Booth's Gun Questions

[Wesley Harris]

How loud would the sound of the derringer being fired be compared to a colt revolver?

The factors that come into play in the loudness of today's firearm--caliber, barrel length, size of the cartridge (as opposed to caliber; for example, there are "short" .22 cartridges and "long" .22 cartridges.

For the two Civil War era weapons you described, sound would be about the same. Both would be loaded by hand and usually there was no attempt to accurately measure the powder but just "eyeball" it. For both pistols, it would depend on how much gunpowder was used. The barrel lengths are too close to make much difference.