After my short outline on tiny guns, I thought I’d bloviate about a really neat little self defense gun that was briefly marketed in the 1980’s. It was a 4 barrel derringer chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge that went by the name C.O.P.
The gun was loaded by tilting the barrels up.
Four shots of .357 Magnum, an extremely potent handgun cartridge and my personal favorite. It could certainly get the job done if need be.
The gun was intended to be carried by off-duty police officers while they went about their daily routine. It was constructed of stainless steel, and was of rather high quality. I had a chance to put twenty rounds through one a few decades ago, and found it to be very serviceable. I wasn’t putting each bullet through the same hole at ten yards, but every round was kind enough to strike within walking distance of the X ring.
There were two main complaints. One was that the trigger pull was heavy and long, and the the other was that the gun was rather heavy for the size.
The design never was popular, and the remaining examples fetch premium prices as collector pieces. It certainly is a distinctive handgun, and it keeps showing up in movies and TV shows as some sort of futuristic firearm.
While searching the Internet for pictures of a C.O.P., I came across a post at No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money from February 2015. It seems that a company named Signal 9 Defense was looking to manufacture and sell their own version of the C.O.P.
This one would be chambered for a variety of calibers, and you could buy extra barrel assemblies so you could change the caliber of your gun. The .357 Magnum is not one of the choices available, alas. It has some polymer parts, particularly the grip, so it would be significantly lighter than a C.O.P.
The post at No Lawyers may be more than 2 years old as of this writing, but it appears that Signal 9 never did get their product to market. Not that I am in the market for such a gun, but it seems like a nice idea that some people may find suits their needs.
Another ‘complaint,’ was that there was no way to know what the next barrel was to be fired. If you only had 1 shell left it was a random guess as to which barrel to load.
Good point, sir! Thank you for mentioning that!
Very interesting article about a oddball(?) firearm. I’m curious to know, but what was the recoil like on the COP?
It was sharp, but not too bad. The heavy weight of the gun helped a bit with that.
The most startling aspect was the muzzle flash, which happens with every .357 Magnum that sports a short barrel. A fair amount of propellant doesn’t have time to be ignited inside the gun before the bullet pops out, so it just burns up in the air in front of the gun.
This usually doesn’t matter much in conditions that are well lit, but the range where I was shooting the C.O.P. was rather dim, and my eyes had adjusted to the low light.
Thank you for the info.
Cool post – first time I’ve heard from someone who’s touched one of these suckers off in real life. Looks cool in the hands of Monica Bellucci, though.
Anything would!
I put a few rounds through a buddy’s about twenty years ago. It was interesting but certainly nothing I would own myself. The trigger was awful and it was hard to hold on to. I still see them for sell every now and again.
They were ok shooting mild .38’s, but uncomfortable with full power .357’s, especially with heavy full power 158 JHP’s.
Recoil was straight back into the web of your hand, making a long day at the range pretty painful.