This is a far cry from what I am usually attracted to, but I could not resist. I think the trigger could be a little lighter but it is what it is. It should be a good one with CCI rat shot if a snake gets into the tent.

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If you have occasion to shoot that thing inside your tent, chances are you’ll miss the rat and deafen everyone in the tent.

Years ago I owned one of those (a bit older version) briefly. Beyond arms length, I couldn’t hit anything with it.

After trying to hit an IPSC target and only occasionally hitting it at 7 yards i decided it wasn’t useful for me so I moved it along.

These are the best contemporary derringers available.

They avoid the massive size and weight of the Bond derringers so if you’re planning to carry it it’s possible.

They aren’t single action so you don’t need to thumb cock it: it’s double action. This is a huge advantage because it’s much easier to shoot quickly than a single action gun since you don’t have to fiddle with it before each shot. The double action trigger pull is quite heavy which doesn’t help hitting the target.

The barrels are only casually regulated so you’ll find you shoot one barrel better than the other. This isn’t a problem at arms length, but becomes apparent as the range increases: it’s quite noticeable at 10 feet.

If you’re going to carry it, this is the only derringer to buy.

I politely disagree. Please hear me out.
For years I searched for a High Standard 22.
Back in the '90s American Derringer made a derringer with
identical styling, but in 38 special (And apparently also in 9mm).
I found a 38 model and promptly bought it (No pictures, yet).
The back strap is at least twice as wide as as regular design.
This is now my deep cover gun.
The High Standard 22 is a quality gun, but still a 22.

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I'm with her

I shot mine (a 22LR) best by using my middle finger on the trigger, with the index “pointing” to the target. Still somewhat difficult.

Didn’t last long; for it’s niche I found the NAA much better.

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Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

Found a picture online.

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I'm with her

I certainly understand why you’d want a 38 instead of a 22, but the increased size for the 38 disqualifies it for carrying for me.

If I want a 38, I use my M38 or M42. They are as easy to conceal as the High Standard in 38. The revolvers are much easier to shoot and hit targets with at self defense ranges and have infinitely better triggers than the High Standard. They also offer 5 shots instead of two.

From the perspective of literally shooting one of these things I can say from experience thank you, but no.

That includes any derringer, actually, but there are exceptions to my rule of no.

Everyone likes pictures:

This cute little antique ain't ever getting fired (a gift from a friend, literally, from his dad's estate):

Remington .41 centerfire derringer Illion NY



This even cuter, much more modern gun ain't ever getting fired, either ($200, as I recall, from the Winchester Gallery in Fort Worth, probably 20 years ago):

NAA Mini Revolver .22 Short



This next one is NIB so I see no reason to fire it:

HS 22 magnum derringer black grips



I have fired this next one and, trust me, it ain't a picnic, but I think I solved that problem, except for the decibels:

HS .22 magnum derringer white grips






If you're going to carry one of these, that's the way to conceal it. I carried it in my back pocket on a trip quite some years ago; otherwise, it's my bathrobe gun and doesn't leave the house. The ATF has approved this for me, BTW. $5.00.

As a former cowboy action shooter I have shot derringers in calibers that start with a 3 and thank you, but never again. Besides recoil issues they're just too hard to cock and fire.

These guns come up for discussions now and again and I frequently note that years ago a Forum member told the story of how a High Standard derringer saved his life. I'll try to do it justice for him and repeat it here.

I love that story.

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Come and take it!!

I agree completely.

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Come and take it!!

I have both the 22Mag and 38 Special High Standard design. With the right ammo, they both shoot fine. Try 38 wadcutters, and Federal actually makes a Handgun 22 Magnum load: Product 757. Doesn't say handgun or rifle anywhere on the package! 50 grain Jacketed HP. The faster powder and longer bearing surface were specifically chosen to be used in Ruger Single Six back in the 80's. It is also fine for rifles but not as flat of trajectory. In the HS it shoots 2.5 to 3" at 15' (4 shot group).

