A German Jaeger officer recalled of the British at Le Cateau:
They were wily soldiers, tough and tenacious fellows, with iron nerves, even when wounded. They shot well and understood how to use terrain with such skill that it was difficult even for Jaeger to detect them.
The Altor 9mm is crude, awkward, and about as far from a refined carry gun as you can get. That’s exactly why this odd little single-shot pistol makes such a provocative modern echo of the FP45 Liberator, and why its implications reach way beyond the range.
At 0200 on 3 January 2026, a Delta Force strike team descended upon the fortified compound of Nicolas Madura in Caracas, Venezuela, via helicopters piloted by the Task Force 160 SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment). US forces had previously neutralized Venezuelan air defenses via a combination of stealth strike aircraft and unmanned drones. Some two hours later, the Delta operators exfiltrated with Maduro and his wife in custody to face charges in American courts for narcotrafficking. They left behind 55 dead Venezuelan and Cuban security officers. The mission was an unqualified success, one of the most audacious and effective special operations in military history.
Soon thereafter, there arose a grassroots uprising in Iran against the ruling theocrats led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The radical Iranian government responded with overwhelming force, arresting protestors across the country. Many of those arrested were subsequently executed. The death toll was in the tens of thousands. As many as 330,000 protestors were wounded. Specific details are difficult to ascertain because the Iranian government has imposed an Internet blackout across the country.
As I type these words, the US and Israel are engaged in a world-class dustup in Iran. American aviators are flying around-the-clock combat missions, while the US Navy pummels Iranian targets with missiles from warships underway at sea. Most of the Iranian leadership is dead. However, the sordid situations in both Venezuela and Iran have laid bare one of the thorniest issues in modern power projection.
Deposing a dictator is honestly the easy part. There are rumors that the strike team in Caracas utilized some sort of advanced sonic weapon that debilitated Maduro’s defenders. While we will likely never learn the details, what is obvious is that this was a seriously one-sided fight. Delta swooped in there and whacked absolutely everybody before snatching the Maduros and spiriting them away to the USS Iwo Jima steaming offshore. The real challenge is not toppling the government. It is what to do with a beheaded country after Delta goes home to Fort Bragg.
These same challenges exist in spades in Iran, Red China, Myanmar, and North Korea. There are plenty of selfless patriots willing to fight for their freedom. However, when the government retains a monopoly on deadly force, there’s just not a whole lot that reformers can do to influence that situation. The amazingly brave Tank Man in Tiananmen Square made for some compelling visuals, but the tanks still win–every single time.
A typical Tomahawk Land Attack cruise missile carries a 690-pound unitary warhead and will reach out 1,550 miles. The TLAM cruises at 570 mph, some 100 feet above the surface of the earth. This brilliant machine can be programmed to approach a target from an unexpected direction using a variety of redundant guidance systems. It is a truly amazing thing. The latest versions will set you back about $3 million apiece. We fired more than 720 of them in the opening salvoes of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The TLAM is undeniably impressive, I’ll grant you that. However, I’m not so sure that clouds of hyper-expensive cruise missiles are the answer to the thorny problem of what comes next in places like Venezuela and Iran. I would rather propose that the better solution is a tiny, almost disposable single-shot 9mm pistol from a company called Altor. I bought mine for less than $100. The Altor pistol is the heir apparent to the WW2-vintage FP45 Liberator.
In March of 1942, a Polish military attache proposed the concept of a cheap, single-shot handgun that could be inexpensively mass-produced and then air-dropped to resistance forces operating in occupied Europe. The idea was forwarded to the US Army Joint Psychological Warfare Committee and from there passed on to George Hyde at the General Motors Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. Hyde was the guy who designed the M3 Grease Gun.
The General Motors Guide Lamp Division was tasked to produce Hyde’s design under tight security. The gun was designated the FP45, short for “Flare Projector.” Naming the thing a flare gun was just another handy bit of subterfuge. Individual components were designated the tube, spanner, control rod, and yoke to camouflage the true nature of the weapon.
The entire project spanned six months and produced about a million copies. Actual physical production ran a mere eleven weeks. Each pistol consisted of 23 parts, including a smoothbore barrel. They cost $2.10 apiece to make. That would be about $39 today. America has its problems, but nobody mass-produces stuff quite like we do.
