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Bond Arms

Autodidactic said:
As someone who has never gotten custom engraving, what is a round about cost for such a thing?
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‘I honestly don’t remember. I had it done about 15 years ago.

The only way I could afford it was by piecemeal. Jim would show up at the SASS National and World Championships, sometimes State. He might charge $80-100 to do a back strap. Then next time I would have him do the cylinder for $150, and so on.

Now if you are going to send your gun to him, you sure don’t want to be sending multiple times, that’s just not prudent; so save up your Pennie’s and get it done all at once.

I believe he has a pricing section on his website.
 
Reinz said:
‘I honestly don’t remember. I had it done about 15 years ago.

The only way I could afford it was by piecemeal. Jim would show up at the SASS National and World Championships, sometimes State. He might charge $80-100 to do a back strap. Then next time I would have him do the cylinder for $150, and so on.

Now if you are going to send your gun to him, you sure don’t want to be sending multiple times, that’s just not prudent; so save up your Pennie’s and get it done all at once.

I believe he has a pricing section on his website.
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Thanks for the info.
 
WisBorn said:
I will be curious to see what you think of the 6" versus the 3"?
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My .357 6" doesn't feel much different than the 3" that I had other than maybe a little less muzzle flip. Hard to say for sure because I hadn't shot the 3" for quite awhile before I sold it.
At least with the .45/.410 I'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison.
 
Old_Grouch said:
My .357 6" doesn't feel much different than the 3" that I had other than maybe a little less muzzle flip. Hard to say for sure because I hadn't shot the 3" for quite awhile before I sold it.
At least with the .45/.410 I'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison.
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I'd guess less felt recoil/flip due to mass, but maybe it's marginal as you said. I think the 6 inch will add velocity though to the .410.
 
Tell me Bond owners.... The consensus is for the 38 for shooting? How much worse is the 45/410? I have a few of the tiny little davis/cobra derringers in 22 and 22WMR but they are just too small for my hands to enjoy shooting. I kind of want a quality derringer to shoot. I am not concerned with practical.
 
starling said:
How much worse is the 45/410?
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It's quite noticeably more but, to me anyway, not unpleasant for either the .45 or 2 1/2" .410. Not for the first dozen or so rounds, anyway. Honestly, that much buck and roar in the palm of the hand his part of the enjoyment; to a point. Some years back I had a Ranger. 4 1/4" barrel .45/,410 3". Shooting the 3" loads was a whole different experience. It was unpleasant.
 
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Thats OK. I doubt I would do long rage sessions with it. 10 -20 rounds max would probably be the norm. I will start looking for deals on a basic model. Looks like a nice heirloom gun for my son after I leave this world. Cant let it put too much of a dent into the Automag "Big Thunder" fund though. We were watching Assignation (Charles Bronson/Jill Ireland flick from my youth) and he has one of these. I think they were American Derringer back then. Anyways Charlie has an Ankle 410 backup in that and my kid was loving it. We are kind of suckers for movie guns.
 
starling said:
Wow... they are cheap. I like the looks on that Rowdy. Looks like old school AMT. Its on my list
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This is what I started with, if you look back a page or two there is a photo of the bead blasted frame with a polished barrel and set of wood grips. I like the bead blast finish on the receiver. Great place to start without getting into it quite so far $ wise.

The .38 is very enjoyable to shoot in these, although from the heft and stocky build, you can tell they were designed with the .45/.410 barrel in mind. I really like shooting mine in .45, but generally have had my fill 10-20 rounds in if they are standard power rounds. I am a bit of a wimp about recoil though, so take that for what it is.
 
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starling said:
Tell me Bond owners.... The consensus is for the 38 for shooting? How much worse is the 45/410? I have a few of the tiny little davis/cobra derringers in 22 and 22WMR but they are just too small for my hands to enjoy shooting. I kind of want a quality derringer to shoot. I am not concerned with practical.
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I've only shot the 9 mm, .38, and .357 out of mine. The .357 is brutal. My view is the 9mm or .38 are perfect, and still have a little kick. At some point the big bores or magnums are too much out of a derringer.

I bought the Bond Arms because today, it's the main producer of quality derringers. I didn't want a junk one, however tempting the prices are. That brings us to the Roughneck/Rowdy Bond Arms. Functionally the same quality, but the frame is not polished as much. $300 or so. Totally worth it. I'd love the more polished versions, and I'm keeping an eye out on a good deal on a used one, or just the frame (then can combine it with my stainless barrels), but I didn't want to spend $500+ on a derringer.
 
starling said:
Tell me Bond owners.... The consensus is for the 38 for shooting? How much worse is the 45/410? I have a few of the tiny little davis/cobra derringers in 22 and 22WMR but they are just too small for my hands to enjoy shooting. I kind of want a quality derringer to shoot. I am not concerned with practical.
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I highly recommend the Altamont extended grips. Not only do they give a better grip, they definitely upgrade the look of the BA. makes it larger though obviously.

https://www.altamontco.com/pistol-grips/bondarms/bondarms
 
I was a able to shoot mine for the first time yesterday, it has the 45Colt/410 barrel. I tried some of my cast 200 grain .45’s over 7.2 grains of Universal. I was surprised at how nice these shot although it did take me a minute to get use to the trigger. Surprising accurate if I did my part and just a lot of fun which is one of the reasons I bought it.
I am looking forward to trying some .410 shells out of it but I only have #4 shot available right now and my in door range has a restriction of at least 00 buck.
 
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WisBorn said:
Do you like the Percision One Ammo?
I have been buying it lately. There are some good people at their store/plant.
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Yes it’s good. I like their 147 grain .38 copper wadcutters. I used it to train on my S&W 642. Shoots nice out of the derringer too. I figure a .38 wadcutter is good ammo out of a derringer: low recoil, self defense capable
 
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starling said:
Tell me Bond owners.... The consensus is for the 38 for shooting? How much worse is the 45/410? I have a few of the tiny little davis/cobra derringers in 22 and 22WMR but they are just too small for my hands to enjoy shooting. I kind of want a quality derringer to shoot. I am not concerned with practical.
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38sp, especially softer wadcutter ammo, is the sweet spot for a b.a. derringer.

see my earlier posts on my troubles with the ill-finished, cheaper rowdy/roughneck models, though ymmv. i found used, original, gen2 b.a. derringers online for not $100 more, they are worth it. dont worry about a buying used b.a. unseen in the flesh, these buggers are built like brick outhouses and round count by their very nature is low.
 
Ok, I'm new to the Bond Arms derringer and I see a lot of the same model names pop up. I was gifted a Century 2000 for Christmas and know nothing about it. That model name just doesn't come up. I've looked into things and it doesn't seem to have any features different than the Texas Defender. Is there anything I should look out for?

I'm not looking at this gun in ANY practical way and it is not something I would have spent money on, but now that it's in my possession and didn't cost me anything, I'm DEFINITELY going to shoot it. I do appreciate the quality of the work in producing it. It's a nice piece.
 
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LocoGringo said:
was gifted a Century 2000 for Christmas and know nothing about it. That model name just doesn't come up. I've looked into things and it doesn't seem to have any features different than the Texas Defender. Is there anything I should look out for?
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The frame is no different than any of the others. Bond tends to name them based on barrel variations or, in the case of the roughneck, Rowdy, and Defender, frame finish. The difference between the Texas Defender and the Century 2000 is that the Century has a 3.5 inch barrel instead of the 3" of the Texas and Cowboy defenders.
https://www.bondarms.com/bond-arms-handguns/century-2000/
 
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