21

DP

t a derringer in your pocket?s t a derringer in your pocket?sters, wooden display cases and even apparel itemsare offered. All Bond Arms pistols can accept thefull range of calibers.

The versatility of the Bond Arms derringers canbe best understood by considering that a .45Colt/.410 model will handle .45 Long Colt, .45Schofield, .410 shotshell bird shot, .410 Buck shotand slugs and, lest we forget, .45 Colt shot shells.Such versatility is not to be ignored. Barrels can bechanged in a matter of moments. The Bond Armsderringer is an excellent component to add to one’ssurvival battery. For example, the Texas Defenderthat my son-in-law, Danny Akers, and I testedrecently came with a.45 Colt/.410 barrelset installed and a.38 Special barrel setfor us to try as well.In a survival situa-tion, one could havethe basic gun andseveral different bar-rel sets in caliberssuch as .40 S&W,9mm or .22 LR.Whatever you thinkyou most likely willneed or are mostlikely to encounterwould dictate thebarrel sets you want-ed to have on hand.

Firing the TexasDefender was per-fectly pleasant, as faras derringers go, because of its weight, size and theample gripping surface. The firearm has a rebound-ing hammer system, a cross-bolt safety and a triggerguard. The trigger guard is easily removed for thepurists among us and those who are into CowboyAction Shooting. The Bond Arms derringers havebeen used by the world champion Cowboy Actionshooters for eight years in a row.

There is technique involved in the proper han-dling of a derringer. First and foremost, one shoulddetermine which barrel will fire first. This is simplydone by leaving the barrel set tipped fully open forloading and empty, of course. Cocking the hammerand pull the trigger to determine which firing pinstrikes first. Once you have done this and you areprepared to load the pistol, the smart move is tomake certain that the lower of the two barrels firesfirst. The reasons for this include the centerline ofthe bore being lower and more weight sitting abovethe lower barrel, all contributing to better shooting.If the second shot is needed, one’s attacker – be itserpent or bad guy – will be closer and accuracywill be less of an issue and adrenalin will cancelout much or all of the perception of recoil.

When firing a derringer in all but deliberateaimed fire, there is a technique that I am somewhatembarrassed to say I picked up watching television.

The coolest gunfighter on TV was, of course,Richard Boone’s characterization of “Paladin” in thelong-running CBS series “Have Gun-Will Travel.”Those who remember the TV show or have collect-ed the DVD sets currently available will rememberthat Paladin used a Remington-pattern derringerthroughout most of the series. Whoever wasRichard Boone’s gun coach taught him, apparently,to punch the gun toward the target when pointshooting with his revolver or derringer. When I firststarted fooling with derringers, I figured that tech-nique was worth a try. Guess what? It really works.When you punch the gun toward the target, you are

stabilizing your handat the moment of fir-ing and punching atsomething is a natu-ral activity, like point-ing one’s finger. Also,the forward motiontends to countersome of the per-ceived recoil. Theresults are all benefi-cial. I’ve used thistechnique for instinc-tive firing with der-ringers for a coupleof decades now.

Danny and I test-ed the Bond ArmsTexas Defender at theFiring Lane in Bogart,Georgia, with goodresults. This was the

first time that Danny had ever fired a major-caliberderringer and I think he was pleasantly surprised.As usual, Danny got a tighter group in aimed firethan I did because he is a better shot. Not a targetsighted weapon and with a crisp – but not overlyheavy – trigger, rudimentary sights notwithstand-ing, at 30 feet or so, the gun would reliably hitwhat it was pointed at.

The advantage of a derringer like this over a J-Frame revolver is principally a matter of caliberchoice. In .38 Special, it’s probably a flip of the coinbetween this gun and a snubby revolver. Once youmove up in caliber, the Bond Arms derringer reallyshines. Firing this in .38 Special was extremelypleasant. The gun was fitted with extended grips, butwe were also sent a nice pair of slender, standardlength grips with some beautiful checkering and anattractive Texas Star pattern. Grips like this are easierto conceal, but not as good at taming recoil. If Iwere going to shoot the Bond Arms Texas Defendera lot, I’d stick with the over-size grips. If I were goingto conceal the gun, I’d use the small grips andremove the trigger guard. Whatever your preferencein a derringer, the Bond Arms product is meticulous-ly well made and handsomely fitted. You won’t gowrong with one of these Bond Arms guns – regard-less of what kind of snake you might encounter.

Clockwise from top left: Ahern points to the Texas Defender’s bar-rel latch, the cross-bolt safety, the screw that needs to be turnedout in order to remove the trigger guard, and the ejector.

July 09 Blue Press Section 1 5/13/09 11:20 AM Page 21