Liberator Pistol - what is it worth?

[Mp7]

I just witnessed one being sold in an auction,
in good condition, for just 230 €!

Is that a good price`?

Maybe we/I should get into exporting rare models,
that don´t get as much interest here - to the US?


I can also get ma hands on a mint-condition
Luger 08, S42 Mauser "Tonne" in its original Holster
with 2 original cartons of ammo.
(Story behind it, too.....)

Due to the strict laws here the number of people eligible
for buying guns is tiny.... and of those only a small percentage
is even online......

Does anyone know how costly or complicated a transatlantic transfer would be?

Lots of old hunting rifles from Suhl are being auctioned off,
as their original owners pass away.
Recently Rommel´s Shotgun was sold!

oh here
http://www.egun.de/market/uploaded/2195279_49c521fc4be04.jpg

This auction is still on for 24 days!
http://www.egun.de/market/item.php?id=2195279

[Dark Skies]

That in remarkably good nick. Looks unused. Was it dropped in France? :)

[W L Johnson]

Didn't I read somewhere that the cardboard box it came in is suppose to be more valuable than the gun itself? Or am I remembering that wrong.

[Dark Skies]

That could well be true. The pistols are quite rugged being pressed steel and rivets - and were generally only fired the once in order to get whatever your enemy was carrying. There's probably thousands of them in attics all over France. The boxes would be pretty rare - I think they had the instructions for operating the single shot cocking mechanism pasted onto the lid - and if you had one of these pistols in occupied territory you'd be sure to burn the box asap before Jerry saw it - not something you'd chuck in your dustbin. Not YOUR dustbin anyway - maybe a commie rival's dustbin. :)

I seem to recall General Motors made them.

[Silverado6x6]

If it had the original instructions I hear they are worth over $2,000.

[doubs43]

I spent the Winter of 1971-1972 at Rhein-Maine Air Base, not far from Frankfurt-am-Maine. One afternoon I was in a cutlery shop and a man walked in with a nice walnut case under his arm. When he opened it for the shop owner, I saw one of the most beautiful Artillery model LP-08 (Luger) pistols I've ever seen. It had all of the accessories, each in a plush lined compartment of the case. I've often thought about that pistol and how much I'd love to have it.

[paradox998]

230eu would be an outstanding price for a librator. I have seen them between $1250 and $2000 depending on the box and if they have the original ammo.

[searcher451]

A current listsing from Randall Besssler's very fine Collector Firearms site:

45ACP, sn:NSN. The Classic U.S. WWII Stamped Sheet Metal Single Shot Pistol Designed for Partisan Use in the European and Pacific Theaters. One Million were Produced in Record Time by General Motors Guide Lamp Division During WWII. They were ordered to be Destroyed at the end of the War and Very Few Survive. In Fine Original Condition. Complete with Floorplate. $2750. Item: HG-1550.

http://www.collectorfirearms.org/

[Claude Clay]

way too funny. if it was in france of course it is unfired :rolleyes:
and was droped once:D:D

[jimmyraythomason]

Just to be fair...the reputation for "dropping" weapons applies to the French Army not the French resistance (underground) of WWII. They were a formidable fighting force equal to the best of partisan forces. IIRC;), the US dropped the Liberator first,by parachute, that is. Now back to you regular programming.

[Dave P]

"Recently Rommel´s Shotgun was sold!" Cool!

And I have Clint Eastwood's 44 Mag revolver form the original Dirty Harry movie -- honest!

[rcmodel]

I'm not sure how much luck you would have "importing" a Liberator into the U.S. now.

They have a smoothbore barrel, have no serial number or other markings, and would certainly not have all the brownie points to make it a "sporting handgun".


BTW: I have shot one, and they are a most unpleasant little beastie!
Apparently, excess headspace allows the case to get a running start and push the heavy striker back, partway re-cocking it.

Then it takes a divot of meat out of the web of your hand when it snaps back forward the second time!

rc

[Dark Skies]

Curiously though you might have a better time of it exporting to the UK as being of historical interest / an antique (although not an antique in the true sense of the word). Funny old world.

