Robert Hillberg's weapon. Part three

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-11 04:35

Dear Readers! This is the third article in a series of publications devoted to weapons designed by American designer Robert Hillberg.

In the previous installments, I introduced you to the Winchester Liberator and Colt Defender multi-barreled shotguns.

Today I will introduce you to the COP.357 Derringer pistol.

As strange as it may sound, the COP.357 Derringer is a direct descendant of the Winchester Liberator and Colt Defender shotguns. It became a logical development of the concept of multi-barreled weapons proposed by Robert Hillberg in the mid-60s of the last century. This small pistol used the same technical solutions that were used and honed on Hillberg's shotguns - with the only difference that our today's guest has all the components in reduced sizes.

It was rumored that, according to statistics, in the United States, every 5th policeman is killed by his own weapon, which falls into the hands of criminals. Perhaps this is why, in the early 80s, Robert Hillberg pondered what should be a melee auxiliary weapon for police officers.

And he reasoned, probably, something like this: the main properties that any weapon should have is its extreme simplicity and high reliability. (And in simplicity and reliability, he ate the dog, designing and modernizing all kinds of "Liberators" for all sorts of "Cheburators".) In addition, taking into account the police specifics, in addition to the reliability of action, the reserve weapon should be adapted for concealed carrying, its sudden removal and instant use …

This is often a “last chance” weapon designed to be used at close range, so ideally self-defense should look like this: suddenly grab a weapon, pull the trigger and fire ahead of the curve.

The revolver is suitable for these purposes, but not everyone is satisfied with its large dimensions due to the drum mechanism, so it makes sense to offer the police a product that has the advantages of a revolver, but devoid of its disadvantage associated with dimensions.

Traditionally, Derringer-class pistols were considered last-chance weapons. So why not try combining the benefits of the Derringer with the proven shotgun system?

Some time later, a rather compact pistol appeared called the C. O. P. which stands for “Compact Off-Duty Police”.

Specifically for its production in Torrance, California, a campaign was registered (now does not exist) called COP Incorporated.

Derringer was distributed by another local campaign: M&N Distributors of Torrance. Since the pistol was designed for the powerful.357 Magnum revolving cartridge, its full name sounded like this: COP.357 Derringer. By the way, its design made it possible to shoot with.38 Special cartridges without making any changes.

COP.357 is a type of multi-barreled non-automatic pistol.

The pistol consists of 54 parts. Its body is completely made of stainless steel.

It is a four-shot weapon with a pair of four barrels in one block, made in the form of a single piece.

Each barrel had its own separately installed firing pin.

COP.357 pistol with broken barrel block. Arrows indicate strikers.

The barrel block is connected to the frame by means of a hinge in its lower rear part.

Pivot joint for connecting the barrel and frame in the COP.357 pistol

The loading and reloading of the pistol is carried out manually, one cartridge at a time and is carried out by breaking the block of barrels down, according to the principle of a double-barreled hunting rifle. The cartridge cases are partially ejected from the chamber by means of an ejector. Further, the sleeves are manually removed by the shooter one by one.

How can I not recall the comment to my first article in this series (about Liberator):

Quote: GRAY So this is where the Wasp's legs grow from.

The barrel block lock latch is located on the top of the pistol frame and, in addition, acts as a rear sight.

COP.357 Pistol Sights

To open the lock and break the block of barrels, you need to pull the rear sight toward you with your thumb. The upper surfaces of the pillar are grooved like the edge of a coin to prevent the finger from slipping.

To open the COP.357 barrel assembly, place your thumb on the rear and pull it towards you.

But the four barrels and the way of locking the barrel block are not the only similarities with the Winchester Liberator shotgun designed by Robert Hillberg. The COP.357 Derringer pistol uses a trigger mechanism that closely resembles that of the first generation Liberators. This is a Double Action Only trigger with a hidden trigger. That is, each time the trigger is pressed, the mechanism is first cocked, and then released and, accordingly, shot.

