The Garrucha is a small pistol, similar to a Derringer

Derringer

The term derringer is a genericized misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19th-century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became...

, common in southern Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 in the early 20th Century. It is usually double-barreled, though with the barrels side-by-side rather than vertical as is common in American derringers, and the bores can be rifled or smooth.

In Brazil, the most popular chamberings were for the .320 and .380 centrefire cartridges, similar to the .32 S&W

.32 S&W

The .32 S&W cartridge was introduced in 1878 for the Smith & Wesson model 1½ revolver. It was originally designed as a black powder cartridge.The .32 S&W was offered to the public as a light, defense cartridge, for "card table" distances....

 and .38 S&W

.38 S&W

The .38 S&W is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877. Though similar in name, it is not interchangeable with the later .38 Smith and Wesson Special due to a different case shape and slightly larger bullet diameter....

 in appearance, but conical. They were also chambered for the .22 Short

.22 Short

.22 Short is a variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition. Developed in 1857 for the first Smith and Wesson revolver, the .22 rimfire was the first American metallic cartridge....

, .22 Long

.22 Long

.22 Long is a variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition. The .22 Long is the second oldest of the surviving rimfire cartridges, dating back to 1871, when it was loaded with a 29 grain bullet and 5 grains of black powder, 25% more than the .22 Short it was based on...

, .22 Long Rifle

.22 Long Rifle

The .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge is a long established variety of ammunition, and in terms of units sold is still by far the most common in the world today. The cartridge is often referred to simply as .22 LR and various rifles, pistols, revolvers, and even some smoothbore shotguns have...

, and the .32, 8mm, and 9mm Flobert cartridges, among others.

These types of pistols were popular from 1730-1960 due to their low cost and small size, and were associated with the Gaucho

Gaucho

Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...

s (cowboys) of the South American pampa

Pampa

The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...

s.

In Brazil, Garruchas were produced by Castelo, Rossi

Rossi

Rossi is an Italian surname, said to be the most common surname in Italy. Due to Italian emigration, it is also very common in other countries, including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and France. Rossi is the plural of Rosso although it is argued the surname derives from...

, and Lerap.