The little five shot mini revolvers have been
around for many years, from Freedom Arms and North
American Arms, and are surprisingly popular with some
shooters. Now, Charter 2000, maker of the famous Bulldog,
Off-Duty, Pathfinder,
and Undercover revolvers, has introduced their own
version of the mini revolver called the Dixie Derringer.
Being a Southern-born backwoods gentleman, I really like that
name. While all Charter revolvers are built north of the
Mason-Dixon line in the beautiful but exorbitantly over-taxed
state of Connecticut, "Dixie Derringer" seems
especially appropriate today. As I type this, we have just been
through another miserably hot, sticky, humid day here in the
lush Tennessee valley. I do not know why Charter chose that
name, but it just occurred to me that on such a hot muggy day, a
small stainless handgun weighing under a half pound would
conceal comfortably in the lightest clothing possible. This
little handgun could ride unnoticed in a shirt pocket, pants
pocket, waistband, or just about anywhere else.
The Dixie is available chambered for the .22
Long Rifle or the .22 Magnum cartridge, with the latter being my
choice, and the chambering of the revolver reviewed here. The
Dixie Derringer holds five cartridges in its diminutive
cylinder. With the Dixie, one can safely carry the revolver
fully loaded, with a loaded cartridge under the hammer, as the
design incorporates a hammer-blocking crossbolt safety, which
prevents the weapon from firing if dropped on its hammer. The
Dixie is a single action revolver, which must be manually cocked
before each shot. Loading the cylinder requires that the hammer
be pulled back slightly to quarter-cock, the cylinder base pin
be removed by depressing the spring-loaded latch at the end of
the pin, and pulling it from the front of the revolver. The
cylinder is then removed, loaded with five cartridges,
reinserted into the frame, and the cylinder pin slid into place.
It takes less time to load than it did for me to type that
description. After a bit of practice, it is easily reloaded in
about one-half of a minute. Unloading the fired cases from the
cylinder is accomplished by pushing them out with the cylinder
pin. This simple design allows for the very small size of the
little revolver. The Dixie Derringer has a one and
one-eighth inch barrel, an overall length of just four and
five-eighths inches, a thickness of seven-eighths of an inch,
and weighs in at just barely over six ounces. The hammer
spur is ample to allow quick use, and the trigger pull measured
right at seven pounds, which is okay on a small hideout piece
such as this. The stainless construction makes the weapon
resistant to corrosion from sweat or rain, and the black
synthetic grip panels are both attractive and durable.
Many people scoff at the .22 Magnum cartridge as
a defensive weapon, but I do not. It certainly would not be my
choice to carry on a Marine insertion into Syria, but even then,
I would like one of these as a backup to my backup gun. The
Dixie Derringer is made for the purpose of solving extreme
social situations in the owner's favor - in other words, saving
your butt when all else has failed. Many uniformed law
enforcement officers carry this type of revolver as a last ditch
backup, as do other undercover types. The beauty of these little
guns is that they can be concealed when other weapons cannot. It
is smaller than many pocket knives, but is a much better choice
than a blade for most people. At arm's length, it is a very
lethal weapon.
At a distance of seven yards, I had no trouble
at all keeping all of my shots within the kill zone of a
standard human silhouette target. At five yards, placing five
rounds quickly into the face of the same target was no problem.
Another very practical use for the Dixie Derringer down here in
Dixieland is for use on snakes. Poisonous snakes are a real
problem in many parts of this country, and the .22 Magnum,
loaded with CCI shotshells, is one of the better answers
to a snake problem available. I find that the rimfire shotshells
pattern much better than do the CCI center-fire shotshells. The
.22 Magnum version throws one-eighth ounce of number twelve
shot, which is about 275 pellets. These things are deadly on
snakes, and the Dixie carries five of them in the most compact
package available.
I carried the little Dixie around in my pockets,
and also in a dandy little pancake holster from Simply Rugged.
In it, the little revolver rides unnoticed on the belt. Also, it
just looks really cool! Rob Leahy makes these to fit any
of the mini revolvers, and I highly recommend his work.
In addition to the CCI shotshells, I fired the
Dixie Derringer with four other types of .22 Magnum ammunition.
The chronograph results from the short barrel are listed below.
Velocities are in feet-per-second. Bullet weight is listed in
grains.
Ammunition |
Bullet Weight |
Velocity |
Federal Hollowpoint |
50 |
715.1 |
CCI Maxi-Mag TNT Hollowpoint |
30 |
995.5 |
CCI Maxi-Mag +V Hollowpoint |
30 |
977.9 |
PMC Predator Hollowpoint |
40 |
957.5 |
All ammo tested fired without failure in the
Dixie Derringer. I was delighted with the practical accuracy of
the little revolver. The sights, while small, proved very useful
in hitting targets out to twenty-five yards. The mini revolvers
are also really fun guns to shoot, unlike anything else
available.
Whether used for distasteful social encounters
with the evil ones in our society, for snake protection in the
woods, or just as a fun little plinker, the Dixie Derringer is a
good choice when size, weight, and concealment matters. I
like it.
Check out all of the Charter products online at:
www.charterfirearms.com.
Simply Rugged holsters can be ordered direct at:
www.simplyrugged.com.
Jeff Quinn
Got something to say about this article? Want to agree (or
disagree) with it? Click the following link to go to the GUNBlast Feedback Page.