44-40 derringer first shots today !
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 8:39 pm
Well today would be the best out of next week or more so packed up the derringer and headed to my soggy range after last several days of snow/rain.
Didn't know what to expect out of this little handful of 44-40 but did know what a 45 Colt Bond derringer felt like. I was surprised how well it shot and how well the 185 gr WC rounds I loaded shot. First two rounds were spread out high and then I was able to get some good grouping.
The derringer stayed planted in my hand and I shot 18 rounds thru it with no busted knuckle or hammer bite to the web of my hand. Now you know when you touch one off from the blast and that short 1 1/2 inch of rifling did a great job keeping the bullets on track. It does what derringers do...get a good sized piece of lead to a target within 15 ft. fast enough to do serious damage and it did so fully penetrating 16 inches of ballistic gel and hitting the 6x6 block backstop. Then I tried my luck at the steel plates and did okay with that from 7 yds. Not a range gun but could get you out of a serious situation. Only thing of note is to make sure you cock the hammer all the way back to reset floating hammer insert to next firing position and best of all the hammer did not take off on this one!
Didn't know what to expect out of this little handful of 44-40 but did know what a 45 Colt Bond derringer felt like. I was surprised how well it shot and how well the 185 gr WC rounds I loaded shot. First two rounds were spread out high and then I was able to get some good grouping.
The derringer stayed planted in my hand and I shot 18 rounds thru it with no busted knuckle or hammer bite to the web of my hand. Now you know when you touch one off from the blast and that short 1 1/2 inch of rifling did a great job keeping the bullets on track. It does what derringers do...get a good sized piece of lead to a target within 15 ft. fast enough to do serious damage and it did so fully penetrating 16 inches of ballistic gel and hitting the 6x6 block backstop. Then I tried my luck at the steel plates and did okay with that from 7 yds. Not a range gun but could get you out of a serious situation. Only thing of note is to make sure you cock the hammer all the way back to reset floating hammer insert to next firing position and best of all the hammer did not take off on this one!
