Marston Three-Barrel Derringer
- Category
- Pistol
- Barrel
- 79 mm
- Weight, empty
- Not recorded
- Introduced
- 1858
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer is a single-action pocket pistol designed and built by William W. Marston of New York City beginning in the late 1850s. It uses three superposed (vertically stacked) fixed barrels fired in sequence by a ratcheting firing-pin selector mounted on the hammer, and the .22 rimfire versions characteristically carried a sliding knife blade alongside the barrels. An improved .32 rimfire model with a cartridge extractor was introduced from 1864.
Marston held at least six firearms patents and worked from 1844 until his death in 1872; the sliding knife blade made his little three-barrel pistol a true last-ditch defensive tool.
Marketed in two principal models: a .22 rimfire version (~1,500 made, most with a sliding knife blade) and an improved .32 rimfire extractor model (~3,300 made). Marked 'WM. W. MARSTON / PATENTED / MAY 26, 1857 / NEW YORK CITY'.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- W.W. Marston
- Category
- Pistol
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1858 to 1872
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 79 mm
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Single action
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 320 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 96 J
- Effective range
- 5 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Three superposed barrels
Ratcheting firing pin selector
Tip down break action- Sliding knife blade
Pocket pistol
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel lengthAmong 26 22-short pistols | 79 mm | 111 mm | Shorter than about 70% |
Answers
Questions about the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer
What caliber is the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer?
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer is chambered in .22 Short and .32 Short Rimfire.
How long is the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer?
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer has a 79 mm (3.11 in) barrel.
Who makes the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer?
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer is made by W.W. Marston (United States). It was designed by William W. Marston.
When was the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer introduced?
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer was introduced in 1858 and discontinued in 1872.
How does the Marston Three-Barrel Derringer operate?
The Marston Three-Barrel Derringer uses a single action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
Provenance
Confidence in this record
74%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/marston-pistol' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "marston-pistol", "name": "Marston Three-Barrel Derringer", "manufacturer": { "id": "marston", "name": "W.W. Marston", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1844, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "3087d910ebbcefc4d47ec3788effa335aa094955e1376f2a2090e68cdc31ff32" }, "category": { "id": "pistol", "name": "Pistol", "description": "Handguns designed to be fired with one or two hands" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1858, "barrel_length_mm": 79, "weight_empty_g": null, "action_type": "single_action"}