Tell me about derringers.

[Grizz2720]

The LGS has a .38 sp. Derringer for sale it is used. Never thought about one before, but this one caught my eye. It seems to be whispering take me home, take me home.

[gummy jones]

Most I've seen do not provide a benefit from a size perspective over comparable, more modern firearms who often have better capacity.

[Hodgie]

Cool too collect and there are a lot of older interesting ones out there for anything else they are useless and outdated at least in my eyes.

[knight0334]

Cobra's suck ass. Mine had a trigger that took BOTH trigger fingers to pull. And the rifling looks like it was PAINTED in the bore. It is so shallow that I doubt it even spins the bullet.

Bond's are 2 times heaver than they need to be, but I'd guess they would last a long time.

American Derringers are pretty good quality and they have a metric shit ton of different chamberings.

[JDA58]

I have a Davis D-25...I figure if I throw it hard enough... it could buy me a few seconds..

[dannyb]

I have a Davis .32 acp O/U derringer. I take it to the range every once in a while. The hammer requires major effort to pull back, the trigger requires all my effort plus the possible help of a 2X4 for leverage. It's minute of serving platter (as opposed to pie plate) at 10 feet. The two barrels are not indexed, so any pattern looks like Jean-Paul Sartre was firing it (JPS reputedly had uncoordinated eyes). So I save it for the end of the range trip so the pain in my palm won't ruin the rest of my outing, have some fun shooting it and laughing at myself for buying it, and put it back in the safe after cleaning it to await another attack of neuroflatulence when looking for what to take to the range this time.

[God's Country]

I often considered a Derringer as a bug until I shot a .38 once, and that was enough for me.
Should have known better since my airweight is pretty snappy.
IMO they're OK in .22 or .22mag, but at that point there are better options.

I'd probably still buy one at the right price though.

[R L Suehr]

Cobra's suck ass. Mine had a trigger that took BOTH trigger fingers to pull. And the rifling looks like it was PAINTED in the bore. It is so shallow that I doubt it even spins the bullet.

Bond's are 2 times heaver than they need to be, but I'd guess they would last a long time.

American Derringers are pretty good quality and they have a metric shit ton of different chamberings.

^^^^^ Pretty much sums it up^^^^^

I bought one in .380 and got the .38 barrels as well. I can agree with everything above. If it's a cobra it isn't worth much. I just thought it was cool and always wanted one. I wouldn't want to have to rely on it though. The bond arms ones are probably the best, but for the size and price of one of those you'd be better served by a snubby revolver. If it's just something you want for a novelty and fun at the range, then I've bought dumber things. Just don't have too high of expectations.

[raxar]

as others said they have plenty of issues, chief among them for me is that the barrels rarely shoot to the same point of impact. Get one for funzies but get something better for poppin' capz in foolz.

[Hawk]

I bought one (Davis) 35 years ago in .38. The fist time I shot it was without ear protection while partying at a friends farm. My one ear rang for two days and hearing out of that ear was never the same.
I suspect it was partially due to the very short barrel and the fact that I fired it while standing between the farm house and a berm along side the farm road I was standing on. A few month's later the sliding safety fell out. I quickly used it for a trade in on another handgun.

If you want a small decent backup or pocket gun take a look at a Keltec P-32 or P3AT.