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Here's a thread dedicated to the original pocket pistol...the derringer !
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This is my Davis Industries Derringer chambered for .22 magnum.
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The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became an alternate generic term for any pocket pistol, along with the generic phrase palm pistol Deringer's competitors invented and used in their advertising. The original Deringer pistol was a single-shot muzzleloading pistol; with the advent of cartridge firearms, they were at first chambered for rimfire then finally centerfire cartridges. It was a Deringer pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Booth's Deringer was unusual in that the rifling twisted counterclockwise (left-handed twist), rather than the typical clockwise ( right-handed twist ) used on most Philadelphia Deringers.
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This is my Davis Industries Derringer chambered for .22 magnum.
The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became an alternate generic term for any pocket pistol, along with the generic phrase palm pistol Deringer's competitors invented and used in their advertising. The original Deringer pistol was a single-shot muzzleloading pistol; with the advent of cartridge firearms, they were at first chambered for rimfire then finally centerfire cartridges. It was a Deringer pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Booth's Deringer was unusual in that the rifling twisted counterclockwise (left-handed twist), rather than the typical clockwise ( right-handed twist ) used on most Philadelphia Deringers.
