Originally Posted by kwill1911

You may have tongue in cheek but just in case...

This is a common belief but I've searched for years to find any shred of documentary evidence for such a practice to no avail. I've interviewed Special Forces personnel and they deny having unmarked small arms. Roy Jinks has flatly denied that S&W would agree to such a practice. Documented covert missions, e.g. Gary Powers flight in the U-2, involved a High Standard silenced pistol with all the usual markings. In fact all of the HDMS pistols known have complete markings including U.S. PROPERTY. The so called "Hush Puppy" pistols based on Model 39-2 platforms have markings. Colt PHA pistols used by the OSS and CIA have markings. At best, Special Forces have been known to use Walthers, Browning HPs and AKs that were not marked "U.S." but primarily because they wanted those calibers or platforms for other reasons.

I would welcome any hard evidence that covert operators have ever used "sterile" weaponry, i.e. no markings. I'm still open to the possibility but the usual "proof" is along the lines of "my sister's second cousin's 3rd husband was a secret squirrel and swore that he used an unmarked S&W with bullets filled with disappearing ink."