Liberator - Very Cool Little Firearm

[jimsouth]

FP-45 LIBERATOR WWII …


http://www.gunauction.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=8997476

My father was in Burma - CBI during WW2 - with OSS 101 . Told me about this little gun. Many air dropped and distributed to natives who worked with Americans - British. I wish he had brought a few back. I believe the production price was like 2 bucks. Supposedly, the user only had that one shot - so ( in theory ) you had to make it count. I guess from a few feet or even rammed into someone's body - game over.

 

[Ash]

I held one a few years back, and it was priced way less than that. They are neat collectibles and were better than a knife or a stick. I'd have been leery of getting one were I in occupied France or some such place unless I was preparing to shoot a man and get his gun. Being found with a Liberator would mean you'd be shot on site. Needing to use one in an emergency would mean one shot only. Fine for one guy (okay, not so fine, but at least one guy one bullet), but miserably bad for two guys - or more.

So, they make a neat collectible, a part of history worth owning. I recently picked up one of the fake FEG FN High Powers because of the Cold War history. Were they made to fool Hussein or were they made to the fool the West? Who knows? They are neat to have in any case.

 

[jimsouth]

This too. Amazing what imagination can come up with:
The Sedgley OSS Glove Gun - Guns.com


http://www.guns.com/2012/07/09/sedgley-oss-glove-gun

The firearm has neither frame nor grip and is attached to the backhand side of a leather work ... In the current AFT C&R publication the “OSS Glove Pistol, ...
.

 

[jimsouth]

The original Gurkah Kukri my father brought back was one of the most formidable battle knives I have ever seen. All the weight concentrated at the cutting edge; so you didn't have to be a hulk to do serious damage. Still manufactured; but the one my dad brought home actually took heads off. Told me - Gurkahs were ( hands down ) the best jungle fighters on God's Green Earth. Pitch black night - dead quiet - and suddenly, a hand would be on your shoulder. Very unnerving - but infinitely more unnerving if you were Japanese. Gurkha C.WW2 Nepalese Military Kukri Knife


http://www.antiqueswordsonline.com/gurkha-c-ww2-nepalese-military-kukri-knife

 

[jimsouth]

I held one a few years back, and it was priced way less than that. They are neat collectibles and were better than a knife or a stick. I'd have been leery of getting one were I in occupied France or some such place unless I was preparing to shoot a man and get his gun. Being found with a Liberator would mean you'd be shot on site. Needing to use one in an emergency would mean one shot only. Fine for one guy (okay, not so fine, but at least one guy one bullet), but miserably bad for two guys - or more.

So, they make a neat collectible, a part of history worth owning. I recently picked up one of the fake FEG FN High Powers because of the Cold War history. Were they made to fool Hussein or were they made to the fool the West? Who knows? They are neat to have in any case.

You mention the "shot on site" thing about the Liberator. Not to get too far off track - My friend ( the Civil War expert ) - told me - and I have no reason to doubt him - if you were caught with a sharpened sword - saber, you could be shot on site. The sword being a stabbing sticking weapon, and not a hacking weapon - so it wasn't considered honorable to sharpen a sword's edge. Ever hear of that?

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Just so you all know, the link in the original post tried to infect my computer with something. My firewall caught it.

The link should be deleated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You guys may want to run your virus scanners too.

Supposedly, the user only had that one shot

Actually the gun came with, I believe, 2 or 3 spare rounds in the grip of the gun. It could be reloaded, but I imagine it was a slow and cumbersome process, and not practical in a fight situation.

Of course it didn't really matter because as stated above, it was designed to kill an enemy by surprise so the enemy could be relieved of their weapon.

 

[Ash]

I haven't heard of the "don't sharpen swords" bit, though I won't discount it. Cavalry swords by their design were made for slashing-attacks. The thrusting attack was more difficult to master and perform (though a more lethal blow) whereas the slashing attack was easier and quicker (and could be quite lethal). Curved blades made the slash more effective (and so required a sharpened blade, though not sharpened to the same degree as a knife). Indeed, most light cavalry, which were expected to more or less "mix it up" with the enemy, carried curved sabres while heavy cavalry, which were expected to perform the heavy charge, carried straight bladed swords and used them in thrusting attacks almost like lances. A light cavalry sabre and a heavy one often weighed about the same amount, they differed in blade design.

