Who made this derringer kit?

[cachelapoudre]

Purchased this "snake eyes" derringer kit over the weekend for 2,000 pennies! As is the case in many finds, this un-assembled Snake Eyes kits cannot really be identified and the handles are missing.

From the shape of the barrel it looks to be a Classic Arms kit but the main barrel assembly is not brass.

Any help identifying this piece would be helpful.

 

[nit wit]

Way too many pennies
Nit Wit

 

[bubba15301]

Hoppes

 

[nit wit]

Dixie Gun Works still sells them for 155.00
USA made so you did all right. Still too many pennies to count :wink:
Nit Wit

 

[cachelapoudre]

Okay guys, remember, 2,000 pennies and that includes postage.

Still, one suggestion is Hoppes?

 

[nit wit]

Not Hoppes,classic arms. I had a new orleans ace kit in the 80's,35.00 I think. Dixie may have grips, they had immitation pearl grips.
Nit Wit

 

[Robert an saa fan]

Are there any markings on the curved area on the underside of the barrel?

"CMC" markings would indicate made in the USA and likely sold by Classic Arms.

Like bubba15301 said maybe Hoppes. My memory on the Hoppes black powder line is not to good.

 

[hawkeye2]

I don't remember Hoppes carrying the "Snake eys" kit though they could have and I don't remember one in steel. The only ones I ever saw were brass and by Classic Arms. The one you show is packaged exactly like my Classic Arms kit was. I still have it somewhere but haven't seen it for well over 25 years and haven't troubled myself to look for it. The grips were terrible plastic "pearl" and were flat, thank the person who lost them for you. You could easily make a nice pair from some thin sawn walnut or maple.

 

[Zonie]

Although Hoppe's made a "Ethan Allen Side-By-Side pistol" kit (Dixie gunworks description) in addition to their Pepperbox and .45 caliber single shot target pistol, the gun in this photo isn't the same.

The Hoppe's pistol has a much nicer casting and it's barrel(s) are 4 1/4 inches long.
That's quit a bit longer than the barrel length shown in the picture above.

The gun in the photo above looks to me like it is the same as the "Classic Arms" Snake Eye's even if the casting is not made from brass.
Maybe it is one of their earlier kits made before they discovered that brass castings are cheaper?

 

[rafterob]

I used to have the Hoppe's side by side. Is was quite a nice kit and produced a lovely pistol that I miss dearly That is an old classic arms that actually has the steel barrel with some shape to it. The newer ones have the solid block of brass that you are supposed to shape yourself. So $20 is about right because it will take you $300 worth of labor to make a purty powder puffer out of that.

 

[hawkeye2]

Do you remember a Classic Arms kit in steel? Though it is packaged exactly like a Classic Arms I don't ever remember a steel Snake Eyes either in person on in their ads. I have a brass Snake Eyes kit, a steel Twister kit and a factory assembled pepperbox, all bought at bargain prices.

 

[rafterob]

That is the one I remember as a teen in the early 70's. When I got back in to this about 8 years ago the brass ones were what Dixie had. No idea when there was a change. It seems they may have been under a different name back then?

 

[cachelapoudre]

Once I receive the package I will look for marks and see just who made it, if possible.

What is a normal calibre for these?

 

[Zonie]

.36.

Dixie recommends a .350 patched ball with a .010 thick patch over 10 grains of 3Fg for the brass version.

 

[hawkeye2]

They were Classic Arms when I first encountered them in the mid 70's and on into the 80's. Navy Arms bought them out sometime prior to 85 and sold off the existing stock. I got 2 or 3 kits at a closeout price at K-Mart. They did that to several companies to get rid of the competition. That was the end of the Classic Arms products till they were resurrected in their current degraded form some years ago and yes, the old product was better by a little than what is available now.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

better by very very little

Never could figure out how the company could make a business out of such marginal scrap. CVA made Rolls Royces by comparison.the only thing they ever made that I was remotely interested in was the Elgin cutlass pistol.

 

[cachelapoudre]

Pistol arrived today. It is a brass frame. There are no markings other than a serial number, 0008904.

The plastic faux Mother-of-Pearl grips were under the barrel assembly in the shrink wrap. The entire thing was still covered with plastic even thought the cardboard was flimsy.

This will make an interesting Fall Project.

I will post pictures of the parts later and a progress report.

Thanks to all for your insight and information regarding the Classic Arms model.

Still, for 2,000 pennies it's not a bad deal. After shooting it I may just put it in a shadow box.

 

[Zonie]

A shadow box would be a good place for one of those if the box was placed in a very dark shadow. :rotf:

Just pulling your leg.

For $20 you can't go wrong with your little pistol.

It will be a fun project to build and as I understand it, this is one of the models offered by Classic Arms that can actually be made to shoot (unlike the POS Pepperbox I bought from them.)

By the way, here is a picture of the Hoppe's double barrel pistol that was mentioned.



Beware of those little gun making projects though.


Years after I built a few CVA rifles I bought this little derringer kit.
I had so much fun building it that I proceeded to build over 13 longrifles. :shocked2:

 

[cachelapoudre]

Unfortunately, sir, that is what has happened!

I started out with a CVA.50 cal. Hawken, and then an Armsport .45 cal pistol and a Pedersoli 12 gauge 2X2 shotgun and thought that would be enough to keep me busy with black powder.

Then crops up a CVA .36 Pocket for less than a C-note and the addiction began.

Living in Kalifornia we need to find the best ways to maximize our "boom time." For me black powder has been the answer; plus I get to do some wood working and horrible metal/blacksmithing!

Cheers,

 

[cachelapoudre]

Took the package apart and cleaned all the pieces to this kit and the gun is now complete.

Here are the parts as I took them out of the shrink wrap. Some pieces had rust, like the nipples and trigger guard.

Clean up everything; smoothed out rough metal work and lubricated the trigger assembly.

Two and half hours later, a derringer. I will make some wooden grips for it and test shoot it later this month.

It's still interesting that the only marking is the serial number.

Thanks to all of you for various bits of information and shooting loads.