Bond Arms Dead Man’s Hand Derringer : A Tribute to the Last Poker Hand of Wild Bill Hickok

William Bell
July 16, 2026

August 2, 1876 saw James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok playing poker at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon, in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. An accomplished gambler, Hickok had given up peace officer work as his eyesight was diminishing. More money was to be made with cards than wearing a badge as he had done in Monticello, Abilene and Hays City, Kansas. He’d done some “Show-Biz” work with Buffalo Bill, been a spy and scout for the Union army during the War Between the States, and had worked as a freighter. He was an expert marksman, and had come out the winner of several gunfights in his career. On this fateful summer day in the saloon, he’d arrived at the gaming table late, and his usual seat, which put his back to the wall was taken. As he looked over the five cards he’d been dealt, a man known as Jack McCall slipped up behind “Wild Bill” and put a slug through his head, killing him instantly. The cards fell from his hand, and according to legend there was a pair of eights, a pair of aces, both pair clubs and spades; the fifth card was thought to be the Queen of Hearts. The Aces and Eights thus became known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”

The right side of the derringer’s barrels are laser-engraved with the last cards “Wild Bill” had in his hand when shot; the proverbial Dead Man’s Hand.

In tribute to one of the Old West’s true heroes, Bond Arms in conjunction with Davidson’s is offering an Exclusive, limited-edition, stainless-steel derringer, called the Dead Man’s Hand (DMH). Based on the Bond Arms Rough Series platform, the DMH has 4.25” superimposed barrels, and is chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge/3-inch .410 bore shotshell. It had a matte finish on all surfaces except for the barrel flats which are semi-polished. On the right side of the barrels is laser-engraved a depiction of the aces and eights, and a long horn steer skull, around which is a border of barbed wire. On the opposite side is an engraving of a cowboy heading cattle, and the motto, “A cowboy’s word is his Bond.” Handsome laminated wood grips with checkered panels, and a black star medallion round out the attractive features of this derringer.

Engraved on the left side of the barrels is a cowboy herding steers; the red arrows point out the tiny firing pin retention screws.

For those unfamiliar with Bond Arms derringers, most are two-shooters, with over and under barrels. The barrels are attached to the frame by a hinge at the top of the frame, where they come together. A spring-loaded, cammed locking lever located on the left side of the frame, is pushed downward, unlocking the barrels that can then be tipped up for loading or removing spent cases or hulls. On the left side of the barrels, at the breech-end is a slot to facilitate plucking out the empties. The pistol has a single action mechanism, meaning the hammer has to be manually cocked to fire it. The large hammer assembly has a serrated spur and a spring-actuated hammer head that moves up and down when the hammer is cocked. This allows the patented rebounding hammer to strike the top or bottom inertia firing pins. To prevent AD’s there is a push-through crossbolt safety that blocks the hammer fall when activated. The smooth-faced trigger is about 0.25” wide, and protected by a spur in the rear, plus a detachable trigger guard. It has an average pull weight of 5.6 lbs., but you must press on the very bottom tip of the trigger when shooting (see pg. 14 of the owner’s manual).

photo showing how to load the gun — To load or unload the derringer, the barrel locking lever (blue arrow) is pushed down, and the barrels tipped up; a slot (red arrow) allows empties to be plucked out.

photo of safety and hammers — The blue arrow points out the top inertia firing pin; the red arrow, the moveable firing pin hammer head, and the green arrow, the cross-bolt safety.

A feature found on the DMH and most Bond Arms derringers is the interchangeable barrel system, that allows barrels of different lengths and calibers to be used with the same frame. A square notch cut into the large hinge on which the barrels tip serves as a rear sight. The front sight is a sloping ramp integral with the barrel. Packed in a black plastic carrying case with a foam-rubber padded interior, the DMH comes with a safety lock wrench, owner’s manual, factory warranty card, and a Bond Arms brochure. A nice extra is a Driving Holster made of premium leather, with a brown finish and henna stitching. It has a thumb-break retention strap and fits belts up to 1.75” wide. Worn cross-draw, it positions the gun parallel with the belt. This makes it perfect for carrying a vehicle to dissuade car-jackers. The holster has a retail value of $108.00.

bond arms in supplied holster — This is the Bond Arms Driver holster that is included with the Dead Man’s Hand derringer; it has thumb break retention, and is worn cross-draw.

Handguns like theBond Arms DMH derringer are basically “Belly Guns” for up close and personal self-protection – be it from two-legged assailants or maybe venomous reptiles. I wanted to use defense-oriented .45 Colt Colt/.410 bore ammunition in this T&E, so I scoured my ammo locker for the appropriate loads. The amounts in some cases were limited, but I came up with a box of American Eagle/Federal.45 Colt cartridges with a 225 JSP bullet. I also found a box of Federal Premium .410 (2.5”) Handgun loads that contain 4 copper-plated 000 buck pellets. I had a discontinued Remington Ultimate Defense Combo Pack that contained 10 rounds of .45 Colt cartridges with a 230 gr. brass JHP, and 10 (2.5”) .410 shells with 4 lead 000 pellets. Another .45 Colt load was the Winchester Supreme Elite Bonded PDX1 that has a 225 gr. bonded JHP. Also from Winchester was 2.5” .410 bore PDX1 Defender shells which carry 12 copper-plated BB’s and 3 copper-plated cylindrical projectiles.

