Philadelphia Derringer redone

[erzengel]

It is done and I am

The dismantled Derringer is shown here:
Recommandations for Derringer redoe

For browning I used

Homer Dangler Barrel Brown and it took 5 days. The browning of breech plug and barrel is different in clour ind smothness. Not quite clera why but it might be, that breech plug and barrel are a differnet kind of steel.

The browning on the barrel feels rougher while the breech is very smooth. Why it is as it is, I do not know. The polishing on breech and barrel was besides some scratches as far as I could determine it the same.

For staining I tried Laurel Mountain Forge Antique wood stain Maple. Is a little bit different than though first but I like it very much.

Than I applied Tru-Oil Gun Stock finish and hope that it will last.

Enjoy the images as I very much enjoyed doing the wortk for just doing the work. That is another part of making muzzle loaders a faszinating hobby.

The next one will be easier and I can try to make some things different and perhaps better.

 

[mazo kid]

That is looking very nice! I have been thinking that maybe I should get mine out and redo the stock. Thanks for sharing.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

That looks great! I have one I have been fiddling with for a long time. Maybe I should get it out also and do some more on it. :thumbsup:

 

[Ed Wingenroth]

Looks good Pilgrim !!! :v

I like the texture on the barrel.. My guess is that it is “cast” rather than forged bar-stock..
Perhaps the acidity in the solution attacked the matrix in the grain.. What is the origin ??? I doubt it was Italian manufacture as the better one’s cut from drawn bar-stock before the rifling process..

Let’s see the next one you do !!!

Ed”¦.

 

[erzengel]

Hello Red-Wing,

the kit is original from Spain, manufacturer is Ardesa. I bought that kit in 1985 or 1986 I believe, :hmm: don't remember exactly.

As you say cast, that was what I thought about the breech plug. It was grey underneath and had many spots. Unfortunately, the pictures before polishing are only good to dump.

To all of you, thank you very much for your kind words. That encourages to try a second one and do it better.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Just so you know, this is a replica of the gun that was used by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln, in 1895, at Ford's theatre. This replica is in .45 caliber, while the original is about .41 caliber. Both shoot a round lead ball, that is patched.

The Philadelphia Derringer was a popular, and cheap, pocket pistol often carried by men for self defense. Its associated with gamblers, who carried them in the pockets in their vests, under their great coats, so they could be easily reached, when a game of cards became ugly.

In the 1970s, Colt and Remington came out with o/u 2 barrel derringers, that fired a .41 caliber rimfire cartridge. They became instantly popular, because you got two shots instead of one, and they were easier to clean because of being breechloaders.

 

[erzengel]

Yes, a little deadly belly pistol I think at close range.

I will take it to the range and try to find out, what I can hit up to 25 m.

I will take 20 grain Swiss Nr. 2 with a .440 RB and first a .01 patch. Even with the little barrel that is enough to send the bullet strait through 25 mm single layer of wood maybe even 20 mm plywood.

The two barreld cartidge Deringers in .357 Mag are amazing. But they have one great disadvantage, you need an official permission for them where I live.

John Wilkes Booth, yeah Dutch Schoultz asked that question already. When I bought it back in the eigthies I only knew that it was a gamblers pistol for close encounter at the card table.

Thanks to all of you I am learning a little bit at a time. Have been lucky I think to obtain a book by Charles Edward Chapel, Guns of the Old West. There are not to many good books on Guns and shooting in Germany easily available.

 

[Ed Wingenroth]

Hey Paul !!!

Usually, I’m not to picky about date’s but you missed both by over thirty years on Lincoln’s assignation (1865) and way over a hundred years (1873) on the D/B Derringer built in the late eighteen hundreds..

Sorry !!!

Ed”¦.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Just typos. April 14, 1865 is the Day he was shot. He died on April 15, in the early morning. I have always wondered why Congress chose that same date to be Income Tax date. I didn't look up the dates on the later cartridge derringers. I know there were some single barrel and 4 barrel derringers made during and after the civil war, before the better made, and stronger, Colt and Remington guns came on the market. I did remember that they came on the scene in popular use in the 1870s. Rimfire cartridges in the larger calibers were already losing popularity, and the centerfire cartridges of the 1873 and later period actually became much more popular with shooters, who reloaded to save money on hard to get cartridges as soon as they came out.

