Remington Elliot

Design

The Remington Zig-Zag Derringer is a double-action pistol with a concealed hammer built into the grip frame. Its six-shot barrel cluster measures 3-3/16 inches and rotates via zigzag grooves at the breech, which engage a diamond-shaped key linked to the ring trigger. To return the ring without firing, a lever behind it is lifted; pushing the lever down releases the barrel group, allowing loading through a breech port in the frame. Grips are typically hard rubber (gutta percha), with ivory as the only other known original material. Finishes are blue or silver (never nickel), or a combination; a blue finish with a silver frame, or all blue, are most common, while silver barrels are rarer. Screws may enter from the left or right, and the mainspring set screw may be present, absent, or replaced by an unthreaded hole, varying randomly across serial numbers. The serial number is on the frame beneath the left grip. Around 140 examples are known from extensive study. The model’s delicate mechanism, along with its replacement by the Remington-Elliot Derringer "New Repeating Pistol" before all units were assembled, suggests a low survival rate.