Davis Industries Derringer .38 Special Ammo?

I used to own a Cobra 38 special derringer, which if I recall correctly they purchased the Davis design years ago.

I reload and tried a multitude of loads that shot well in my Ruger LCR, 148 gr DEWC, 158 gr SWC, 125 gr Round Nose and 158 gr round nose...even some jacketed XTPs. Outside of 7 yds I struggled to hit a man-sized target, and I'm typically respectable with a handgun. The combination of the awful trigger pull (some say it's 17 lbs), short barrel, tiny grip and pitiful sights means no bullet type will shoot well beyond the distance of a poker table.

Personally, I would try to convince your Dad to trade it for a 38 snubbie, even if a Taurus or Rossi you'd have a more reliable firearm. I sold mine because while it was a neat piece it wasn't useful or practical.

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RE:

Davis Industries Derringer .38 Special Ammo?

My dad has a Davis Industries Derringer in .38 Special and from what I read, Davis Industries makes (or made) crap guns. But even if it is crap, it's still fun to shoot and definitely draws some eyes at the range. I've shot it at about 15 yards (before I knew anything about barrel length)...

Steve's answer makes sense.

You may have better luck with standard 38 Special round nose lead, or ammo labeled as lead target ammo. Or 38 Special lead wad cutters. These are a bit lower in power but should give you better control of the gun than full power Hollow Points. JHC hollow points travel around 1300fps while the lead ones (which are always cheaper) only travel around 1050fps. The lower power and lower velocity will make shooting your gun a lot more enjoyable and fun. Ideally - loading up some light loads would be the best thing for this.

38 Derringer

you probably need to shoot extra light ammo and use a larger paper target. derringers are not designed for distances further than a few yards, not that the gun is inaccurate but you can't aim or grip it well enough to shoot it further than a few yards.

for low report/recoil ammo I think you can buy 'cowboy' style .38 special, I'm not sure if they sell it at gun shops. cowboy ammunition is expensive though, much more than regular ammo because its is speciality ammo.

cowboy ammo typically recoils very little and should be light enough that you can actually shoot the gun properly without any trigger mashing or major flinching that is ruining your shots.

like all my handguns since i have trouble with them I start low and work my way up.

but my situation's different, I handload my own ammo to fit my needs, i'm not limited to what i can buy. if I have a derringer (nearly bought one too!) I'd start it off real low. figure out why i'm shooting it poorly, then I'd work my way up to full power ammo.

given how the derringer is laid out, I'd probably touch off with a 100 gr lfp and 2.5 gr titegroup. i make alot of ultralights and this literally feels like a 22 but makes a big .35 cal hole.

if you are buying factory ammo you probably have a different issue too: too little barrel. the derringer has too little barrel for the powder to burn, the bullet is most likely not going fast enough to actually shoot 15 yards accurately! titegroup works ok with short barreled guns but not very consistently under 3' of bbl. a faster powder like titewad may yield better results.

If I had a Davis Industries Derringer serial number 12345 and you had Davis Industries Derringer serial number 12346, just because my gun gave good performance with ammo type X would not tell you anything about if your gun gave good performance with ammo type x.

This applies to ALL guns. You can have the gun that rolled off the assembly line right after mine, but mine performing well with a specific type of ammo doesn't mean squat about what the next gun performs well with.

you have to try different types and find out.

Davis Industries

I have a .38 EIE? (hard to read) miami, FL is all thats on the barrel. its stainless with what looks like an ivory grip. I just got it at a pawn not long ago. I find it hard to believe the range is only 7 feet with a .38, but, I am curious of how far a medium (or different) grains of slug shot drops at 10', 15', 20., etc. with say a 3" barrell.

I have plenty of ammo and can find out exactly for myself, but, just to get an idea.

rr

Well, as everyone else has said, start at about 2-3 yards. Yes, really. 9 feet or less. That gun is intended to be used as a last-ditch defense. 15 yards? That's a joke. There's no ammunition that will turn a belly gun into a sniper rifle.

Or, as someone else mentioned, you could convince your father to sell that gun and buy something that is somewhat useful, like a .38 Special revolver. There should be plenty of those in the used cases at your local gun store or pawn shop.

There is no magic ammo that will shoot well out of your derringer. It was designed to shoot at about arms reach as a last ditch self defense gun.