Welrod

Welrod
A Welrod 9 mm pistol
Type	Bolt action suppressed pistol
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
Wars	World War II (known to have been used) Falklands War, Northern Irish Troubles, Desert Storm (reportedly used)
Production history
Designer	Inter-Services Research Bureau
Designed	1942
Manufacturer	The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited Unnamed others manufacturers
Produced	World War II
No. built	around 2800
Variants	9×19mm Parabellum version .32 ACP version Sleeve gun

The Welrod is a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed pistol devised during World War II at the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX), based near Welwyn Garden City, UK, for use by irregular forces and resistance groups. Approximately 2,800 were made. The Welrod is an extremely quiet gun, being only 73db when fired.

It was used primarily by the British SOE but was also used by the American OSS and Resistance forces.

The Welrod was a "sanitised" weapon, meaning that it had no markings indicating its manufacturer or country of origin; all it was marked with was a serial number and some inscrutable symbols and letters. The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) confirmed that they manufactured some Welrod pistols, but that they put no markings at all on them, so it is likely that any markings were added by the British military after delivery.

The Welrod was used in Denmark during World War II, and is reported to have been used during the 1982 Falklands War, throughout The Troubles in Northern Ireland and during operation Desert Storm by British Special Forces. Welrod guns were also found in Gladio weapon caches.

The Welrod took the form of a 1.25-inch-diameter (32 mm) cylinder, about 12-inch-long (300 mm) . The rear of the cylinder contained the bolt, the middle the ported barrel and expansion chamber of the suppressor, and the front the baffles and wipes of the suppressor. There was a knurled knob at the rear that served as the bolt handle, and the magazine was also the grip. Removing the magazine/grip made the weapon easier to conceal.