Liberator

as a side note..

The rolling/bouncing drum of explosive idea did work, in a smaller version, deropped by Lancasters. It was the secret weapon of the Dam Busters!

A new made Liberator? How quaint! Would have to be rifled barrel, wouldn't it?

Maybe they could make one in .45 Colt/.410, to compete with the Judge?:eek:
 
As I understand it, the new production Liberators are sold with no hole drilled for the firing pin. They are, IOW, non-firing replicas as they come from the manufacturer. No doubt, drilling out the firing pin hole and shooting the piece is something for which the manufacturer denies any responsibility or liability whatsoever. They do appear to be authentically shoddy, despite being very expensive. I doubt many of them will be sold, modified, or fired.
 
all good info already stated. as mentioned, it was a gun to get a better gun with. meant to be distributed to the resistance in occupied territories.
the replica liberators are fully function and have a rifled barrel. sheet steel and cast materials are all upgraded to current standards. price is $599 plush shipping.
the replicas are shipped in a waxed cardboard box, similar to the originals.
while original guns still come up for sale now and then, the original boxes are estimated to number less than 300, making the box worth more than the gun to collectors:eek:
 
I think the Liberator was to WWII what the Pedersen Device was to WWII, an ingenious solution to a serious problem but a Great Idea That Didn't Work. Looked great in theory, and in the hands of a trained operator it worked, but....It did incorprate modern ideas of low cost stamped construction.
I have heard of the Deer Gun. Basically an official version of a zip gun. (Never seen a picture of one) IIRC for Vietnam there was also a 4 barreled 20 guage shotgun developed for civilian use, the "RF-PFs"-Regional Forces-Popular Forces". Basically it was a point and shoot weapon for villagers to defend themselves with. 20 gauge chosen in defernce to the smaller stature of those peoples. Don't think it was widely issued if at all.
While we're on the subject of OSS/SOE "brainstorms", how about "Operation
Habbakuk" ? Using "Pykrete" ?
 
I was going to mention the Pedersen device but hesitated because so many folks think it was a great super invention that would have stopped WWI instantly. In fact, it would have gotten more thousands of Americans killed.

The idea (those ideas again!) was that the fast firing rifle would have caused the Germans to keep their heads down. No one realized that in order to make the enemy duck, he first has to know that he is being shot at. With the low velocity and almost silent PD (the crack is like that of a .22 rifle and would be totally lost in the normal battlefield noise), the Germans would have just sat behind their machineguns and mowed down the advancing Doughboys.

Jim
 
$599 for a repro Liberator? While it would be an interesting curio in my collection, I can think of lots and lots of more worthwhile things to spend $600 bucks on. Thanks, but no.
 
And they don't shoot! The maker says that he is selling the gun with the firing pin hole not drilled and it is up to the owner whether to fix it so it will fire. Sounds to me like a legal copout. If the gun blows or comes apart, the maker can blame it on the owner who modified the "display" gun so it would fire.

Jim
 
Also $599.00 for what is essentially a Government approved zip gun. It lloks like something you could build at home.
 
I remember the first time I saw one of the originals. For many years I read of these guns and their rarity. It was thought that almost all of them had been destroyed. The month after they were removed from NFA status, I saw two of them for sale at gun shows. I have seen a number more since then. I suspect there are a lot of goodies out there we don't see because family souvenirs and heirlooms are legally perceived as a threat to society.

gary
 
The original Liberator was removed from NFA status at least before 1968, when I was told I did not need to register mine under the amnesty. The repro never was an NFA firearm because the barrel is rifled, aside from its being sold in an unfireable condition.

Jim
 
"But thanks to Mike and Jim, we have 2 different versions of the history, both are true, as per their own opinions."

Actually, both versions are true depending on WHEN you look at the project.

As I noted, the original concept of blanketing the countryside with the things never made it past first base (or even out of the batter's box) because it was recognized to be wasteful and ineffective, i.e., History Phase 1.

That's when it was decided it would be better if the guns were supplied directly to resistance cells in either packaged air drops or via landed aircraft. That's History Phase 2.

Then, finally, the entire program was turned over to OSS, who had no clue that the guns existed, and who didn't know what to do with them. History Phase 3.
 
Oddly enough, and in spite of some comments, those guns were made by very sophisiticated machinery and could never have been made that way in any ordinary basement or home workshop. They involve heavy duty stamping and blanking machines, welding machines and spot welders, equipment hardly available to the makers of traditional "zip guns." In fact they probably could only have been made that way by a maker of automobile parts like (surprise!) Guide Lamp Division of General Motors.

Had they been used the origin would never have been in much doubt; they practically scream "Made in USA."

I also question the statement that the OSS "had no clue that the guns existed". While some individual OSS agents may not have known of the guns, and OSS was not the originator of the concept, there was an OSS rep on the Joint Psychological Warfare Committee that developed production plans and sources. So OSS did "have a clue" about the Liberators and gave the pistol that name.

Jim
 
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Everything I've ever read about the history of the Liberator has indicated in either direct, or indirect, terms that when the Liberators were officially turned over to OSS, Donovan and the rest of the high mucks in the organization A) didn't know to that point that they existed, and B) when they heard what they were originally conceived as, rolled their eyes and stuck them in storage.

I've no doubt that individuals in OSS knew that the gun/project existed, but given that it was primarily an Army conception, it's not at all surprising that the upper leadership of OSS didn't know about the program.

There were dozens, if hundreds (or more), of projects under way at any one time that had some form of OSS participation. It's pretty fanciful to think that every one of those projects would have been routinely briefed to OSS' upper leadership.

Given that the Liberator project officially kicked off in June 1942, or at exactly the same time that Donovan was thrust into the leadership position of a new organization that he had to get up and running in accordance with the plan that he presented to Roosevelt, I sort of thing he and his henchmen were busy with other things...

Once the Army showed up and said "Surprise, here's your 1 million weird assed guns," yeah, OSS leadership would notice.
 
There are currently 3 on gunbroker - one at $2000, one at $2250, and one at $3500. $2000 is about the average asking price, but I haven't seen one actually sell for that in quite some time, perhaps just the tough economic times we're in at the moment.
I still have the one I reported on in the link in the 2nd post. It's been a neat item to show off, but for the most part, it just sits in the safe and gathers dust.
 
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