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I'd just get the cheap piece a crap.. you'll probably only shoot it five times and never carry it.
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Wow I just looked up American Derringer's website, and you can get them in 10mm, 44 mag, and... 45-70!
I've decided I want a Derringer. I think I want a cheaper, .38 special. Accuracy and recoil don't matter, cause if I need it, it will be very close range, and I'll be "in the moment", and not notice the recoil. What is there to know before I buy one?
From what she told me, she does not like to rack the slide. She only weight 100 lbs her hand are small. Revolver 357 and 38 are too bulky for her purse.
Thirty years ago I purchased a stainless double barrel American Derringer chambered in 45/410 with 22 caliber inserts. Paid $135 out the door. Have shot rabbits, grouse, snakes and carried it for self defense. Buy quality, mine is still like new.
Bond Arms makes a heavy duty gorgeous 45 lc/410 g. About $300.
I always fancied that High Standard .22 magnum.
To throw out another option, check out the NAA mini-revolvers. They're only available in .22 (LR or magnum) but you get 5 shots out of them with decent accuracy. I can get all 5 shots on a man-sized target at 7-10 yards while shooting very fast.
I know of one HS 22 mag that dropped 2 VC that were guarding a "Disarmed Airman" as the Jolly Green flew in for a rescue, back in the day. No Davis Gun could have done the same. Honestly I hate the Davis DerringerI guess the other thing to keep in mind re derringers is something that applies to all small guns: small guns (and especially the very small ones) are much more difficult to shoot accurately than larger guns. You have terrible sights, short sight radius, miniscule grips, and lots of recoil -- so you're basically squinting at tiny little sights, only a couple inches away from each other, trying to get a solid grip on a small funny shaped handle good for maybe 1.5 fingers of grip, and manipulate a weird heavy trigger -- Every gun on that list has a funky trigger: the Bond and the AD are heavy downward diagonal pulls, the NAA is a serrated stub and also a diagonal pull, and the HS has literally the worst trigger of any gun I have ever shot -- best described as "a trigger pull like a Craftsman stapler." And then there is the sharp recoil getting pushed into your hand by those tiny funky shaped gips. . .
If you want to become adequately proficient with them you're going to have to invest a fair bit of range time and lots of ammo -- and not fun range time either for most of these. Just because you can rock the silhouettes with your 1911 or Glock doesn't mean you can keep it on the paper with a derringer. For most people it is a frustrating experience -- a lot of people blame it on the gun. But, IMHO, the guns are plenty accurate, they are just very difficult to shoot well.
I know of one HS 22 mag that dropped 2 VC that were guarding a "Disarmed Airman" as the Jolly Green flew in for a rescue, back in the day. No Davis Gun could have done the same. Honestly I hate the Davis Derringer
I agree that the Davis/Cobra stuff is garbage. The HS that I had was really accurate and great to carry -- only thing I didn't like was the trigger and the limited capacity of 2 shots.
Even a blind person can hit a target with a .410 in #4 shot, you'll know you are shooting a hefty cartridge when you feel the mule kick.
From what I've seen don't get a derringer, get a LCP, P3AT or the like, they are generally smaller and lighter than most derringers and give you 6+1 instead of 2 shots.