Why Isn’t Someone Making the ASP Pistols?

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Nalapombu

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Hey all.

I remember many, many years ago seeing articles and pics in the gun rags about S&W semi autos that were customized to create what was called the ASP pistol. I forget what ASP stood for, but the pistol looked great.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t the ASP created for undercover agents and others from alphabet agencies? I think they started out as stock model 39 pistols and went from there.

If you’ve never heard of them, search Google and check them out. I don’t have any pics or I’d post them.
Also, there were 2 sizes of the ASP wasn’t there? I thought one was based on the m39 and the other was off of the m59.

They were cool pistols, I think. I would’ve bet that some gunsmith that wanted a new challenge would take up the challenge and create his version of the ASP. I guess no one wants to try it.

I know if there are companies that can get $2,000 on a tricked out Glock 19, there has got to be a market for a modern version of the ASP pistols. All these S&W fans would LOVE to have one once they seen them. Maybe it’s my wishful thinking.

Oh well....we still allowed to dream about Guns aren’t we?

Thanks for indulging me.
Have a good one.
Larry
 
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There are several informative threads about the Devel and ASP variants of the Model 39 here on the Forum.

There was a gun writer who had a Shield customized in an attempt to make a modern version. I read the article a couple years ago and you could probably Google Shield ASP conversion and find it. I think the gunsmiths are no longer in business that did the work but the article detailed what he had done. If memory serves me I think it was a company out of AZ that did custom refinishing also.

The Sig 365 has a model that uses the gutter snipe sights like the ASP had.

And as mentioned there are plenty of options available today that grew from the originals so the customized touches come standard
 
Paris Theodore originally owned Armament Systems and Procedures. It’s said that it took over 200 machining operations to turn a model 39 into an ASP.

As lawandorder mentioned, it was the first truly compact 9mm and was revolutionary at the time. Todays market is flooded with 9mm pistols that are the same size or smaller.

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Of course the ASP was built on a metal (aluminum) frame... if you’re looking for small and light, you can get Combat Tupperware in smaller and lighter configurations. Add to this how much cheaper it is to produce, and the “Plastic Fantastics” have lots of advantages over the finest ASP or other miniaturized 1st-3rd Gen S&Ws, whether factory or custom. Of course they have no soul, but that’s not their function.

JMHO, YMMV! ;)

Froggie
 
As others have already said, there are no shortage of otherwise inexpensive subcompact 9mm pistols on the market these days.
Furthermore, (and grab hold of something as I'm about to speak profanely here...) the M&P Shield is logically a superior alternative for any of Smith & Wesson's previously manufactured pistols, including expensive custom jobs like the ASP. Yeah, older all metal pistols are aesthetically superior, but any superiority of older designs abruptly ends there. Yes, you can still just as easily carry one of the Shield's predecessors such as the CS9, and more power to you if you do, but they're long out of production, no longer supported by Smith & Wesson, and in the unfortunate event in which one should have to use one in self-defense, it will be confiscated by the police pending an investigation, will most likely have a case number crudely etched into the slide, then left in an evidence locker until everything has been sorted out.
Now I know that the common defensive reaction to such a statement is that it's totally worth it to lose an otherwise discontinued high quality firearm in exchange for your safety, but again, there's no tangible advantage to carrying such a thing over an otherwise easily replaceable M&P Shield, and you can spare yourself the tremendous effort of attempting to convince yourself that it was totally worth the loss.

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M&P40 Shield 1.0 Performance Center -- Improved Trigger, Tritium Night Sights, Ported Barrel, chambered in .40 S&W. Just purchased this in January, only cost me $380 OTD.
 
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So well recall seeing the new-that-month gun mags with the sexy images of the cutting edge ASP and Devel's on the covers - and enjoying reading the articles on their development.
They were pretty far outta my budget, being a young cop.

Still pocket-carry my first 'tiny 9' from when there were very few choices on the market - a Kahr PM9. After the break-in period, it ran everything I could find to put through it. Even with all the plenitude of other subcompacts out there now - just haven't had a good reason to dump it for one of the new whiz-bang models.

The ASP's and Devels were an important step in the development of down-sized 9mm's and they came along just as many states were adopting lawful CC. Great history.
 
We had a S&W ASP come to the gun shop I was working in back in the early ‘80’s for consignment sale. It was interesting design but we never had anyone show any interest in it. It was expensive and ahead of it’s time. Concealed Carry was illegal by civilians and too expensive as a off-duty gun for Cops.
 