I also have 3 Davis Derringers 2 in 32 ACP + one in 22 Mag. The 32 ACPs came with a recommendation to use Winchester Silver Tip Hollow Points. Typically I get 4" at 15' for 4 shots. In SASS shooting we aren't allowed jacketed ammo. So I loaded up 200 with 94 grain LRN and used 32 S&W (short) loading data (this load functions 32 Autos also) I typically got 1.5" 4 shot group at 15'. The 22 Mag is almost as accurate as the High Standard with the "757" load.

American Derringer 357. Looks just like older Bond Arms. with just about any ammo the barrels shoot 17" apart at 21'. I got it to 4" group with 357 125gr STHP 357 in top barrel, and 158 LSWC standard velocity 38 Special in lower barrel. If you get it backwards they are 34" apart!

Holsters: I have a pair of leather suspenders that has interchangeable holsters for the Davis and a 38 S&W Lemon Squeezer.

I found a home made pocket/belt holster for the Davis 22 Mag that also carries 4 extra rounds. (Who reloads a derringer?)

Over the years I've bought and sold several others. Cobray (same guys as the MAC-10 full auto I had) made a 45/410 sxs for awhile. Too bulky for CCW! Took awhile to find 45 Colt that would group (230 gr hand load @ 700fps) 410 patterns were 6' diameter at 10' for #9 shot! and 4' diameter at10' for #4 shot. 2 1/2" shells.

Ivan

I also have 2 Davis Derringers, both in 9mm. With their skinny
backstraps they are a handful to shoot. The American 38 is
much less painful. I also have an old Hawes in 22 magnum
that was a deep cover BUG in my Dallas PD days.

Could you measure the frames on the High Standard 22 and
the American 38. To the best of my memory they are about
the same size.
ETA: I used to have a 32 Davis, but it quickly broke a firing
pin.

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I'm with her

I bought a High Standard .22 magnum derringer more than fifty years ago. I fired it twice at a paint can just a short distance away at dusk. Complete misses, but a giant fireball and an incredible blast. Kept it several years, but couldn't bring myself to ever shoot it again. That mighty double-action pull makes a good safety.

One of those was my Onion Field gun on the job. It lived in the right hip pocket. I intended it for use at contact range a la the war story above, but found that using the index finger method it would put both rounds about 4 inches apart at 7 yards. That said I now have a Remington RM380 that has a slightly larger footprint and holds 3 times as many rounds that would take its place.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

I had one many years ago, traded it off. Makes an OK BUG.

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No baby we aint

Owned three over the years. Sold each one at some point. Enough said.

Okay, I'll be the odd man out and go with the minority. I've had a couple throughout the years in .22 mag and fwiw I personally use the index finger on the side of the barrel/middle trigger finger method for firing it.

To each his own, but I have to ask "Really ?" to anyone who complains that they got rid of theirs because they couldn't keep the hits in a silhouette target at 21 feet. (as an aside I, like most others, have experimented with shooting it at extended range and I find that if I have plenty of time and bear down on the shooting fundamentals it is reasonably accurate [minute of trash can lid] out to even 10 yards or more). Obviously, those with large paws would have a different perspective on the little biter, but I have an average hand span and acknowledge the little gun was never intended to plink beer cans at even ten or fifteen feet.

Using it as the designers probably intended, effecting a drill where one slaps/punches/pushes the target in the face/eyes/throat with the off hand while drawing the derringer with the strong hand and rapidly dumping two shots center of mass at contact distance of two or three feet while backing away, my experience is two centered shots 2-4 inches apart. Ideally I'd rather be somewhere else altogether and never be in that situation or at least be a lot farther away with a much bigger gun. But on vacation in shorts or trunks with a tee shirt you carry lighter than you normally would. It's not my ideal first choice but I have carried it from time to time.

A short while back I had the opportunity to pick up a .22 long rifle set of barrels for mine, and with some minor fitting it interchanges with my magnum I've had for years in a few minutes. I love the .22 mag, but given the cost these days of magnums it's much more fun to shoot the little gun with affordable standard .22's and I've shot it more in the last few times I stuck it in the range bag than I had for years. But if I chose to carry it as a deep cover/secondary/back-up I'd go with the mag barrels. Hits with a .22 magnum at any range inside 25 yards even in that pea shooter is nothing to sneeze at.

