Product Details
A RARE .32 (ACP) 'WELROD' FULLY-MODERATED CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS PISTOL, serial no. 6989,
probably late war production circa 1945, with concealed fully-moderated 8 1/2in. barrel, blade fore-sight, notch rear-sight, twist-to-open receiver with knurled cocking piece to rear, detachable magazine with integral smooth hard-rubber grip and exposed trigger
Provenance: The Welrod pistol got its unusual name from the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later renamed Station IX) and was derived from the first three letters of Welwyn Garden City (the town where Station IX was based) and the word "rod", which at the time was a gangland slang name for a gun. All items designed by the workshop had the prefix 'wel', and they were also responsible for the collapsible 'Welbike' for the paratroops and the 'Welman' mini submarine for the Navy. The Welrod pistol is a completely 'sanitised' weapon in that no markings can be found on it when manufactured, although many were later numbered and marked for inventory purposes. BSA of Birmingham made the majority but it is not impossible that other manufacturers may have produced some. Produced initially in .32 ACP (later in 9mm Parabellum), the pistol is fully suppressed (silenced) and operated by a bolt, making it almost completely silent in operation. The magazine also forms the handle, and when removed the whole thing looks quite innocuous, certainly nothing like a pistol. Indeed, the Maquis nick-named it 'the bicycle pump' as that is what they thought it resembled. The secret to its completely quiet operation lays in the fact that the integral silencer used sacrificial rubber baffles which stayed good for around 20-40 shots, after which time the bullets passing through them had made a hole large enough to let the gasses escape unchecked. When fired for the first time, the only noise made is that of the firing pin dropping. An idea was to drop thousands of these to resistance groups all over the occupied countries for the purpose of 'taking out' high ranking SS and Gestapo officers in a one month period of mass executions, but in the end this idea was shelved, probably because of the reprisals taken after the assassination of the Deputy Reich Protector, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia. Instead, the Welrod was used for small assassination operations. Post war its 9mm version continued to be used throughout the Cold War with some finding their way later to Northern Ireland and even the Falkland Islands
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Estimate £3,000-5,000
S5 - Sold as a Section 5 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act, Section 7.3 Eligible.
Unless prior arrangement has been made, two weeks after the Sealed bid sale, all Section 5 (and Section 7.1 / 7.3) items will be moved to a Section 5 carriers where storage charges will be incurred.
Goods will not be released until all outstanding charges have been met. Collection will be by arrangement.