Do you know anything about this C/B Derringer???

[magnumwheelman]

My retired buddy flipped me a lil derringer for helping him get his bullet making set up together & out of his basement shop...

It’s a brass cap and ball 44 derringer... has a 44 at the back of the barrel by the nipple, and a big W on each side... thinking he gave it to me, as my last name starts with W

Looks functional... no rifling in the barrel, being a 44 and having a brass barrel, expect the powder charges were quite light... it functions, but must be missing the little flat or V spring for the trigger return

I don’t think it’s "antique"... but guessing maybe 60’s or 70’s vintage... will post some pictures tomorrow... any guesses as to what it is??? I took it completely apart, and so far, no proofs or makers marks, only see the 44 and the W’s

[flyingzebra]

Sounds like fun!

[magnumwheelman]

Being brass, I stripped it down to the barrel / grip frame, and dumped it into my wet tumbler... hoping it’s not civil war era, as it’s bright and shiny right now

[flyingzebra]

Track of The Wolf or Dixie might have a spring that's close.

[magnumwheelman]

those pictures, as I received it...

[magnumwheelman]

after dumping the brass part in the wet tumbler, & cleaning up the blued parts... anyone ever seen anything like this??? no proof marks, or anything else I noticed, other than the W's & the 44

[leadhound]

Mebee a homebrew?

[magnumwheelman]

with minimum ID & no proofing I suspected that as well... looks nicely made, hammer & trigger were likely not home / shop made but may have been from some other kit, or purchased separately

guessing any charge big enough to push a lead round ball through a 3/4" pine board would be pushing or beyond the limits of the brass chamber / barrel though

I thought maybe it could have been made by my retired tool & die buddy, but brass revolvers are his disdain... & he had both the tooling & materials to make it from steel, & would have rifled the barrel ( his last name also starts with W, so that may have been the only reason he kept it, as he had absolutely no time for brass guns )

BTW... the grip frame looks to be silver soldered to the barrel, & the grip locating lug appears to be brazed, as the polishing exposed silver at the grip frame joint, & no silver at the locator lug... no idea why there would have been 2 different heat attaching types used on the same gun, unless it was built without a good plan, and the grip locator lug was added later in the build... or perhaps it was a gun smith class project & they intentionally did 2 processes to grade the student on???

[rvolvr]

That's obviously very early Tinkerpearce.