‘The OSS HiStandard Model HDM silenced pistol was, without doubt, the most popu- lar and widely used of || allthe OSS clandestine ‘weapons systems. Visit us on ine at woe snamareview ont OSS Silenced Pistol Text and photos by Peter G. Kokalis During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln approached the scien tific community and asked their support in the development of new weapon sys- toms, It was for this purpose that the American Academy of Sciences was es- tablished, Subsequently, the National De- fense Council of World War [continued efforts to work with the military inthe de- velopment of military technology. As a consequence of inadequate funding and leadership atthe highest levels, the results were minimal PPriorto our involvementin World War IL the NDRC was established to comple- ‘ment the research of the Army and Navy inthe development of the instrumentali- ties of war.” Eventually the NDRC was Right: The Arms Tech Ltd. OSS Si enced Pistol, shown here with a black Minox Model C spy camera, isa faithfully executed re-creation ‘of a historically important clandes- ‘tine weapon. 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.‘made a branch of the OF- fice of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD). ‘Throughout the war, the British- who hadextensive knowledge of the German arsenal and appropriate ‘countermeasures - cooper ated with the NDRC and shared both research and. experience. The final orga~ nizational structure of the NDRC included nineteen divisions 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 OSSSilenced Pistol, disassembled. Impact and Explosion, Rocket Ordnance, Ord- nance Accessories, New Missiles, Subsur- 13 June 1942. Under the leadership of Col William J."Wild Bill” Donovan, itwas an Chemistry, Absorbents and Aerosols, operating agency the U.S. Governmentun- Chemical Engineering, Transportation, der the control ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff lectical Communication, Radar, Radio and intended tobe of worldwide scope Coordination, Opties and Camouflage, Donovan, who had previously held an im- Physics, War Metallurgy and Applied portantintetigence postion and reported Mathematics and Physics. Mostmystei- directly othe president, quickly pattemed ousofall wasDivision 19, whichcovered OSS activities after those practiced by tl ““Miscellancous Weapons.” Formed to British Special Operations Executive solve “special problems,” few of which (SOE), with whom the OSS worked clesly evercame fromthe ArmyorNavy. Almost throughout the duration of the war. allof Division 19s activites were devoted Donovan envisioned two majorroles for tothe problems ofthe OSS and their Brit- the OSS: gathering intelligence and wag- ishcounterpars ing clandestine warfare. Jastsixmonthsafterthe United States To execute this dual role, Donovan entered World War I, the Office of Stra- created anumber of branches with specii- tegic Services (OSS) was established on _ cally defined objectives. The Research and OSS SUPPRESSED “oni, 008 HIGH STANDARD 2329505 vote PISTOL essere va made. ___Handbook on the Weapon youmaypurcase the re er O8S Patch only for $10.95 or the Hand. book on the Weapon Sor only $24.95 ree Lae = e- ‘S133 N, Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ BS012 (602)272-9045 Fax (602)272-1922 (AL SA ua. 20 The Small Arms Review «Vol § No.1 «August, 2002 Analysis Branch used the academic com: munity to devise strategy for invasions “The Morale Operations Branch generated propaganda using professional advertising copywriters and Hollywood screenwriters, ‘The Labor Branch promoted subversive activity with labor unions in German-oc- ceupied Burope. The Research and Devel ‘opment Branch, whose first director, Stanley P. Lovell, was taken from the NDRC staf, was in continual liaison with Division 19 of the NDRC. ‘These latterbranches supported the three main functional branches ofthe OSS, ‘They were Special Operations clandestine warfare), Secret Intelligence (worldwide gathering of intelligence through four geo- ‘graphical desks), and Counterintelligence 2, ‘By October 