ASP (handgun)

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The ASP is a custom made handgun intended for covert operations. It was designed and built for the U.S. Government by Paris Theodore, owner of Seventrees, Ltd. a custom gunleather shop in New York. The gun is based on the Smith & Wesson M39 pistol. Some features that set this gun apart are clear Lexan grips allowing the owner to see how much ammo is left, rounded hammer and other parts to reduce possibility of snagging clothing when drawing, and no front sight. The gun is coated in Teflon to ease cleaning, resist corrosion, and eliminate the need for lubrication.

The ASP became James Bond's weapon of choice during the 1980s and early 1990s in the John Gardner series of novels. Bond, in total, used the ASP in 11 original novels as his main weapon starting with Role of Honour in 1984.

The gun was an advanced reworked Smith and Wesson Model 39 or 39-2, employing:

a shortened slide:
a fixed bushing (in lieu of the Smith and Wesson designed collet bushing which could fail, jamming the Model 39 with broken fragments of the bushing — an issue which did not exist in the ASP);
a radically different sighting system; The Guttersnipe (tm) required no front sight blade. The relatively large rear sight block had an open notch, through which the shooter aimed the gun. The shooter could quickly acquire short range targets and fire reflexively.
clear lexan grip-panels;
custom-tuned springs;
a fully ramped and throated, shortened barrel; and
the overall shape, smoothened and radiused to ensure no risk of snagging on draw.

The fixed bushing was tightly fitted to the shortened barrel and dry-lubricated by Teflon-S, which was applied to all components of the pistol, with the exception of the clear lexan grip panels. It should be noted that Teflon-S is a slightly different formulation from the garden variety of Teflon coatings. It is regarded as safe for handling, but not for use in cooking appliances and utensils. It is also somewhat more durable than more typical Teflon formulations. Teflon-S is occasionally found on the blades of gardening implements. The unique sighting system, referred to as the "Guttersnipe", was a narrowing U-channel with fluorescent yellow panels that would form three triangles, all pointed at the target when the sight was properly aligned.

Checkering was kept to a minimum, and reserved for the frontstrap and backstrap, as opposed to the grip panels, which were smooth to prevent the drawing hand from catching prematurely on draw, thereby minimizing the risk of any misalignment of the pistol during presentation, aiming, and firing.

The ASP 9 mm handgun was made in either right-handed, or left-handed models, as the extended trigger guard (which included a recurved hook for the index finger of the supporting hand — one of the earliest known instances of such a feature) was cut away on the side of the strong-sided hand (which would depend on the handedness of the individual purchasing the weapon.

Production of holsters and magazine carriers for the ASP 9 mm were contracted out to Ken Null, who still produces those designs today.