Working the Remington Double Derringer

This very popular and uniquelooking superposed, two-shot derringer was manufactured by Remington Arms for many years, beginning in about 1866 and continuing until perhaps as late as 1935. An extraordinarily practical and simple design with a bare minimum of moving parts, this .41 Rimfire-caliber derringer was the brainchild of William H. Elliot. Contrary to what has been widely and erroneously reported, the Double Derringer did not fire both barrels at once.

Each barrel fires individually by means of a pivoting firing pin that is operated by a ratchet. Through the action of the ratchet, each time the hammer is cocked the firing pin is pivoted up or down, allowing it to contact the rim of a shell in either the upper or lower barrel. These pocket-sized spur-trigger derringers were produced in both blue and nickel finishes, with either hard rubber, rosewood, or walnut grips. In total, Remington manufactured something over 150,000 of this simple and reliable pistol.

Of course, .41 Rimfire caliber has never been known as a powerhouse round; in fact, there are stories of the little slugs being stopped cold by heavy leather gun belts. Nevertheless, this small and easily concealable package did (and does) provide two shots with reasonable stopping power. Before we get started with disassembly and reassembly instructions, let me warn you about a weak point in the Remington Derringer’s design.

Before you agree to do any work on the Double Derringer, carefully examine the delicately sized frame hinge. These little guns will often be encountered with cracked or broken frame-hinge ears, especially if the gun has seen rough handling such as "flipping" the barrel open with a flick of the wrist. Because of the tightly machined fit of the barrel joints, small cracks in the frame hinges may not be readily apparent, so be sure to check these thin hinges closely.

Disassembly Instructions First, let me give credit where credit is due: Although I did some editing and renumbering on it, the original illustration of the Remington Double Derringer reproduced on page 21 is by James Triggs and appears in the NRA Illustrated Firearms Assembly Handbook, 6th printing. Now on with the disassembly. 1. As always, be sure the weapon is unloaded before handling or starting any work.

Hold the pistol around the grips (#22) while you point the muzzle in a safe direction, using caution to keep your fingers away from the trigger (#15). Slowly pull the hammer (#6) back just a little, until you hear one click. That click indicates that the hammer is in the half-cock or loading position. Look on the right-hand side This particular example of the gun has been given some gold touches along with a set of very tacky, modern plastic grips. Author photos.

The small lever on the right is the barrel lock, shown here in the open position. Here the extractor (below the barrels) is also shown removed. If you look closely, you might notice the tiny crack in the lower side of the hinge. of the frame and you’ll find the barrel lock (#14), which looks like (and is) a little lever. Push the barrel lock down with your thumb to rotate the barrel lock and unlock the barrels (#18). Now you can tilt the barrels all the way up.

At this point you can check the chambers at the rear of the barrels to be sure there are no cartridges in them. If cartridges are present, remove them now and for safety’s sake remove any live ammunition to a separate location before you begin the disassembly work. 2. Leaving the barrels in the open position, proceed with removing them by unscrewing and removing the barrel-hinge screw (#21). The Remington’s barrels can now be lifted out of the frame joint.

You can now remove the ejector (#19) by unscrewing the ejector screw (#20). Once the screw is out, the ejector will slide toward the rear and out of its mortise in the left side of the barrel. 3. In order to disassemble the frame, first unscrew and remove the grip screw (#24) from the center of the grips, and then lift both grip panels (#22) off the frame.

With the hammer placed in the half-cock position, use a small screwdriver blade to carefully pry the top of the mainspring (#4) forward, while at the same time shaking or tapping the frame lightly on a wooden bench top to disengage the top of the mainspring from the ears of

Remington Double Derringer .41 Rimfire Caliber 1 Frame 2 Main Spring Screw 3 Firing Pin Ratchet Spring Screw 4 Main Spring 5 Firing Pin Ratchet Spring 6 Hammer 7 Hammer Pin 8 Stirrup the hammer’s stirrup (#8).

Once you have the stirrup disengaged from the mainspring, allow the hammer to fall 17 Trigger Spring 18 Barrels 19 Ejector 20 Ejector Screw 21 Barrel Hinge Screw 22 Grips (2) 23 Grip Escutcheon 24 Grip Screw 9 Stirrup Pin 10 Firing Pin Ratchet 11 Firing Pin 12 Firing Pin Spring 13 Barrel Lock Screw 14 Barrel Lock 15 Trigger 16 Trigger Pin forward of its own weight and then release the tension on the mainspring.

Next, unscrew and remove the Then, with the barrel lock and trigger removed, the frame is completely stripped. I Using an appropriately sized pin punch and hammer, drive out the hammer pin (#7). Once out, the hammer can be pulled out through the opening in the top of the frame, along with the firing-pin ratchet (#10), firing pin (#11), and firingpin spring (#12). These three parts will remove as an assembly, and can be disassembled from the hammer by pulling them free with your fingers.

Be sure to take careful note of the positions of these parts for reassembly later. 4. Finally, you can disassemble the few parts that remain in the lower frame by unscrewing and removing the barrel-lock screw (#13) from the left side of the frame. Once out, the barrel lock (#14) can be pulled out of the frame from the right side. Using an appropriately sized pin punch, drift out the trigger pin (#16) after which the trigger (#15) and trigger spring (#17) can be taken out and up through the inside top of the frame.

That’s all that’s required to disassemble the little Remington Double Derringer. To reassemble, simply reverse the order above. mainspring screw (#2). This is the lower screw of the two screws in the front of the grip frame. Then unscrew the firingpin ratchet spring screw (#3). This screw is the upper screw of the two screws in the front grip frame. At this time you can remove the mainspring and the firing-pin ratchet spring (#5) from the frame.