The ASP 9: Super Carry Gun of the 60s
Today we think that the current generation of shooters practically invented super modified combat carry guns. Then comes the shock when we stumble across something like the 1960s ASP 9 and we realize, all we have been doing is just building a better mousetrap.
Never heard of the ASP 9? Well my friends, this story begins with one Mr. Paris Theodore of Seventrees Ltd, and the time was the 1966.
Who was this man?
Paris Theodore was the product of New York in the 1950s. The son of a vaudeville dancer and an art professor, he grew up on and off Broadway. After disappearing and allegedly working for shadowy government agencies for a few years, in 1966 at the age of 23, he started Seventrees Ltd, which specialized in custom and semi-custom holsters.
From his shop on West 39th Street in New York, he made several radical departures from the standards of the time, filing more than a dozen patents on new concepts. His work used hand boning to fit the exact pistol, for the express purpose of reducing wear and simultaneously retaining the pistol. He also pushed for muzzles that extended beyond the holster; and molded front sight protection, industry standards in many cases today. Nevertheless, he was much more than a holstersmith.
You see, behind a safe in his holster shop, he made clandestine firearms for a number of government agencies. These included 22 pen guns, cigarette lighter guns, a clipboard for the FBI that could fire live rounds, and briefcase guns. In his spare time, he invented the Quell shooting system, a reactive point-shooting technique that concentrated on central nervous system shots using muscle memory.
In the late 1960s, he was approached by those unknown and asked to make a very special gun. One that could be used overseas where 9mm was readily available. A gun that could be carried concealed but when put into service could win a gunfight. This gun became known as the ASP 9.
I wrote a work up on the neat pistol for Guns.com a couple years ago and you can read that here.
My homie Ian over at Forgotten Weapons, however, got his hands on one in an upcoming RIA auction and gives it a great run down below.