Bond Arms .45/.410

I think my first load will be a heavy lead bullet (250-grain and up) with a large meplat to provide maximum stopping power in a sub-sonic round. I want to look at heavier, non-HP, bullets in the .45 Colt barrel since the .45 ACP barrel covers the weights up to 230-grains.

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I really like the Lyman SWC 250-gr. mould. Out of a 5.5" Blackhawk, it gives very good penetration, even with modest pressure loads that are OK in any .45 Colt. I imagine they'd be a handful in a smaller gun like the Bond Arms, however.

The bullet, though, is a good one. It's a plain base SWC with a good meplat. In the photo below, the bullet on the left went through 7 1-gallon jugs full of water (42 inches of water, plus the plastic of the jugs), then was stopped by the backstop.



All my best,
Dirty Bob

Bond Arms Derringer's

IMHO, just too darn heavy to carry concealed~!

Ala Dan said:

IMHO, just too darn heavy to carry concealed~!

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I can see how you'd feel that way, but I think it really depends on how you carry it. I use the Bond Arms (BATB) Thumb Break Holster RH version. I use it as a cross draw and it really tucks up nice with this holster and because of the placement of the belt slots, the weight of the derringer itself is not really that noticeable. At least not to me. I'm not a real big guy but with this configuration it conceals nicely, even under a T-Shirt as long as the shirt is not too tight. I also have an Uncle Mike's IWB holster that I could use. Even though it also carrys the weight of the gun very well, I feel like I have quicker access to it with the leather Thumb Break from Bond Arms. I'm not trying to "sell" you on carrrying this gun. You carry what feels good to you SO YOU WILL CARRY IT and stay safe Dan. There are a lot of reasons why even I would not recommend this gun to everyone as a CCW, (only 2 shots, lack of confidence some would have in THIS gun etc.) but it works fine for me and would work fine for others too, but I would prefer someone disagree with my choice and CARRY their choice than buy into my tastes and hardly ever carry their gun because it just didn't feel like they thought it would. Bottom line: CARRY WHAT YOU ARE COMFORTABLE AND CONFIDENT WITH AND AS ALWAYS STAY SAFE. Don't buy into someone else's thing unless it REALLY works for you.

Farscott, your points on the pros and cons of the .45 ACP derringer are excellent and match my experience. I have a Bond Arms .45 ACP in the Texas Defender configuration. The recoil is heavy, but to my surprise I have gotten used to it and fire 50-70 rounds (230gr. ball) per range visit. I have become very confident with the gun. It easily shoots POA at 7 yards with the lower barrel and the upper barrel will go about 8" high. I'm not so good with one hand yet, but I can cock and fire with one hand and hit a man-size target at 10-15 feet.

One point no one ever makes about the BA derringer's suitability as a defensive weapon is its safety. With the hammer at rest it is impossible, as far as I know, to make it fire. It takes considerable force to cock the hammer and pull the trigger. So if a child or someone with no gun knowledge got their hands on it they would have difficulty firing it. I know we all take great pains to avoid that happening, but if you're in an accident or rendered unconscious for some reason a BA derringer would have some resistance to accidental discharge. I don't know for sure, but I think there are a lot of non-gun savvy people who would pick up a gun and impulsively pull the trigger to see what happens without any consideration of what might happen.

I have one. Carry it when I'm wade fishing in the swamp. the 410 aspect of it is useless unless you load it with # 8 shot. If you load it with 0 buck the pattern is so wide at 20 ft you may or may not hit anything. The accuracy with the 45 LC is passable. Look on it as a novelty or a toy not something to save your life. Taurus Judge? Got one of them too. Allmost as worthless. Get yourself a good Kahr or a 357 Whoops sorry, you didnt want to hear that. OG

Chaplain Tom,

I found this thread in a search for info on the Bond Arms Derringer. I am sorry for all you had to go through, but I do value your input, and I wanted to thank you for a few things.

First, thank you for your service to our country (my wife's high school sweetheart went to Vietnam and never made it back). *shakes your hand* It is much appreciated.

Second, thank you for saving your wife from evil, thereby providing all of us with an excellent real-life example of what defense guns are all about, protecting the lives of those we love (you could have been shot defending her, so the scripture where Jesus talks about no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend comes to mind, as well as the obvious one about husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, i.e. we should be willing to lay down our life to save our wife at a moment's notice, and you provided an excellent example of that, of how a husband should act under dire circumstances).

Third, thank you for being willing to discuss the importand self defense aspects of the encounter. While I'm sure that was painful for you, it meant a lot to me to read it, and I'm sure many others here feel exactly the same way about that.

So, thanks again for the specific Bond Arms information, as well as for the generic gun-carrying wisdom.

Wishing you safe travels, many blessings, and the ability to help many others,
take care & God bless,
dave

I have a century 2000 bonds and love it. It is heavy but needs to be to handle the calibers I shoot. Have a three 357/38 barrel which I enjoy also. I do have an ankle holster I've used but my favorite is a Crossdraw which is the most comfortable holster I own. 410 and 45 Long colt both shoot out there nicely at 10 to 15 yards. Also like to shoot the 357. Almost like a snubnose. Great truck gun .Have other guns that I enjoy a lot but will never let go of this particular Derringer. Good shooting

I have the C2K. Haven't shot it into anything more than paper yet, but have enough confidence with it that I drop it into my pocket when I go to the stop & rob down the street for a cup of coffee. I got it for desert ATV trips mostly.

