From Derringer to LCP: A Short History of the Pocket Pistol

The oldest carry problem

Every concealed carrier eventually runs into the same wall. A bigger gun is easier to shoot. A smaller gun is easier to bring. The pocket pistol is what you get when someone decides the second point wins.

That argument is much older than the polymer micro 9. It goes back to a Philadelphia gunsmith, a famous misspelling and a presidential assassination. Here's the short version, five guns long.

1825: Henry Deringer's Philadelphia pistol

Henry Deringer (1786 to 1868) designed the pistol that gave the whole category its name. His Philadelphia Deringer was a single-shot, muzzleloading percussion pistol: you loaded powder and ball from the front and fired it with a percussion cap. According to Wikipedia's summary, it was produced from 1825 through 1868, and about 15,000 were made.

It was small, it was simple and it was a one-shot proposition. That last part defined the derringer for the next century. You carried one for a single, close-range emergency.

Its most infamous moment came on April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln with a Philadelphia Deringer at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. In the flood of reporting that followed, the maker's name was often spelled with a double "r." The misspelling stuck. "Derringer" became a generic word for any small pocket pistol, which is why the category name and the man's name don't match.

1866: the Remington double derringer

Once metallic cartridges arrived, the obvious upgrade was a second shot. Remington's Model 95 stacked two barrels, one over the other, and chambered them for the .41 rimfire cartridge. Production ran from 1866 until 1935, per Wikipedia, with more than 150,000 made.

That's a nearly 70-year production run for a two-shot gun. It tells you how stubborn the demand for a vest-pocket pistol was. The over-under layout is still made today by companies such as Bond Arms, including models chambered for .45 Colt and .410.

The trade-offs were baked in, and they still apply to modern derringers: two shots, a heavy trigger or a single-action hammer, short sight radius and slow reloads. Modern derringers are well made, but most carry instructors would steer a new carrier toward a small semi-auto or revolver instead.

1908: Browning shrinks the automatic

The next leap came from John Moses Browning, who figured out how to make a self-loading pistol small enough for a vest pocket.

Browning designed the tiny .25 ACP (6.35mm Browning) cartridge and a pistol to fire it. FN in Belgium sold his European version as the Model 1906, and Colt sold the American version as the Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket. Wikipedia lists its production as 1908 to 1948, with a total of 420,705 made, a figure that includes post-war guns assembled from parts.

A redesign of that pistol, the Baby Browning, is still in production. Few designs last more than a century; that one did.

The same era produced the cartridge that dominates pocket guns today. Browning also designed the .380 ACP, which Colt introduced in 1908 for its Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless. Wikipedia notes it's been widely used in the U.S. since 1908 and in Europe since 1912, under names like 9mm Short and 9mm Kurz. Compared with the .25, the .380 offered a more serious defensive cartridge in a gun that still fit a coat pocket.

1931: Walther's PPK and a famous spy

In Germany, Walther released the PP in 1929 as a blowback police pistol, then a smaller version, the PPK, in 1931. Its name abbreviates Polizeipistole Kriminal, a nod to the criminal investigation office, and not, as often assumed, kurz ("short"). The PPK came in .32 ACP and .380 ACP.

The PPK added things the derringer and early Browning pockets lacked: a double-action first shot, a decocker and a design that could be carried with a round chambered and the hammer down. It looked good too, and that mattered. Ian Fleming moved James Bond to the PPK in Dr. No (1958), and the gun has been tied to the character ever since. Wikipedia notes that the pistol Sean Connery actually carried in the 1962 film was a PP.

American law shaped the next chapter. After the Gun Control Act of 1968, the PPK failed the import points test by a single point. Walther's fix was the PPK/S, which put the PPK slide on the slightly larger PP frame. Smith & Wesson later made the PPK and PPK/S under license from 2002 to 2013, and Walther resumed U.S. production in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 2018. Wikipedia reports that the PP, PPK and PPK/S line ended production at Fort Smith in November 2025, while noting Walther still makes the PP and PPK.

If you're curious about owning one today, our Walther PPK/S in 2026 piece covers the practical side.

2008: Ruger's LCP and the featherweight era

The modern pocket pistol is a polymer-frame .380, and the gun that put it in millions of pockets was Ruger's LCP (Lightweight Compact Pistol). Ruger introduced it at the 2008 SHOT Show.

The numbers explain why it caught on. Wikipedia lists the LCP at 9.4 ounces, 5.16 inches long and 0.82 inches wide, with a 2.75-inch barrel and six-round magazines. At that size and weight, it rides in a pocket holster in ordinary jeans.

It wasn't a clean-sheet idea. Wikipedia notes the LCP closely resembles Kel-Tec's P-3AT, using a similar hammer spring, an identical locked-breech mechanism and a similar takedown. Ruger's main changes were a Glock-style extractor and an external slide stop.

The launch had a bump. On October 29, 2008, Ruger recalled some early LCPs because they could fire if dropped onto a hard surface, and upgraded the hammer system. That's a reminder that even mature designs can need fixes; check any used pocket gun's serial number against the maker's recall notices.

Ruger kept refining it:

• LCP II (October 6, 2016): slightly larger, with a slide that locks back on empty.
• LCP MAX (June 2021): a double-stack .380 with 10-round standard and 12-round extended magazines. Ruger's product page says it fits 10+1 in the same footprint as the LCP II, and several variants offer a manual safety.

Ammunition Depot lists the Ruger LCP MAX (2.8-inch, 10+1) and the original Ruger LCP .380 (6+1). For a head-to-head, see our Glock 42 vs Ruger LCP MAX.

What 200 years of pocket guns teach

Dates and capacities are from the Wikipedia and Ruger sources listed below. Three lessons hold up across that whole timeline:

1. Small guns are hard to shoot well. Short barrels, short grips and light weight mean more felt recoil and less control. That was true of the derringer and it's true of the LCP. Practice matters more, not less.
2. Capacity creeps up. One shot became two, then six, then ten or more in the same pocket. If you're buying a pocket gun today, you don't have to accept six rounds unless you want the thinnest option.
3. The holster is part of the gun. A loose pistol in a pocket is a bad idea. Modern pocket carry needs a pocket holster that covers the trigger guard and stays put when you draw. Our pocket carry guide covers how to do it safely.

Carrying a modern pocket gun

If the history has you shopping, keep it practical. Start with the gun that fits your pocket and your hand, then add the rest.

Ammunition. Short .380 barrels are picky. Many carriers choose a bonded or purpose-built hollow point and then confirm it feeds reliably in their own gun. Ammunition Depot's .380 ACP section includes defensive loads such as Speer Gold Dot 380 ACP 90-grain. Our .380 vs 9mm article covers the caliber question.

Holster. For waistband carry of the LCP II, DeSantis makes the Transit steerhide IWB holster. For pocket carry, pick a dedicated pocket holster made for your model.

Safety. Treat every gun as loaded. Verify a pocket pistol is unloaded before cleaning or inspecting it, and keep nothing else in that pocket.

Editorial note: This feature is an editorial history built from encyclopedia summaries and manufacturer pages. It is not a product test. Dates and production figures are as reported by the sources listed below; we left out details we couldn't confirm.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.