Colt Forum banner

OSS 4 Inch Commando

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Absalom 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello
Do any of our members actually have an OSS lettered 4 inch Commando? Would like to see and get more info on them.
Thanks, Ron
 
#2 ·
Me too.

According to Pate's data, there were several thousand shipped to the OSS.

All I have is the attached letter copy and picture I snipped out of an auction for my letter collection. The gun had a U.S.PROPERTY stamp and pre-war OP wooden stocks.
 

Attachments

This post has been deleted
#5 ·
I am currently awaiting a letter on a 'Pre' Commando, built approximately Oct-Nov, 1941. The time frame precedes the official formation of the OSS by about six months, though. A rather large US is pantographed into the left side plate of the Official Police.

I have no idea why the US marking is on the gun, but I'm hoping the letter will shed some light.

 
#7 ·
I suspect they were not sold as surplus after the war.[/QUOTE]

Or the nature of the people that the OSS was arming with these revolver did not necessarily lend to them being returned. In both Europe and China resistance fighters being armed by the OSS were hanging onto weapons for future revolutions after the Germans or Japanese were gone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Absalom
#9 ·
Or the nature of the people that the OSS was arming with these revolver did not necessarily lend to them being returned. In both Europe and China resistance fighters being armed by the OSS were hanging onto weapons for future revolutions after the Germans or Japanese were gone.
This is an important point. OSS-shipped guns did not generally end up in the hands of some secret American agents, as some folks imagine. These guns were more likely dropped out of an airplane over occupied territory somewhere in Europe or Asia. If I remember correctly, some OSS-shipped S&W Victorys showed up years later with post-war German police markings from the occupation period.
 
#8 ·
Just because a particular Commando was shipped to the OSS doesn't mean it went out of the US. It could have retained for trading or issue to domestic based agents. It could possibly have been transferred from the OSS to another user as the agency was disbanded not long after war's end.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top