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Guide Lamp Corp. (GM) FP-45 Liberator .45 Pistol Single-Shot Assassination Pistol
Guns International #: 101100704 Seller's Inventory #: 18-2653
Category: Military Pistols - Liberator - .45 ACP Pistols
Seller's Information
When emailing or calling sellers direct, please mention that you saw their listing on GunsInternational.com
Seller: Shooter's Supply, LLC.
Member Since: 3/16/16
First Name: Patrick
Last Name: Brown
State: Tennessee
Zip: 37343
Country: United States
Phone: (423) 875-4868
Number of Active Listings: 106
Total Number of Listings: 1272
Seller: FFL Dealer
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
We normally ship USPS Priority Mail which should be 2-day ship. Shipping is actual cost with a minimum of $30.00 for pistols and $50.00 for rifles/shotguns to ship to most of the 48 contiguous states. Shipping to Alaska may require an extra fee. Shipping insurance is available upon request for an extra fee. We cannot do international sales. As of November 2019, we no longer ship guns to California and Hawaii.
Payment Types Accepted: Visa, Master Card, American Express, USPS Money Order. NO CREDIT CARD FEES!!!
About Us: We are a small family owned business located in Hixson, Tennessee. Do you have firearms at home collecting dust? We have a lively consignment business. Our fee is 20% with a $50 minimum. Firearms are consigned for a an average period of 180 days but the length of period is negotiable. We also do handgun carry permit classes for the state of Tennessee. We have a nice indoor shooting range with reasonable rates. Please check us out at shooterssupply.
Description:
The Liberator Pistol is proof that the Soviets, Germans, and the Japanese were not the only ones willing to resort to mass production of cheap, easy to produce, and potentially dangerous weapons for use in a major conflict. The FP-45 was produced by the Guide Lamp Corporation a division of General Motors. The Army designated the gun Flare Projector Caliber .45, hence the designation FP-45. This was done to disguise the fact that a pistol was being mass produced. It used just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts – very easy to manufacture and produce in a short period of time. The Liberator was intended to be used by resistance or guerilla fighters to quickly dispatch an enemy guard or watchman at point blank and pick up their weapon for the freedom fighters own use. There were a couple of fatal flaws in the intended use of the Liberator, however. The gun having been chambered in the .45, which while very powerful, was not easy to find ammunition for. In Europe for example, the .45 ACP was not very common there given the European preference for 9mm Parabellum/Luger, 380 ACP (9mm Kurz), .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning), and .25 Auto (6.35mm Browning). Fortunately, to offset this, the pistols were normally shipped with 10 rounds of ammo. Another, more important issue was that, to save time and cost, the barrel had no rifling. As such, the pistol was only useful at a distance of 1-4 yards. It might not always be possible to get right up against the intended target’s back. Whether it was this or the pistol’s cheap construction, both Eisenhower and MacArthur were reluctant to have these pistols dropped in their respective theaters. Even so, over 1,000,000 FP-45 pistols were produced, with half each going to Europe and the Pacific. However, Eisenhower and his staff, seeing little practicality in the pistol only authorized the distribution of around 25,000 of the Liberator to the French resistance. The Army eventually turned over 450,000 pistols to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), but even they preferred to supply resistance fighters in both theaters with better, self-loading weapons. Nevertheless, the Free French made use of the Liberator against the Germans though no records were kept of their effectiveness. The Liberator shown here is in good condition considering the construction and age. These pistols are few and far between as the majority of the pistols were never returned to the US, many nations preferring to melt them down for the steel. This pistol is a very rare piece of history and should be kept in mind for those who collect World War II firearms.
SOLD
Manufacturer: Guide Lamp Corp., a Division of General Motors
Model: FP-45
Serial Number: NSN
Caliber Info: .45 ACP aka .45 Auto
Condition: Used - WWII
Barrels: 4 inches (102mm)
Barrel Type: Smoothbore
Action: Single Shot
Finish: None
Weight: 1 lb.
Sights: Iron