Silent But Deadly: Welrod Mk IIA 

He actually live-fired the weapon 5 times during this video but nobody heard it.

"You want a pistol with a silencer permanently attached to it?" "No. I want a silencer with a pistol permanently attached to it."

German sentry: "Is that a Welrod in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?"

How to make a British war-time firearm: Step 1: Metal tube Step 2: put a grip on it Step 3: Simplify that design for the foreseeable future

It's literally a silencer with a grip

32 caliber, bolt action, assault baton.

Rod: “What will we call it?” Tod: “Well, Rod…” Rod: “I like that!”

"sir, how do we make a silenced pistol?" "MAKE A LARGE SILENCER" "alright, what gun should it be on?" "PUT A MAGAZINE IN THE SILENCER AND MAKE IT THE GRIP" "but sir, wouldn't that make it not wor-" "MAKE THE SILENCER A PISTOL" "but si-" *"SILENCER PISTOL"*

"Sir, what is this?" "It's a bicycle pump" "Why does a bicycle pump need gun sites?" "Hey, have you ever tried to pump a bike tire without aiming? I didn't think so."

I'm riding on my Welbike to the SOE drive-through. "I'll have a BigWel, a WelRib, four chicken Welnuggets and a counterfeit Fanta please." I pay with captured Reichsmark.

The Welgun along with the Welbike (a folding motorbike for use by paratroops), the Welman (a one-man submersible for sneak attacks on warships in harbours), the Welfreighter (a miniature submarine used to insert secret agents onto enemy beaches) and numerous other projects was developed from the ideas of Lt Col John Dolphin, an army engineer who later became the Chief Engineer at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston (the British equivalent to Los Alamos) and the Engineer-in-Chief at the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell that designed the UK civil nuclear programme. He later moved into civilian industry manufacturing forklift trucks, and that is were I met up with him as Chief Production Engineer of a supplier to one of his companies. A bachelor until his sixties, he finally succumbed to his secretary before dying shortly afterwards. Fondly remembered for his enormous repertoire of disreputable soldier's jokes that I cannot repeat here. Field Marshal Montgomery had Dolphin on his planning staff as an advisor before the invasion of France on D-Day. It was on Montgomery's recommendation that he got the job as Chief Engineer at AWRE Aldermaston. So he was highly regarded in Army circles.

Very cool gun buy you have to imagine if this was discovered on someone: "And what is this?" "It's a...bicycle pump! Yes, a bicycle pump!" "...With front and rear sights?" "Yes?" "...Seems legit, now can you explain this obvious gun magazine that mates surprisingly well with your sighted bike pump?" "Yes, here let me show you." *Pfft Pfft*

MOH: Rising Sun One shot, one kill

"Why is it called a welrod?" "Because it looks like a, well, rod."

Nobody and i mean NOBODY that played sniper elite forgot this

Literally everyone: You manufactured the Welrod didnt you...? BSA: *sticks fingers in ears* LALALALALALALAL

I was just playing Sniper Elite 4 and got recommended this video. Guess Big Brother’s looking out.

_A sneaky weapon from a less civilised age..._ I find the idea of some modern SAS unit with all their fancy NVGs and modern optics resorting to a piece of 1940s plumbing when they need to be extra sneaky rather amusing.

Conspiracy theory: the acorn cop heard this gun

Perfectly shaped for hiding in the ol prison wallet

Everyone: We wanna hear it shooooot!

I know we normally say "suppressor," but I have seen a convincing argument to call it a silencer. The original patent called it a "silencer"

I can guarantee you, no gamer has ever forgotten the Welrod.

It's amazing: you get to fifty years old and you can still learn some local history. I live just down the road from Welwyn (generally we don't pronounce the second "w" by the way) in Hatfield. I can tell you loads about Hatfield's WW2 De Havilland factory, but I was completely oblivious to nearby Welwyn's SOE Station IX factory. Thank you!

Aaah the memories of sneaking around singapore with this gun in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.

a bolt action suppresor with a pistol grip

Excellent. Easy to follow, clear, explanation of the mechanism. Thanks for reminding us of the myth of the "silencer" and the "pfft" of movies.

"Simplicity is the outcome of technical subtlety. It is the goal, not the starting point."

"Explosives were more useful than firearms" sounds like Battlefield 2

Who remembers this from Medal of Honor Rising Sun!?!?

