Got my 9mm American Derringer today!

[WonderNine]

Really didn't know where to put this thread, I know it doesn't belong in Revolvers, but I didn't really think it belonged in General either.

$200 shipped for a brand new unfired M-1 American Derringer in 9mm Luger.

What a neat piece. About 17oz's loaded and really small. Stainless steel construction, seems to be a quality piece.

The only thing I dislike about it is that there is no shell extractor like there is on my Cop .357 derringer, but I knew it wouldn't have one. Might make getting out shells interesting.

I may have a 'range report' this weekend.

 

[Erich]

That's a nice price. Be kind of fun to play with - I wouldn't mind owning one at all!

 

[alamo]

I'll be curious to see how it shoots for you. I've seen a few threads on derringers in the past & a lot of folks have trouble hitting anything with them.

 

[444]

I have wanted one of those for many years, although I would buy one in some ridiculous caliber like .223 Rem or .45/70. I would certainly fire mine, but I am not entertaining any illusions of carrying it for self defense. It would just be a curio for me.

Yes, let us know what you think after you smoke test it.

 

[Landric]

The first gun I ever held was a Derringer. I didn't to shoot it and I have wanted to ever since.

For that price I might have to look into one sometime soon. Let us know how it does.

 

[dickwholliday]

Sorry to be the lone wolf who doesn't like mine but i would not recommend American Derringer.....mine needs to go back to them for the second time but the customer service was so bad the first time that i'm hesitating to even send it back.....i paid a bunch for my 38 spec Am derringer as i got white grips and high polish finish and it just won't consistently shoot two shots......most of the time you get bang -- click......i wish i knew a good smith who kknows how to make them work.........my cowboy shooting buddies also had problems and sold theirs and got Bond Derringers that work.....go ahead and run yours hard for a while to see if it keeps working ......hopefully you got a good one.......DICK

 

[WonderNine]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I like the Bond Arms ones, but I've never seen any for $200 before.

Seems like the Bond Arms don't have an automatic extractor for auto cartridges, is that right?

http://www.bondarms.com/

 

[Kahr carrier]

Sounds like a cool hideout gun.

 

[mainmech48]

Extractor on Remington-style derringers is manual: that doohickey on the left side between the barrels.

A couple of semi-relevent anecdotes:

When I was about 11, a friend of mine's grandfather let us each shoot two rounds of ancient .41 RF ammo from his Remington. The target was a piece of 2x4 at about ten feet. None of the bullets went through it, and one actually bounced off and landed in front of us. I still thought it was cool.

When working 11 to 7 shift in a hospital ER about twelve years later, we had a guy come in on an ambulance who'd actually been shot with one in a most unusual manner:

There was an infamous "roadhouse" bar back home called the "Little Reno Club". One of those spot with chicken wire around the bandstand and sawdust on the floor for the blood and vomit. This fella was a regular.

Seems that he had been doing some extracurricular mattress dancing with the significant-other of another patron.

When this apparently came to light in the course of a drunken argument, the "offended" party pulled an old Remington out of his boot and forced the "offender" to drop his pants and bend over a table. He then proceeded to insert the old derringer into the guy's anus and fire it - twice.

After a couple of surgeries, the guy survived.

Back to the point, a new made DD clone in 9x19 sounds like fun, especially for $200.

 

[KFD147]

OUCH!

 

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

American Derringers chambered for rimless rounds don't HAVE an extractor. My 7.62 x 39 version doesn't have one. I have to pop out crummy Wolf cases with a brass rod down the bore.

My .45 ACP doesn't have one either, but cases pop right out of it, or at worst require hooking the rim of one case on the stuck case to pop it free. I may yet modify it for 1/3-moon clips, as the spacing works, and I'd get an extractor. Then it'd run Auto-Rim, also.

Dickwholliday, a buddy of mine damaged the safety in my .45 by consistently holding in the safety button in with the tip of his thumb while shooting it, as he had really big hands. He thought it was mis-firing, which it had never done before. I had to watch him carefully while he shot it to figure the mystery out, as it wouldn't mis-fire for ME! Unfortunately, he'd peened the ridge of the safety block over by then, and now I need a new one. The safety won't engage before the half-cock notch now.

Could yours be doing something similar? I'm making a long reach here, but every other ADC gun I've met worked fine. Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is the hammer binding up, or something funky with the barrel selection system, as these guns are pretty simple.

 

[dickwholliday]

All i know is that it isn't marking the primer on the second shot.....i figured it was something to do with the system that switches from one barrel to another....DICK

 

[scotjute]

I have an American Derringer in .38 spl, the DA-38 model. Did have to send it back to the factory for a minor adjustment if seating in one of the barrells. It worked fine when I got it back.
I can hit paper plate at 10 yds. One barrell hits near top of plate and the other hits near the bottom.
Your $200 price sounds like a bargain.

 

[cratz2]

mainmech48, there is no way in hell I would allow someone to do that to me! Shoot me in the gut... shoot me in the face... it ain't goin' in there!

By the way, very colorful story.

 

[WonderNine]

I have an American Derringer in .38 spl, the DA-38 model. Did have to send it back to the factory for a minor adjustment if seating in one of the barrells. It worked fine when I got it back.
I can hit paper plate at 10 yds. One barrell hits near top of plate and the other hits near the bottom.
Your $200 price sounds like a bargain.

I used to REALLY want a DA38 in .357 until I started looking at them more closely and realized that they have almost no grip, (even compared to a Model-1 derringer) so I went with the M-1 although I still think I might like an M-1 in .357 and .45LC as well.