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grcoffman104 said:
Grab you a CS9.
As close to an asp as one can reasonably get.
Click to expand...

A fellow Officer carried an ASP back in the 80's and I had the chance to shoot it several times. I'm a fan of carefully customized working guns and the ASP surely is one. However, IMHO the CS9 or 3913 is a comparable weapon at a fraction of the cost. The same goes for a large majority of the new compact handguns.
 
A revolver story, but there’s a connection; there was so much interest in my Project 616 (a custom 327 Fed Mag.) I thought about making more of them, so I checked to see what it would take to find a good supply of Models 66 (ND or -1) and the already discontinued Model 617 ND or -1 cylinders and 617 barrels to be rebored. The possibility of getting even a startup supply of a half dozen of each, not to mention a continuing supply, was not very promising.

In the case of an ASP or Devel clone project, one could probably find a bunch of beat up Model 39-2s as donors fairly easily (they’d be refinished anyway) but then the added cost of mags to cut down would be staggering and the supply would likely be anything but dependable. Then again, even less-than-prime examples of 39s are becoming harder to find and more expensive.

The only way I would now consider building a run of semi-custom guns would be to start from a currently produced model so I had a steady supply of donor guns. YMMV.

Froggie
 
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Paris Theodore - Wikipedia

Great thread about a very interesting gun and man.

"One of ASP’s first products was a Theodore-designed handgun bearing the name of the company. The ASP, based on the Smith & Wesson Model 39 semi-automatic pistol, featured many innovations: “clear grips”—which enabled the user to see the number of unfired rounds remaining; the “guttersnipe”—a gun sight designed for close range combat; and a “forefinger grip”—today a standard feature on the trigger guard of many modern handguns. Theodore’s ASP was the first successful service caliber handgun in pocket pistol size. Its arrival inspired a cottage industry of gunsmiths producing unauthorized versions of the weapon, in addition to the authorized factory version from Theodore's ASP Inc."

"In 1970, the ASP was featured in The Handgun, by Glaswegian gun expert Geoffrey Boothroyd. Boothroyd, the inspiration for “Q,” the technologically inventive character who outfitted James Bond with his lifesaving gadgets, would, in turn, later inspire Ian Fleming’s successor, John Gardner, to replace Bond’s renowned Walther PPK as 007’s weapon of choice. Beginning with 1984’s Role of Honor, the ASP would go on to be featured in 11 James Bond novels. James Bond expert James McMahon would later write: “If Bond were a gun, he'd be the ASP. Dark, deadly, perfectly suited to his mission.”

From back in the day when guns were tools and functional art.

I don't have any plastic guns I know they are dependable, fast, high capacity, reasonable priced, easy to replace and combat effective.

That a'int me.. lol

And they got no soul
 
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Forte Smitten Wesson said:
As others have already said, there are no shortage of otherwise inexpensive subcompact 9mm pistols on the market these days.
Furthermore, (and grab hold of something as I'm about to speak profanely here...) the M&P Shield is logically a superior alternative for any of Smith & Wesson's previously manufactured pistols, including expensive custom jobs like the ASP. Yeah, older all metal pistols are aesthetically superior, but any superiority of older designs abruptly ends there. Yes, you can still just as easily carry one of the Shield's predecessors such as the CS9, and more power to you if you do, but they're long out of production, no longer supported by Smith & Wesson, and in the unfortunate event in which one should have to use one in self-defense, it will be confiscated by the police pending an investigation, will most likely have a case number crudely etched into the slide, then left in an evidence locker until everything has been sorted out.
Now I know that the common defensive reaction to such a statement is that it's totally worth it to lose an otherwise discontinued high quality firearm in exchange for your safety, but again, there's no tangible advantage to carrying such a thing over an otherwise easily replaceable M&P Shield, and you can spare yourself the tremendous effort of attempting to convince yourself that it was totally worth the loss.
Click to expand...

This. I tried a 469 when they were first introduced, which was an attempt at a 59 based production competitor to the ASP. Didn't work for me on several levels, including weight and I went back to a standard 39-2. My Shield has the capacity of the 39, a similar feel, feeds everything without 'smithing (which the 39 did not) fits well in a front pocket and conceals as well as the 39 IWB (maybe better) and is lighter. Lighter matters more after 18 or so hours than it does at the start. To me it isn't about the gun's "soul" it's about my hide. Shield works, ASP unnecessary.
 
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