By the time of the Civil War (or War Between the States), cavalry sabres were just about useless - about like a handgun on a modern battlefield. I think there were a total of 3 confirmed fatalities during the whole war from such weapons. Saying that, the Crimean war just a decade before saw extensive use of swords. There were written reports of British Pattern 1824 sabre blows against Turks that were quite gruesome. While the 1824 was not all that great a sword - it was a compromise design - there were reports of troopers who clove Turkish foes' heads down the middle almost to the chin. That would have been a hacking, slashing-type blow, and having your head split down to the mustache was just as deadly as getting "run through." It may be that the Brits actually trained with their swords while the US and Confederate forces didn't.

However, most slashing attacks caused painful but often superficial wounds that could be cleaned up adequately to avoid infection while a thrusting wound would almost always become septic, so I could see that being desired or encouraged.

 

[Ron James]

The Liberator was one of those things that sounded good on paper but in real life didn't work out. There is absolutely no record of one ever being fired in anger. Most were dumped in the ocean still in their packaging, the OSS took a few but those also were never used. They were never air dropped to anyone. The same thing was tried in Vietnam with the same results.

 

[dogtown tom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-45_Liberator

 

[oldbear]

It was my understanding that the Liberator was designed to be used once; to kill an enemy and take his weapon. I have no idea of this was ever attempted.

 

[Ron James]

That was the ideal, but not a very good ideal. If a civilian was caught with one he was shot, and it is not a good ideal to try and sneak up on a German patrol just to shoot one from two feet away, ( no rifling, so it had no accuracy). We were air dropping regular arms on a nightly basic to the resistance. In the Pacific theater MacArthur would not even let them be unloaded, they were dumped over board up on arrival. There is no record ( that I am aware of ) of any of them ( even the ones for the OSS ) ever being fired in anger. The French resistance had American arms, French arms, British arms and German arms., they had no need for a single shot, unrifled short range wrist breaker.:banghead:

 

[torqem]

Such Guns

They should have come with a silencer, and a $500 reward for a Nazi's scalp and ID. Then a few guys might have risked using one, on a long, drunk Nazi in a bar someplace, or alone on the street.

 

[chris in va]

There's a new version out, darn thing costs $500.

 

[TennJed]

Local store has one. Price tag was turned around and they were busy, so I have no idea what the price was. It was interesting to see one in person

 

[CapnMac]

On swords,
I think that's turned around from the unofficial--if near-universal--grunt-level prohibition on sharpened bayonets. Other than the sword bayonets of Zouaves, Artillerymen, and Sappers (those needing the edges for emplacements and the like), the standard bayonet was a spike style. It had edges that could be sharpened, but to no good end. A bayonet charge was hellish enough, anyone wishing to make it more so was not really welcome among infantrymen.

On the Liberator,
I've always has a notion that those was one of those "secrets" that everybody (especially our enemies) was supposed to know all about. And, in a military occupation, possession of a weapon, any weapon, is likely shoot-on-sight territory.
But, the Occupation is much more complicated if you have to search for something the searchers have never seen before, is smaller than anything they've ever seen, and could be dangerous in ways they can imagine all too well.

As I remember it, the originals are legally sketchy for being smooth-bored. Which is why the modern replicas are rifled (and may explain the steep prices).

 

[dogtown tom]

CapnMac ....As I remember it, the originals are legally sketchy for being smooth-bored.

Not "sketchy" in the least........the OSS "Liberator" has been listed for decades as a firearm "removed from the NFA as a collectors item...". (See page 38 of the C&R List)

Which is why the modern replicas are rifled (and may explain the steep prices).

The modern versions are rifled because "replicas" are not C&R eligible.

 

[Bluelight]

The original FP-45 was made by the Guide Lamp Division of General Motors. The FP was a diversionary designation for "Flare Projector" in an attempt to hide the real project. It was shipped in a box with 10 rounds of 45ACP (5 could be stored in the grip), a comic strip type instruction sheet and a wooden dowel rod to 'extract" the spent cartridge. Supposedly not many made it to the front, and there are no records of one being used. Cost was a little more than $2. Reproductions now are a little more expensive.

 

[Jim K]

There were some one million "Liberator" pistols produced during WWII. There have been at least ten times that many myths, legends, stories, articles, pictures, and books produced since. And most of the stories and legends are untrue.

Jim

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

It's funny how many folk I've run across that have paid that obscene amount for the re-pops then start crying when they hear what I want for the right .45 (FA-42) for them. I stopped even bringing them in boxes to avoid the wailing and gnashing of teeth.