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19
The Small Arms Review -
Vol. 5 No. 11
- August, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
During the American Civil War,Abraham Lincoln approached the scien-tific community and asked their supportin the development of new weapon sys-tems. It was for this purpose that theAmerican Academy of Sciences was es-tablished. Subsequently, the National De-fense Council of World War I continuedefforts to work with the military in the de-velopment of military technology. As aconsequence of inadequate funding andleadership at the highest levels, the resultswere minimal.Prior to our involvement in World WarII, the NDRC was established to comple-ment the research of the Army and Navyin “the development of the instrumentali-ties of war.” Eventually the NDRC was
OSS Silenced Pistol
Text and photosby Peter G. Kokalis
To fully understand the development and history of the OSS HiStandard silenced pistol a knowledge of two organizations is es-sential: the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), under whose auspices it was developed, and Office of Strategic Services(OSS), for whom it was developed.
Right: The Arms Tech Ltd. OSS Si-lenced Pistol, shown here with ablack Minox Model C spy camera,is a faithfully executed re-creationof a historically important clandes-tine weapon.
 
The OSS HiStandardModel HDM silencedpistol was, withoutdoubt, the most popu-lar and widely used of all the OSS clandestineweapons systems.
 
20
The Small Arms Review -
Vol. 5 No. 11
- August, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
made a branch of the Of-fice of Scientific Researchand Development (OSRD).Throughout the war, theBritish - who had extensiveknowledge of the Germanarsenal and appropriatecountermeasures - cooper-ated with the NDRC andshared both research andexperience. The final orga-nizational structure of theNDRC included nineteendivisions and several spe-cial committees and panels.The divisions covered re-search in a wide range of topic areas, including. Bal-listic research, Effects of Impact and Explosion,Rocket Ordnance, Ord-nance Accessories, New Missiles, Subsur-face Warfare, Fire Control, Explosives,Chemistry, Absorbents and Aerosols,Chemical Engineering, Transportation,Electrical Communication, Radar, RadioCoordination, Optics and Camouflage,Physics, War Metallurgy and AppliedMathematics and Physics. Most mysteri-ous of all was Division 19, which covered“Miscellaneous Weapons.” Formed tosolve “special problems,” few of whichever came from the Army or Navy. Almostall of Division 19’s activities were devotedto the problems of the OSS and their Brit-ish counterparts.Just six months after the United Statesentered World War II, the Office of Stra-tegic Services (OSS) was established on13 June 1942. Under the leadership of Col.William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan, it was anoperating agency the U.S. Government un-der the control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and intended to be of worldwide scope.Donovan, who had previously held an im-portant intelligence position and reporteddirectly to the president, quickly patternedOSS activities after those practiced by theBritish Special Operations Executive(SOE), with whom the OSS worked closelythroughout the duration of the war.Donovan envisioned two major roles forthe OSS: gathering intelligence and wag-ing clandestine warfare.To execute this dual role, Donovancreated a number of branches with specifi-cally defined objectives. The Research andAnalysis Branch used the academic com-munity to devise strategy for invasions.The Morale Operations Branch generatedpropaganda using professional advertisingcopywriters and Hollywood screenwriters.The Labor Branch promoted subversiveactivity with labor unions in German-oc-cupied Europe. The Research and Devel-opment Branch, whose first director,Stanley P. Lovell, was taken from theNDRC staff, was in continual liaison withDivision 19 of the NDRC.These latter branches supported thethree main functional branches of the OSS.They were Special Operations (clandestinewarfare), Secret Intelligence (worldwidegathering of intelligence through four geo-graphical desks), and Counterintelligence(X-2).By October 1943 the Research andDevelopment Branch had evolved into fourdivisions. The Technical Division was re-sponsible for project liaison between boththe NDRC and British SOE. The Docu-mentation Division created all of the docu-ments required to protect an agent’s cover.The Camouflage Division was establishedto camouflage the personal accessories anddevices required for special operations.The Special Assistants Division provideditems for agents not within the purview of the other three divisions.Items developed for the OSS, in ad-dition to the HiStandard Silenced Pistol in-cluded the Liberator (not originally an OSSweapon) .45 ACP single-shot pistol, the.22 caliber Stinger, the silenced .45 ACPM3 submachine gun, edged weapons to
OSS Silenced Pistol, disassembled.
You may purchase theOSS Patch only for $10.95 or the Hand-book on the Weapon for only $24.95
OSS SUPPRESSED HIGH STANDARD PISTOL
Only $2,495.00
The above price includesthe OSS Patch andHandbook on the Weapon
ATLtd.
 Arms Tech Ltd.
5133 N. Central Ave.Phoenix, AZ 85012(602)272-9045Fax (602)272-1922
Only alimitednumberwill bemade.
 
