Les Jones: A Gun I Wouldn't Shoot on a Dare

September 10, 2007

Guns > A Gun I Wouldn't Shoot on a Dare

Brass Fetcher gelatin tested a .45-70 derringer.

I used a vise. The owner of the gun was good enough to let me put it in a vise... so the wooden grips are ruined, but my hand is still in one piece. The noise from firing was fantastic. It was probably the loudest gun I have ever heard and I was 30 feet away from the muzzle, using a steel cable to pull the trigger!
[T]he gent who funded the test and sent me the gun, actually fired it once by hand. I think he said it was akin to holding out your hand, and having someone hit it with a hammer. His hand hurt for a week, he said.

The thing was gnarly in the vise too ... I purposefully clamped it hard enough to indent the wood, hoping that it would not move. It actually moved back about 4" in the jaws of the vise, before coming to a stop and rotating the gun skyward. Luckily for me, the barrel rotated into a support structure on the vise, which stopped the guns motion. I should have videotaped it!

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Comments

I had a coworker who got a .44 Magnum barrel for his Thompson Contender. First time he took it to the range, he wound up with a big bruise across the base of his thumb. There's a 45-70 barrel for the Contender, but it doesn't have enough more grip and mass than a derringer to tempt me.

Posted by: triticale at September 10, 2007