Look at this little guy!

S

SHNOMIDO

New member
check this out

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=260953287

weird little guy. I really like it. I have a soft spot for little novelty status pistols.

What do you think its purpose is/was? pure novelty? My dad had the idea that it was used for indoor shooting, like old fashioned fireplace shooting gallery.

Its a shame its marked for CB caps. do you think you could fire a .22 LR out of it? I guess CB caps would be just as fun for plinking, but it would be nice to not have to buy special ammo.
 
These guns were made in the 1960s and 1970s. The frame is brass, the barrel steel. The barrel has been cut off and the gun chrome plated (badly!) All that I have seen were marked for std. velocity .22 shorts.
The gun was a copy of an early Marlin derringer, I believe.
There was a 4 barrelled model called the "Four Aces" that was a smaller copy of the.32 cal Sharps derringer. The Four Aces was made in .22 short originally but was later lengthened for .22 LR.
 

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thank you for the knowledgeable response!

so it was chopped and chromed huh, that explains why i couldn't find anything like it with some google-fu. It also explains its purpose a little more, the piece makes slightly more sense with a decent barrel. You could probably actually hit something before it was chopped.
 
Neat - I have a soft spot for the little guys. I have a NAA 22S which is adorable. I've wanted one of the Sharps clones but missed out on the HJS when they were cheap.

I've seen Iver Johnson indicating they will start making them but haven't seen it - vapor gun?
 
I love my NAA :D

i think next up is a O/U Leinad. Bit bigger, but same idea.

At my LGS i saw the teeniest little black powder "derrienger." Ive never seen anything like it, it was like a 1:6 pirate pistol only percussion cap.

If i didnt just spend money on Christmas presents, and wasnt saving up for a rifle, i would seriously consider buying the above piece. Even though its been altered i still kind of like it. Maybe ill keep my eyes opened for an unaltered one as well.

edit- Oh, and this is on My Christmas list

http://www.smallflare.com/
 
My take on that thing is that it's nothing but a blackjack with a single round to use as a finisher. Frankly, that has got to be the worst piece of trash I've ever seen in a gun. There isn't even a barrel catch, and there is no firing pin, just a lump on the hammer that should set the cartridge off.

It's a good thing it's built like a club, because I'd never want to count on it firing.
 
Actually, they were well-made little guns. There is no need for a barrel catch, as the hammer holds the breech securely. Rimfire hammers have been made this way for over 100 years.
 
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briandg-two comments.

first, to each their own. I can totally see how you would think this thing is a piece of trash. Its a valid opinion. Im just into novelty, cheap pieces with almost no function. I also like pens, harmonicas, pocketknives, etc and i dont judge those based on how effective they are at self defense or target shooting. Things like this are just an overlap between my interests in firearms and little metal gizmos.

Second- the first thing i thought when i saw it was mafia execution tool. I was surprised a manufacturer would even make something with such a contact range barrel with CB's. It made alot more sense when Bill pointed out it got chopped.
 
schnomido, I'm the first one to be praising a good thing.

I said that pretty rudely, I agree, because I was looking at it as a firearm. It's not a good firearm.

As a curio, heck, I'd probably buy it, and it would have an honored position. I'd put it in the cabinet right next to the carbide mining lamp. It wouldn't go in my gun case; it might embarrass the rest of them.

looking once more, judging on the near impossibility of wrapping a finger around that grip and pulling the trigger, taken along with that long, hooked grip and heavy weight forward barrel, I still think that the intent was more as a blackjack than use as a firearm.

The acorn cap is a pretty stout load that will easily blow through a skull at point blank range. I suppose a genuine CB would too.
 
Briandg,
The Little Ace is a very tiny gun-even with the full-length barrel. Therein lies the attraction. One of the smallest real firearms made.
They are way too small to be used as a blackjack!
 
At one time Colt made derringers almost exactly like it.

Why? To make money of course. There is a set of Colts at my LGS now unless they've been sold in the last few days.
 
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