1943 the Research and Development Branch had evolved into four divisions. The Technical Division was r sponsible for projectliaison between both the NDRC and British SOE. The Docu- ‘mentation Division created all ofthe docu- ‘ments requiredto protectan agent's cover. ‘The Camouflage Division was established tocamoutlage the personal accessories and devices required for special operations The Special Assistants Division provided items for agents not within the purview of the other three divisions. Ttems developed for the OSS, in ad- ition to the HiStandard Silenced Pistol in- cluded the Liberator (nt originally an OSS. weapon) .45 ACP single-shot pistol, the 22 caliber Stinger, the silenced 45 ACP M3 submachine gun, edged weapons toinclude the Stiletto and Smatchetcoss- sor. Tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground ACPColt*pocket pistols were unsuccess- bovis, matchbox camera, lockpicking several months latercomparing thisunit ful, as Coltcould not provide them. knife, suicide capsules, knockout drops with protypes ofasound-suppressed.45 During this same time frame, dsign- andsabotageequipmentconsistingofin- ACP pistol, 30 MI Carbine and British ersatthe Rell Telephone Laboratories de- cendiary, demolition, contact fring, de- 22 Welilencer were notsatisfactory. The veloped a sound suppressor attached ta layedactionfringandharassing devices Colt Woodsman would fieinthe semi HiStandard pistol. Tests on this design of many types. tomatic only with high velocity rounds, were very positive and Bell Telephone Oneofthe mostsuccessfulandhighly The noise level was also quit disturbing. Laboratories waprovided witha contract regarded wcaponseverdevelopedforthe Projctesmadcofoldandtungsen were 10 silence 110 pistols of various mates, (OSS was the HiStandard Silenced Pistol. thentestedwithadrop inthe sound pres These ichided sixty sx Colt Woodsman Surcly silenced firearm mustrateasthe sure level, butan increase in pressure to and Match Target pistols and forty four highest possible priority forany clandes- excessive levels andan objectionable in-_HiStandardpistolsin Models A,B, Dang tine operative creaseinsldeclater. Atemptsto obtain E,Bothshort and log bared types were Very soon after the OSS was estab- longer bares forthe 32 ACP and 380 included inthe testing, Deliveries com lished, agents used a.22 LR Colt Woods- man equipped with an off-center sound suppressor patterned afterthe Maxim, The MAG CINCH™ anithad a unique bare extension in front ena of se ea ofthe suppressor with frontsight band See reas, ‘hat permited use ofthe pisto's standard dary to nog wih hg Me Eats rear sight. The barel extension purport con oo eae g an edly enhanced the weapon's accuracy po- imowo aera ma ih et tential as well The offset design permit rood sonic ted a larger suppressor for greatly im- proved reduction ofthe sound pressure level Tn addition specimens of the original Mazina sound suppressor were obtained and tested, Both the Savage Arms Com- anya the Sedgley Manufacturing Com- Dany offered to produce them forthe OSS fs manufacture had boon terminated in 1926 as aconsequence of feral egsia- tion restricting theiruse and further rein- forced by the National Firearms Act (NFA) sti WG BINH Focniniegaahew oper wir aes ergiabo ena of 1934. However, it was obvious that then bo See 8 ore nt Tey wee MN REMC ka pee et technology inthisarca had moved forward TreIVAG CINCH™ ures vl nomex sicher tr your msgs. Thay sre anda completely new design was require. ge pec 3 ep agicines wou damage hey my — Ne Thuson27 October 1942 sent twelve pro el axes you eaRZre Wo 288. posalsto the planning board ofthe NDRC, the first of which concerned the procure Aba hrs rhe AG CINCH: iy ele acs ment of a weapon meeting the following Singe-Hotss ho azine secuevith aR CINCH parameters: 1) silet,2) no flash signature, Deutle- Hea tooseiof sie tapers seni 8 WAC NCE 3) a minimum muzzle velocity of 1,000 fps, 4) preferably 50 ealiber and 5) a re- {Comore MoWRGCREH™ Systems roma ne AL, ANG, ARS, SRC, loading of less than 30 seconds. A con- AIA BR Ak Madmen. MI-Catin, Wi, Kroc AY MB, USC, UM