The M1942 FP-45 “Liberator”
It may be unfair to include this among the 20th century’s worst military pistols, as it was really more of an expedient tool used to obtain an actual weapon. Nevertheless, this cheap ($2.50) and dirty assassination weapon is still a pistol, and though it left behind little record of its use, one feels for those who employed any of the million manufactured.
At least 1 million FP-45 Liberators were made as expedient firearms for resistance fighters during World War II, though many fewer than that were delivered, and even fewer employed. NRA National Museum of Firearms photo
Said evildoer would then receive a .45 slug in the brainpan and be dead before his ears stopped ringing, after which the resistance fighter would pick up his newly departed enemy’s much better weapon and ammunition and head for the hills.
At five and a half inches overall, with a four-inch smoothbore barrel and weighing only a pound, the FP-45 fired the formidable .45 ACP cartridge. Recoil must have been considerable, and it could hardly have been accurate beyond a few yards. But then its intended use was at close range against an unsuspecting enemy who might assume the user was unarmed, and thus lulled into complacency, perhaps checking his papers or searching his picnic basket, or for that matter using the latrine. Said evildoer would then receive a .45 slug in the brainpan and be dead before his ears stopped ringing, after which the resistance fighter would pick up his newly departed enemy’s much better weapon and ammunition and head for the hills.
The Liberator was simple in the extreme, manufactured almost entirely of steel stampings. The breech block swung out to the side, the loading gate opened, a round inserted, loading gate closed, breech block swung back into place, and the pistol was ready to fire. NRA National Museum of Firearms photo
Although the OSS obtained 100,000 of the weapons after Eisenhower rejected them for the European theater, there is little if any record of their use in Europe. More were apparently used in the Pacific. While extra rounds were stored in the butt of the pistol, it was single shot only, with a loading gate doubling as the rear sight locking the round in place, and a rotating bolt with firing pin then aligned in place behind the loading gate.
Included in the waxed box, intended to be delivered or dropped to resistance groups, were the weapon, comic strip instructions for its use, extra .45 ACP ammunition, and a wooden dowel, so that after firing, the empty cartridge could be ejected by poking the dowel down the barrel. I kid you not. Firing the weapon beyond a dozen rounds was reportedly unwise, as it would start to come apart under the stress.
The comic strip instructions supplied with each Liberator pistol were were effective regardless of language or literacy.
To be fair, firing the Liberator just once, successfully, would achieve the goal of the weapon, which could then be passed on to the next brave resistance fighter, hopefully one who was steady of hand and fleet of foot.
FP-45 Liberator
Type: Single-shot pistol
Operating System: Single shot
Weight: 1 pound
Length: 5.55 inches
Barrel length: 4 inches
Cartridge: .45 ACP
Muzzle velocity: 820 fps
Magazine: None; extra rounds stored in butt