The gun to get a gun is being built again by Vintage Ordinance. Originally, the Liberator pistol was conceived as a cheap weapon to drop to resistance forces in Europe during WW2. It was the gun to get a gun, as it wasn't designed to be shot over the ten rounds that came with it. It was a crude pistol, with no rifling, stamped together and over a million were made. Designated the FP-45, it was also known as the "Woolworth gun" because of it's low quality. Relatively few survived the war and now can command prices in the thousands.
Vintage Ordinance is a museum oriented machine shop in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, that can build historic firearms that are hard to tell from the originals. They also offer historic research services and exhibit design. Their products range from firearms to historic clothing.
Their FP-45 pistol is a reproduction, but not exactly. They didn't want it to be confused with original guns so it is marked on the bottom of the barrel and on the bottom of the handgrip with their identification. The other big difference, besides the modern steels that it is made from, is the barrel is rifled (that should keep it from keyholing in less than 5 feet!). Even with modern materials, the gun is safer than the original, which was never meant to be shot much, and they discourage shooting it. In order to keep the lawyers at bay, the firing pin hole is not drilled all the way through, and on delivery is not technically able to fire. It is sold for $599.50 plus shipping and handling.