twact for this research was given to the SLB, Shyer AUS. a Mow 308 sont FR-FAL) Wester Blectric Company in New Jersey. They were directed to develop a sound —— ES suppressor with a) asound pressure level itu Tectrotger amo bs aco utr ard ceagned Ore Jow enough to disguise the point of origin ‘Tochroerie lcuthn hs touma your bokared eeher exsalece dihg nme a distance of 30 feet, b) minimum flash signature, and adaptable to 45 ACP pis- tols,the.30MI Garand ané Enfield rifles. ‘Three weeks after the contract was signedi on 6 April 1943, Westem Electric elivered asilenced Colt Woodsman tothe ergo aachoye Phone: (572) 824-2529 Butler Technologies ' Fax. (575)624-8522 P.O. Box 104903 (OSS that was very little more than a copy sales@buflertech.com Jelferson Cily, MO 45110 of the Polish Kulixowski sound suppres The Small Arms Review «Vol § No.1 «August 2002 2Silenced HiStandard HDM Disassembly Procedures ‘Disassembly and reassembly ofthe HiStandard HDM pistol is notentiely straight- forward. First, remove the magazine and retract the slide to make certain the cham- ‘ber is empty. With the slide fully tothe rear, press down on the small, knurled plunger on top of the slide. This locks and compresses both the recoil spring and its ‘guide rod, Allow the slide to move forward under control until you can rotate the takedown latch -on the right side ofthe frame and to the rear of the hold-open ‘button - downward, while maintaining pressure on the plunger on top ofthe slide. Keep holding the latch down while you retract the slide completely tothe rearand. off the frame. Depress the spring-loaded rear detent on the barrel until tclears the suppressor tube. Rotate the suppressor tube to the right until ithas been removed from the ‘barrel, Withdraw the rear screen roll from the suppressor tube, The operator should attempt no further disassembly of this system. Clean and lubricate lightly Reassembly of the pistol is not possible unless the recoil spring and guide rod remain locked and under compression. If the recoil spring and guide rod slip outof the locked and compressed position, a small drift must be used to push them back into their hole in the slide and then plunger pressed downward to make sure they stay locked n place. “Hold the hammer to the rear to clear the slide as the slide is placed on ts cuts inthe frame, Hold the hammer rearward again as you push the slide fully forward. This ‘will release the recoil spring and its guide rod. Retract the slide to insure that it's functioning properly. Re-insertthe suppressors rear sereen rol. Pushin the spring- Toaded detent and thread the suppressor tube tothe leftuntiit's fully seated against the frame, ‘menced in late October 1943. On 22.No- vember 1943, the OSS Procurement [Branch requesied that the Ordnance De- partment award a contractto the High Stan- Gard Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut for 1,500 sound-sup- pressed caliber 22 LR Model IED pistols, (the US. Government designation fortis, pistol was HDM). Deliveries on this con- tract began 20 January 1944, The contract, ‘was completed on 10 October 1944, Re- action tothe pistol by agents inthe fielé was entirely favorable, One Thousand more were ordered on 18 August 1944, ‘That contract was completed by 10 Octo- ber 1944, Pistols completed in the first contract featured a blued finish while those of the second contract had a phosphate (Parkerized”) finish. The suppressor tube hhad a phosphate finish on both contracts. InJuly 1944 someone noted that ac- cording to The Hague Accord Regulations (Article 23e) military personnel were not permitted to employ small arms ammuni- tion with unjacketed| Donovan ordered uniformed military per- sonnel to stop using the OSS silenced pis- ‘ols until jacketed ammunition was de .dbullets, General ‘oped and issued. Civilian personnel were permitted to continue deploying with the ‘weapon and most ofthe military person- el either ignored or did not hear about the order not to employ them, By 8 Febru- ary 1945 20,000 rounds of jacketed T-42 22 LR ammunition was made available. However, standard velocity Remington ammunition with lexd projectiles eontin= ‘ued tobe issued and employed. ‘The HiStandard Model H-D .22 LR pistolisaconventional blowback-operated target pistol very much reminiscent ofthe Colt Woodsman, Its main component groups are: 1) the frame which forms the grip and mounting required toreceive the fixed barrel. It is machined to accept the twigger mechanism and fitted with guides for the reciprocating slide. 