Shortly after the American Civil War, a New York dentist-turned-firearms inventory named William H. Elliot designed a revolutionary pocket pistol to fire the .41 Short rimfire caliber metallic cartridge. At the time, it was the most powerful small handgun cartridge on the market.
This compact but hard-hitting pistol was immediately embraced by riverboat gamblers, ladies of the night, messengers, travelers, shopkeepers, and anyone else who needed an easily concealable, large-caliber weapon for self defense. Its novel design featured twin, over-and-under barrels that swung open from a top hinge for loading and cartridge extraction, a "spur" trigger and large, comfortable grips.
This was one, but not the first, of the more than 130 firearms patents Dr. Elliot would be granted over the last half of the nineteenth century. To manufacture his new pistol, Dr. Elliot contracted with the E. Remington & Sons arms firm in upstate New York, which by 1867 had been in the gunmaking business for more than 50 years.
The Remington Double Deringer, as it has become known among collectors, was sleek, simple, sturdy, effective, and inexpensive. It was the right gun for the time and place, and it enjoyed the longest manufacture - sixty-five years- of virtually any firearm before or since. Hardcover 8-1/2 by 11", 207 pages, black and white with 21 pages of full color.
The Table of Contents includes the following:
Forword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Remington Over-Under Deringer
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 New Designs Establish the Elliot Arms Company
Chapter 4 Dr. William H. Elliot's Double Deringer
Chapter 5 A Glimpse of New York in the 1860's
Chapter 6 E. Remington & Sons Barrel Addresses and Serial Numbers
Chapter 7 Remington Arms Company Barrel Addresses and Batch Numbers
Chapter 8 Remington Arms - U.M.C. Co. Barrel Addresses and Serial Numbers
Chapter 9 Extractors, Hammers, Serial and Batch Numbers, and Factory Symbols
Chapter 10 Mechanical Changes Over Time
Chapter 11 Patterns for Engraving
Chapter 12 Fancy Packaging for Double Deringers
Chapter 13 Finding Fatal Flaws by Careful Inspection
Chapter 14 Flimflams and Frauds: Nonsense and Deception in the Marketplace
Chapter 15 Smart Collecting
Epilogue
Appendix A Parts Nomenclature, Disassembly, and Reassembly
Appendix B Confusion with Classification
Appendix C Attributed Dates of Manufacture
Appendix D Dr William H. Elliot's U.S. Patents for Firearms & Cartridges
