Customer Comments

Cool little weapon. Bought it on a whim, but the more I examine, clean, and now shoot I love it. Not as much kick as I expected.personal defense 410. Easily concealed, great quality.Bought 38/357 barrel but haven’t a chance to try that one yet.

I’m not an impulse buyer and studied the various Bond models for well over a year after my LE son-in-law got his Texas Defender. That includes watching many of Gordon’s and others videos. I’d concluded I wanted the SS or SSIV for the little longer barrel. The gun show was in town last month and I ran up on a really good deal on a 410/45LC Snake Slayer – impulse won!

I had a chance to fire a couple of dozen rounds the next day and while never a crack shot with any pistol, I was consistently grouping shots on some 12″x12″ pine board scraps with the 45C at paced off 6-7 yards. It did take a few rounds to get the feel of the sights and relation of upper and lower barrels. At that range all of the OOO pellets were on the target boards.

The SS feels more natural in my hand than the smaller gripped Texas Defender. Recoil was less than anticipated with the mix of 45C’s and several 410 loads, both 2-1/2″ and 3″. I was a bit surprised by the lack or only very slight vertical component of kick. Most of the recoil was felt in horizontal direction, i.e., palm of hand, but very manageable with any of the loads I tried.

All in all, I am very pleased with handling and accuracy for the intended range of my Snake Slayer and as all say, it is extremely well made. I will be adding at least a 22LR barrel for some fun shooting.

I forget the exact source(s) and will paraphrase the philosophy some have said about the Bonds and personal defense. It makes you think before you act being single action and only two shots and not an easy weapon to over react with. Good advice and probably very defensible legally if, God forbid, push came to shove.

Although I did like Bond derringers never own one until they came out with the Bond Backup with the matte finish. When I received it I was just amazed at the quality and looks! so I decided to build a “just in case” case with the most common calibers with matching barrels. I had a problem with one of the barrels that was damaged in shipping, but thanks to the excellent Customer Service and Shipping departments the problem was resolved. They were in constant communication with me and I even got a call from Mr. Gordon Bond (president /owner) just to make sure everything was OK. Excellent company, excellent firearms!

I first saw your hand cannon on the Blaze TV and knew I had to have one at that point. I kept putting it off until on Facebook I saw where you had presented Governor Abbott with a commemorative model. I knew then, that these hand cannons would soon be in short supply, so went by the new gun store in Center to see if he had one. He didn’t and none of his supplies had one either.

Then I went to www.bondarms.com and found the Snakeslayer IV was available and could be shipped to a gun store in Carthage. I am so glad I bought it. I also bought a box of 00 buckshot 410 ga. and brought it home. I looked at the gun in the store, but didn’t load it up until I got it home. I walked out back along with my son (disabled Army Vet) and fired one shot. It about blew a pile of wood to pieces, and I grinned and told him, It will do exactly what I want it to do.

I am very happy with the Hand Cannon and am now carrying it everywhere I go. It fits in my right front pocket quite handily. Since then, I have bought a sticky holster for it, but it hasn’t arrived yet.

Thanks for making such a quality hand gun!

Yes I have got to fire my new Bonds Arms Snake Slayer.I have been looking for some time for a derringer. I only found the one I have been waiting for when I came across your gun. most of them were not made very well but yours was a nice looking had the quality workman ship for me to by. I love the fill of the extended grip.looks great. I got a holster for it a BMT. Nice also. Would like to get a barrel in a 22 I think but as I see it only comes in 3in. I like the look and fell of the 3 1/2 will have to give it more though. I like the look of the BAD holster maybe better than the one I got. I bought before I seen the driving bad.one I will enjoy shooting it for a long time I think it will out last me. Thanh you very much for the nice looking quality made gun. - Wilmer

God bless America. Someone on this planet is still doing something right!

My new Bond Arms derringer, purchased as a .45/.410 Texas Defender, has quickly become my favorite weapon ever. I have to admit that as a gadget geek, I decided to purchase the base model and a few accessories only a couple weeks after I saw the ad on a popular conservative talk show program. Not having shopped for a weapon in decades, I was impressed that quickly.

I admit to paying a little more than I could have in order to support my local dealer. In addition to my base Texas Defender, I also have added extended rubber grips, the driving holster, and two barrels. For less than a thousand dollars total investment, I now have a remarkably beautifully engineered and crafted weapon that I can configure a dozen different ways. I can use the trigger guard or not, the original Rosewood compact grips or the larger rubber tactical grips, with my choice of three barrels firing at least five types of loads.

Shooting this gun is really nice. It’s very accurate, once I ignored Gordon’s recommendation in the excellent YouTube “Safety” video to compensate for the difference between barrels. Since the barrels on the .22 are inside the firing pins and separated by only 10mm, there is simply no point in changing your sight picture to compensate, especially for defense purposes. Ditto for the full-sized barrels which like the firing pins are on 15mm centers. I can use the 3″ .22 barrel in my living room with a trap for practice. Besides the original 3″ .45/.410 for daily defense, I just added a 4.25″ .357/.38 barrel for more “open” situations.

My only complaint is that I have a slight occasional problem with over-trigger-finger so far, due I believe to the very stiff trigger pull on this gun. It took me about a half-dozen loadings to actually pull the trigger on the first try until I adjusted. Understanding the concerns about safety, I’ll try to get used to it. I’m normally a two-handed shooter, and this problem crops up more often when I shoot one-handed.

SO, what’s the bottom line?

Marvelous weapon, reasonably priced – beautifully crafted, deadly accurate, safe and designed with wisdom. What more can you ask for if your life depends on it?

God bless you all,
Rabbi Mark

The Back Up is my third Bond Arms handgun. I love all three. They all have a function. All 3 shoot very well, accurately, and with very manageable recoil, despite the load to size ratio!! Bonds exhibit excellent machining and are built extremely well with beautiful aesthetic detail. I highly recommend Bond Arms to friends!

When I got my 3 inch barreled 357 Mag. I first went out and fired 4 each 38 special bird shot, then I worked my way up to the 38 special 2 each then I fired 2 each 357 Mag. I was pleasantly surprised how well I was able to handle it even with stock grips. However I still ordered a pair of the extended rubber grips and a 9 mm barrel, when it came in I changed the grips and test fired the 9 mm. I have not test fired the 357 Mag. with rubber grips yet, but I am sure I will be even more happy. Regards: Stephen

Took my Rustic Ranger to the range. At 7 yards the 45 Colt hit where I was aiming and the 2 1/2 inch 410 000 buck just slightly to the left. Might have been me jerking the trigger. Not much felt recoil for a big bore short barrel. Moving to Arizona soon and this will make a great snake gun and back up ccw.

Just received my 9mm barrel, so took some 9mm and some .410 ammo to the range on Saturday. After going through a box of 9mm, marveling at how accurate this fine piece of machinery is, I swapped barrels and loaded up what, will ultimately be, my defensive round of choice. After 4 rounds, I packed up my stuff and went home… I had heard that the .410 round was not for the faint of heart when it comes to this size firearm, but you just don’t appreciate it until you wrangle with it first-hand. Still rather be on the ‘giving’ than the ‘receiving’ end of a .410 round coming out of this extremely well-built piece of American exceptionalism! The only issue that I ran into was that the trigger guard worked itself loose during this visit to the range. I thought that might be a little odd, since I had gone over the gun prior to firing it with a fine-tooth comb and made sure everything was good and tight.