The Derringer was a rim-shot fire cartridge. My pistol would shoot a central fire shot.
For those who desire to be able to shoot several shots rapidly and who do not care to carry two Derringers, an automatic pistol built on the Derringer principle might suit them.
The difficulty is that the reciprocating mechanism takes up room. It is attempted to overcome this by making the pistol shaped like a hammer, the stock coming at right angles out from under the middle of the barrel, but this is awkward to hold, and to shoot.
One good shot, well directed, is worth a whole pistol full of shots blazed away.
This is not the popular opinion, for, as long as a constant fire is kept up, and plenty of smoke and noise, people think great things are being done. It is only after all is over and there is no result that they begin to wonder what it was all about.
PLATE 12. COLT AUTOMATIC PISTOL .25
Capacity of magazine, 6 shots. Length of barrel, 2 inches. Finish, full blued, with case-hardened trigger, slide lock safety and grip safety, or full nickel plated; rubber stocks. Weight, 13 ounces. Length over all, 4½ inches. Cartridge, cal. .25, rimless; smokeless; metal patched bullet.
The typical Air Raid newspaper report says, “He fired at least three tray loads of cartridges, the stream of smoke could be distinctly noticed”; and the reporter is in ecstasies, and the unimportant detail that all this “losing off” resulted in nothing does not occur to him.
It is the noise, not the results of shooting, that impresses and frightens people.