Grandma's Davis 25 Auto

SVT28 · Jul 20, 2017

My grandmother was a well known probation judge for a rural town in Georgia for 30+years. Locals feared her presence in the court room, and respected her company outside of it. Sometime later in her career, she had a moment where she was followed late out of the courthouse and the next day she bought this Davis Derringer in 25 auto, chrome finish, pearloid grips (on left).

She passed away last year but her smile and laughter will forever live on though our family. She is sorely missed. I was lucky enough to inherit the Derringer and its been in the back of the safe since I got it. God bless her too, when I got it, it had a box of the wrong ammo with it! My father suspects she never loaded it, but if she had to those 22lr rounds wouldn't have helped! Sure it may be the cheapest gun in my safe, but its invaluable to me and will be the last pistol I ever sell.

I've picked up a few more Derringers just to have them and I found one of the hardest calibers to find calibers NIB today for 70 bucks so I couldn't pass it up. It is a DM-22 in 22 mag, chrome finish, and wood grips. I pulled grandma's 25 out for a photo shoot and cleaning and I'll probably shoot both twice this weekend and tuck them away. They sure are unpleasant to shoot. Thanks for letting me share this evening!

kaaskop49 · Jul 22, 2017

Derringers... Gotta love 'em! There is a hard core of "D" fans on this forum that do! Kudos to companies like Davis that offer small, concealable Ds that fulfill the purpose Ds were originally designed for: unobtrusive pocket protection.

I, too, would treasure that judge's D, but I would shoot it every so often. Those little pistols can come in handy, as we D lovers know. Are there better choices? Sure, said the J-hound (

). But the "bird in the hand" mantra may apply, or my favorite, "For every Jack, there's a Jill."

Thank you for the wonderful thread, OP.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Ivan the Butcher · Jul 22, 2017

I have a 32 Auto and a 22Mag models. Many people have problems getting them to group. For the center fire derringers I start with several brands of factory ammo and keep note on which barrel shoot to where with which ammo. (I have a 357 American that used a 158 38 inth top barrel and a 110 357 in the bottom!)

For the 22 Mag (I have 3) I only have ever used Federal 50gr. HP Product#757. This is made for hand guns and I get 4" at 10yards or better. The ammo has been made for several years , so the packaging keeps changing, but the product #757 stays the same.

Ivan

kaaskop49 · Jul 22, 2017

Ivan the Butcher said:
I have a 32 Auto and a 22Mag models. Many people have problems getting them to group. For the center fire derringers I start with several brands of factory ammo and keep note on which barrel shoot to where with which ammo. (I have a 357 American that used a 158 38 inth top barrel and a 110 357 in the bottom!)

For the 22 Mag (I have 3) I only have ever used Federal 50gr. HP Product#757. This is made for hand guns and I get 4" at 10yards or better. The ammo has been made for several years , so the packaging keeps changing, but the product #757 stays the same.

Ivan

As Mr. Spock would say: "Fascinating." Different bullet weights in each .357 bbl., "You can't make this stuff up."

For my .22 Mag High Standard Ds, nothing works better than the old CCI 40gr HP or jacketed solid point bullets. I must try your Federal 50gr. But stay away from Hornady Critical Defense .22 Mag: keyholes in ALL my mini guns at 3 yards.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

NevadaBob · Jul 22, 2017

Wonderful story! I bet she dealt with moonshiners and other varmints! My wife's dad was from Hazelhurst and he's now 82. Always likes to end most sentences with the phrase: "Yeah boy!" He's a wonderful man.

I imagine the folks at this link would to hear your story as well:

Bryco-Jennings-Jimenezarms.com • Index page

Ivan the Butcher · Jul 23, 2017

kaaskop49 said:
"You can't make this stuff up."Kaaskop49

My American 357 is one of the worst printing derringers I've seen. With the same ammo in both barrels at 10 yards they are 17 inches apart! I just found a combo that the top barrel shoots flat (110gr 357 STHP) and the bottom barrel shoots flat (158gr 38 LSWC). Of course if I get the ammo backwards, the barrels shoot 34" apart.

Ivan

Grandma's Davis 25 Auto

SVT28

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kaaskop49

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Ivan the Butcher

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kaaskop49

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NevadaBob

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Ivan the Butcher

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