Silencer Saturday #383: The Welrod's Return?

Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the YHM R45 Multi-Host Suppressor. This week we are looking at the Welrod. It has an interesting story, a more recent blip of attention, and the possibility of a new reproduction model coming to the market!

Silencer Saturday @ TFB:

• Silencer Saturday #382: Noveske's New Amigo
• Silencer Saturday #381: Engaged Industries Operator 5.56 Suppressor
• Silencer Saturday #380: Suppressors V. Brakes On Competition Guns
• Silencer Saturday #379: The Ultra Lightweight TiOn Dragoon 7.62 QD
• Silencer Saturday #378: IWI Get Into The Silencer Game

Disclaimer: Silencers are highly regulated items in the United States. Learn and follow the applicable laws or you risk substantial criminal penalties, including prison and massive fines. Also, shooting firearms with or without suppressors is an inherently dangerous activity, and you assume those risks by participating. Learn and follow all gun safety rules.

Welrod History

Many of our younger readers will know the Welrod from its prominent use in the Sniper Elite series of games. Others may have seen videos from great channels like Forgotten Weapons describing and shooting this interesting gun. But for those unfamiliar, the Welrod was a World War 2 British pistol designed for use by commandos and spies. Unlike most suppressed handguns, which begin life in an unsuppressed configuration and later have a silencer added, the Welrod was made from the ground up to be as quiet as possible.

The heart of the Welrod is a large suppressor body that runs most of the length of the gun. That large internal volume provides ample space for the gases to expand and cool, improving the silencer’s performance. The silencer includes both standard baffles and wipes, so performance will degrade with repeated firings until the wipes are replaced. However, those first few critical shots will be as quiet as possible with this design.

Another facet of the Welrod that keeps it quiet is the bolt system. Rather than a semiautomatic action that makes noise when it cycles and that throws empty casing about, the Welrod is a bolt action pistol. A round knob on the back of the upper assembly is the bolt handle. Each shot requires the bolt be turned, pulled to the rear, pushed forward again, and turned back into place.

The Welrod was chambered in a number of calibers but production models were predominantly .32 ACP, which is a cartridge that is almost never supersonic in a standard configuration firearm. Obviously, the crack of a bullet going supersonic would be antithetical for this kind of gun. It feeds from a single-stack magazine, which also makes up the grip. With the magazine/grip unit removed, the Welrod looks like a metal tube rather than a gun, and it is easier to conceal or stash than in the assembled configuration.

The Luigi Mangioni Incident

Recently, the murder of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson surfaced the Welrod in the public consciousness. Some initial analysis from “gun experts” on social media suggested that a Welrod or modern relative like a B&T VP-9 was the murder weapon. Security camera footage showed Mr. Mangioni cycling the silenced gun by hand, which led some to jump to a manually-operated gun like the Welrod being used.

However, others who were more familiar with silenced firearms quickly realized this was not the case. The cycling motion looked like pulling the slide to the rear for each shot rather than pulling and turning the kind of bolt assembly found in a Welrod. The more likely explanation was a standard tilting-barrel handgun design with a suppressor lacking a Nielsen device. Without that reciprocating spring assembly, a Browning-style handgun will usually not function. Also, B&T Station Six or VP-9 pistols are all NFA-registered items, are rare, and are quite expensive, so that added another layer of doubt about their use. Ultimately, Mr. Mangioni was arrested still in possession of a Glock-pattern pistol with a homemade silencer that lacked a booster assembly.

Innovative Arms Welrod Reproduction

Innovative Arms recently teased a possible production run of Welrod pistols. This is not the first time that Innovative Arms has considered making these, but this time, things look serious. It is also worth noting that the prior false start was in May 2020, when the world was in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns. This was also right as the “Summer of Love” was just starting to kick off, and gun and ammo sales skyrocketed in the following months to levels not seen since the panic buying under the Obama administration.

The pictures of the IA Welrod look extremely accurate to the original. Everything from the bolt at the rear to the removable magazine/grip unit to the grip safety looks spot on to the original. Much like the Sten, the wartime fabrication was purely utilitarian, and that vibe continues in this reproduction. The finish looks nicer than the Welrods I have seen, but without looking too refined and ruining the aesthetic. IA teases internal updates in their product pages, but what exactly those are is not yet public. The sights have clearly been improved over the originals, though.

At this point, Innovative Arms is taking pre-orders from seriously interested parties. This is not a pre-order to make lightly, though, as the anticipated retail price is $4,899. That is a serious chunk of change that could alternatively purchase a Sig SG55X or something fancy like that. But for a silencer collector who has everything else, this would be a very cool addition to a collection.

If these Welrods actually enter production, we will be sure to try and get more details about what those internal changes are. Thanks for joining us, we will see you back here next weekend for more suppressed fun.