Since the trigger force on COP.357 was "not childish", many users admitted that they had never been able to fire a series of four shots: their fingers and wrist were very sore, and he had a lot of tension, and the recoil from the powerful cartridge was considerable. The sequence of shots was due to the fact that each time the trigger was pressed, the percussion mechanism turned 90 degrees and hit the next striker.

Since it is generally accepted that a weapon with a trigger, firing only self-cocking, does not need a safety catch, because a shot can occur only when the trigger is fully squeezed out, there was no manual safety catch in this pistol.

In October 1983, patent US4407085 A was obtained and published for the main components of the pistol.

There was also an opposing patent: publication US 1348035 A dated July 27, 1920. It was issued to Oscar Mossberg. The patent contained a description and drawings of the main components for a compact multi-barreled automatic pistol. On the basis of these units, a Mossberg Brownie pistol was assembled chambered for the.22 Long Rifle.

The Mossberg Brownie pistol cost only $ 5 and was produced for 13 years in a row (1919-1932). About 20 thousand copies were produced.

COP.357 Derringer was produced in small quantities, but it did not gain much popularity either among the police or in the civilian market. Despite the fact that this pistol was approximately twice as wide and significantly heavier than any automatic pistol in caliber.25 ACP (6, 35x15 mm Browning), its relatively compact dimensions and powerful cartridge made this pistol a good candidate as a weapon “for last chance."

The thickness of the COP.357 is decent, and considering that it weighs 800 grams, even without cartridges we get a “lethal” weapon in the form of brass knuckles.

A still from the movie Crying Freeman (1995). During the final showdown with the yakuza, a guy named Koh (Byron Mann)

the COP.357 pistol appears, which was fed into the palm of the hand by a mechanism hidden in the sleeve. And although it is a four-shot, the hero fired from it 8 or even 9 times.

COP.357 Derringer pistol in branded holster.

According to unconfirmed information, they tried to fix the situation by releasing a version of COP Derringer chambered for the low-impulse.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire cartridge of the 5, 6 mm family, but it apparently did not work either, and production was curtailed.

In 1990, its production was resumed by the American Derringer campaign, but due to the lack of sufficient buyers, its production was soon discontinued.

At the moment, COP.357 pistols are quite rare and collectible. Their average market value, depending on the state, ranges from 900-1000 US dollars. They say that "strongly yuzanye" can be found cheaper: bucks for 200-350.

COP.357 pistols for sale posted on ArmList. COM

Before I move on to describing the lines and its roles in the films, here are the brief specifications of the COP.357 Derringer pistol:

Airsoft

The renowned manufacturer of Airsoft replicas Marushin offers the COP.357 Derringer pistols in 2 versions and 2 colors:

The Marushin COP.357 short barrel is available in Silver and Black.

Price $ 89.

The Marushin COP.357 Long Barrel is also available in Silver and Black. Price $ 94.

Cinema

The COP.357 Derringer pistol was used as a prop in the filming of films and television series, in anime and even in a computer game.

First I want to highlight the work of Stephen Dane: he was assistant art director David Snyder during the filming of Blade Runner (1982). Before the filming of the film, this very assistant art director sketched several sketches of some “weapon of the future”, with which he proposed to equip the main character of Deckard's painting (Harrison Ford). These sketches are:

Soon, according to these sketches, the pistol itself was made, but most did not like it very much: it lacked "zest".

The first prototype weapon for the Blade Runner.

Then a second prototype “blaster” was proposed for Deckard. Here it is:

The second prototype of the blade runner weapon.

Agree that they represent nothing more than a slightly modified COP.357 Derringer pistol. The second prototype already looked like a movie weapon should look, but it was also rejected (they say, Ridley Scott himself) and expelled from Rick Deckard's arsenal, but they armed him with a “cross between a bulldog and a rhinoceros”: “Los Angeles Police Department - 2019 blaster”, Which was assembled from the components of the“Bulldog”revolver from Charter Arms and the Steyr-Mannlicher Model SL rifle.

A still from the film Blade Runner.

LAPD 2019 blaster

Instead, Leon Kowalski (Brion James) was armed with a perfectly normal COP.357 Derringer pistol so that he would shoot another "runner" at the very beginning of the film: Holden (Morgan Poll).