2) The barrel is pinned to the frame. 3) The slide ex: tends rearward from the breech and holds the firing pin, extractor and recoil spring assemblies. 4) The trigger group consists of apivoting tigger witha side bar con- necting ittothe sear, together with theap- propriate springs and plangers,and an ex- posed hammer attached to the mainspring and plunger. 5) A sheet-metal 10-round, single-line, detachable, box-type maga- Zine, whichis interchangeable with that of the Colt Woodsman, Pushing the magazine catehreleaseon the butt ofthe frame permits the magazi tobe withdrawn, A loaded magazine isin- ed and pushed in uni itlocks in plac Subsequently pulling the slide tthe: forces the hammer back and down which compresses the mainspring, The sear catches and holds the hammer back at full, cock. Releasing the slide allows the com- pressed recoil spring to drive the slide for- ‘ward, The face of the side is machined to strip around from the magazine and drive itintothe chamber. The extractor, located ‘on the tight side ofthe breech face then snaps over the cartridge case’ im. When the breech is completely in battery, the sear bar, running from the trigger tothe sear on the leftside ofthe frame, is brought into contact with the sear ‘When the viggeris pressed, itpivots ‘and causes the sear har to release the sear from the hammer, The mainspring then drives the hammer forward to impinge ‘upon the firing pin, which then passes through ahole inthe breechface to strike the rimfire primer and also compress the firing pin spring. As this spring rebounds, itdraws the firing pin back intothe breech- block. Rearward thrust ofthe propellant gases forces the slide tothe rear. The slide in turn rotates the hammer back to the cocked position and compresses the main- springas the sear holds the hammer inthe cocked position. The slide also depresses the sear bar so that another shot cannot be fired until the tigger is released and the slideis once again in the battery position, During the recoil stroke, the extractor draws the empty case rearward until it strikes the ejector ‘The pistol is equipped with a frame- ‘mounted, manual thumb safety on the left side. Rotating the serrated latch upward bboth blocks the sear andengages anotch inthe slide to prevent its rearward move- ‘The forward-sloping, fixed front sight blade is serrated on its rear face. The open square-notch rear sight is adjustable for both elevation and windage zero. An in- 6x line milled into the slide is used for alignment of the windage markson therear sighthousing. Overall length ofthe OSS HiStandard Silenced Pistol 13.815 inches, The weight, unloaded is 47 ounces. The barrel length, The Small Arms Review «Vol § No.1 «August, 2002Including the chamber, is 6.75 inches The height ofthis pistol, withthe magazine in place, is inches. ‘Overall length ofthe sound suppres- soris 7.75 inches, including the 1/16-inch thick end cap rim. The suppressor tube serews onto the barrel where it emerges from the frame, with detent locks on both the barrel and forward end cap. The sup- pressor tube hasan outside diameter of 1.0 inch, The rear scrcen roll surrounding the barrel is 4.37 inches in length ang 0.795- inch indiameter.Itismade of twenty-mesh, tin-plated bronze screen soldered into a tightly wound tube. The front screen disks are made of thirty-mesh tin-plated bronze and include approximately 110 disks 0.828 sinchin diameter, with about twenty five having a0.410-inch hole so they can. slip over the front of the barrel and there ‘mainder having a 0.234-inch hole. There isa I/16-inch thick brass washer between the rear sereen roll and the front disk soreens that sO.828-inch in