see it.
One clue would be how accurately it shoots.
 
I took another look . . .

. . . and by angling the light I could catch just a slight glint that looked like rifling. But man is it shallow.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
He's right, better try to really scrub it.

in interview, one of the guys who ran one of those companies had a lot of nasty things to say about rifling. He was required to do it, but if the law. Didn't demand it, the rifling would have been discontinued.
 
Barring a severe error at the factory, there is almost certainly rifling.

For reasons never explained to my satisfaction, an unrifled pistol is an AOW, which is an NFA weapon. As in a weapon requiring federal registration, like a machine gun or sawed off shotgun.

There are almost no unrifled pistols because of this.
 
Would a short barreled derringer build up enough head of steam to lead the barrels?
It's been awhile since I switched from rimfire to air guns, due to the shortage hassle and high costs of ammo.
But if memory serves, .22 rimfire pistols didn't lead up much at all.
Rifles either, come to think.
Especially the coated bullet varieties.
Nothing like lead bullets out of some higher speed centerfires.
 
Yeah - it's rifled,,,but,,as The Blues Man (one time staff member here @ TFL) commented about the rifling in my Davis .22lr derringer,- - it's very "subtle".
LOL!
 
This is correct. The laws are intentionally vague,but throwing some very specific things in makes that just as impossible. Handgun ammo with tungsten or bronze components qualify as cop killers. At one point there was talk about banning steel core thirty commie when the contender was barreled in it, but that didn't happen.

Laws refer to any firearm that is not rifled as a shotgun, with smootbore bb guns given an exemption. The law violates the principle of purpose built mechanics and legislated a+b=b+a in a situation that wasn't consistent with reality, but gave The government more opportunity to interpret laws to fit needs.

Meaning a shotgun is a powder firing firearm, with a smooth bore. That's all.legal standard. So, the reciprocal is that any smooth bore powder firing weapon is a shotgun. Any smooth bore weapon that is under the accepted length limit of a shotgun is considered an undersized shotgun. Anything over a certain age was grandfathered, an I believe that bp was exempt.

With the deliberately vague laws, a .22 rimfire that is so so cheaply made that the maker doesn't even want to rifle it, such a gun was put in the category of a fifteen inch twelve gauge.

Your barrel would leave been made with swaging buttons that may have never been replaced. As long as there was a ghost of rotation, it was legal.
 
SansSouci said:
If a handgun barrel is not rifled, it's a shotgun.
[..]
It might be a mistake, but ATF will consider it a shotgun, which would make it a felony.
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No, it wouldn't be a shotgun. A smooth bore pistol under 26" overall length would be considered a Title II AOW by the ATF and would be regulated under the NFA. If it was over 26" it would be considered a Title I non-NFA "firearm". It's not considered a shotgun if it has never had a stock.

4V50 Gary said:
Rifled, otherwise it would be smoothbore and we all know how All That's Fun wants smoothbores to be 18" or more.
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If it has never had a stock installed, the limit is just 26" of overall length. The 18" limit is for shotgun barrels, but the ATF wouldn't consider it a shotgun if it has never had a stock.
 
briandg said:
The laws are intentionally vague
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The laws may be vague, but the ATF's interpretation of them is very clear.

briandg said:
Laws refer to any firearm that is not rifled as a shotgun, with smootbore bb guns given an exemption. The law violates the principle of purpose built mechanics and legislated a+b=b+a in a situation that wasn't consistent with reality, but gave The government more opportunity to interpret laws to fit needs.

Meaning a shotgun is a powder firing firearm, with a smooth bore. That's all.legal standard. So, the reciprocal is that any smooth bore powder firing weapon is a shotgun. Any smooth bore weapon that is under the accepted length limit of a shotgun is considered an undersized shotgun.
Click to expand...
Pretty much all of this is incorrect. See my post above.
 
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I have an American Derringer model 4 Alaskan chambered in .45 Colt or .410 shotshell ....and it's got rifling in barrel .... ( it's a 6" barrel )....ugly little gun that I inherited from my brother in law -- he bought it originally for one of his 5 ex wives....???

The gun is nothing more than an "odd curiosity" to me....but I take it to the range once in a while and put a few .410 shells of "00" buck....just for laughs, it's long and heavy -- and ugly...
 
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26 USC 5845(e) Any other weapon

The term “any other weapon” means any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire. Such term shall not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition.

http://www.gunlaw.com/gun-law-articles/10-firearms-contraband-and-consequences.html

Unless it's been changed, smooth bore black powder muskets are legal as hunting weapons since they're not considered firearms.

In CA, it's a felony to possess a smooth bore hand gun with a barrel of less than 18". You might want to call the firearms unit of CA DOJ for edification.
 
SansSouci, I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say in your last post. I know what an AOW is, I own one and sell them at the shop where I work. Are you trying to say that something I previously posted was incorrect?
 
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