The Deer Gun (Historical Prop)

thingiverse

The Deer gun or Dear gun was a successor developed by the CIA for South Vietnamese guerrillas. It fired single shots at North Vietnamese soldiers invading the South. ### Design Cast aluminum formed the receiver into a cylinder on top of the weapon. The striker protruded from the rear, cocked to fire and secured with a plastic clip to prevent accidental discharge since there was no mechanical safety. A hollow grip held space for three 9 mm rounds and a rod cleared barrel spent cases. Markings identified manufacturer or user were avoided to prevent tracing, delivered unmarked in polystyrene boxes with pictures depicting operation of the gun and three 9 mm rounds. ### Operation The Deer gun was loaded by removing the barrel and placing a 9 mm cartridge in the chamber. The striker was cocked and secured with a plastic clip preventing forward motion to impede accidental discharge. The barrel was then screwed back onto the receiver. Firing involved removing the plastic clip, placing it on the barrel as a sight, and pulling the trigger. ### Fate A production run of 1,000 Deer guns were made in 1964 at $3.95 per gun (about $32.00 in 2018). The predicted scenario did not occur; instead of a small war, the Vietnam War became full-scale where the Deer gun was less useful than anticipated. Some Deer guns were evaluated in Vietnam but the fate of the rest is unknown. ### Conclusion After printing and testing the Deer Gun & FP-45, I will list pros and cons of both designs (this is only my opinion, never fired live ammunition). ## Deer Gun ### Pros: Very easy to design; took me 2 hours to design this. Assembly took less than 5 minutes. Extremely simple design. More accurate than FP-45 due to rifled barrel. ### Cons: No trigger guard; safety issues. Loading takes twice as long as the FP-45. Carries only three rounds of ammunition. No sights. Very ugly. ## FP-45 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3060548 ### Pros: Good design. Reloading is fast. Carries ten rounds. Can be carried safely with a round in the chamber. Has iron sights. Looks good. ### Cons: Too complicated (many parts). One of the hardest things I have ever assembled. Tends to pinch your hand once fired; check the firing video.