Here is another Gun Work of Art, this one a double rifle, an EEGS Double made by Beretta.
It was engraved by master engraver Gian Marco Sabatti. It is part of the Robert E. Peterson gallery at the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia.
To learn more, click on the link below
A few months back I made a post about "the first gun" that several people, including me bought and why. Today we look at the second gun, often more telling than the first.
My second gun was a .22 rifle, once I started shooting my Glock 19, I quickly realized the economy of a .22, you can shoot all day for a few bucks, back in the early '90s a brick of 500 .22 LRs cost around $10-$15.
The gun was a Marlin Model 70, I bought it at Big 5 sporting goods for $99 on sale. The Model 70 is the shorter, box magazine version of the Model 60.
I bought a few extra mags for it, back then Marlin was selling high cap plastic mags (made by Ramline I believe) for reasonable prices.
The second gun Bobby Thurman purchased was a stainless .357 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk with a 6.5" barrel. He bought it because he liked single actions and this was recommended as a good sidearm for hiking. He still owns this gun today.
Randy's second firearm purchase was his hunting rifle, a Remington model 788 bolt action rifle in 308 Winchester. He is a lefty and ordered this rifle in left hand configuration. He added a 6-9 power scope and used it during many hunting seasons in Idaho. Randy still owns the rifle.
The second gun Uncle Mike bought was a Sig P226, which he still owns, after getting rid of his Browning Hi-Power he wanted another double stack 9mm, and he had heard of Sig's reputation. He found one in stock and bought it without hesitation.
My Brother's second gun was his Smith & Wesson 380 Bodyguard with the on-board Crimson Trace laser. He figured this would be a great carry gun, it's small, lightweight and has just enough killing power.
He still owns and carries it often.
Don't call it a derringer....OK you can call it that if you wish, why not? The makers of this gun use the term to describe their double barrel pistols.
We'll start with a bit of history. The single shot pistol and rifle soon gave way to the double barrel pistols, rifles and shotguns. In the days before complex repeating actions, the easiest way to add more firepower was to add another barrel.
Side note: Deringer was the name of a gun maker in Philadelphia (Henry Deringer) who became famous for making short-barreled pistols, one of which was used to assassinate President Lincoln.
Around the same time (mid 1860's) Remington created the model 95, now known as the "double derringer". Note the spelling of Deringer, they added another r, I am not sure when or why that happened.
Fast forward to 1995, Texas. Greg Bond (I wonder if parents even briefly thought of naming him James??) decided to create a modern version, only with better materials and much better calibers.
Bond decided to make his guns from 400 series stainless steel and add some safety features, most notable is the trigger guard, although they still have some models without the trigger guard. They also added a rebounding hammer and cross bolt safety.
In case you were wondering, the guns fire the bottom barrel first, then you manually cock the hammer again (this is a single action) pull the trigger and the top barrel then fires.
One great feature is that many models can be altered by swapping the barrels, giving the owner multiple caliber and barrel length options.
In 2018 Bond Arms decided to offer a "less polished" version of their guns, calling them the "Rough Series" which helped bring the price down. The gun we are looking at today is one of those.
Called the "Rowdy", it is chambered in 45 Colt and 410 Shotshell and has a bead blasted finish with sanded flats on the barrel. In my opinion a gun that is to be carried, doesn't require a nice finish. The bird's head grip is made of a rubber type material very similar to the Hogue formula, the grips may very well have been produced by Hogue, but if you prefer wood grips, Bond Arms has a plethora of options to choose from.
As mentioned, you can change the caliber by swapping the barrels, I checked the website and for $140 you can make this gun a .357 Magnum or .44 Special or 10mm.
When you first pick up the gun, you can fell the heft, these are not lightweight novelties, these are seriously well-made firearms. This Rowdy weighed in at 20 ounces which is slightly heavier than the G43X when unloaded.
Specs listed below:
I ordered this ambidextrous leather holster from a
leathersmith in Hickory, North Carolina. It has a spot for two extra 45 or 410 shells
An Error in Judgement Almost Cost Me
Bob McMahon
October 2026
Seems like it was just a couple years ago, but when I really think about it, it was several years ago. I was a training officer for a law enforcement agency in southern California. We were working in an area of mixed demographics, with the Asian population growing. In some Asian cultures, there is very little trust in banks or Law Enforcement. Because of their lack of trust in banks, often business owners would bring the daily profits to their homes. This makes for easy pickings for the portion of the same culture to commit robberies and burglaries. Because of their lack of trust in law enforcement, most of these crimes were not reported. And in some cases, home invasion robberies. The area we were working in had a noticeable increase in the latter. Victims could be chosen by visiting the workplace of potential victims and watch their habits at the close of business to see the likelihood of a profitable stash of cash. Then, crooks would follow the victims home and start their plan. Sometimes they would strike during the day. Other times forcing their way into the victim’s homes in the early morning hours.
We were working the early morning shift, what most people call graveyard shift.
One night, my trainee had progressed enough to be the driver. At around 2:00 a.m., we were assigned the assist, along with other units, on a home invasion in progress. Rarely would we get the “in progress” call. Most of the time it was a “just occurred” call. As all of us were responding to the call, follow-up information told us that one of the family members managed to stay hidden in the house with a phone and call 9-1-1. The caller was able to tell the desk that the suspects were still inside and were armed.
