.41 Rimfire
Contender
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Single shot Pistols and Derringers
Many Derringers have more than one barrel, but their use aligns with single shot pistols and concealment weapons, so I include them here.
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.41 Rimfire Contender |
Single shot Pistols and DerringersMany Derringers have more than one barrel, but their use aligns with single shot pistols and concealment weapons, so I include them here. |
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Henry Deringer was a Philadelphia based gunmaker whose bread and butter work was Kentucky type rifles and duelling pistols, his workmanship was first class and sought after by gentlemen, hunters and frontiersmen alike. The Deringer name is most closely associated with a small, percussion, single shot pistol in .41 calibre that he designed in the 1840's, which was made famous by the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865.
The Deringer design was widely copied and Deringer became a generic term for a small handgun of this type. Derringer is often spelled with two r's and the variants are interchangeable. When cartridge firing handguns were developed, any small pistol was referred to as a Derringer.
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The .41 rimfire cartridge was created for used in small Derringer type pistols. The .41 rimfire round was very slow, 13 grains of black powder propelling a 130 grain lead bullet at 425 feet per second, yielding a muzzle energy of 52 ft lb. The forerunner of the Remington Double Derringer was designed and patented in late 1865 by Dr. William Elliott, in 1866 this design was adopted and manufactured by Remington and had a 71 year production run from 1866 to 1937.
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Originated... 05 December 2002, New Domain... 25 November 2003, Upgraded... 25 January 2007, Further Upgraded... 06, 07, June 2007,
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James Reid 'My Friend' Knuckle Duster Pocket Revolver .22 rimfire 7 shot. Silver
plated brass frame with brightly blued cylinder, the hammer was also blued, but in this
example it is somewhat rusty. The weapon depicted is lightly engraved, but others can be
found with extensive and deep engraving. The 'My Friend' was also available in 5 shot .32
short rimfire cal or 5 shot .41 short rimfire. An example exists that has a 1 7/8"
round barrel added to the frame, which makes it look more like a conventional revolver than
a pepperbox, another description lists an optional 48 mm barrel. The weapon was
produced between 1868 & 1882 by James Reid in the upstate New York factory in the
Catskill Mountains. Engraving normally consists of scrolls on either side of the frame, a
checkered shield pattern on the back of the frame with scrolls on the back of the frame
and border engraving on the top. The top strap is stamped on the left side above the
cylinder with the words... MY FRIEND PAT'D DEC. 26, 1865.
Remington Arms Double Derringer... This was the most popular
breech loading
Derringer (about 150,000 were made, plus many copies) and was the favourite of riverboat
gamblers. Deadly at up to 50 ft, the Model 1866 'over and under' was chambered for two .41
rimfire rounds. The superposed double was widely used in Wild West times by gamblers,
saloon girls and ladies and has become the 'most recognisable' Derringer.
