For those of us who missed out on having the OSS drop one of those neat little .45 ACP single shot pistols in our backyard during WWII, we are getting a second chance! Vintage Ordnance is producing a replica of the of the original "Liberator" pistol that was manufactured by GM and intended to be dropped to resistance fighters in occupied Europe. The replica is a mere $599.50, up slightly from the $1.50 production price of the original.

www.VintageOrdnance.com FP-45 Liberator Pistol Reproduction

I always wanted to get one of these and have it converted to a bullseye gun. Do you think Herrett will make some grips for it?

All joking aside, this is probably the rarest of all American made WWII firearms, so they will sell a few to collectors that "have to have one" to complete their collection of period items.

However, it isn't practical for anything...maybe a paperweight.

__________________
Lost it all in a boat accident

To have an original for a collection is alright..But a replica for $599.50 that's good for nothing.No Thanks

Ken

I saw an original for sale in Denver last year at a tiny gun shop on East Colfax. I thought the $500 was too much for a sheet metal single shot. Oops, live and learn!

That thing looks like the original to me!

Thanks for posting... you never know when you might find the real deal or the imposter. You just know these repro's are going to make the circuit.

__________________
Linda
SWCA #1965, SWHF #245

I had a friend back in the late 70's that bought one at a garage sale, for 50 cents, he brought it to me, and ask what it was, he said it was cheap so he bought it, he was in shock when I told him what it was, he sold it at a gun show for $ 150.00 //// wish I would have offered him $ 1.00 and let him double his money

It has one advantage. It's not made out of plastic. Larry

Well, it does function and shoot.
Just not very well.

__________________
Lost it all in a boat accident

If you use it to take another guy's gun that is worth over 600 bucks, then it is worth it.

__________________
Thirty characters. Exactly...

Just to ask, is there any evidence or stories of instances that the Liberator was used as intended in WWII?

__________________
Lost it all in a boat accident

$560! I know that's 1/4 the price of an original, but come on. It probably costs less than $100 to make.

The FP-45 was a crude, single-shot pistol designed to be cheaply and quickly mass produced. The Liberator had just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts that were cheap and easy to manufacture. It fired a .45 caliber pistol cartridge from an unrifled barrel. Due to the unrifled barrel, maximum effective range was only about 25 feet (less than 8 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble and stray off course. Because of the low quality, it was nicknamed the "Woolworth gun."
The Liberator was shipped in a cardboard box with 10 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition, a wooden dowel to remove the empty cartridge case, and an instruction sheet in comic strip form[1] showing how to load and fire the weapon. Extra rounds of ammunition could be stored in the pistol grip.
After production, the Army turned the Liberators over to the OSS. A crude and clumsy weapon, the Liberator was never intended for front line service. It was originally intended as an insurgency weapon to be mass dropped behind enemy lines to resistance fighters in occupied territory. A resistance fighter was to recover the weapon, sneak up on an Axis occupier, kill or incapacitate him, and retrieve his weapons.
The weapon was valued as much for its psychological warfare effect as its actual field performance. It was believed that if vast quantities of these weapons could be delivered into Axis occupied territory, it would have a devastating effect on the morale of occupying troops. The plan was to drop the weapon in such great quantities that occupying forces could never capture or recover all the weapons. It was hoped that the thought of thousands of these unrecovered weapons potentially in the hands of the citizens of occupied countries would have a deleterious effect on enemy morale.
In reality, the OSS never saw the practicality in mass dropping the Liberator over occupied Europe, and only a handful were ever distributed. Only the Chinese and resistance forces in the Philippines received the Liberator in any significant quantity. The Liberator was never issued to American or Allied troops and there is no documented instance of the weapon being used for their intended purpose.
The original delivered cost for the FP-45 was $2.40/unit[1] ($32 in 2010). A Liberator in good condition today can fetch approximately $1200, with the original box bringing an additional $500, with an original extremely rare paper instruction sheet the value could exceed $2000 to a collector of rare World War II militaria. Fakes of these sheets exist, but authentic copies have a watermark that can be seen clearly, which is difficult to duplicate.