Ammo used for testing — Four brands of .45 Colt cartridges and 2.5” .410 bore shells were used in the Bond Arms derringer T&E.

Doing an evaluation on a two-shot derringer made following my usual test protocol an impossibility, so I played it by ear. Step one was to get velocity readings and check on the regulation of the fixed sights. In times past, chronographing shot shells was risky business with old-type chronographs. However, with the Garmin Xero C1 Pro, there were no issues. I positioned a large Shoot-N-C target at 5 yards and got my bullet/shot velocity info and saw how the sights were lined up. My usual performance table was a no-go, so I’ll give you the average velocity of the test loads, and in the case of the .45 Colt cartridges, a foot pounds of energy (FPE) figure. American Eagle .45 Colt 720 FPS w/ 259 FPE; Federal .410 Handgun 768 FPS; Remington Ultimate Defense .45 Colt 723 FPS w/ 267 FPE, plus Remington .410 at 774 FPS; Winchester PDX1 .45 Colt 766 FPS w/ 293 FPE and .410 PDX1 at 668 FPS.

A look at the Shoot-N-C target indicated that with single bullet loads the top barrel shot a bit above point of aim, and the lower barrel a bit below it. Almost half of the shots key-holed or hit the target at an angle. The Bond Arms DMH has very shallow rifling in its barrel to accommodate the shotshells, and this could be the reason for the wonky bullet impacts. This made an accuracy potential evaluation out of the question. I still wanted some idea of bullet “groupability,” so I put up a sheet with five 7.5×5.5” oval targets, that were positioned at 15 feet. Shooting was done from the bench using a Ransom Steady Rest. My goal was to obtain hits on or close to these targets with the .45 Colt cartridges. I shot 5 rounds at each oval; 10 shots with the American Eagle, 5 with the Remington, and 10 with the Winchester loads. I was happy if the bullet impacts were within the target. The 5-shot clusters generally averaged 3.5” to 6,” most stayed inside the target ovals. At this distance, I felt the accuracy to be sufficient for defense.

author shooting the bond arms — Here, the author is getting velocity data on the test ammunition and checking the regulation of the derringers fixed sights.

To gauge the performance of the .410 shotshells I used Shoot-N-C B27 target centers at 15 feet. These centers measure 15.5X12,” which approximates the size of a human torso. The DMH derringer was loaded with two shells of each test load, and aimed center-mass. My first shot with the Federal shells made a vertical string of pellets; two 9-ring hits and two 10-ring hits. All the pellets stayed in the 10/X-ring with the next shot. Both shots with the Remington shells were more centered, with 5 of 8 pellets in the 10/X-ring. With the Winchester shells, the cylindrical projectiles impacted within the 9 and 10-rings, while the 22 of the 24 BB-size pellets stayed inside the scoring rings of the target.

target results of 45acp — Using the .45 Colt cartridges, five shots were fired at the oval bullseye targets with the 3 different loads; the 5-shots clusters averaged 3.5” to 6” in diameter.

For a practical exercise, a Truglo Gunslinger target positioned at 15 feet. I stood and used an isosceles stance with a two-handed hold on the DMH. This allows a good grip on the derringer, plus the support hand thumb can easily cock the hammer. The upper barrel loaded with a .45 Colt round, and the lower barrel with a .410 shot shell. The combinations were American Eagle and Federal .410; the Remington Ultimate Defense cartridge and shell; and the Winchester PDX1 cartridge and shell. My aiming point was the small center scoring ring. All of the .45 Colt bullets, and all of the .410 buck shot or projectiles impacted inside the 9×6” oval scoring rings; while 5 of the 12 BB-shot in the Winchester shell struck below the rings, but stayed on the target.

410 target results form 15 feet — The .410 shotshells were fired at 15 feet; you can see the patterns created by two shots from each brand of shells using the Dead Man’s Hand derringer.

Having shot and tested Bond Arms derringers in the past, I put a shooting glove on my right hand during the T&E. Nevertheless, by the time I was done, my hand was battered and the web of my palm blistered. This is a “carry much, shoot little,” gun and not intended for extended shooting sessions! The sights easy to see, and pick up quickly. Even though recoil was brisk, making two quick, controlled shots was possible with a two-handed hold. For me, the DMH derringer was difficult to cock and shoot one-handed. Page 10 of the owner’s manual talks about the internal safety lock. During the shooting session I discovered that the cross-bolt safety was frozen in place. It is controlled by a small hex-head screw accessible from the breech-face of the frame. Recoil caused it to tightened up enough to lock the cross-bolt safety. Loosening said screw cured the problem. The upper portion of the wood grips cover the backstrap of the pistols grip frame, and is fairly thin. I discovered at the end of the T&E that a tiny crack had developed in the right grip panel near the base of the hammer. While no fault of the gun, I had two dud Winchester .410 shells, with primers that failed to ignite.

Author shooting with glove on right hand — A practical shooting drill was performed at 5 yards; two shots of each brand were fired; a .45 Colt cartridge from the top barrel, a .410 shotshell from the bottom barrel.

If I decided to carry the DMH derringer for self-defense, I would use the combo load of cartridge on top, shell on the bottom. The test gun seemed to be more accurate with the top barrel using .45 Colt cartridges. It produced few key-holes with the first shot, and hit closer to point of aim. Of course, using two .410 shells could also be deadly, but would decrease the effective range to 7-10 yards max. If you are a fan of robust, well-made derringers, the Dead Man’s Hand might just be “in the cards” for you.