1872 Derringer

Accessory Items, Cases and Parts
by IAR, Inc.

Importing - Distributing

Derringer Presentation Cases

IAR's Derringer presentation cases are made of finely-crafted hardwood and are lined in red velvet. Available for single or dual Derringers for the collector of antique firearms. Derringers in a presentation case are an affordable yet very distinctive gift item!

Derringer presentation cases (Derringer not included unless ordered separately).

Derringer Presentation Cases

There is no more prominent way to display your historical Derringer than in our distinctive solid, polished wood wall plaque. The Derringer is mounted on tan or red burl ap. The perfect wall decoration for a gun collector, or any room with a Western theme. A distinctive gift item.
  

Derringer Wall Plaque

The "Butler Derringer" Leather Book is a superb way to house and also display your 1872 Derringer. The bottom interior section of the original Leather Book is lined with burgundy velvet. This Book is a great gift for Derringer collectors and enthusiasts. This is one Book you will want to show to your friends!
  

Derringer Leather Book

One of the most colorful figures in American folklore is the Mississippi Riverboat gambler. If legend is right, the gambler was the most sophisticated and subtly brutal man in the West. He was a professional who played to win, and the stakes were always high. Diamonds, slaves, plantations and immense sums of money were lost to him. He was a perfectionist. He dressed in style. And, almost invariably, he carried a Derringer.

In his choice of weapons, at least, the gambler was a typical frontiersman. By the middle of the 1850's, a pair of Derringers was standard equipment for all those who chose to protect themselves with concealed weapons. Their small size made them perfect "second" guns, and they were often carried in addition to the larger revolver. The expansion westward in the mid nineteenth century was perhaps the most violent period in American history. Law and order was something a man had to carry with him, and the demand for precision small arms grew as the country grew.

Henry Derringer, a Philadelphia gunsmith famous for the quality of his rifles and dueling pistols, created the first efficient pocket weapon, the small percussion cap pistol of superior design which he marked "Derringer Phila." The percussion cap pistol, which had to be loaded from the muzzle, came into use in 1807.

With the advent of breech loading in 1856 and the switch to metallic cartridges, efficiency was increased, and the Derringer boom was on. Many other gunmakers began producing copies of the popular Derringer pistol; one even reproduced Derringer's trademark on his own products.

Daniel Moore patented the first breechloading Derringer in 1861. It was a short, single barrel pistol chambered for .41 caliber rim-fire ammunition, which was originally sold by the National Arms Company. In 1870, a new Derringer, which had a side-swinging barrel complete with an ejector, was patented by Model employee F. Alexander Thuer. Model introduced this Derringer in 1872 using .41 caliber rim-fire cartridges, and retaining the "bird's head" grip design of the old percussion type Derringers. Production of the Model Derringer continued until 1912, when the small automatic pistol replaced the Derringer in popularity.

In late 1959, Model reintroduced its 1872 Derringer as the Model No. 4. It was chambered for the .22 caliber short cartridge, which is both inexpensive and widely available today, unlike the original .41 caliber ammunition. It was primarily offered to interest the collector of Model arms, an d was a close replica of the original Thuer Model No. 3 of 1872. The manufacture of Model No. 4 by Model continued until 1962.

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© 2004, International Antique Reproductions, Inc. (dba IAR, Inc.)