[Lightsped]

Anyone heard of the S&W Asp? A popular XBox game has peaked my interest. What is the deal with the Asp? Is it a decent piece?

[Sam1911]

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASP_pistol

A reworked model 39 -- as modified by Seventrees leather works up in NY. Sounds interesting. Sounds expensive. Sounds like the kind of exotic-sounding one-off gear that video game designers seem drawn to.

Clear grips so you can see how much ammo you have left. Fluffed-n-buffed internals. Shortened slide (?) with no front sight. "Melt" or "dehorning" job for snag-free carry. And a teflon internal finish that supposedly requires no lubrication. :scrutiny:

[GunTech]

At the time, the ASP represented a super-concealable firearm not available through normal channels. These days, most manufacturers make their own compacts. Detonics is another example of a custom gun that firearms makers eventually copied, making the original 'obsolete'.

Compare the ASP, and expensive custom pistol, to the later S&W 908 for example

http://www.lesjones.com/www/images/posts/ASP_05web.jpg

http://guns4u.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/103882_large.jpg

[GunTech]

You might find this web site interesting: http://www.asp9mm.com/

Some of the copy is questionable, but entertaining non the less.

[yeti]

If only Paris Theodore had not decided to hook the trigger guard...

But you have to love their tag line, "Unseen in the best places!"

Interesting gun, shortened slide and grip, Guttersnipe sight, clear, smooth, Lexan grips and cutway mag, even revolutionary use of computer design to get the lightening cuts just right.

Out of my price range then and even more so now, but if my name were Bond, James Bond, that is the weapon I would carry, Q or no Q.

[joe_security]

Excellent post. Im sure an original ASP would be a valuable collectors item.

[dogsoldier0513]

The S&W 469 spelled the end of the ASP.

[GunTech]

I remeber when the ASP came out and was written about in the gun mags. Lots wanted them, but the one I wanted was a Semmerling LM-4. In these modern days of super-compact 45s, no one appreciates how small the LM-4 was when it came out.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/los3088/976761551-1.jpg

[Gordon]

Yeah and nobody appreciated the manual cycling required either!

[joe_security]

Wow, the LM4...Ive never seen one in person. Another collector piece.

[yeti]

American Derrienger was making the LM4.

LM4 Simmerling (http://www.amderringer.com/lms.html)

[silversport]

The S&W 469 spelled the end of the ASP.
sure did...
Bill

[ricketts]

Semmerling HURT like crazy to shoot. AMHIK---

Ah the ASP. I have one and it is really neat. They came with a Jackass holster and a mag pouch that held the mags magnetically. The guttersnipe rear sight is a tough one to use if you think about it while you are shooting. If you pull it and shoot it instinctively, it's a breeze. Kind of like rolling a baseball thru a gutter.

[9mmepiphany]

I remember when the ASP was first introduced...the first article i read about it was the cover gun for American Handgunner ...they were only $1200, but then the Porsche 911 was just over $10k.

When I finally saw one in a LGS...long after S&W had introduced the 469 and 3914...it was still very impressive, but it was also $2.5k. The M39 can be made smaller than any 1911 (until the EMP) due to the distance between the slide stop pin and the mag well. Another small 9mm of that time was the NOVA, based on the Star BKM

I've handled a couple of Semmerlings at gun shows...they are larger and heavier than I expected. The article I read about them said that they had experimented with a semi-auto version in that size and found the recoil twice what the eventual manually operated one produced...I think the article was by George Nonte The Semmerling should have about the same recoil as a .45ACP derringer

[KosmicKrunch]

I have a Commorative M39 ASP with a numbered shoulder holster and 2 mags numbered to the gun. There is also a ASP Baton numbered to the gun. It has a walnut disply case, cleaning rod, brush and threaded swab. Nice carry gun if it had a few more rounds. At the time, the 20 rounds of ammo that comes with it had to be picked up sep at the gun store, they are brass plated cases with the ASP headstamp. The bullets were copper jacketed BAT rounds, I cannot remember what the BAT stands for but they have a plug in the end that pops off when shooting and "WHISTLES" in the air like a BAT Pinging. There were only 50 of these sets made. I have #7.

