POTD: The Fist of James Bond – S.M. Haight Fist Pistol 410 Bore
Sam.S 08.09.21
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! This is something that screams James Bond to me for so many reasons. Mostly because it comes off looking like a gadget. The real story behind the fist pistol is a little more mundane, but is still interesting. To put it shortly it was developed over a short period of time and never brought to fruition. It was meant for rear troops and labor personnel as a form of last-ditch self-defense. Rock Island Auction Company goes more in-depth below.
“This unique WWII weapon was conceptualized and designed by Captain Stanley Haight, a US Naval Academy graduate in the early 1940s. His basic idea was to develop some kind of basic “last defense” weapon that could be issued to any and all heavy equipment, machine operator or common labors to defend themselves in their day to day job without having to constantly drag around some kind of heavy weapon. His single shot pistol design could be attached to the every day, common leather gloves as issued to all Seabees and construction crews during WWII. It was fired by simply making a fist and punching the attacker, with the actual inertia or force of the punch triggering the weapon to fire straight off the glove and striking the attacker. Captain Haight actually submitted his prototype design through Navy channels in July 1943. It went through rapid field trials, and although the trials identified a couple of short comings in the design, the Navy approved the design and proceeded with the development of the “Fist Gun”.”
Lot 3506: S.M. Haight Fist Pistol 410 [Photograph found in Auction Catalog #50, Rock Island Auction Company]. (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2021, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/50/3506/sm-haight-fist-pistol-410