Ken

So it's going to be a repro of the original huh???

I wonder if they are going to have serial numbers?

The originals did not, but I don't think there is any way to produce and sell them now without one.

Maybe Government Motors can pull out of it's deathspin by beginning production of them again at their Guide headlight division? At that price vs. production costs, the company would be solvent in 60-90 days! Now who do we find to air drop them to us, who are now behind enemy lines?

They cannot be an exact copy. IIRC the originals were smooth bored. Apparently creating a rifled barrel is adding $300 to the suggested retail price of the pistol.

Well, if you think the bargain basement price of $599.50 for the gun is too high, you can still get a reproduction of the original box and instructions for a mere $100! Now that is a bargain if I have ever heard of one and it doesn't even have S&W stamped on it anywhere.

Wonder how to go about mounting a laser sight on it.

__________________
A closed mouth gathers no foot

I, like many other folks, I imagine, wouldn't mind having an original Liberator for their collection, but for the life of me cannot understand why anyone would want a repop.

AND replicates the original function!

That's another example of too much for something that nobody really needs or wants.

__________________
G.P. Charlie

So what did it look like before it was dropped from a plane?

collectors firearms has 5 originals going for between 2600 & 3300. but i dont see myself getting the reproduction anytime soon

__________________
Member SWCA, SWHF, CCA, WACA

Since you can't get original BoMar sights anymore it would be futile to convert one into a bullseye gun. Sorry.

__________________
Lynnie, Professional Pest

I wonder how long it will be before one of the custom gunsmith shops will offer a $1,000 tune up package and trigger job on these?

__________________
You're shy a few manners.

Here's a pic I took of one a couple of years ago...it was among a collection of 50 or so guns that were for sale.

I really wish I had gotten it but someone else beat me to it. But at least I got to play with it a little bit.

You can't buy 'em all!

__________________
Linda
SWCA #1965, SWHF #245

15years or so ago, one could still get originals for 500 dollars. I passed at that price. Oh, it'd be worth more now most certainly, but I didn't see the point in spending money on something that I could make the same basic thing out of five dollars worth of water pipe and misc parts.

I have one of the originals, in pretty good shape. i fired it a couple of times (not a good idea, those over 50 year old welds sometimes come unwelded). I shot target loads: 180 gr wadcutter bullet and 3.5 grs of Bullseye. The recoil was almost unmanagable. The pistol is so light the recoil mounts up fast. I don't know if I could hang onto one of those fired with hardball. I pity the people who had to test every occasional gun with a full box of 50 hardball rounds. Don't buy one of the repros for a shooter!

I fired mine three times with hardball. The recoil was a bit hard, but I suspect with adrenalin running high while you were in the process of killing an enemy with it, you wouldn't feel it. All bullets keyholed through the target at a range of about five yards and accuracy was nil. I don't think I'd have a prayer of connecting with anything smaller than a barn door at over 10 yards.

I wonder if the repros can get away with being smoothbore, inasmuch as they are near exact replicas of the originals. I also wonder how they are going to be marked to prevent alteration and artificial ageing in the future in order to palm them off as valuable artifacts.

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I just picked up one and I can say WOW. Nice Job! Beautiful work and the box and instructions will add to my WWII collection. Heck, I will shoot it......have to!

Replicas don't bother me. I own several origonals and repros. Garands, thompson, .45. It's all good. I could never afford to pay 4K for a liberator, but i have a knockoff for a fraction of that.

There is no way it can be pawned off as a relic. The company that made it made sure of that.

The box, rod and papers are a big plus for a guy that owns a real one. .45 collectors will echo that!

Just my 2 cents.

Jon

Now that made me laugh !!! Best comment yet.

Barb, I enjoy your quick wit.

