Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless 45 Colt/410 – Superb Limited Derringer

Description

Bond Arms builds the same derringer two ways. One gets the polishing and the deep finish work, and one does not, and the one that does not is called the Rough Series. The Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is the semiquincentennial commemorative on that second line: identical frame, identical barrel, identical lockwork, and a bead blasted surface instead of a polished one.

What you get for the difference is the engraving on a bright stainless barrel rather than a black one. “AMERICA 250th — LAND OF THE FREE — 1776 · 2026” runs the length of the left flat, and the right carries the Statue of Liberty, a waving flag, 1776 to 2026 and IN GOD WE TRUST. Cut into stainless, it reads as engraving rather than as printing, which is the point of doing it this way.

The Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is Bond part number BA250th-45/410. Two shots of .45 Colt or .410 out of a 4.25 inch barrel, 25.6 ounces, MSRP $599, and we are holding 167.

Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless at a glance

• Two shot break action derringer chambered for both .45 Colt and .410 shotshells.
• 4.25 inch barrel engraved on both sides, in Bond’s Rough finish.
• Stainless steel Hand Cannon frame, also Rough finished.
• Black extended B6 resin grips.
• Single action, 7 pound trigger, crossbolt safety, trigger guard and retracting firing pins.
• 6.75 inches long, 4.33 inches tall, 25.6 ounces. MSRP $599.

What Bond’s Rough finish on the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless actually is

• It is a bead blasted surface rather than a polished one. The steel underneath, the heat treat and the tolerances are the same as on any other Bond.
• Skipping the polishing stage is where the price difference comes from. It is labor, not material, and it does not touch anything that affects how the gun works.
• A matte surface hides handling marks far better than a polished one, which on a gun that lives in a pocket or a console is a practical advantage rather than a compromise.
• The engraving arguably reads better against a Rough finish than a polished one, because the cut lines catch light differently from the blasted surround.
• Bond warranties the Rough Series identically. There is no second tier of support behind the second tier of finish.

Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless specifications

• Manufacturer part number: BA250th-45/410
• Chambering: .45 Colt and .410 shotshell
• Capacity: 2
• Action: single action, break open
• Barrel: 4.25 inches, engraved both sides, Rough finish
• Frame: stainless steel Hand Cannon, Rough finish
• Grips: black extended B6 resin
• Sights: fixed
• Trigger pull: 7 pounds
• Safety: crossbolt, trigger guard, retracting firing pins
• Overall length: 6.75 inches
• Height: 4.33 inches
• Weight: 25.6 ounces
• MSRP: $599

Ammunition and safety notes from Bond Arms

Bond publishes restrictions for the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless and they are worth reading before you buy a box of anything. In Bond’s own words: do not chamber or fire .454 Casull, .45 +P or .45 Corbon, do not use oversized copper only .45 projectiles, do not use reloaded ammunition, and do not use Herter’s or Magtech brands.

The brand restriction is the one that surprises people, because both are ordinary shelf names. We do not stock either in .45 Colt. What we would feed a Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is standard pressure .45 Colt from a major maker, and our Remington Core-Lokt 45 Colt 237 grain JHP fits that description.

For shotshells, Baschieri & Pellagri Golden Clays .410 in 2.5 inch is what we carry, and a 2.5 inch shell is safe whichever chamber length your barrel has. Bond does not publish the chamber length for this barrel, so confirm it in the manual before buying 3 inch .410.

Two further points Bond makes in its own safety guidance: do not carry the gun cocked and locked, and check the barrel for obstructions before loading. On a break action with a 7 pound single action trigger, both are more than boilerplate.

Which of the two 250th derringers to buy

• The black Cerakote version puts gold filled engraving against a black barrel. It is the showier of the two and the more obviously commemorative.
• The Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless puts the same engraving into bright stainless. It is the more traditional look and the less expensive of the pair.
• Mechanically the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless and the black one are the same gun. Nothing about the finish changes the chambering, the trigger, the weight or the warranty.
• If the gun is going in a safe and coming out for visitors, the black one photographs better. If it is going to be carried and handled, the Rough finish will still look like itself in five years.

Who the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless suits

• Anyone who wants a 2026 commemorative that is a working firearm rather than a wall piece, at the lower of the two prices Bond charges for it.
• Buyers who prefer bright stainless with cut engraving to gold against black, which is a matter of taste and nothing else.
• Pocket, console and tackle box carry, where two substantial rounds and nothing to go wrong beats capacity.
• Existing Bond owners, because the frame accepts every Bond barrel and this one adds a commemorative barrel to whatever is already in the safe.
• Collectors building a semiquincentennial group, where a derringer is the most obviously keepsake-shaped thing in the category.

We are holding 167 of the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless alongside 193 of the black Cerakote version, which is 360 units of one commemorative between the two finishes. That is far deeper than this kind of run usually sits at a single dealer, so neither is a race.

What the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is for

Two rounds, no magazine, no slide, nothing to short stroke. That is the whole argument for the format, and it is a real one for a pocket or a glovebox gun where simplicity beats capacity. The Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is not a range gun: seven pounds of single action trigger and 25 ounces under .45 Colt make fifty rounds a chore rather than a pleasure.

The .410 barrel on the Bond Arms America 250th Rough Stainless is genuinely useful at snake distance and genuinely poor past a few yards, so it is worth being honest with yourself about which of the two chamberings you are buying the gun for. And because every Bond barrel fits every Bond frame, this one can become a .357, a 9mm or a .22 later without another transfer.

Specifications here come from the distributor record and from Bond Arms’ own America 250th page, which is also the source of the ammunition restrictions above. This is a serialized firearm and ships to a licensed dealer for transfer, and anniversary runs do not get reordered once the year is out.