Finally got out with the Bond Derringer and my two barrels: a 3" .45 Colt/.410 and a 3" .38 Special/.357 Magnum. Shot the following:
2 rounds of Winchester White Box 130 grain .38 Special
14 rounds
Cavalry 158 grain JHP .357 Magnum "for short barrel revolvers."
10 rounds Federal 158 grain JSP .357 Magnum
20 rounds Cavalry 180 grain polymer coated cowboy action .45 Colt
10 rounds Cavalry 250 grain polymer coated cowboy .45 Colt
10 rounds Cavalry 250 grain polymer coated standard velocity .45 Colt
I switched barrels several times during the session. Here are my observations:
The Federal 158 grain JSP .357 Magnums were brutal. Really hard on the hand. They felt a good bit stronger than any of the .45 Colt rounds.
I could not discern much difference between the two 250 grain .45 Colt Cavalry cartridges and both of those generally felt a lot like the Cavalry 158 grain JHP .357 Magnums.
So, I only shot two .38 Specials. I wasn't going to take any .38 Specials and at the last minute popped two rounds into the gun, figuring it can be a backup gun in my pocket as well as I should at least shoot the two before moving into the .357s and .45s. So, as expected the .38 Specials were relatively mild. But the surprising thing is that the 180 grain Calvary .45 Colts were as mild shooting as, if not milder, the .38 Specials.
I have previously said that a box of the .250 grain .45 colts out of the Bond Derringer made my hand and arm hurt for a while, but that I could shoot the 180 grain cowboy .45s all day. On, and my hand did hurt after today's session. In fact I found it hard to do much with that hand for a while. See how little the grip is on the gun (
Image Here).
I am inclined to stick with .38 Specials in the smaller barrel and the 180 grain colts in the larger barrel, though I do like shooting .410s out of it too. Calvary has some 110 and 125 grain .357s that I ought to try sometime.
Accuracy is not so good as I mainly did point and shoot just for kicks and because that is something one should also practice for SD in cases where there is not time to get a sight picture. I shot most at 5 yards, then some at the end around 3 yards. A funny thing happened near the end in that when I shot the last of my .357 rounds it nearly tore the target off the mount (no, I was not shooting low, I had turned the target upside down to take advantage of clearer paper in the lower half, and actually was shooting high):