Firearms and ammunition

Heard of it? Chances are unless you worked for one of the U.S. Government’s Silent Services providing global top-level security and protection, you haven’t. Oh, or if you’ve read the right John Gardner 007 books. His other firearms choices for Bond were uninspired at best, but he was spot on when he chose the ASP for Double-O Seven. Gardner found out about the ASP from a book titled The Handgun, which was written by none other than Geoffrey Boothroyd, Ian Fleming’s old correspondent and the man who recommended the Walther PPK to Fleming way back when.

The ASP isn’t new. It doesn’t have a polymer frame. It doesn’t carry 16 rounds. It isn’t a “system” gun offering dedicated suppressors, mounting rails for lasers and flashlights, etc. But it brings together a unique collection of assets that make it the premier covert carry, combat pistol in the world. The ASP is a narrow focus gun for a person who knowingly goes in harm’s way; which just happens to be exactly what James Bond does.

Although developed decades ago, it’s still a revolutionary gun today. It is an exclusive, fully dedicated, single purpose combat handgun with a fascinating origin. It has a style and cachet that would have thrilled Fleming.

A man named Paris Theodore ran a highly respected custom gunleather business called Seventrees, Ltd. on West 39th St. in New York City. One day the U.S. government approached him to design and custom manufacture a pistol for use by covert operatives worldwide. He was given a set of criteria no one else had yet managed to meet; concealability, eight round capacity, function with all known brands and types of bullet in a given caliber, instant target acquisition, and although the gun had to fire a major caliber round, the design had to somehow reduce felt recoil to the equivalent of firing a tiny .22 caliber round. He took bold aggressive steps, many of which flew in the face or orthodoxy. Some of his ideas have become the new orthodoxy. Others have yet to find general acceptance. But they all came together in this one handgun; the ASP.

Holster maker by day, behind the scenes, Paris Theodore would go to work on this less public sideline. He started with a Smith & Wesson Model 39 semi-auto pistol. Over 25% of the original gun was discarded. Paris Theodore’s design called for 286 changes, done by hand. So extensive were these changes he didn’t call this a “conversion,” but rather a “remanufacture.” He began by chopping down the size of the slide, barrel and grip of the larger gun to create a concealment sized version. He used a computer (unusual in those days) to properly calculate the lightening cuts to the slide that gave the gun perfect balance in the hand and helped tame recoil.

It was he who first come up with the idea of adding finger hook at the front of the trigger guard that allows the index finger of the supporting hand to get a better grip, farther forward on the gun to better control muzzle flip and keep the pistol on target. Of course back then most shooters still shot one handed. Theodore was radical for the time in designing features specifically for a two handed grip. That trigger guard spur became standard on the glut of new gun designs that came along in the 1980’s.

Next he smoothed and radiused all the curves, dehorned any sharp edges and angles to make a gun that positively would not snag on clothing during a speed draw. He cut of the spur off the hammer completely. Although 9mm is common in the U.S. today, at that time in America .45 caliber was practically a religion. But in the rest of the world it was 9mm that was the most commonly available caliber, and using it let the shooter tap into the worldwide ammo availability and unequaled variety of bullet types, weights and stengths. It also allowed the ASP to have a slimmer grip and a higher magazine capacity.

Have a look at the photo. Notice the front sight blade? You don’t? That’s because there isn’t one. None at all. Look at the rear sight. Looks odd, doesn’t it? It should. It’s a Guttersnipe sight (an Advanced Sighting Plane sight). The tapering bottom and two sides of the gutter appear foreshortened to the shooter as three triangles. When the gun is aimed straight the three triangles all appear the same size. The eye and the brain achieve this instinctively. Armed Forces all over the world rely on a similar principle with the rear peep sight and tall front sight post on the M-16. The eye and brain line things up without conscious effort. No need to match up a front sight post within a V notch rear sight while also adjusting for height.

You’ve already noticed the grips on the gun. They’re transparent Lexan (stronger than Plexiglas and will never yellow, but also much more expensive). Through the grip you can see the side of the magazine has been cut away. Hey, you can actually SEE how much ammo you’ve got left. FBI tests have proven that in a firefight no one can really count how many rounds have been fired. The brain doesn’t work that way. Study after study shows that to be true. So how can you tell if you’re about to run dry? Conventional wisdom says you can’t. The FBI advises their agents that at the first lull in a shooting engagement they should dump the magazine and load another. That advice means you could be throwing away a considerable portion of your ammo; ammo that you may need later to save your life. Wouldn’t it be nice to tell at a glance how much ammo you’ve got left? Paris Theodore made it possible when nobody else had. Today the Austrian Main Battle Rifle, the Styer AUG, comes standard with translucent polycarbonate magazines that allow the shooter to see the amount of ammo left. Nice that someone else finally followed Paris Theodore’s simple, elegant solution he’d come up with decades earlier.