I’ll always find it hilarious when groups completely deny something that definitively exists. That ain’t how it works

I love how it looks like something someone threw together in their garage, but actually is pretty advanced

sights were no Tritium (unavailable at manufacturing time ), the were Radium (dangerous stuff, but available at the time )

the pistol was actually designed to be pressed against the target during firing. the design of the muzzle makes it several decibels quieter when In direct contact, though it is incredibly silent even without being pressed into anything

I remember seeing this gun in one of those Eyewitness books in my elementary school library, and even back then, it looked odd to me. Looking at it now, it reminds me of those improvised pistols or “pipe guns” that you see in long-running active war zones, just somewhat less “kludged together out of whatever’s available” and more “function over form taken to the extreme”.

I remember this gun from Medal of Honor Rising Sun. Sneaking about the docks. Deadly one shotter and it's a gun I've always remembered and loved 💙

Does anyone remember this being the best pistol in Medal of Honor Rising Sun?????

this gun is consistently ranked as one of the world's quietest firearms, sharing a designation with the delisle commando carbine, the mk22 hush puppy, and the experimental firearms developed by Russia during the cold war which used self sealing cartridges

Non-essential Trivia: ‘Welwyn’ (The town where the Welrod was manufactured) is pronounced ‘Wellin’ in Brit-speak 🇬🇧 More trivia! : There is a famous pub in Herts (Hertfordshire) : ‘The Clock Welwyn Herts’, which was made to change its name from The Cock, and laughter is now suppressed 🤡

The bolt action info was neat and REALLY made sense logically speaking. Cheers!

The Brit Special forces also had the 9mm L34 subgun with exactly the same suppression method. When they added some water to the suppressor, all you heard was a polite cough at a distance of a couple of yards.

i remember Medal Of Honor:Rising Sun for the PS2, the mission in singapore i believe has you use a welrod

Great video as always, not only informative but always so enjoyable.

Great presentations on all your videos. Thanks for sharing and keep up the amazing work!

I was so excited that I bailed out of the middle of my other video to watch this. I've wanted to see this forever

I've been following you for quite some time from here in France Ian, and really, I can't say how much I appreciate your work, countless hours of enjoyment and learning thanks to you, it needs to be said, thanks

So, the hose piece used to represent Lego minifigure gun is actually a realistic representation of the real thing.

I know Im too late to the party but I'm sure on 12:55 they have used Radium-226 luminous paint instead of Tritium which was not common at the time this pistol was made.

Holy shit, I remember seeing this gun in a Medal of Honor game.

So, basicaly, this pistol loses it's virginity after first shot.

Very wel-explained. I enjoyed hearing all the facts and especially the open-cut visualisation of the inside of the gun. A demonstration would put the cherry on top. I like the (PMMA) acrylic stand as well, since I work with this sort of material every day it cought my eye right away.

The only pistol I use in Sniper Elite 3-4. Glad you got around to doing a video on it.

People who were killed by this gun must really had it coming.

Radium sights, actually, not tritium. Tritium wasn't available during the war, as it didn't start to be produced in quantity until the need for neutron sources for fusion bombs.

Very cool and awesome work Ian, thanks!

One of the few channels I enjoy the video all the way through.

My uncle had one, he said they had to be bolt actions as most of the recognisable noise was from actions cycling. His had all the baffles dried out so it wasn't as quiet as it could have been. The same day we were shooting this he was shooting a luger, he was leaning on a door frame and when he fired the ejected cartridge hit the top of the frame came down and cut a chunk out of his ear. We laughed about that for years.

Sniper Elite II and III anyone? EDIT: And Sniper Elite IV now.

I’m currently playing sniper elite 4 and you’re issued one of these straight away. Loving it!!!

The crowned & recessed front end looks so nice! Reminds of my AAC Evolution 9mm, except the recess on the Welrod appears deeper.

I love listening to Ian, he's a brilliant presenter.

Very exciting to see a Forgotten Weapons video on the Welrod, and it did not disappoint. Thank you. Thanks especially for including the sound meter testing decibel reading. Not quieter than a .22LR suppressed manual-action. There are quite a lot of myths about the Welrod and DeLisle carbine being far, far quieter than modern suppressed firearms. Indeed there is a widely-circulated 85 decibel claim on the DeLisle, put to bed by modern measurements (which give numbers around 120-130dB if I recall). What I've read is that that 85dB was a legitimate official number, but that the decibel measurements of the era are different from the decibel measurements of today, so it's not a valid number on the modern decibel scale. I don't understand why a modern military unit that had access to Welrods would choose to use them. I expect there are now superior weapons for this purpose. Presumably any unit with access to such specialized and rare weaponry would also have access to more modern captive-piston pistols that I would expect superior performance from, at least in regards to sound level and rapid-fire capability, though honestly I don't recall seeing sound meter measurements of captive-piston ammunition. Captive-piston ammunition I know of is much weaker than 9x19mm, but those pistols are said to be the most silent of all firearms, they do not require a silencer, and they are available in semi-automatic pistols and double-action recovers.

