Small handguns - deringer

Question
Hi Kyle,

I hope you can help me with a fairly simple but specific question for a fiction piece I am working on, and it seems you're the guy to ask!

I've been trying to find some info on single-shot pistols, and I think I have found what I need in the Deringer pistol (i.e a very small one or two shot gun), either a modern or fairly old-style one. What I would like to know more about is the assembly of this gun. How many basic pieces can it be broken down into, without really going into the internal mechanisms of the gun? How many pieces might it be broken down into and reassembled from if you were to clean it?

Ideally, if it could be disassembled into various states, 2-4 major pieces would be what I was thinking off - for a person to then assemble quickly and without much thought. In that one person is transferring pieces of the gun to a second peron, who then assembles it for use.

Any help you can provide would be great, and any diagrams on the web you could point me towards also.

Thanks!

Craig


Answer
Craig,

I don't have a lot of first-hand experience with derringer-style pistols, prefering revolvers and semi-autos myself.

What I do know is derringers, by their nature, are very simple pistols. Most feature a break-action for loading and unloading and the better models include a spring-loaded extractor that lifts empty shell cases out of the breech when the gun is "broken."

As such, for moving parts, you're looking at the hinge-point in the frame, the catch that locks the barrels and, aside from the trigger and hammer, that's about it.

I'm pretty certain most derringers can be separated into two parts fairly easily, the frame and action in one part and the barrel(s) in the other. Removing the barrels would be about as far apart as most users would ever need to take the gun for cleaning. Derringers were designed to be carried a lot and shot little, so there's little need for the user to be able to detail-strip the gun and get at its lockwork. I'm sure it can be done, but a gunsmith and his tools would likely be required.  

In researching this question I learned that "Deringer" pistols are those made by Henry Deringer's company, which invented the tiny pocket pistols. A "derringer" is a similar gun made by a company other than Henry Deringer's.

The original Deringers where chambered in anemic cartridges, such as the .22 Short, one of the very first self-contained metallic cartridges available. Today, derringers are available in a variety of cartridges, from the tiny .22s up to .45-70 Government and .410-bore shotshells. Typically, .38 Special and .45 ACP are pretty common and popular derringer cartridges. Today, American Derringer makes a variety of guns, mostly two-barreled versions in single-action, although they do make double-action guns. Check out their website at: http://www.amderringer.com/

Bond Arms also makes modern derringer pistols, their website is http://www.bondarms.com/

Hopefully I've been of some help, though if you've any other questions, please feel free to ask. Good luck with your writing, if you find a good literary agent, please feel free to drop ME an email.

Kyle