Have you ever owned a Derringer?

[TACC1]

Paladin85020;
Are you a professional photographer? Your pics are always great!
I've had two Hi-Standard, 22Mag derringers. After having one once and selling it, I'd forgotten why I got rid of it. It was as heavy as
a snubbie, and harder to hold. I really liked the fit and function, though.
They just seemed to be a great firearm, even if they didn't allow a very good hold. I think time has passed by derringers. TACC1

 

[rimfired]

I've had this Remington #65 type 3 for almost twenty years. I have three boxes of the .41 rimfire ammo. I bought it for the nostalgia value. I might shoot it once a year just for chuckles. The round is pretty anemic and the accuracy at 10' is OK. This one has the blue flaking but the hinges and bores are like new.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Paladin85020;
Are you a professional photographer? Your pics are always great!
TACC1

Thanks for the compliment! If you mean by "professional" - do I actually get paid for photographs - then I guess I'm a professional. But in reality, I consider myself an advanced amateur with a love of photography almost equaling my interest in guns and shooting. In reality, I illustrate most of the articles I write for The Blue Press and other publications with my own photos, and I do get compensated for them. The stuff I post here, though, is just for fun.

Thanks again for the nice comment.

John

 

[Smith357]

I had a .38 chrome Davis with pearl grips for a short time, strictly a belly gun, if you were more than 5 yards away hitting the target was sheer luck.

 

[rock doc]

I have a Cobra .38 and a NAA .22lr mini. Bought them for the heck of it. I'm more accurate if I throw them at the target.

 

[Superflywimpy]

I had a tec-38 and it worked great...

It was a 2 shot double action job from that notorious company Intratec. It fit in my back pocket and had some sort of glock trigger safety. But it shot every time I pulled the trigger.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Had a Remington 41 derringer years ago. Got it in a trade, hinge broken but otherwise OK. Traded it off for something else, don't remember what. Now I carry a N.A. 22 mini. Loaded with 2 snake shot & 3 LR hollowpoints for rattlers.

 

[OLDFED]

Thumbs up for the High Standard DM 101! I carried one as my BUG years ago, learning that it needed to be fired with the middle finger in a staged process. Yes, it keyholed at 10 yards but I figured if I ever needed it it would be a contact shoot. The standing joke at the time was that you didn't have to shoot straight because the flames would incinerate your opponent! I still have mine and did own a Remington .41 too but never shot it. I, too, would like to see a DM101 come back in stainless.

 

[Joe Kent]

NFameFred, nailed it. I have had a Hi-Standard 22 Mag. since I married my wife 35 years ago. She had carried it when she was taking night courses at college. I always considered it a "lucky" gun. The first time I shot it I aimed at a small bore A-17 target at about 5yards and cut a perfect pinwheel. It has gone with both my wife and myself when nothing larger could be carried and as a back-up/2nd gun up until the current Ruger/Kel-tec small autos came into play. I joke that when my girlfriend at the time told me she carried a gun I proposed at once. That's why after 35 great years I consider it my "lucky" gun.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Thumbs up for the High Standard DM 101! I carried one as my BUG years ago, learning that it needed to be fired with the middle finger in a staged process. Yes, it keyholed at 10 yards but I figured if I ever needed it it would be a contact shoot. The standing joke at the time was that you didn't have to shoot straight because the flames would incinerate your opponent! I still have mine and did own a Remington .41 too but never shot it. I, too, would like to see a DM101 come back in stainless.

Many of the well-used High Standard derringers in .22 magnum develop some looseness. In my examining of many of the breed, I've never seen one in .22 LR get the shakes. Obviously, the .22 mag is a more powerful load, but the use of them takes a toll on the little guns. The hi-vel .22 LR rounds are almost as fast out of those short barrels, and are much easier on the gun - making them about ideal if you want to practice a lot. I use the CCI Quik-Shok rounds which split up into 3 pieces on impact, giving maximum energy transfer. If I had to use the HS derringer for real at close distance, it would be "in the face."

John

 

[Pop's2]

Western Derringer in .22 LR

I think this is a Davis although it say's Hawes

 

[Jellybean]

I have two, a Davis D-32 in .32 mag. and an American Derringer M-1 in .41 mag.

They both hurt to shoot using full magnum ammo. I never chrongraphed their velocities from the short barrels to see if magnum ammo is even worth carrying. They are somewhat more manageable using light loads.

They both have a half cock notch and they both have cross bolt safeties, but they differ in how the safeties operate. ( I never fully tested these safeties and am not suggesting anything about how to use one.)

The Davis has a typical "push on / push off" safety. It could be carried fully cocked and locked, locked and at half cock or on half cock.

The American Derringer has an auto safety. To engage it you push it in, then lower the hammer on top of it. Then, when you fully cock the hammer, the safety automatically pops out on its' own. It would be the same movement to carry it at it's half cocked position, so using the safety would be much more preferable.

Given their bulk, ergonomics and pain in the butt butts, I'd probably carry just about anything else before I carried one now days.

 

[normanvin]

I have two. One is a cop, it is a 4 barrel .357. Then I have a bond arms. I have several barrels for it. .22, .357, 9mm, .410/45lc.

 

[keith44spl]

I wasn't gonna opine here...But, yes I have. Used to carry a Hi-Standard in .22 Mag. switched it out for a NAA in .22 Mag.

If'n yur ground fightin' for your life and trying to retain your primary holstered sidearm from being torn away...Can't reach my ankle gun, but can get my hand in my left pant pocket to that little .22 caliber revolver.

Jest screw it in an ear and pull the bang switch things will get calmed down considerably after the stiffin' up and the foot twitchin' stops.

Just an ol' man talkin' here.

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[2152hq]

Years ago I had one in 45 Colt. (Maverick??) Well made, awkward and a real pain to shoot.

I had of those also. The Maverick in 45 Colt. A case colored frame and all. Came along in a 'take it all' buy. I shot it a couple times. Painful it was. Sold it to a guy I did some work for. He sent it back a year or so later for me to fix the extractor on it. That was in the 80's.

Only other was one of the H/Standard's in 22lr. Bought it new in '71 for somewhere around $60. It misfired quite alot. Factory couldn't fix it either.
No luck at all with derringers

 

[LHS]

As close as I've ever came to owning one was a Davis 25 auto. It always went bang when I pulled the trigger, but it was a guess where the bullet was headed at more than 10-12 feet (if that far out).