Remington Derringer Handguns

The Remington derringer, produced from 1866 to 1935, was America's oldest gun maker's spin on the original Philadelphia derringer. Remington's well-earned reputation for making quality weapons quickly made its rendition of the derringer pistol a preferred weapon of the Old West.

Remington’s derringer design maintained the original handgun's compact size while doubling its single-shot capacity with a second barrel mounted over the first. The handgun fired .41-caliber short rimfire ammunition and featured barrels that pivoted upward for reloading. Each barrel held a single round, and its cam hammer alternated between the upper and lower barrels. Traveling at a comparably slow clip of only 425 feet per second, roughly half the speed of modern .45 ACP ammunition, derringer-fired bullets could actually be seen in flight. Even so, at close range such as inside a saloon or across a poker table, derringers were just as deadly as any firearm.

Even with the advent of smaller and more powerful derringer designs by a range of gunmakers and manufacturers, the classic Remington design remained popular throughout its production life and beyond. That enduring appeal has made Remington derringers perennial acquisition targets at auction.

Quick Facts

• Remington derringers were the preferred handguns of James T. West, the fictional Secret Service agent in the American TV series "The Wild Wild West"
• The .41-caliber Remington Arms derringer used by actor Hervé Villechaize in the 1974 James Bond film "The Man With The Golden Gun" sold for £15,000 at a 2010 Christie's London auction
• Gangster John Dillinger's Remington derringer pistol more than doubled its auction estimate, selling for $95,600 in a 2015 Heritage Auction Galleries sale