Know Your Weapons: The CIA Probably Still Uses Some of the High Standard Spy Pistols It Bought During World War II

A suppressed .22-caliber “Wetwork” weapon that never needed replacing

When the United States entered World War II, the Pentagon quickly bought up all the stocks it could find of .22LR target pistols — a .22-caliber handgun that fires a rifle-style cartridge—for training purposes.

But the British Special Operations Executive was already using suppressed versions of similar weapons in combat. The United States soon followed suit. And today there are probably still some of those 1940s-vintage guns in the CIA arsenal.

The British SOE’s favorite model of .22LR was the High Standard. Carl Swebilius established the The High Standard Manufacturing Company in Houston, Texas in 1932. At the same time, Swebilius also worked for Marlin and Winchester.

When war broke out in 1939, High Standard began exporting Model B pistols to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease program. These were among the first pistols ever to feature suppressors.

In 1942, the U.S. War Department purchased High Standard’s entire inventory, regardless of model. In order to meet skyrocketing demand, High Standard developed new gun that was simpler and faster to produce. The Model H-D became the most numerous — 34,000 had rolled out of factories by the end of the war in 1945.

Read the Remainder at War is Boring