Those revolutionary grips are also smooth. Most guns boast about all the checkering they offer to keep the gun from sliding around in the hand. Paris Theodore knew better.

Here’s why. When drawing the gun quickly in a stress situation it is important not to waste time fumbling for a proper grip. It has to be right the first time. You don’t have time to waste adjusting your grip. You could be dead. But that first grab on the gun as you draw it is rarely exactly right. All that checkering really does keep the gun from sliding, just as it s designed to do. But that mean’s that wrong grip stays wrong. Now that checkering is working against you. Theodore knew that a well designed gun naturally fits properly in the hand. With smooth grips all you have to do to get the gun to slide into just the right hold is simply squeeze your hand. With no checkering to keep it from moving, a proper grip comes easily.

Paris Theodore covered the frame and slide, inside and out, with low-reflection, black Teflon-S. It’s very expensive stuff, but it’s more corrosion resistant that Stainless Steel, wears better than gun-blueing, makes the gun self-lubricating, cleans easily and skin simply will not stick to it even in the coldest weather.

Compared with the Walther PPK, the ASP is slightly larger but actually weighs less. It fires a major caliber compared with the Walther’s inadequate 7.65mm yet has the felt recoil of firing a tiny .22 round.

The original ASP was hand made to very high standards in extremely small numbers exclusively for men who live the dangerous side of the James Bond lifestyle and it went by the slogan “Unseen in the best places”!

No other gun satisfies the criteria for 007’s needs and his style as well as the ASP. Bond deserves a gun that’s unique, just as he is. If Bond were a gun, he’d be the ASP. Dark, deadly, perfectly suited to his mission. Possessing style, elan and panache.

Copyright © 1997, 2002 James McMahon

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Guns Magazine, Feb, 2000 by Charles E. Petty

Although they are no longer available, these custom pistols blazed the way for today’s concealed carry handguns.

Today, compact handguns are hardly out of the ordinary. Shooters are buying up guns like the Kahr, the mini Glock and the S&W 3913. When I think of compact guns, I think of names like “ASP” or “Devel” — no longer available, but valuable collector’s pieces.

Long before any manufacturer produced a compact pistol, custom gunsmiths were chopping inches off of slides and grip frames and making little guns out of big ones. We’re talking serious surgery here. Both the Devel and ASP modifications began with the S&W Model 39 — and then they cut. The slide was shortened by about 0.75″ and the frame by about 0.6″.

The first thing we need to do is a little historical research. The ASP was designed by Paris Theodore in New York City in the early 1970s. Hints were dropped that the gun was made for all manner of clandestine organizations. When the ASP pistol went public, it sure got lots of attention.

First Of Its Kind

The most unusual feature of the ASP is the patented Guttersnipe sight. It’s a strange looking thing designed to be very fast by eliminating the conventional aspects of sight alignment.

The principle is based upon the theory of disappearing parallel lines, for example, if you’ve ever looked down a long stretch of railroad track you’ll know that at some distance the two rails appear to come together. That was the premise behind the Guttersnipe sight.

Theodore chose to use the S&W Model 39 because of the double-action trigger mechanism. Good choice, but the gun did not have a sterling reputation for reliability. In addition to shortening the frame and slide, a lot of time was spent making sure everything worked properly.

The trigger guard was reshaped into a hook and Theodore advocated putting a finger there for better control. One side of the trigger guard was cut away to provide easier access for the trigger finger. This means that you can find both right- and left-handed variations of this gun.

All sharp corners were rounded, the safety thinned, and very thin plastic grips installed. The original S&W magazines were shortened and lost one round (from eight to seven), and the sides were cut away so the rounds in the magazine were visible.

The ASP also has a very clever magazine base that provides a resting place for the little finger and also an extension to allow the magazine to be seated quickly in a speed reload. The magazine well is neatly beveled. Included with the gun was a patented double magazine pouch that used a magnet to hold the spare mags. Each gun came with a total of three magazines.

The ASP may well be the first gun to have a polymer finish. They coated the pistol with black “Teflon-S” as a final touch.

Rebirth Of The ASP

The actual history of the ASP is a little cloudy. Published references say that one day the doors closed in New York and nobody knew anything. A short time later, ASP — minus Paris Theodore — reappeared in Appleton, Wis. An article in S.W.A.T,, (March 1983) indicated that approximately 250 ASP pistols were built in New York. No information is known about the production in Wisconsin.

