L66A1 Pistol - Not A Bridge Over Troubled Water:

This wee story of violent conflict in Ireland is small potatoes when you compare it to the  

U S Administration's planned  $1.5 TRILLION spending on it's nuclear delivery systems in coming years .. including  $505 Billion on warheads and their production facilities. - I guess that the very best we can hope for is that this will be a total waste of money and that none of these 'WMD's' will ever be used.

 .. But the L66A1 was a .22" rim-fire caliber Walther PP British Army undercover weapon. - The more factual records I research - the more cynical I get about the stories told by media and politicians .. to excuse what the feck is going-on.

British Army Walther PP - L66A1 .22 Rim-Fire.

In the British Armed Forces weapon designation system - The L number (for Land Service) - weapon identity number system is a numerical designation system used for the type classification of British Armed Forces weapons and related stores.

The L66A1 is the number allocated to some 3,200 *Walther PP s/a pistols in .22" Long Rifle caliber purchased by the British Ministry Of  Defence in 1974 for use by off duty personnel of the Ulster Defence Regiment in Northern Ireland. - The guns were serial numbered in the range 41693 to 45088 and were classed as PDW .. Personal Defence Weapons.

* I am regularly reminded by my mate J that "Walther" is properly pronounced in the Germanic languages as "Valter" .. never mind eh.

I have read (unsubstantiated) that these weapons were reputed to have also been issued to "undercover units" and various 'Loyalist' groups. - However I also read that the 'Undercover Teams' were issued with the .32" acp (7.65mm) version designated as L47A1.

After some ten years of hard service these pistols were recalled and later disposed-of by sale with some 1,700 odd going back to Europe while the 'smaller half'' of some 1,500 went into U S via Interarms.

It is difficult to access full military details from this violent period - but at some stage of the army owning these pocket pistols they underwent refurbishment involving the replacement of the firing pins and a refinish using carcinogenic Suncorite lacquer.

When the notorious 'B' Specials were disbanded 1969-70 - most of those loyalist volunteers merely moved across to become members of this new British Army Regiment .. It is noteworthy that the 'B' Specials had been equipped with Webley .455" caliber break-action revolvers ever since 1920 - but they lost these in 1970 when disbanded.

The UDR Ulster Defence Regiment served as part of the British Army for somewhat longer than the Walther PP's - for some 22 years from 1970-1992 .. but was on active service continuously for that whole term. The UDR consisted of mostly Protestant volunteers until 1976 when the 'instant commissions' were supplemented with some full time officers being emplaced.

These Walther pistols are straight blow-back double-single action and are well liked .. with one exception in that they could give a nasty slide-bite if you placed your grip a little high. - the British Military use of these compact 'two-twos' places them in company with Israeli Mossad counter terrorism operators.

Nice little shooters.

Marty K.