A Sudden Fascination with Derringers

[spiroxlii]

Ibmii, my SxS .410/.45LC derringer's recoil isn't that bad, but the gun itself isn't really designed with ergonomics in mind. It doesn't fit in the hand very well. It's manageable once you get used to it, but the recoil does punish the shooter's hand more than it really has to, and the muzzle wants to flip up.

If you compare the felt recoil and muzzle flip between my derringer and my Colt SAA replica firing the exact same .45LC loads, the derringer could scare a new shooter away from .45LC while the revolver makes them feel quite comfortable.

I haven't done a similar comparison with .410, since my Colt SAA replica can't fire them. I would imagine that if you compared the felt recoil and muzzle flip between my derringer and something like a Taurus Judge revolver, you'd notice a similar effect to the one I mentioned above.

It makes sense. A revolver has greater mass and fits in the shooter's hand better, so the recoil is naturally more manageable.

 

[lbmii]

Does the 410 recoil more than the 45 in the Derringer?

 

[No Quarter]

I have several. Love 'em . The Bond in .44 mag is accurate enough to trust out to 15 yards. Most powerful pocket gun you can actually carry in a pocket.

Carry it every day in my Wranglers. 240 grain JSP leaves the barrel at 1100 fps.

Here she is:

 

[scbair]

I haven't tried .410 shotshells out of a handgun, but my gut tells me a round designed to be fired out of an 18" or longer tube might suffer some significant velocity loss out of a pocket pistol. I would think the powder, case capacity, etc. might not lend itself to such an abbreviated "burn time."

The .45ACP, on the other hand, is a short, pistol case using a fast-burning powder, and I can tell you it works quite well from an American Derringer lightweight (yep, mine has an alloy frame, weighing approx. 11 ounces) derringer.

 

[Titan6]

Nope, my .45/.410 Texas Defender works wonders on rattlers and copperheads at close range in the .410 loading. Just be sure to have your ear plugs in because that is one loud gun. For SD past about 50 feet the .45 is worthless though. The .410 is worthless past about 15 feet.