How does the FP-45 Liberator really shoot?
Throughout firearms history, many unique weapons have been designed. You can count the FP-45 Liberator pistol among them. Many have argued, understandably so, that this pistol is among the ugliest firearms ever designed. As a result, photos of this firearm are regularly shared on gun websites and social media as a novelty 75 years after the gun was designed.
We have seen photos of this gun many times, but we have never seen anybody shoot one. Most were scrapped after the war and most people who own one of the few survivors seem to keep them as a conversation piece. We admit, it does not look like the safest or most comfortable firearm out there.
However, we were still quite intrigued when we saw YouTube shooting enthusiast Edwin Sarkissian got his hands on one. He takes it out to the range to see how it handles. The results are interesting to watch if you are into historic firearms.
If you are thinking this gun looks crude and cheap, you are not wrong. The FP-45's "Liberator" name is quite literal. It was built during World War II and the thinking was, the Allies could turn the tide against Nazi Germany by air dropping thousands of these pistols into occupied areas. Obviously, resistance fighters were not expected to fight extended battles with this gun. The idea was to down an enemy solider, then steal their firearm and the resistance fighter could then continue the fight with a better firearm.
As you saw from the video, the "one time" use aspect of this firearm became obvious the more they shot it. It performed exactly as you would expect a cheap and mass-produced firearm to work.
The U.S. Army also believed there was a huge psychological factor to this idea. The hope was that it would put German troops in a constant state of alert looking for these guns because they are small and easy to conceal. If dropped in enough numbers, the Allies hoped the Nazis would never be able to confiscate them all.
While a million FP-45s were built, few were used for their intended purpose, but the unusual design has made this gun an object of intrigue ever since. Seeing how this unusual firearm performs in real life was fascinating to watch. Thanks for sharing how this unique piece of history shoots with the world Edwin!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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