diameter with 4 0.410-inch hole. The sound pressure level reductionofthissoundsuppressoris in excess of 20 dB. This i excellent per- formance for a silencer designed during this time frame, i, six decades ago, Today, examples of this incredible piece of history are quite rare and there are no more than a hancful in private col- lections. Arms Tech Ltd (Dept. SAR, 5133, North Central Avenue, Phocnix, AZ 85012; phone: 602-272-9045; fax: 602- 272-1922; e-mail: armstech@qwest.net), already well known in the special opera tions community for their special weap onsand tactical equipment development, has recreated this famous pistol ina man rer authentic in every detail. Arms Tech Led. can supply the entire OSS HiStandard Silenced Pistol package - currently in in- ventory and ready toshipafter ATF trans- fer approval. The Arms Tech Ltd. remanufacture of the OSS Hi-Standard Silenced Pistol comes complete with a ‘manual, copy of the original U.S. Govern- ‘ment test report, replica OSS shoulder in- signia and cross-section line drawing ofthe pistol ‘The specimen sent to SAR for testand evaluation was authentic in every detail Theleft side ofthe slide was marked, “HI- STANDARD MODEL H-D MILITARY” and the entire pistol was provided with a milspec phosphate finish, The original, checkered, walnut grip panels were in ex- cellent condition. The trigger pull weight con our test specimen was a very crisp 3 pounds, which isundoubtedly agreatdeal Melton, II. Keith, 1991, OSS Special lighter than the pistols issued tothe OSS Weapons & Equipment -Spy Devices of in World War TL WWII, Sterling Publishing Company, Ine., ‘Without doubt, the OSS Silenced Pis- 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY tolwasone of the mostpopularclandes- 10016, 128 p., black and white illustra- tine weapons ever issued to U.S. opera- ‘ions. Sves.One more prodictionrun wasmade i ci 1006. the Ukimate forthe CIA after World War ll. These all Melton, H. Keit 1 Ukimate Spy property markings. Ttwasusedthrough. Avenue, New York, NY 10016, 176 p. colorand black and whit illustrations ‘utthe warin Vietnam with considerable effect Oncofthese pistols Was foundo% trypy,y, David, 1972, Silencers Snipers Rerpetariromnenaasy famine Acree as shot down over Russia during. ing Death, Paladin Press, PO. BOx 1907, ee itt ‘pe colt War Ams te Lid. Boulder, CO 80302, 210 p., black and Isto be highly commended for bringing back an incredibly fascinating piece of his tory 1M-22-HI1, Technical, Operational and References: ‘Maintenance Manual for.22 Caliber Pis- tol, Silenced Hi-Standard Model HDM, Brunner, John W., 1994, OSS Weapons, 2000, Phoenix Publishing Group, 4123 Phillips Publications, P.O. Box 168, North Longview, Phoenix, AZ. 85014, 85 Williamstown, NJ 08094-0168, 206 p.. p, black and whit illustrations black and white illustrations, Bg white illustrations OSS HiStandard Silenced Pistol Spe ‘Overall length: 13.815 inches. ‘Weight, unloaded: 47 ounces. Barrel length (including chamber): 6.75 inches. Height: 5 inches with magazine i place ‘Magazine: 10-round, single-column, detachable box-type. Suppressor specifications: ‘Overall length: 7.75 inches (including the 1/16-inch thick end cap rim), Suppres- sortube serews onto the barrel where itemerges fromthe frame, with detent locks ‘on both the barreland forward end cap. Diameter: inch. Interior suppressor dimensions: rear screen roll surrounding the barrel: 4.37 inches in length and 0.795-inch in diameter; wenty-mesh, tin-plated bronze screen soldered into atightly wound tube, Front screen disks made of thirty-mesh,tin- plated bronze and include approximately 110 disks 0.828-inch in diameter with ‘about 25 having a 0.410-inch hole so they can slip over the front of the barrel and the remainder having a 0.234-inch hole, There isa 1/16-inch thick brass washer ‘between the rear sereen roll andthe front disk screens that is 0.828-inch in diam. eter with a0.410 inch hole. ‘Suppression: In excess of 20 4B. ‘T&E Summary: A faithfully executed e-creation ofa historically important clan- destine weapon, The Small Arms Review «Vol § No.1 «August 2002 2