Originally Posted by The_Real_Hawkeye
Originally Posted by ColeYounger
Originally Posted by 35_PBBK
^this is what i was after. thanks a bunch, sounds like what i want is what i am gonna still want after i buy it too, which is never something to complain about


What? Somebody to agree with you and justify buying one? lol I have the same penchant myself.

I owned one in .38 Spec. Moderate recoil. I've seen them shot in .410 and they have what can best be termed as "healthy" recoil in that caliber. They are quality through and through. The limitations of the classic two-shot derringer design have already been listed here, and are altogether true, so I won't belabor them. The biggest drawback to the American Derringer, other than the aforementioned, is their price. They are plenty high-or were. I would heartily avoid stuff like "The Alaskan Survival Model" in 45-70.

A good alternative is a Davis. They made a few .38's towards the end of their tenure. The .22's and .32's are common and smaller than either their own .38 Spec. or any of the American Derringers. They are not as quality, but are not bad given their price. They used to run about $70, fifteen or so years ago. I'm sure they're double that now, if you can find one.
Those must be what I saw at the gun show this weekend, then. They were priced about double what you say they were fifteen years ago, looked like chrome plating, and the .22 Magnums and .32 ACPs were quite small. I was very tempted to buy one just for the heck of it, but on principle did not. I had come to accumulate cash, not piss cash away. laugh


The American Derringer is the absolute most quality derringer of the type, that you could buy. They are still limited to that design's parameters, as I said. The Davis was, I believe, made in California. It seems like there was the Davis Company and then another that also made cheap guns, right across the street. They were a good gun for the money, made of, IIRC, a zinc alloy. I wouldn't hesitate to buy either a Davis or an American Derringer, if I wanted a classic two-shot derringer...but I don't.