 Re-manufactured  to exacting detail!
 
21
The Small Arms Review -
Vol. 5 No. 11
- August, 2002
Visit us on line at: www.smallarmsreview.com
include the Stiletto and Smatchet, cross-bows, matchbox camera, lockpickingknife, suicide capsules, knockout dropsand sabotage equipment consisting of in-cendiary, demolition, contact firing, de-layed action firing and harassing devicesof many types.One of the most successful and highlyregarded weapons ever developed for theOSS was the HiStandard Silenced Pistol.Surely a silenced firearm must rate as thehighest possible priority for any clandes-tine operative.Very soon after the OSS was estab-lished, agents used a .22 LR Colt Woods-man equipped with an off-center soundsuppressor patterned after the Maxim. Theunit had a unique barrel extension in frontof the suppressor with a front sight bandthat permitted use of the pistol’s standardrear sight. The barrel extension purport-edly enhanced the weapon’s accuracy po-tential as well. The offset design permit-ted a larger suppressor for greatly im-proved reduction of the sound pressurelevel.In addition, specimens of the originalMaxim sound suppressor were obtainedand tested. Both the Savage Arms Com-pany and the Sedgley Manufacturing Com-pany offered to produce them for the OSSas manufacture had been terminated in1926 as a consequence of federal legisla-tion restricting their use and further rein-forced by the National Firearms Act (NFA)of 1934. However, it was obvious thattechnology in this area had moved forwardand a completely new design was required.Thus on 27 October 1942 sent twelve pro-posals to the planning board of the NDRC,the first of which concerned the procure-ment of a weapon meeting the followingparameters: 1) silent, 2) no flash signature,3) a minimum muzzle velocity of 1,000fps, 4) preferably .50 caliber and 5) a re-loading of less than 30 seconds. A con-tract for this research was given to theWestern Electric Company in New Jersey.They were directed to develop a soundsuppressor with a) a sound pressure levellow enough to disguise the point of origina distance of 30 feet, b) minimum flashsignature, and adaptable to .45 ACP pis-tols, the .30 M1 Garand and Enfield rifles.Three weeks after the contract wassigned on 6 April 1943, Western Electricdelivered a silenced Colt Woodsman to theOSS that was very little more than a copyof the Polish Kulikowski sound suppres-sor. Tests at Aberdeen Proving Groundseveral months later comparing this unitwith prototypes of a sound-suppressed .45ACP pistol, .30 M1 Carbine and British.22 Welsilencer were not satisfactory. TheColt Woodsman would fire in the semiau-tomatic only with high velocity rounds.The noise level was also quite disturbing.Projectiles made of gold and tungsten werethen tested with a drop in the sound pres-sure level, but an increase in pressure toexcessive levels and an objectionable in-crease in slide clatter. Attempts to obtainlonger barrels for the .32 ACP and .380ACP Colt “pocket” pistols were unsuccess-ful, as Colt could not provide them.During this same time frame, design-ers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories de-veloped a sound suppressor attached to aHiStandard pistol. Tests on this designwere very positive and Bell TelephoneLaboratories was provided with a contractto silence 110 pistols of various makes.These included sixty six Colt Woodsmanand Match Target pistols and forty fourHiStandard pistols in Models A, B, D andE. Both short and long barreled types wereincluded in the testing. Deliveries com-
of 00

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