Made for Office of Strategic Services, USA headed by Wild Bill Donovan to meet demand for a cheap but effective gun for partisan and other resistance forces within Nazi-occupied territories. Design for effective .45” cal. single shot pistol formulated by Army Ordnance & contract let to Guide Lamp Corporation which completed tooling & production of million guns in the record time of thirteen weeks. Final deliveries in August 1942. Ultimate cost c. $2.00 and constructed entirely of non-strategic materials. Each gun individually packaged in sturdy paraffin coated cardboard box which included an instruction sheet, a wooden ramrod and 10 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition stored in butt of gun. With exception of 4” smoothbore seamless steel tubing barrel & die-cast percussion mechanism gun is constructed throughout of sheet steel stampings & a few steel pins & coil springs. Various parts are held together by a combination of folded seams, rivets, spot and acetylene welds.

reference: Small Arms of the World page 73