spacecoast
New member
Several months ago I posted about finding a box of 1930s-era Peters .41 short ammunition. Well, last week I found the gun that went with that ammo and made it part of my "accumulation". It's a 3rd generation Colt Derringer, also known as the Thuer Derringer. These were made from 1875 to 1912. The serial number of mine (29xxx, under the right grip) would seem to place it somewhere in the 1899 time frame, but this gun has the date "1876" scratched around the butt, as well as the initials RTM.
From the pics below, you can see how diminutive this gun really is, yet it uses the (relatively) huge .41 short cartridge. To load, the barrel swings to the side. I believe that originally this Colt had silver or nickel plating over the brass areas, but it has long since worn off. The action seems to be in good shape but I haven't pulled the hammer all the way back for fear of breaking something, only to the half cock position to swing the barrel to the side. I have no intentions of shooting this, but it would be really cool to do so just once. The bore is in pretty good shape with the rifling clearly defined.
Neither the Colt book I have nor Proofhouse have any details as to serial numbers and dating this gun, so I may have to send away for a letter from Colt. It would be great (however unlikely) to match the initials carved on it to the original owner.
From the pics below, you can see how diminutive this gun really is, yet it uses the (relatively) huge .41 short cartridge. To load, the barrel swings to the side. I believe that originally this Colt had silver or nickel plating over the brass areas, but it has long since worn off. The action seems to be in good shape but I haven't pulled the hammer all the way back for fear of breaking something, only to the half cock position to swing the barrel to the side. I have no intentions of shooting this, but it would be really cool to do so just once. The bore is in pretty good shape with the rifling clearly defined.
Neither the Colt book I have nor Proofhouse have any details as to serial numbers and dating this gun, so I may have to send away for a letter from Colt. It would be great (however unlikely) to match the initials carved on it to the original owner.
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