Most importantly having one on you fulfills the first rule of gun fighting, which is have a gun.

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Qui plantavit curabit

Carried one while I was with Dallas PD in the 70s and 80s...didn't have to qualify with backup weapons back then...Oh the "good old days"...

It was actually a third stringer to the duty gun and a S&W 42 that was worn the left leg...

Still have the gun...shoots great...

Bob

Mine keyholes in just about any ammo I put in it.

All the better for it's intended purpose...

Way back, knew guys who back pocket carried the HS Derringer in the wallet - holster with the trigger finger hole.
Not sure about accuracy, did hear a guy down Texas way claim he shot an assailant outside a Honky Tonk with one.
Meanwhile, up in CO knew a Senior Gent who dropped his 38 Special older style Derringer on a garage floor.
It discharged and shot him in the leg.
No Hammer Block.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Great short tutorial on close-in self defense action.

A buddy of mine who was a deputy in Larimer county, Colorado tells of a gas station hold up he worked. After the crook emptied the till and took the coin changer, the Attendant said, "I suppose you want what's in my wallet too."

He said 2 rounds of .22 magnum to the face effectively ended that criminal career on the spot.

I have two friends who killed attackers with H-S derringers, up close and personal.
It does the job.

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John

I see that I am not alone, Old Tanker shows a similar setup.

BUT! PLEASE! Be aware of the little note that I added:

The idjits at the ATF long ago classified this combination as an "AOW" requiring an NFA tax stamp.

Don't ask me why, you know they're always looking to harass us and some years ago when that setup was made popular by Galco or Jackass Leather before it changed its name some genius at the ATF decided that if you couldn't see the gun it had to be submitted to them for the NFA tax stamp.

Here's the 1997 explanation in the ATF's "FFL Newsletter":

https://www.atf.gov/file/56386/download

We literally registered my wallet holster using a handwritten, ink inscribed serial number, entered it into my FFL's bound book, I completed a Form 4473, and we then applied for the $5.00 transfer tax. As I recollect, my FFL kept the wallet until the tax stamp came back, making the transfer back to me a real thing. He simply insisted that I remove the potential felony from my life so I agreed and we got-r-dun! YMMV as always.

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Come and take it!!

Like so many other conflicting ATF letters and rulings. Something is legal until they change their mind.

We had one long ago...... Took 2 fingers to pull trigger.........Loud as a stick of dynamite in your face........You could hit a 55 drum if you held it inside before you pulled the trigger.

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S&W Accumulator

I have one in 22LR. Like an above poster, I carry it at times when a bigger gun is not possible as I consider it better than no gun. The trigger on mine really isn’t bad, I’ve handled DA revolvers with heavier trigger pulls.

It isn’t for every situation but it’s another arrow in the CCW quiver.

I LOVE that one!!! When I picture a derringer in my mind, that is what I see.
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

Here's mine. Pretty sure guns disguised as anything else, including wallets aren't legal but not sure how to go about making it so.

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It has to be registered as an AOW- Any other Weapon $5.00 tax stamp. Talk to a Class 3 dealer. Be Safe,

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I BACK OUR BLUE

If Im reading the letter linked above correctly, the $5.00 fee is for a transfer, but you have to start with a $300 application to construct.

Correct, but the Form 1 fee to construct an AOW is $200, not $300. Still, the point is that transfers are much, much cheaper than building an AOW.

I had one in the late 70's. The barrels were not bored parallel. As you could imagine it was not exactly a target pistol but I found if I laid my index finger along the side of the barrel and pulled the trigger with my middle finger I could point my index finger at what I wanted to hit. It put the gun lower in your hand and seemed natural.

Am I reading these posts correctly? Dropping a pistol into what
amounts to a pocket flap holster suddenly shifts to AOW?
If I carry a 1911 in a concealing flap holster under a coat is that AOW? Seems to be the same thing to me.
I truly understand jumping through the AFT hoops because of
their ruling, but this is a very slippery slope.

