Back around 1963 I bought a "Hy Hunter" derringer in .357 Magnum for about $29.95 or so. As it was pretty much a coil spring update of the old Remington and not badly made (West Germany) , it was fairly mild with .38 Specials. With .357s it was brutal--like someone laying a switch across your open palm. After a few years it began misfiring due to the selector parts wear, and what with being drafted, etc., it got set aside. When things normalized (job,wife, house, kids, bills, more bills) it just sat. Eventually I put it into a shadow box above the TV and it stayed there for about the next 35 years.
Got to surfing around a couple of weeks ago and darned if Numrich didn't seem to have replacement parts for the thing. Spent about $40 gambling that they would fit and work, and yesterday I went to work on it, not knowing if the final results would put it back on active duty or back into the shadow box...
Loaded her up with my standard SWC handload and went out to the corral to see what it would do. Darned if it didn't go bang twice just like it was supposed to; good firing pin hits, no pressure signs, and the cases fell out nicely and will fit into my 442 chambers (no case gauge on hand).
I think I will pass on firing .357s in it, though...the memory of those is just too vivid! Not to mention it's just a little too much like holding a grenade in your hand.
Got to surfing around a couple of weeks ago and darned if Numrich didn't seem to have replacement parts for the thing. Spent about $40 gambling that they would fit and work, and yesterday I went to work on it, not knowing if the final results would put it back on active duty or back into the shadow box...
Loaded her up with my standard SWC handload and went out to the corral to see what it would do. Darned if it didn't go bang twice just like it was supposed to; good firing pin hits, no pressure signs, and the cases fell out nicely and will fit into my 442 chambers (no case gauge on hand).
I think I will pass on firing .357s in it, though...the memory of those is just too vivid! Not to mention it's just a little too much like holding a grenade in your hand.
