I saw one of these Derringers last week it a local gun shop. In the "pre-owned" section! Interesting gun but gilding the lily a bit too much for me. You already have the .45 Colt in the other barrel. What more do you need! In it's original loading of a 250gr conical lead slug over 40gr of black powder at 900fps, the .45 Colt was designed to meet the U.S. Calvary's specs for a revolver cartridge that could drop a running horse with a single shot. With hot loads in a proper gun (read that "stout"), it will out perform the .44 magnum using heavier slugs with considerably less pressure.

Now, I like the .45/70. It is a fine rifle cartridge. Of course, there are many other more modern cartridges that outperform it, but if used properly, the old stump roller can and will get the job done. However, using it in a Derringer for personal defense is just asking too much!

J