Remington OU Derringer questions

[41 Colt]

These are appealing. How do they function? From pictures I can conclude that the knurled button on the left side is the ejector/extractor. Is it manual? What does the lever on the bottom of the right side do? Are both cartridges fired at the same time? Do the barrels lock into place?

Also, how difficult would a conversion from rimfire to center fire (keeping it .41 Colt caliber) be?

 

[Smokepole]

The lever is the lock for the barrels. It rotates 180 deg. The extractor is manual. The fireing pin toggles to the next barrel automaticly when the hammer is cocked.
I wouldn't convert to .41 LC, as the original .41Rim is a very short / low powered cartridge, but there may be other options. Pictures of a converted one can be found in 'Sixguns' by Keith.

 

[41 Colt]

I was thinking about just converting to centerfire, not fully to 41 Long Colt. I have a 41 Short Colt heeled bullet mold coming that may be a good choice of bullet for this, and I would cut down 41LC cases. It would be like 41 Short Colt CF.

Thanks for the info. I was thinking the firing pin may be something like you described.

 

[Pete04]

Manual extractor.
Lever on right side is to lock and unlock bbls that hinge upward, allowing the gun to be loaded/unloaded via extractor.
Reusable rimfire (used with .22 caps) are availiable from Dixie.
Not sure about centre fire conv. but can't see why not.

oops Smokepole beat me

 

[mooncoon]

I think it would take a major change of mechanism to change to centerfire. I haven't made a firing pin for mine yet but suspect that it hits on the bottom of the top barrel and top of the lower barrel. That means that you can't simply change the amount that the pin pivots up and down. I think you would have to weld up the firing pin slot and install two center fire pins and use a pivoting knob on the hammer much like a Marbles game getter. I also think there probably is not enough room to install actual firing pins in the frame.

cheers mooncoon

 

[762mm]

The best (and simplest) thing to do is to get a .38RF pocket revolver and convert the firing pin on it... or even build a custom hammer. I've had one of these up until recently and the simpleness of it was astounding, therefore it wouldn't take much to make the conversion work 100%. The best thing about it is that fired .38 special brass fit perfectly in its' chambers. All you'd really have to do is to shorten the brass a bit and insert a .38 round ball in the mouth and you'd be all set. I've heard of some using .38 spl wadcutters also in these types of .38RF conversions.

Having said that, I've sold my 38RF five shooter recently due to a serious lack of cash, but it definitely qualified for a nice & very simple centerfire conversion. Oh well, that's the way she goes sometimes...