The Mysterious Plainfield Pistol: CIA or CYA?
At first glance, it looks like a throwaway cheapo Saturday night special but the second your hands make contact with this pocket rocket, you know this gun is something far different.
Based in Middlesex, New Jersey the firm of Plainfield Machine Company was one of the many small firms that took advantage of a situation in the 1960s. You see the US Government was liquidating enormous stocks of WWII-era M1 and M2 Carbines along with their spare parts inventories, magazines, extra barrels and everything else that looked carbine-like. This led a few new companies, like Universal, MOCO, and others started making new receivers for these salvaged parts and selling semi-auto carbines as fast as the checks could make it to the bank. Plainfield was one of these outfits and from 1962-1978 they produced some 112,000 M1 carbines for the civilian market.
They also made a couple of pistols that, while quality made, faded into history. These were the Model 71 and 72.
Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com
Plainfield may or may not have made these guns for the CIA…..