Don

__________________
Laus Deo! <><

from the company website

WE STRONGLY ADVISE CUSTOMERS NOT TO FIRE THE PISTOL

600 and i cant shoot it ? whats up that?
an original would be cool but not $2500 cool.

but then if i was in occupied France circa 1943, one shot to an enemy soldier in the head, i spose a 2 inch unrifled barrle woudl be ok at 1 foot or so.

Not only does it say 'don't fire it', it also says the Firing pin hole isn't drilled thru.

__________________
Pete.

are there any hi-cap mags available?

GatorFarmer is right, why spend that sort of money on something that looks like a basement special?

I knew a man in Alexandria, VA back in the '80's who said he was either 'the" or "a" designer of that little gun. His name was Russ Moure and he worked with Interarms when I knew him. A gentleman in every respect. He had one in his desk that he said was a prototype and I was impressed with his story. He claimed that several designs were offered to the military but the Liberator was the cheapest and most efficient. It was designed as a one-shot and toss piece and air dropped for partisans to execute German soldiers and traitors. Very sadly, Russ was killed during a snowstorm in VA. It seems he got out of his pickup to clear the snow from his windshield and got hit by a passing car. I never checked his story but never had any reason to. Add: I've checked Mr. Moure out and indeed he was the designer.

__________________
Term limits!

The original had a smooth bore barrel, no markings, and no serial number. Due to current Federal law, the reproduction will need a rifled barrel, a serial number, and maker's name. Anyone who fakes an original is looking for hard time in a Federal prison.

My understanding was the Liberator-with its pictures only instruction sheet-was to be air dropped to partisans, etc., so they could kill enemy soldiers and take THEIR weapons.

Here's an article I wrote which appeared in the March, 2009 issue of Dillon's Blue Press catalog/magazine. It gives a capsule summary of the circumstances surrounding the Liberator pistol.



This article is copyrighted to Dillon Precision. A clearer depiction of the article can be found online here. and can be printed out. Go to page 40:

http://www.bridleandbit.net/ebooks/b...files/main.swf

Here's a better picture of the original Liberator I own, which I bought about 30 years ago when they were semi-affordable:



I noted in the most recent issue of the American Rifleman that original Liberators are now valued at about $2,500 each. That makes the reproductions much more affordable in the 500 to 600 dollar range. Very interesting for guns that should really not be shot today, either old or new.

John

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Here's a dilemma. Get a Liberator, a Jennings or a Sccy?

Can you shoot +P in it ????

Not too sure that I'd want to shoot even "bunny fart" loads in it. Recoil on standard hardball loads must be something in such a light weight pistol.

__________________
A closed mouth gathers no foot

Does the repo have IL and mim parts?

Winnah!


Bullseye

__________________
Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

$599.00 is an awful lot to pay for what is essentially a Government approved zip gun. It almost looks like something you could fabricate yourself.

....you know the 10mm guys will be looking for an upgrade!

__________________
Dum vivimus Vivamas

Once.














add 5 more characters

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

At least it doesn't have a lock.

This is an interesting development for California, in as much as a CA law deems any homebuilt gun that is not a copy of a commercially-sold (and taxed) gun to be an illegal zipgun.

...now home copies of the Liberator can legally be built in CA, with rifling...
.

**************************************************

I would be interested to see that Ca. DOJ decision about this topic.

Please send me a pm or post it on Calguns.net , Gun Smithing forum.

My uncle had one off them and back in the late 50s he told me it was a "government .45" and let let me fire it. I was a 13 yr old farm kid and thought it was the kind of gun John Wayne always carried. I didn't look like what I was thinking of but I fired it.

Man 'o man! I'm not really clear on when it left my hand, but I remember my uncle picking it up somewhere behind me and laughing. Anyway, I don't know what happened to it.

I'll add that I think it's a shame that the repo is $600 dollars. I'd buy one for maybe $250 but I don't think too many are going to leave the shelves at the $600 price.