this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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Ugliest gun in history? It's the British "Welrod" pistol, an ingenious blow for European resistance in 1941. [more in post] (media.piefed.social)
submitted 4 months ago by JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social to c/historyphotos@piefed.social
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I'm certainly no gun nut, but I chanced upon this marvel on YT, admiring what a great leap forward it was for the Allies. The main ideas here are: it's inconspicuous, breaks down easily, and has the most effective built-in silencer the world had ever seen, at that point. Evidently a fired bullet sounded no louder than a car door shutting from close range, and from distance, in city and crowd environments, it was effectively impossible to hear. Indeed, solving the multi-problem of guns creating noise in three significant ways was the major breakthrough.

So all this opened up situations in which The Resistance could take out SS and Gestapo officers with high chances of not being detected. The two limitations being: 1) it needed to be used from shortish range, and 2) the system of rubber sound barriers inside the barrel wore out rather quickly.

More on WP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod

Here's the nicely-narrated 10min video I watched:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R1kKHYZiQE

And this 2min video dives closely in to the mechanics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2l27S9hrE

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[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Nowhere near the ugliest gun in history imo, but then again I have odd tastes lol

OP you might be interested in the B&T VP9, a spiritual successor to the Welrod

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 8 points 4 months ago

Hah! Yeah, I saw the VP9 when I was browsing for images. Certainly looks like a gussied-up version of the Welrod.

[–] FalschgeldFurkan@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That trigger looks painful to use

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

"The gunman couldn't have been me, officer. My trigger finger is injured, see?"

[–] _dystopian_vibecheck@leminal.space 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's the Hairpin

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Hey raider!"

[–] _dystopian_vibecheck@leminal.space 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Don't shoot!"

[–] Lenny@lemmy.zip 7 points 4 months ago

“Dance with me” 🕺🏻

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think it looks fine, big "form follows function" energy (though a big part of that function that it was designed for was "not looking like a gun", i.e. to a certain extent the form IS the function).

[–] Oka@sopuli.xyz 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The 1-shot pistol in MOH: Rising Sun

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'll raise you sniper elite

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Where it's the "fuck it, we're playing this like Metal Gear Solid now" option.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The silenced Sten from the same era is also a fucking masterpiece.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ah, how about that.
So looking at the WP page, I see that as with the Welrod, they also made a point of lowering the speed of the bullets (in two particular models) such that the bullets didn't break the speed of sound, cutting down on its noisiness.

Damn, that video's something else, though. The suppressed Sten sounds about as noisy as someone using a stapler(!)

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I had to be around a bunch of these things for a few years, and i'd say the sten is quieter

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 1 points 4 months ago

Matey, those are some downright life-changing staplers right there. oO

(could have used a couple more at Medway, in any case)

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Damn, I want that to clear out the rabbits in my yard

[–] optissima@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago

VP-9 is your thing then

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Honestly a .22lr or .22WMR and a regular suppressor are all you need, they're cheaper, and they use metal baffles instead of rubber wipes so they don't wear out nearly as fast (we're talking like 25 shots for that welrod before it needs to be repaired and due to our dumbshit suppressor laws you can't have spare suppressor parts and need to have it repacked like a regular one gets re-cored anyway by an SOT).

I'd go Ruger mkIV for pistol and Ruger 10/22 for rifle (if lr), or if quietness is the primary concern, any .22 bolt action.

You can get them though, they're just dumb expensive (and wear out quick, as I noted above.) The modern repro is the B&T Station Six-9, only $3,000:

https://www.capitolarmory.com/bt-station-six-9mm-suppressed-pistol-bt410111.html

Or the mkIV is ~$500, and the 10/22 is like maybe ~$250, and then you can get cheap .22lr suppressors for, well, it ranges but the lowest I've seen was just shy of $100.

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The absolute S tier gun in Insurgency: Sandstorm. So good that using it is practically cheating. Fire rate of a sniper and the sheer stopping power of a boiled pea.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Wonder if I got that? I remember having to give away 3 humble keys to unlock it

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 months ago

Insurgency has paid cosmetics only.

[–] yuri@pawb.social 4 points 4 months ago

there’s a modern version!

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
  1. it needed to be used from shortish range

Yeah, the caliber of bullet here isn't all that big, but I guess that helps make the suppressor more effective for the size. No doubt, you'll need to get very close to make a .22 (or something like it) do serious damage. Problem is, this gun looks like a chunky bastard and would be hard to conceal in a manner that makes it easy to draw. So, we're probably talking "get the drop on 'em in an alleyway" kind of resistance.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

IMO you're not being unreasonable, but I think you might want to read up on this one, more.

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Fair. Off to the links you provided I go.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It looks like a star wars blaster. Especially the opened one on tbe bottom.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The Star Wars blasters were modified WWII-era European guns, so this one giving you that vibe makes sense.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I thought they were just pipes and plumping... Or is that the lightsabres? 🤔

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

The lightsabers were mostly handles from photographers' flash lamps.

Intro post for camera nerds - Obsessive guide to all lightsaber props for Star Wars nerds

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 1 points 4 months ago

Gun Jesus tested a .32 version on camera.