While this single-shot gun had to be manually reloaded using a wooden dowel as an ejector, the pistol did carry five spare rounds in the grip. Each FP45 was issued in a cardboard box with the dowel, a cartoon instruction sheet, and ten rounds of ammunition. The FP45 was not a proper service weapon by any means. However, it was the gun you could use in a pinch to get yourself a better gun.
Nobody knows how many FP45’s actually saw service, but it wasn’t many. Generals MacArthur and Eisenhower apparently refused to authorize widespread distribution of the tiny weapons out of concern for the difficulties an armed populace might introduce to the post-war pacification process. Original examples remain available at a price. Vintageordnance.com offers perfect spot-on modern reproductions. Large numbers were supposedly dumped into the ocean off the coast of the Philippines at the end of the war.
In 1964, the US government contracted with the American Machine and Foundry Company to produce a more modernized version of the FP45 for use by irregular forces in Vietnam. Christened the Deer Gun, this 9mm weapon was also an inexpensive single-shot design. However, it was built around a cast aluminum frame with a simple retractable striker. Around 1,000 copies were produced, few if any of which saw service.
Final cost for the Deer Gun was about $3.95 apiece, which is also about forty bucks in today’s money. The Deer Gun carried three spare rounds and a manual ejector rod in its hollow aluminum grip. The gun’s sole safety was a small plastic clip that secured the striker in place.
The Altor single-shot 9mm pistol is the obvious next evolution of these earlier covert assassination weapons. To be honest, the Altor gun is an objectively sketchy gun. The pistol has just enough influence from trial attorneys to make it cumbersome. However, despite these failings, it really could change the course of history in places like Venezuela and Iran.
Altor means “Protector” in Latin. The Altor pistol is comprised of a whopping six parts all totaled. It doesn’t even have a trigger in the traditional sense.
There is a basic crossbolt safety located in the grip that prevents the striker from being retracted far enough to fire a round. To load the gun, you pull back very slightly on the striker lever and rotate the barrel off. You then slip a single cartridge into the cartridge holder and return the barrel. Rotating the barrel into one of two detent positions acts as a secondary safety mechanism.
When you are ready to fire, you point the gun in the direction of something you dislike, push off the safety, and manually retract the striker lever. A ramp built into the frame shoves your finger out of the way and releases the striker to fire the round. Reloading is tiresome but fairly straightforward.
Altor offers the gun in 9mm and .380ACP, both with and without threaded barrels. The metal bits are all cut from quality stainless steel. The polymer frame is some indestructible Information Age wonder material. The nature of the design means you need not keep a stick handy for reloading. The sights are a simple post and V cast into the polymer frame.
Recoil is surprisingly vigorous. The gun will readily hide in the front pocket of a pair of blue jeans, but I would have to think a bit before I packed it loaded. “Blew His Own Balls Off with a Cheap Single-Shot Pistol” would look pretty stupid on a tombstone. However, the rifled barrel ensures that the gun tracks true at typical intimate close quarters ranges.
While the Altor pistol would never be my first choice as a defensive tool, it really could conceivably shape the geopolitical affairs of men. While I paid a c-note for my copy, I bet Uncle Sam could mass-produce them for a fraction of that. Even paying retail, that means you could get 30,000 Altor pistols for the cost of a single modern TLAM cruise missile.
| Model | Altor single-shot pistol |
|---|---|
| Caliber | 9mm |
| Other Chambering Mentioned | .380ACP |
| Action | Single-shot |
| Capacity | 1 round |
| Construction | Stainless steel and polymer |
| Safety | Crossbolt safety and rotating barrel detent positions |
| Sights | Simple post and V cast into the polymer frame |
| Street Price Mentioned | less than $100 |
If this were Willsworld (which it most certainly is not), we would airdrop 30,000 of these things into Iran and Venezuela and just let them go at it. An Altor pistol would certainly not be adequate to transform your typical Iranian pro-democracy protestor into a seasoned Delta Force operator. However, it would no doubt make the Iranian IRGC security thugs keep looking over their shoulders as they were rounding up dissidents. The same could be said for Venezuela. A few zillion of these things gifted to an oppressed people equals an instant armed population.