Thanks for catching them. :surrender: :grin: :wink: My history is much better than my typing. I left to take a phone call, and before I got back, the time to edit had expired. :shocked2: :blah: :hatsoff:

 

[Ed Wingenroth]

Paul !!!

A rare observation !!!

I’m always impressed with your knowledge on the subject matter..

Ed”¦.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Paul,
I knew exactly what you meant. I thought about correcting you, but then I thought maybe you were testing us.

The devil with your detracters :rotf:

 

[rabjr]

It's not done! Those escutcheons need to be inletted. No excuse!

Other than that for a CVA it looks ok.

 

[JayDee Flohr]

It looks great ! :thumbsup: Nice work.

 

[ladysmithtrading]

Yes, a little deadly belly pistol I think at close range.

I will take it to the range and try to find out, what I can hit up to 25 m.

I will take 20 grain Swiss Nr. 2 with a .440 RB and first a .01 patch. Even with the little barrel that is enough to send the bullet strait through 25 mm single layer of wood maybe even 20 mm plywood.

The two barreld cartidge Deringers in .357 Mag are amazing. But they have one great disadvantage, you need an official permission for them where I live.

John Wilkes Booth, yeah Dutch Schoultz asked that question already. When I bought it back in the eigthies I only knew that it was a gamblers pistol for close encounter at the card table.

Thanks to all of you I am learning a little bit at a time. Have been lucky I think to obtain a book by Charles Edward Chapel, Guns of the Old West. There are not to many good books on Guns and shooting in Germany easily available.

Better start at 15 feet, if you hit what your aiming at there... its' a miracle!

 

[Mountainman56]

I like it.......nice job. :thumbsup:

I've got one of them kickin around here somewhere. Now I'm going to have to redo mine! :shake:

 

[erzengel]

I would like to try at ten feet first but you should avoid to be caught by the range officer.

The ranges where I can shoot with that pistol, only shooting at 25 m is permitted. Welcome to German regulations. Some are :youcrazy:

To be honest, I did the stock twice. Made an error and ruined the oil finish with the Stock Sheen and Conditioner. I still do not realize what the fault was. I waited 3 days after applying last coat of true-oil Gun Stock finish before applying the conditioner.

The description for applying is easy to follow.

 

[Billnpatti]

I made that same mistake on a rifle stock and had to start over. I found that you really neeed to wait at least a month after the last coat before using the Stock Sheen. The finish really has to cure for a long time before it is hard enough to be rubbed out with Stock Sheen. But when you do wait, the result is beautiful and worth the wait and work. :thumbsup:

I think I also know the answer for why your barrel finish came out the way it did. I have been down that road, too. When using a chemical cold browning solution, the first coat usually takes about 24 hours to get a soft rust coat on the metal. This needs to be rubbed off with a coarse rag. After the first coat of rust, the next coats go very fast. I found that I could not leave them in the humidity box over 4 hours before needing to card off the rust. If you wait too long, the browning solution will start to cause pitting in the surface of the metal. I would guess that you simply waited too long between coats after the first one. Also, in the pictures, the metal appears to be blue rather than brown. If this the case, you must have done this intentionally. It is possible, in most cases, to change your browned barrel to a blue one by boiling it after browning it. Doing so changes the iron oxide coating from a brown form of iron oxide to a black form. This is true in the case of such browning solutions as Laurel Forge but I don't think it will work with Birchwood-Casey's Plum Brown which has to be worked on a hot surface in the first place.

These are just my thoughts and opinions on the matter. They are free and worth every penny of it. :haha:

 

[Zoar]

Nice work.

I have one of these Philadelphia's. I put alkanet root and dark walnut stain on it for colour then about 12 thin hand rubbed coats of tung oil. It came out pretty nice. But I don't like the trigger--seems very crude design, loose, and it certainly has a heavy pull.

It seems just about everyone has tried one of these or has a kit sitting in a drawer somewhere.

It is nice when someone puts the time and energy into them and makes them look beautiful. I just wonder how to fix that trigger?