Thanks. The Welrod is one of the most interesting designs. There was another version that resembled a flashlight which could be carried in a coat sleeve. As a point of interest, I've heard a suppressed Sten that was so quiet all I could hear was the action chatter..although I admit I only heard it fire a few rounds.

FANTASTIC video, and the history behind their use, these weapons have such important use in the days of combat and espionage, spies and their guns..

Would love a video on the De Lisle carbine one day

it kind of looks like a police baton combined with a gun

Excellent as always!

Fascinating thank you Ian

Always been fascinated by the Welrod. Interesting to hear details about such a secret weapon.

medal of honor rising sun?

Really love your channel, very cool weapons and your knowledge is inspiring sir

"Who wants a taste of my rod?" Jacksepticeye - 2017

Tritium sight inserts? Seems unlikely in 1943. Radium? More likely.

THankyou again for your incredibly informative information

I've seen these in games ARMA2 and DayZ and never gave them a second thought. Nice to hear the whys and what-fors about this gun.

Thank you Ian, as usual, a fascinating history lesson. The BSA I'm familiar with is: Boy Scouts of America.I'm pretty sure they're not involved with assassinations. I'm probably not the only viewer who would have liked a test firing of this gun just to hear it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASSSSSE!!!! do a video on the De Lisle carbine, that thing is soooooo cool and ive never seen anything but flat rendering pictures of it in books :(

From Italy: never had such a complete explanation. Rich in real details. There's a wide, deep knowledge behind this all.

Such an interesting thing. I am not into guns, but I love mechanisms. And efficient simplicity is wonderful.

A fun fact, "Silencer" is to suppressors as "Kleenex" is to facial tissue. It was a brand name that caught on as a common term. My father talked of using these in WWII and the pieces, particularly the barrel, was mixed in with camera equipment, tool boxes, etc. to pass by inspections for weapons. It was quite effective. BSA was a weapons manufacturer before they started making motorcycles. Ebonite was the same hard rubber used in bowling balls for a long time. Thanks for the great vids.

I'm loving this channel! Great content on history and the engineering. I dont even own a gun or even have a license. Great work. Respect from Australia.

Really cool, love the content!

Wow . I can just imagine the real 007 with this in his pocket in 1943 making his way across occupied france befire the invasion . Legendary .

This was my favorite gun in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Wanted to see you fire it and test the sound suppressing capibility

I wasn't a gun enthusiast until i saw your video man. Thanks you're a true pro 👍🏻

Cool explanation on silencers thanks nice work BSA

Finally! The Welrod. I was hoping you'd get your hands on one of these someday. :)

I can't believe they made my wife a real thing

Very cool and informative.

Rewatching this now that I've seen the videos about the Austen SMGs makes me imagine what the Welrod equivalent would've been like. The Ausrod, if you will. I'm envisioning something that looks about the same, but involves a great deal more precision machining for no obvious purpose, and has at least two of those ribbed plastic pistol grips on it. Possibly replacing the rubber wipes with some less effective but more expensive material, such as gold. :)

When you think the police is carrying a tonfa, while in actuality it's a Welrod mk2a

De Lisle Carbine!! you should make a video of that gun next.

What a weapon. I see at least six ways you can fuck this up. Used by a Resistance operator in a real situation, I wonder if and how many times this was used successfully. The other Resistance weapon airdropped by the thousands was the .45 ‘Liberator’ single shot pistol.Dropped in. Cardboard box with a few rounds of ammunition, and a card with simple instructions, and the legend in several languages that said ‘Use this to get yourself a better weapon.’ Said everything that needed to be said.

I had the chance to shoot with the B&T ‘veterinary gun’, which was based of this. A real kick-ass tool I can tell you, super quiet

Any possibility of getting shooting footage of one of these?

They might still make them but BSA went bust in the 1970s. You wouldn't want a gun factory in Birmingham anymore, trust me.

This is so cool. I was playing Sniper Elite 3 a while back and you can actually equip a Welrod.

For dispatching livestock. The Phantom Grey Ghost...Another British style idea...An old style bike car where one opens up the bonnet from the side, exposing a treadmill, for the greyhound. Powering an intricate array of gears, much like clock work, but driven like an automobile.

I waited so long for someone to tell us the bedtime story of the Welrod. Thanks Ian!