Bond Arms Factory Tour

[JEBar]

I have a .22 magnum barrel for mine. Don't they make a .22 LR barrel?

they used to but had to drop rimfires .... they have perfected the firing pin location to work flawlessly with centerfire ammo .... apparently throwing in rim fire ammo complicated the process to the point they had reliability issues that were totally unacceptable so they no longer offer them .... rimfire derringers were very popular so that's why they are working on a model dedicated to it

[Conax]

I have a .22 magnum barrel for mine. Don't they make a .22 LR barrel?

they used to but had to drop rimfires .... they have perfected the firing pin location to work flawlessly with centerfire ammo .... apparently throwing in rim fire ammo complicated the process to the point they had reliability issues that were totally unacceptable so they no longer offer them .... rimfire derringers were very popular so that's why they are working on a model dedicated to it

Huh. Never heard about that. My .22 mag barrel shoots fine, the center fire ones, too. I must have gotten lucky and got one that worked.
The bores are just drilled so the firing pin strikes at the rim. The little .22 mags are great for getting used to the weird trigger on the old Century 2000 model.

[JEBar]

in response to a question about why purchase a 44 Spec barrel .... the biggest reason is the current primer shortage .... the derringer's OEM barrels will be chambered for 38/357 which takes small pistol primers .... much of the handgun ammo we load requires small pistol primers .... we already light load 44 Mag ammo which requires large pistol primers .... we have a pretty good supply of large pistol primers so by shooting 44's in the derringer, we take some stress off of our small pistol primer supply .... on neat feature of a Bond 3" barrel is the chamber section is 2 1/2" long .... the maximum overall SAAMI length of a 44 Spec cartridge is 1.615" .... the maximum overall SAAMI length of a 44 Magnum cartridge is 1.610" .... no mistake, the SAAMI spec for a 44 Spec is .005" LONGER that that of a 44 Mag .... both easily fit into a Bond 3" barrel .... that said, it isn't designed to handle the explosive pressure of a 44 Mag

[Conax]

in response to a question about why purchase a 44 Spec barrel .... the biggest reason is the current primer shortage .... the derringer's OEM barrels will be chambered for 38/357 which takes small pistol primers .... much of the handgun ammo we load requires small pistol primers .... we already light load 44 Mag ammo which requires large pistol primers .... we have a pretty good supply of large pistol primers so by shooting 44's in the derringer, we take some stress off of our small pistol primer supply .... on neat feature of a Bond 3" barrel is the chamber section is 2 1/2" long .... the maximum overall SAAMI length of a 44 Spec cartridge is 1.615" .... the maximum overall SAAMI length of a 44 Magnum cartridge is 1.610" .... no mistake, the SAAMI spec for a 44 Spec is .005" LONGER that that of a 44 Mag .... both easily fit into a Bond 3" barrel .... that said, it isn't designed to handle the explosive pressure of a 44 Mag

That explains why I could chamber a .44 magnum round in my Charter Arms Target bulldog, a small, lightly built .44 special revolver.
I don't like to eat cylinder shrapnel or having a broken wrist for that matter. Holding onto a Bond derringer when a .44 magnum lights off would be beyond my ability.

[JEBar]

Holding onto a Bond derringer when a .44 magnum lights off would be beyond my ability.

even if the derringer was rated to stand the pressure, no way I have any desire to pull the trigger on one .... arthritic hands makes it painful for me to fire a full power 44 Mag load in our Ruger Red Hawk .... a good while back we worked up a very light load and we mark them by coloring their primers red .... we have a thousand or so loaded and ready for use .... I'm actually looking forward to firing them.... the ones with regular silver primers are full power, hunting level 44 Mag loads ....

[Conax]

I have a Uberti "Cimarron Bad Boy" .44 magnum single action. Even though it weighs 39 ounces it is too much for my old hands nowadays. It surprised me how snappish it seemed shooting Remington 240s and other full power hunting loads. I've shot .44 mags my whole life, reloaded them for my Blackhawks, hunted jack rabbits, deer and groundhog. The Cimarron gets hot specials now when I can find any, and I have a fine time shooting it. All good things come to an end.

[JEBar]

All good things come to an end.

sadly that's very true .... I only own 3 handguns .... 2 were passed down from my Grandfather .... both can still be fired but that doesn't happen often .... the third is my Ruger Redhawk 44 mag .... I simply can't tolerate the pain of firing it with full power hunting loads .... for me the solution has been pretty simple, loading our own ammo allows us to find a load that I can handle .... I just hope this same reduced power load will work with our new derringer

[JEBar]

once small pistol primers return to store shelves, we plan to light load Rose Distribution Zero Brand 110 gr JHP for our Bond derringer .... with a thousand on hand, they should last for a good while ..

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

I bought some 45 LC Cowboy loads for my Rowdy.

They shoot nice.

[JEBar]

that's great to hear .... 45 Cowboy Action loads should be similar to the light 44 Spec loads we will be shooting