cobra arms derringer any good?

[Low Budget Shooter]

Dear THR,

This is where used Charter Arms revolvers shine. They are even smaller than j-frames (by a little), they typically go for $200-$250 used, and they are MUCH, MUCH better shooters than a derringer.

LBS

 

[SwordRapier]

You know what I have noticed about "The High Road"?

There's always someone who will tell you your gun is a piece of crap. Doesn't matter what gun it is, according to someone it is nothing more than a collection of junk parts that would better serve humanity by being recycled into a birdhouse.

 

[1911Tuner]

You know what I have noticed about "The High Road"?

There's always someone who will tell you your gun is a piece of crap.

Yep...and invariably somebody will start talking about 15-yard accuracy...with a gun intended to be used at arm's length.

*sigh*

 

[FoMoGo]

If the altercation starts off at contact range... but by the time you get your "belly gun" out, the other person has backed off to the 15 yard range... but is still a threat, I think 15 yard accuracy is now a concern. If he can hit you at that range, and you cant hit him... I think there could be a problem.


Jim

 

[1911Tuner]

And the rest of'em always assume that it's going to be a gunfight...with both parties skinnin' their smokewagons and goin' to work in a showdown at high noon thing.

There have been many instances in which a 2-shoot derringer could have made the difference between life and death. The story of "The Onion Field" is one of the better known. A young girl abducted from a parking lot and forced into a trunk is another. Trunk opens. Bang. Rapist is gut-shot. Girl goes home.

But, I guess I'll never convince anybody of the utility and advantages of the simple little derringer...so...

Carry on!

 

[FoMoGo]

I make no assumptions of what is going to happen.
I just try to be prepared for likely scenarios.
Close contact, a gun you can shoot accurately at a distance will work.
Distance, a gun that you have trouble hitting the side of a barn from inside... may not work.
Seems to me that a gun you can hit with at a reasonable distance is a better idea to have with you.
I carry snubbies, but I can hit with them... coffee can size target... at 40 yards.
With stress and the things that come with an adrenaline fueled situation... your accuracy drops badly. Maybe if I practice out to 40... I will be able to hit at 10 or less.
Makes sense to me.


Jim

 

[1911Tuner]

I just try to be prepared for likely scenarios.

Nor do I, but the "likely" scenario is that you won't need a gun at all on a given day.

Outside of law enforcement...for whom a sidearm is mandated...and the rare individual
who finds himself at odds with a gang of hoolligans, etc...very few private citizens have a real or defined need to carry a gun. We carry one because we can and because it comforts us, and because we simply prefer to be armed...and that's reason enough...but an actual need isn't there.

The few people I know who really need to carry most often carry two. Or...as the old saying goes:

"If you need to carry a gun, carry two. If you don't need to carry one...carry one anyway."

 

[FoMoGo]

The few people I know who really need to carry most often carry two. Or...as the old saying goes:

"If you need to carry a gun, carry two. If you don't need to carry one...carry one anyway."

Thats the thought process I go by...
My job puts me in bad areas, and sometimes covering or removing gang turf tags... this makes me less than popular with the local fauna. I just dont like the idea of being in the places I go... doing the things I do... unarmed.




Jim

 

[keltex78]

I like my Cobra Derringer...

It looks like this is a thread that will never die!

I have the .22 Mag. Cobra Derringer. I did not buy it for Concealed Carry but for loading with snakeshot for when I'm out fishing. It's not accurate for target shooting but good enough for shooting an aggressive water moccasin that's up close. I don't intend for it to be a typical handgun; this is actually a small, handheld, very lightweight, double-barreled shotgun. For a drop-in-the-pocket woods/fishing gun, I love it.

I bought the .22LR barrel for fun shooting and have actually used it more than I had expected; it has paid for itself vs. shooting the .22 Mag ammuntion. I regularly enjoy taking it out and shooting at cans or whatever kind of junk I can find where I shoot. A box of .22 in a gun that only loads two shells at a time means a long time shooting for cheap.

I have used the .22 Mag derringer for concealed carry but it's not my first choice. I do know that I would feel much better carrying the derringer than no gun at all though.



The larger bore 9mm/38 spl is high-up on my list of guns to buy next! They are much larger than the .22 model but I like the idea of something that could throw a more reasonably size load of shot vs. the .22.

 

[1911Tuner]

I do know that I would feel much better carrying the derringer than no gun at all though.

And that is precisely the niche that stack-barrel derringers fill. The gun that can be carried most easily by almost anybody. It's flat. It's light. It's compact. It can be had in a serious caliber...and it can be there without a lot of effort.

It's not very accurate...at least not on a practical level...at much more than five or six feet. It doesn't have to be. It's meant to be an emergency life saving tool used at contact range. It has a bad trigger that requires a deliberate effort to pull it because a good trigger would be a liability in a grappling, hand-to-hand fight. A gun to be carried by people who don't really like to carry guns, and would try to avoid trouble at nearly any cost...even running from it if possible...but want to have something at hand besides a rock and a prayer in case they can't avoid it.

It's for people who have no intention of making a stand. People who fight like a cat. A cat normally stings his attacker in order to divert his attention and his efforts in order to gain time to exit the scene. Not interested in winning any battles...all he wants to do is get away and live.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

It's for people who have no intention of making a stand. People who fight like a cat. A cat normally stings his attacker in order to divert his attention and his efforts in order to gain time to exit the scene. Not interested in winning any battles...all he wants to do is get away and live.

That's extremely well stated and I totally agree. Also, like you said in a previous post, "A young girl abducted from a parking lot and forced into a trunk is another. Trunk opens. Bang. Rapist is gut-shot. Girl goes home."