An example of British ingenuity, the De Lisle Carbine, was made out of many already available parts. Designed by William De Lisle, it was a bolt action, .45 caliber carbine, with a suppressor. The basic stock, bolt, receiver, and trigger group is of the Lee-Enfield Mark III* type, although many of the parts were fairly heavily modified. The magazine (and the .45 ACP ammunition) were in common with the 1911 pistol. The sights on the production version from Sterling were from the Lanchester submachine gun. The barrel was modified from a Thompson sub machine gun. The 8.27 inch barrel was ported to allow the muzzle gases to escape slowly into the suppressor tube. The .45 ACP cartridge is easy to silence as it is fairly slow moving at around 750-850 feet per second, well below the speed of sound. The suppressor started at the back of the barrel and completely enclosed it, which gave it a very large internal volume.
Only one prototype of the folding stock paratrooper version was made, seen here with an extended 11 round magazineThe De Lisle was only manufactured in very small numbers and only really issued to Commandos and raiding parties. No more than 129 were ever made of the production version. It is reputed to be one of the quietest weapons ever made, and certainly one of the most effectively silenced weapons of its era.
Why do I want a De Lisle carbine? Well for one, they have an amazing historical value as one of the rarest weapons of WWII. It is also one of the first weapons designed for special operations. Also, it is a .45, and that is always nice. And who really doesn't want a silenced firearm? Well, maybe some people, but they probably aren't reading this.
This is a modern version from Valkyrie Arms
Beautiful. What's it's availability in America ? Legal ? Expensive ?
ReplyDeleteWell, availability is pretty much nil. Since there are pretty much no examples to be had, who knows what the price would be. More than I can afford.
ReplyDeleteSuppressed firearms are legal in some states, but you have to pay the Feds a $200 tax stamp.
That baby does look sweet. School's been busy so I haven't visited in a while, but you're really doing an awesome job with the blog, K-Dawg.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the new nuclear agreement? Also, the new policy to not use nuclear weapons in response to chemical, or biological attack? I think getting rid of some American and Russian nukes is probably a good idea, as we clearly have far more than we need. As far as the policy on nuclear retaliation, I'm not convinced this is actually a change of strategy at all. Historically, foreign policy has been such that our military strategy regarding rogue states has been a dual-focused regime change. In addition to defeating a threat, American goals are to install a new government with a favorable trading relationship towards the U.S. At any rate, not using the bomb doesn't by any means imply that we wouldn't bring the thunder. But I don't know, I just think that the new policy is just a re-affirmation of foreign policy goals that have largely been in place since we had to figure out what to do with wreckage resulting from WWII.
Anyway, the site looks great so I'm going to go back to looking at it.