Unarmed folks are slaves. The armed sorts are citizens. The capacity to airdrop Altor pistols in quantity into places like Myanmar or North Korea would instantly create an armed populace, the bane of despots since the beginning of time. I genuinely believe that the answer to Iran and Venezuela isn’t some massive military intervention or even suffocating economic sanctions. I think the solution is actually guns, lots and lots of guns. This innocuous little Altor pistol would be a great first step.
Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, United States Army, for exceptionally valorous achievement during combat operations in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 20 March 2005, in Iraq. Sergeant Hester’s heroic actions in Iraq contributed to the overwhelming success of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq mission.
While serving as the Team Leader for RAVEN 42B in the 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 18th Military Police Brigade, Sergeant Hester led her soldiers on a counterattack of anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF) who were ambushing a convoy with heavy AK-47 assault rifle fire, PRK machine gun fire, and rocket propelled grenades.
Sergeant Hester maneuvered her team through the kill zone into a flanking position where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M-203 rounds. She then cleared two trenches with her Squad Leader where she engaged and eliminated 3 AIF with her M-4 rifle.
Her actions saved the lives of numerous convoy members. Sergeant Hester’s bravery is in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflects distinct credit upon herself, the 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), the 18th Military Police Brigade, and the United States Army.
NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD: Sergeant Leigh A. Hester is cited for conspicuous gallantry in action against an armed enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with anti Iraq forces (AIF) as a team leader for Raven 42B, 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne) stationed at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 20 March 2005, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
The team’s mission was to assist Raven 42 in searching the Eastern Convoy Route for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and provide additional security to sustainment convoys traveling through their area of responsibility. While patrolling Alternate Supply Route (ASR) Detroit, Raven 42B was shadowing a sustainment convoy consisting of 30 third country national (TCN) semi-tractor trailers with a three vehicle squad size escort, call sign Stallion 33, traveling from LSA (logistics support area) Anaconda to CSC (convoy support center) Scania.
The weather for this ASR patrol was 75 degrees and sunny with a 10 knot breeze from the southwest. While traveling on ASR Detroit approximately 50 AIF ambushed the convoy with heavy AK47 fire, RPK heavy machine gun fire, and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) from the southwest side of the road at 1140 hours. The AIF were utilizing irrigation ditches and an orchard for the well planned complex attack.
The AIF had cars combat parked along a road perpendicular to the ASR with all doors and trunks open. The AIF intent was to destroy the convoy, to inflict numerous casualties, and to kidnap several TCN drivers or U.S. Soldiers.
The initial ambush disabled and set on fire the lead TCN vehicle, which effectively blocked the southbound lanes of ASR Detroit, stopping the convoy in the kill zone. The squad leader, Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein, directed the squad to move forward, traveling on the right shoulder and passing through the engagement area between the enemy and the convoy.
Sergeant Hester directed her gunner to provide heavy volumes of MK 19 and M240B fires into the field where an overwhelming number of insurgents were executing a well coordinated ambush on the convoy. Raven 42 elements were outnumbered five to one. Staff Sergeant Nein ordered the squad to flank the insurgents on their right side.
The squad continued to come under heavy machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenade fire when Sergeant Hester stopped her vehicle, the middle vehicle, at a flanking position enfilading the trench line and the orchard field where over a dozen insurgents were engaging the squad and convoy.
She then directed her gunner to focus fires in the trench line and the orchard field. Sergeant Hester dismounted and moved to what was thought to be the non-contact side of the vehicle. She ordered her gunner to continue to fire on the orchard field as she and her driver engaged insurgents in the orchard field with small arms.
Sergeant Hester began engaging the insurgents with her M203 in order to suppress the heavy AIF fire. Sergeant Hester followed Staff Sergeant Nein to the right side berm and threw two well placed fragmentation grenades into the trench eliminating the AIF threat. Sergeant Hester and Staff Sergeant Nein went over the berm into the trench and began clearing the trench with their M4s. Sergeant Hester engaged and eliminated three AIF to her front with her M4.
They then made their way to the front trench and cleared that as well. After clearing the front trench cease fire was called and she began securing the ambush site. The final result of the ambush was 27 AIF KIA (killed in action), 6 AIF WIA (wounded in action), and one AIF captured