Production ended later that year. Some published reports criticized the later guns, but mine came with papers indicating Wisconsin manufacture; it looks just fine and functions perfectly. The cost for the complete ASP modification package on a customer-supplied gun was $475.

Improving On Excellence

In 1976 a gunsmith from Cleveland, Ohio, by the name of Charles Kelsey decided to improve on the ASP. He consulted with tactical expert Ken Hackathorn on what could be done to improve the compact custom pistol, and from that conversation the Devel was born.

Pistolsmith Wayne Novak said, “Charlie Kelsey was my biggest inspiration and the most innovative man in the custom pistol business. His designs and modifications were years ahead of their time.”

Kelsey began by shortening a Model 39 to within a tiny fraction of the ASP, but that is pretty much the end of the similarities. The S&W rear sight was retained and a new front sight fashioned and installed. The front sight had a contrasting insert of either yellow or red plastic.

Kelsey offered three different models: Full House, Basic, and Function & Reliability. The F&R package was lightly modified compared to the other two. It was a full length M39 and is most easily identified by the characteristic Devel electroless nickel finish and the red Devel label inlaid into the original grips. Both the Basic and Full House pistols were shortened.

There’s no mistaking a Full House Devel. The most striking characteristics are the scalloped lightening cuts on the slide. There are two on each side. We can argue whether they do anything or not, and I won’t care one way or the other, but they certainly make the pistol stand out.

Groundbreakers

Since the slides of both ASP and Devel pistols are shortened, the companies had to find a way to support the front end of the barrel. The original Model 39 used a removable bushing. The ASP has a simple circular bushing that is permanently installed and looks very much like the style that is currently used by S&W.

The Devel is different. At first glance it looks as if the original bushing is used, but in fact it is a new design that is silver soldered to the slide. The barrel fits quite snugly into the new bushing, so much so in fact, that a relief cut is required so the barrel can tilt down and unlock. Once more, this is a feature that is common today.

When you lock back the slide of a Full House Devel Model 39 you’ll see a small roller bearing just in front of the magazine. Everyone thinks that this is to improve feeding, but Kelsey reports that it has nothing to do with that.

It’s pretty common for the top cartridge in the magazine to move forward a bit under recoil. Kelsey identified this as a possible reliability issue; the roller bearing is there to prevent the round from shifting forward in the magazine. Almost 20 years later, S&W came up with the “Accu-Guide” dimples in the magazine, which accomplish exactly the same thing.

Bigger And Better Things

A little later Smith & Wesson’s high capacity Model 59 — the first of the Wondernine generation — received the Devel treatment. At a glance it’s hard to tell the Devel 39 and 59 apart. The quickest clue is the grips, for the M59’s are quite thin. The grips are made of red Micarta with a clear window inset so the magazine status can be seen.

The magazines are extensively modified too. New springs, followers and bases are included but the magazine body is also extensively cut away to make the remaining rounds visible. Kelsey reports that, since the magazine steel is very hard, cutting was hard on tools until they found a shop that could do it with a laser. They really are high-tech aren’t they?

They weren’t cheap either. A price list from April 1981 illustrates the price structure for modifications to the customer’s gun. A Full House M-59 listed at $550, while a Full House M-39 was $505. The Basic M-59 was $295; the Basic M-39, $255. The F&R M-59 and M-39 sold for $160 and $145 respectively.

Published reports have praised the Devel’s accuracy and criticized the ASP’S. My rather limited shooting experience bears that out. I can’t say whether the ASP is accurate or not because I can’t shoot well with the Guttersnipe sight. Shotguns would laugh at the patterns I shoot with mine, but I’m not willing to blame the gun.

Accuracy is better with the Devel, but I gotta tell you that none of them are going to see much shooting. These are now valuable collector’s guns which deserve a special place in the gun safe.

Not Invented Here

Theodore tells the story of going to Smith & Wesson to show them the ASP and being less than well received. He talks about leaving with, “my tail between my legs.”

Even though both Devel and ASP pistols are no longer being manufactured, their influence continues to this day. They set a standard of form, function and price. These guns were really expensive in their day and now are avidly sought by collectors. They are truly a part of American firearm history.

Kelsey’s work wasn’t too popular there either although S & W bought a Full House Model 59. It wasn’t long after that that S&W’s first compact, the Model 469, appeared.

Theodore talks about the, “NIH syndrome (not invented here)” as being the reason for his treatment at S&W and I daresay that was accurate, but apparently S&W was willing to learn. The 469 was OK, but when the new Third Generation pistols came along in 1988 S&W autoloaders really began to be appealing. When the 3913 came out in 1990 S&W made the best store-bought compact 9mm you could find. Strangely it is remarkably similar to the Devel 39.

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