I have an assortment of .410 #9, 8, 6, 4, 000 Buck and 1/5 oz. slugs as well as 45 Colt 250 gr lead semi-wad cutter hollow points. In the house I keep the 000 buck loaded for answering the door. A 1/5 oz slug is only 88 grains of lead and I doubt it to be a very good manstopper.

For me it a 5 yard gun, better than a sharp stick and more fun to use!

Thanks

Tubby1 & KenW, now you guys are making me want one! *lol* =)

Heres mine 38/357 I,ve got the 45acp barrel on the way and soon a 10mm,
I Love this gun.

Another photo.

Had one. Beautiful fit and finish. Not fun to shoot. Traded it towards an XDs.

Not fun to shoot? I run shotshells through mine all day with no problem at all. .45 Colt on the other hand, can cause a certain amount of , uhm, discomfort.

The derringer is a niche nostalgia gun. It's niche is snakes and close in rodents as well as close in two-legged varmints. Note: the theme is close in. I find the slugs fairly accurate. But with such a light projectile, I won't put much faith in it actually stopping something like I trust the buckshot to do.

Not fun to shoot? I run shotshells through mine all day with no problem at all. .45 Colt on the other hand, can cause a certain amount of , uhm, discomfort.

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I shot mine with 3" shells, loaded with 000 buckshot. The recoil felt worse on those .410 shells than on the .45 Colts to me. I didn't find the recoil and hand slap pleasant, but I have boney ass hands. Not much padding here.

It was more the short effective range that I found to be no fun. It was a challenge to shoot, and normally I like that, but not in this case. I bought it as a pocket gun. It felt heavy, and I just never got the hang of it. For the limited ammo capacity, I didn't feel it was worth hanging on to to master as I didn't enjoy it, and there are many options out there for practical pocket guns. The single action was also slow for me as the grip was small in my hands and difficult to manipulate one handed. I have thin hands, but large ones.

If I made more money, I might have kept it as a novelty. But the reality is that I only have so much money to spend on firearms, and it just didn't earn a place in my permanent collection.

I will say I don't think there is a higher quality derringer on the market, and would definately recommend one to anyone that has their heart set on a gun of this type.

This must be the thread that just won't die given that it started back in 2006...

I haven't owned one but I've shot two of them that belonged to friends.

The hammer pull to cock is heavier than anything else I've ever shot. And the shape of the curled grip area allowed the gun to pivot in my grip if I tried to cock it one handed to where I had to reposition the gun in my grip to then shoot it. With two hands in use it was OK though. But it would make this tough to use the gun in a tight spot where the shots are time sensitive if the positioning doesn't allow the use of both hands.

I've seen it mentioned that the gun doesn't need a safety simply because the trigger is so hard to move. That was my finding as well. My finger wasn't firm enough to pull the trigger when using the usual spot. I had to relocate to the hard gristle at the joint so I could generate enough pressure on the narrow blade to pull the darn things.

All in all as mentioned already this makes a nice niche gun for fun range time or possibly as a trail gun for snakes. I would not want to use it in any sort of defensive application due to the need for two hands to cock and shoot in a timely manner. Not to mention the particular trigger finger positioning needed and high pressure on the trigger.

It's also interesting to note that both the owners that seemed so happy at first sold the guns soon after. And perhaps not surprisingly both of the owners that they bought the guns from only owned them for a short time as well.

I suspect it's the sort of gun which once it finds the right owner will be happily cherished for the uniqueness of them. I'm just not one of those.

This summer I was walking the dog along a river trail and we almost stepped on a very large rattlesnake that was stretched along the trail. It must have been enjoying the sun because it was not in any hurry to leave.

Could have shot it with my XDs but did not want to embarrass myself by missing a few times. Now I know most of you would never miss a snake and will probably comment to that effect but I have seen a few people try and first shot hits are rare.

For a snake gun, the Bond Arms seemed to fit the bill for me. But I wanted the 2.5 inch barrel so it would be a bit smaller to carry and actually found one in a local gun shop. Shooting .45 Colt 'cowboy' loads was not uncomfortable and have around 75 rounds out of it so far. Took a while to find the best way to hold it and two hands works best.

As long as you remember this is not the first choice for Concealed Carry but a snake gun that's fun to shoot, you will keep on liking it. It's even fun to shoot as long as you don't think it's top dog for a gun fight. But then as one of my instructors used to claim, A handgun is really only to fight your way to a rifle. Of course like someone else commented, I too have dropped it into my pocket for a quick trip to the store

Never sold mine

Still love it

This must be the thread that just won't die given that it started back in 2006...

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That's because a Bond Arms derringer will never die either. Built like a brick..........building.

A Bond Arms is on my wish list but there are others ahead. The recoil with the larger stock is quite manageable. The 2.5" 45acp and 38 barrels are pretty easy to conceal and I think are far better than the new Double Tap.