My trainee and I were the first in the area. A couple of blocks away, I told him to turn off the headlights and hit the “kill switch” to turn off the brake lights and we unbuckled our seatbelts. Because of the numbers in the address, I assumed it was in the middle of the block. As we cautiously approached the target street, we saw that the street was at the beginning of a T intersection, meaning we could only turn left to get onto the street. I told my trainee to slowly make the left turn and pull to the right curb to take up a position to watch the street for any activity while waiting for other units to arrive. As we were just rolling to a stop, the garage door on our right side of the car opened with the lights on inside the garage. As soon as the door was open enough, a male ran out of the garage directly towards my car door. He was carrying a shotgun at port arms, meaning across his body with the barrel pointing in an upward angle and the trigger/buttstock around his waistband. I am not sure who was more surprised, us or the male. As I ordered the trainee to back up to the intersection, the male abruptly turned around and ran back towards the garage. I exited our patrol car as the male ran into the garage and the garage door started closing. I got on the radio to advise responding units of a confirmed crime in progress and armed suspects.
I ran to the sidewalk that was on the east side of the house, passing a car parked in the street adjacent to the house. I continued running to the street behind the target house so I could establish what later became a strong containment about a block wide. From my position, I stayed in visual contact with my trainee, who had by now positioned our patrol car so the headlights and spotlights were directed on the front and east side of the target house.
Until then, the other units assigned to the call were responding quickly, but quietly. The quiet usually associated with that time of night quickly erupted into the sounds of sirens, seemingly from all directions. On our department, one unit is assigned the “handle.” That unit is responsible for developing a plan and communicate that plan to the assisting units. The handling unit immediately started coordinating responding units to tactical positions for a tight containment. Because of my position and the position of my trainee, I knew we had them in a proverbial net.
This whole time, the staff at the desk kept the caller on the phone, a key element in this event. The desk advised that the suspects had all fled the house. Actually, as stressful as this situation was, I was relieved they all fled. Much better than taking the occupants hostage. Once the containment was established, we had all the occupants come out and confirmed they were residents and not suspects playing a role in deceiving law enforcement. Luckiy, none of the residents were injured. We requested a K-9 unit to assist us in tracking and locating the suspects. On our department, the K-9 units are assigned to the same bureau as our special weapons teams and frequently trained together. Normally, one of the units assigned to patrol would accompany the K-9 unit during the search. However, these were not typical circumstances. The K-9 unit requested one member of the special weapons team to accompany him with firearms that were not available to patrol units. Using information from the residents as to where the suspects were last seen, the K-9 and special weapons units began their search, yard by yard. One by one, all the suspects that fled the house were taken into custody without a shot being fired. While they were searching for the suspects, other units checked the car that was parked in the street on the east side of the house. We then learned that it was their (the criminals) car, with a driver waiting inside the whole time.
It is common for a lookout to honk the horn as a signal to the rest Maybe that explains why one suspect ran out of the garage when we first arrived. If he did honk, it must have been when he was us a couple blocks away and out of earshot, as we did not hear a horn. If that was their signal, they certainly did not have a plan on what to do when the horn sounded. Thay all panicked. That was a blessing.
When I think of this incident, I can’t help but second guess my reaction to jumping out of our patrol car and running past an unknown car parked adjacent to the target house. What if those crooks had planned better?
What if they better understood what the warning meant and how to react to it?
What if they simply took up positions in the shadows in the front yard to ambush our responding units?
What if the driver in the car was better prepared and flanked us from his position?
This incident occurred some 25 years ago. Would I have done the same thing today?
Was this an error in judgement? Or was it just part of the risks we take?
About the Author:
Bob McMahon is a friend of the blog and trusted expert on all things law enforcement; he is retired Law Enforcement Officer with 31 years of experience. He will be contributing to the blog going forward.....trust me on this, his stories will be worth coming back for.
This time we are traveling back to the 90's to view a gun, gun makers and a small factory that appeared to hold promise but failed to soar.
Jonathan W. Phillips and Roger A. Hunziker set out to solve the problem of cartridge interchangeability. They saw that many handgun cartridges were made in the .35 caliber range and thought it would be a revolutionary idea to create a gun that could shoot them all. This gun was to be the end-all gun for the apocalypse. What a benefit it would be to be able to fire any 35-caliber ammo (even some 32-caliber ammo) you came across.
Obviously, a semi-auto pistol would not work, as the only way to function would be with a complex, self-adjusting gas system. A revolver seemed a much better choice.
They started with the design for an extractor that could grip the rim of a revolver cartridge or the groove of an auto loading cartridge.
They set up shop in 1992 and by 1995 applied for a patent for their unique extractor/retention for revolvers. They called their company "Phillips and Rodgers", funny they changed the name of Roger to Rodger and left out the apostrophe.
For the frame they copied the Smith & Wesson K-frame, many mistakenly think S&W provided the frames, there is no evidence of this, in addition Phillips and Rodgers made their receivers out of 8620 steel whereas S&W revolvers are believed to be made from 4140. It would make sense that Phillips & Rodgers bought the internal parts from S&W.
By copying an existing gun, grips, holsters and other items are already available in the aftermarket.
They offered the revolvers in a 4" and 6" barrel and even made some conversion cylinders for S&W, Colt and Ruger revolvers.
They rented a facility in Conroe Texas on the corner of Hilbig and Criminal Justice Drive. The neighborhood was also the home to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Academy, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Montgomery County Juvenile Services, Montgomery County Adult Probation Department, The Joe Corely Processing Center, the Montgomery ICE Processing Center, Montgomery County Jail as well as an Auto Theft Recovery company and several bail bond companies.
They rented a portion of this building at 100 Hilbig Road, Conroe Texas
In 1997 as the company was failing, they moved their offices and what remained of the equipment and gun parts to a farmhouse in Huntsville (just a few miles north).
Here is the building at 852 FM980 Road, Huntsville.
What Remains:
The company folded after only making approximately 500 revolvers, I assume there are probably a bin or box out there somewhere with parts that more could be produced.
In 1997 it was over, the company closed and the guns became curiosities for collectors and due to their scarcity command high prices when they become available for sale.
As far as I can tell both buildings that housed the company still stand.
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