[tinygnat219]

Currently running in excess of 2000 dollars at most shows.

[rybu0305]

I don't own a Glock but for those who say they are ugly a Glock looks like a pearl compared to that thing.

[Duke of Doubt]

The story goes that Stalin specifically requested these things NOT be airdropped into eastern Europe. We dropped some into Yugoslavia and Greece anyway, and the head red got irritated. Not that his commissars had much to worry about a handful of single-shot pistols; it was the symbolism and the potential precedent instead. Gehlen wanted to resume this sort of program in Poland and points east, but was overruled by Dulles. Partisan warfare continued in Ukraine until at least 1955, and in Latvia until 1980.

[Mike OTDP]

If the guns are importable, you can get them into the US on an ATF Form 6. There are regulations that have to be complied with.

That being said, there might well be a good business opportunity handling eGun transactions. They have some items over there which are quite expensive in the United States...but very cheap in Europe.

[chuckusaret]

Odd, I was just reading about the Liberator .45 cal. Pistol last week.
The production cost was $2.10 each approximately one million pistols were produced. Would have never guessed that it would be worth $2,000 today.

[Silverado6x6]

Interesting fact if I remember right is that they were made by Guide Lamp of Detroit.

[Ron James]

And if I remember correctly, most were dumped tn the ocean, it was never a really good ideal but they were cheap. I also believe there is no record of them ever being ifred in anger.

[bigfatdave]

Would it qualify as a Curio & Relic?

[The_Shootist]

Is that true? They built these pistols, dropped'em all over and NOBODY fired one in anger? Thats tough to believe.

[Mp7]

sounds like there´s actually money to make........

I think i will talk to a very established dealer here in Hamburg,
he must know about the HOW/HOWMUCH.

[HammerBite]

Here is the Guide Lamp FP-45 user's manual.

[Ohio Gun Guy]

Still laughing from half way down the thread...........:D




no matter how roughly made, those are a great piece of history IMO.

[Mp7]

The french successfully used it to corner a cheese-Sandwich.

Liberator from hunger for second breakfast. .-)

[GregGry]

That looks like something I would expect to find in a prison and made by inmates.

[MagnumDweeb]

Knew a couple homebrewers who were going to attempt them. If you want an expensive piece of history, hey that's your thing so enjoy it, then go ahead and get one.

One homebrewer and I were trading notes, hadn't started any builds, and we noticed that for not much more you could build a free shooting recoil platform that had an open breach, would probably lose a ton of pressure and velocity. Guy had done a single shot loader model of a .22lr and it still chronographyed very high, and all you needed was to pop in another round, while your thumb held the bolt back(maybe a pound of resistance) maybe a centimeter he told me. He had it for a bit before he destroyed it, for reasons that were his own, he could hit soda cans out to ten yards with the three inch barrel he had on it, but I never saw it in action so I don't know. His notes looked doable though, even if they could be improved on, probably why he destroyed it, the guy was a perfectionist, even built himself a wheelock pistol from scratch.

Personally I'd get some steel piping, or galvanized iron piping, or a dowling rod if the gun was meant to be a throw away. The action looks simple enough, a single-action with trigger release, pressure applied to a block that allows the action to move striking the primer. Could probably make the striking mechanism from one solid chunk of metal, or cut a flat after appropriate bending, to use a hardened steel nail for a striker that you arc weld into the flat. Granted it looks like a milled action, but a stamped one could still be rather effective with modern metallurgy and tech. You'd need a ton press likely for the precision of bending but a sledge hammer could get you far enough if you've got a good eye and kiln, or at the very least a MAPP gas torch to heat the flat cherry red, to harden it you'd probably consider some engine oil to cool it in. But that's all theoretical, and I'm still finishing up a PPSH43(need to use a lathe to make some trunnions) build, and am going into exams.

[chuckusaret]

Didn't I read somewhere that the cardboard box it came in is suppose to be more valuable than the gun itself? Or am I remembering that wrong

I have heard the same because the boxes were discarded to be able to conceal the weapon.

[.45Guy]

Liberator range report from THR. (http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=172677&highlight=liberator+range)