[9mmepiphany]

I cannot remember what the BAT stands for but they have a plug in the end that pops off when shooting and "WHISTLES" in the air like a BAT Pinging

Those rounds were produced by a company named GECO in Germany and BAT stands for Blitz Action Trauma...the funny thing is that in Europe, they were called the GECO Action Safety rounds. They are of solid construction and weighed less then 90gr. The front poly cap, and it's shaft which went into the slug body, was designed to insure feeding, but then blow off (there was an air channel through the slug) to present a hollow point nose to prevent through and through penetration. The rumor was that they were designed for GSG-9

[Lightsped]

Any idea how many Asps were produced? There is one on Gunbroker right now. Looks good except for a cracked left grip panel....

Oh, has anyone heard of the Asp 2000?? I hadn't until viewing the link above.....

[joe_security]

9mmepiphany , You are bringing back memorys mentioning Major George C. Nonte...One of the best gun scribes of yester year. He seemed to prefer the model 39 over all other pistols of the time.

[bannockburn]

Around the same time as the ASP, Charlie Kelsey at Devel was making a similar chopped and customized Model 39; and later doing the same thing with the Model 59 as well. Not quite the high-speed, low-drag set-up as the ASP, but still pretty nice in comparison to the stock S&W pistol.

[9mmepiphany]

The Kelsey Devels were produced when Seventrees could not meet the demand for chopped and channeled M39s. The were more conventional is that the retained the slide serrations (weight was reduced with flutes machined into the slide) and the stock sights. They also avoided the Lexan grips and instead offered wwooden grips with a clear window cut out of them. Their ASP'ed M59 was what the S&W M696 was pattened after.

Devel was very innovative. They had the first compensated 1911 used in IPSC competition and offered the first 8 round magazine...this was the design which later became the Chip McCormick Shooting Star mag

[nwilliams]

Excellent post. Im sure an original ASP would be a valuable collectors item.
The last two that sold on GB went for $2,600 and another for $3,500.

I would have no need to spend that kind of money one one because I already have a 3914 and that's close enough to an ASP for me.

[theMongoose]

i was at a local gun store today and found an Asp in ok condition for a good price. It came with a manual and 2 extra magazines. It looks just like this one-

http://i56.tinypic.com/b3stcl.jpg


in about the same condition too 65-75%. I think I got a good deal on it but I wonder how much it could be worth to the right person.

[Trebor]

Seventrees actually only made a couple hundred ASP's himself. He than sold or licensed (don't know which) the rights to Armament Systems Procurement in Wisconsin. This is the same company that now makes the ASP batons.

Funny thing, the Wisconsin company actually subcontracted the actual conversion work to a FFL manufacturer in Michigan. I've fired one of the ASP's still owned by the family of the gunsmith/manufacturer that did the work for ASP of Wisconsin.

[theMongoose]

Does anyone know how many of these black ones they made?

[theMongoose]

It says in this article

http://coalcreekarmory.blogspot.com/2007/08/ultra-rare-asp-9mm-special-edition-100.html

that there was only 300 of regular ASPs made...

[9mmepiphany]

Does anyone know how many of these black ones they made?

I was unaware that there were one's in other colors. The black teflon finish was one of the ASP's defining features

[scaatylobo]

Reading all the posts about the ASP's and the Semmerling,as well as the BAT rounds = takes me back a 'few' decades.

Glad I am not the only one to recall and have shot those.

My worst shooter was the C.O.P. 4 barreled .357.

It hurt so bad that even my young hands were stinging after about 8 rounds,my friends would only fire it once.

I carried it as a D/A pocket gun in a coat.

I still do have a A.S.P. 16" baton [ ASP logo on butt ] ,now called the expandable.

btw,ASP stood for Armament Systems & Procedures = if memory still works.

Mitchell Werbell was the head of that outfit and they made some pretty cool things.