Sorry. Conspiracy rant off.

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I'm with her

I am curious about this too.
Larry

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Miss Buddies crsides & fat tom

I believe the main sticking point insofar as the ATF rule is concerned is that the wallet holster is designed with the intent that the gun be fired without removing it from the holster. If the holster didn’t have the trigger hole it would be a non issue, of course it would also not be useful either.

I really don’t understand the thought on the rule, and I don’t agree with it. But that’s what I was lead to believe when I inquired about the issue with an ATF agent.

I had one just like that back in the mid-80's. My most vivid memory is how painful it was if you forgot hearing protection. I paid $50, shot a box of ammo, then sold it for the same. I didn't miss it at all.

IIRC, at one time, the HS .22 Magnum derringer was issued to South Carolina state troopers as a back-up gun.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I definitely don't understand the logic either.
Say I drop one of my derringers into my jacket pocket and
get hijacked, shoot the perp with my derringer from inside my
pocket through my jacket.

Et voila. Instant AOW. My goose is federally cooked.

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I'm with her

Anyone who expects the ATF to be consistent or logical in their rulings is likely to have to answer question 21g affirmatively.

Like many LEO's of bygone days, I carried a HS .22 WMR in a back pocket wallet holster. BUG's were 'verboten' for our agency. The Chief was a retired NYPD dinosaur and subscribed to the 'possible throw-down gun' BS.
So - anything you carried had to be well-hidden.

A fellow officer saved his own life with a HS .22 WMR after losing his service revolver in a huge tussle with a bulked-up ex-con.
Once the HS's muzzle was shoved up his nose and the trigger pulled to it's halfway point, the suspect ceased his intentions.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

When you qualify with your “deep cover gun” come back and show us your target and score! I tried to qualify one of my guys with an AMT 380 and he could never get close to a passing score but he did get a trip to the ER when the slide sliced the top of his shooting hand so bad that he needed stitches.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

i might be crazy but it was never adjudicated,.

Not exactly. The point is that the holster is designed for the gun to fired while still in the holster. There was a similar holster back then that was designed to be "permanently" attached to the derringer using the grip screws. The maker was on ATFs radar already and they considered the modification of removing the grips and replacing it with an attached "concealment device" to be the same as a pen gun or briefcase gun a la the Man from UNCLE and decided it was AOW. That was in the 80s. The Jackass/GALCO holsters continued to be used until someone at ATF still pickier decided any holster designed to be shot through was AOW.

Mine went away, Jackass holster and all before 1997, for those from BATFE monitoring this traffic.

I see DeSantis is marketing a "Pocket Shot" holster for small autos that looks much like the banned holsters except for the fact that the entire slide is visible. Maybe that makes the difference, or maybe the regulators are too busy with bump stocks and wrist braces to bother with it.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

See post #37 above.

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I'm with her

Look at what I wrote or PM me.

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Come and take it!!

I've always wanted one of those. Not at current prices. Apparently $350 and up, 'way up, on GunBroker.

One of those (many) guns I always wanted but never got around to buying. I always preferred a J Frame as a backup weapon (just perfect for my needs). Otherwise I woulda bought one of those H-S derringers.

HS 22Mag with no grips, as carried since new in '80, vs LCP.
Pic of guts.
Red/green part is the Actuator that cycles the firing pin to alternate hitting either rim. Actuator Spring not show but it sits aft of the Actuator at the green mark.

Index finger on barrels when shooting.
22 Magnum snake shot beats LR Shot but a Sec6 Snub with Shot Shells is better for South Florida chores.

Color case hardening to barrels and steel grip frame, to be machined to replace aluminum, and thick brass grips for this fun project. Perhaps a Poker gambling theme as I was a card marker for an old gaming shop in my youth.

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Have Fun/Stay Safe

Saw a NAA 32 with wallet holster this weekend.

I am sure they have their use, but in my aging hands likely more dangerous to me. I will stick with a J frame.

I guess if your pocket was designed to have a gun shot through it you might have a point.

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I need ammo, not a ride.