ASP Pistol
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The ASP is a custom-made
pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...
designed and built by
Paris Theodore Paris Theodore (January 9, 1943 – November 16, 2006) was an American inventor of Holster, gun holsters, firearms and shooting techniques, which were used by government agencies and police departments in the U.S. and abroad, as well as by the fi ...
(owner of Seventrees, Ltd., a custom gun leather shop in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
) from the early 1970s to 1987. The ASP was based on the
Smith & Wesson Model 39 The Smith & Wesson Model 39 is a semiautomatic pistol developed for the United States Army service pistol trials of 1954. After the Army abandoned its search for a new pistol, the Model 39 went on the civilian market in 1955 and was the first of ...
pistol. The ASP featured clear
Lexan Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily wor ...
grips allowing the shooter to see how much ammunition is left, a rounded
hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...
, hooked trigger guard, and no front sight. The ASP was responsible for later innovations made in the development of concealable handguns.


Design

The ASP was a reworked
Smith & Wesson Model 39 The Smith & Wesson Model 39 is a semiautomatic pistol developed for the United States Army service pistol trials of 1954. After the Army abandoned its search for a new pistol, the Model 39 went on the civilian market in 1955 and was the first of ...
or 39-2, employing a shortened
slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glee ...
, a fixed bushing (in lieu of the Smith & Wesson designed
collet A collet is a segmented sleeve, band or ''collar''. One of the two radial surfaces of a collet is usually tapered (i.e a truncated cone) and the other is cylindrical. The term ''collet'' commonly refers to a type of chuck that uses collets ...
bushing); the unique Guttersnipe sight system, clear
Lexan Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily wor ...
grip-panels, a fully ramped and throated shortened
barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...
, and a smoothed and radiused profile to ensure no risk of snagging on the draw. The fixed bushing was tightly fitted to the shortened barrel and dry-lubricated by durable Teflon-S, which was applied to all components of the pistol, except for the clear Lexan grip panels. The unique sighting system, referred to as the "Guttersnipe", was a narrowing U-channel with
fluorescent Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with color ...
yellow panels that would form three triangles, all pointed at the target when the sight was properly aligned. Checkering was kept to a minimum, and reserved for the frontstrap and backstrap, as opposed to the grip panels, which were smooth to prevent the drawing hand from catching prematurely on draw, thereby minimizing the risk of any misalignment of the pistol during presentation, aiming, and firing. The ASP was made in either right-handed, or left-handed models, as the extended
trigger guard A trigger guard is a protective loop surrounding the trigger (firearms), trigger of a firearm designed to prevent unwanted contact with the trigger, which may cause an accidental discharge. Other devices that use a trigger-like actuator mechanism, ...
(which included a recurved hook for the
index finger The index finger (also referred to as forefinger, first finger, second finger, pointer finger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, digitus II, and many other terms) is the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the thumb and the m ...
of the supporting hand, one of the earliest known instances of such a feature) was cut away on the side of the strong-sided hand (which would depend on the handedness of the individual using the pistol). Included with the gun was a patented double magazine pouch which used a magnet to hold the spare magazines in place. The cost for the complete ASP modification package on a customer-supplied handgun was $475, and was done by a subsidiary company, Armament Systems and Procedures, Inc. Production of
holster A handgun holster is a device used to hold or restrict the undesired movement of a handgun, most commonly in a location where it can be easily withdrawn for immediate use. Holsters are often attached to a belt or waistband, but they may be atta ...
s and
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
carriers for the ASP were contracted out to Ken Null, who still produces those designs. Theodore ceased production of the ASP in 1987.


Devel pistol

In 1976, a gunsmith from
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
named Charles Kelsey ordered an ASP pistol, but never received one. His experience led him to develop an improved version of the ASP. Working with firearms instructor Ken Hackathorn, he developed the Devel pistol. The wood grips featured a clear Lexan insert, allowing the shooter a visual account of the number of rounds in the magazine. The pistols were coated in an electroless nickel finish and featured traditional sights. Kelsey sent a sample gun to Smith & Wesson, for a factory agreement to produce these pistols on a large scale. An agreement was never reached, yet several of Kelsey's improvements were incorporated into the S&W 3913.


In popular culture

Novelist John Gardner, successor of
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
as author of the ''
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
'' novels, chose the ASP as the main weapon used by
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
for the remainder of the continuation novels. The weapon also serves as Bond's sidearm in the 1989 comic book ''Permission to Die''. The ASP pistol is a usable weapon in '' Call of Duty: Black Ops''.


References

{{reflist 9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of the United States