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At the beginning of the series the guns were a bit more varied, but very shortly into the first season the gun the field agents carried was standardized as a modified Walther P-38.The modifications consisted of shortening the barrel and attaching a "bird cage" flash suppressor, and replacing the two handgrip panels with a one piece aluminum grip that also provided the mounting points for the removable shoulder stock and removable scope mount (which attached to the right side of the pistol). The custom handgrip also had provision for the agent's initial to be displayed on the left side of the grip.The standard Walther P-38 was developed during WWII as a replacement for the Luger. The Walther P-38 was more reliable than the Luger and cheaper and easier to manufacture.The Walther P-38 as used by UNCLE was the heart of a system which, when fully assembled, consisted of attaching a scope, a telescoping shoulder stock, an extended magazine (16 rounds instead of the normal eight), and a barrel extension that included an integral sound suppressor (aka "silencer").The UNCLE SPECIAL had previously been based around a Mauser pistol. Also, Napoleon Solo has appeared in publicity photos carrying a Luger P-08.The secretarys at UNCLE HQ carried a gun in a holster at the small of their backs. The gun was a Baretta model 1934 (but the show discovered that any REAL gun weighed too much, so the women actually carried toy guns!).My famous little quote is that you show me an uncle fan from the 60's who didn't want the uncle gun and I'll show you a liar.We use to dream about this gun in the UK in the 60's(I was only nine at the time).
The United Network Command For Law
Enforcement featured on the espionage series THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E./NBC/1964-68 used an
array of pseudo-scientific gadgets during each weekly episode. The firearm of choice for
the U.N.C.L.E. agents was the Walther P-38 pistol (priced at $1,100 in 1965), a German
semi-automatic pistol equipped with scopes, and silencers. On the series, however, the
guns fired sleep darts, which were capable of knocking out the opposition from five hours
to five days. (The bad-guys at T.H.R.U.S.H. used bullets). The pistol converted into a
carbine type rifle when the 3 and 1/2 inch pistol barrel with silencer was replaced with a
12-inch carbine breakaway barrel and stock. Occasionally, the U.N.C.L.E. agents used a
cigarette lighter that concealed a .32 caliber pistol (Flip the lighter lid and BOOM!), or
a gas gun that looked like a miniature camera that fired gas pellets through its
lens. The T.H.R.U.S.H. guns were conventional Army surplus carbine with an infrared
light and snooper scope with a logo of a thrush bird on their stock handle. They also used
a cane shaped gun that fired deadly gas. Ideal Toys reproduced and sold thousands of
replicas of the U.N.C.L.E. and T.H.R.U.S.H. guns starting at $4.99.(now you can't get one
for love nor money)Other gadgets included a three meter cyanide bomb (a glass cigar case
filled with milk with a button on one end and a rubber eraser on the other); a portable
mine detector (made from a Boy Scout flashlight, a piece of automobile antenna, a
telephone buzzer and a flash bulb); gas bombs (made from dry ice); and when they needed to
record someone's voice, they used a miniature reel-to-reel tape recorders. And finally
there was X-757, an explosive painted on toenails like nail polish. In an emergency it
could be peeled off and used like plastic explosives. This handy gadget was used April
Dancer (Stephanie Powers) on THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E./NBC/1966-67. Each episode U.N.C.L.E.
agents were threatened by a variety of evil gadgets including: fear gas; suspended
animation experiments; brainwashing; fungus deadly to Soviet wheat crop; brain-altering
ray; thought-reading device; vaporizing machine; chemical to destroy jungles;
volcano-activating device; chemical capable of stopping the reproductive process;
Quadrillenium X-a very heavy metal with high magnetic powers which THRUSH used to disrupt
world communications; high-frequency sound machine that shattered eardrums; rejuvenation
process; quartzite radiation projector; earthquake-activating machine; radioactive bats to
jam the world's radar; Plus X/Minus X drug which heightens and dulls senses; new laser
gun; deadly hiccup gas; communications jamming device; superman formula to build an army
to conquer Africa; antimatter; tidal-wave machine; Project Quasimodo, a miniature atomic
bomb; powerful heat activated explosives; perfume atomizer with secret formula; exploding
apples used to trigger nuclear stockpile; extract gold from sea water; deadly thermal
prism, thought-controlling device; molecutronic gun; docility gas; slow-motion gas; high
speed rocket; Sonic Propulsion Underwater Demolition weapon developed by THRUSH to destroy
ships; reincarnation serum; molecular reorganizer; color-extracting machine developed to
turn world art treasures white; and Vitamin Q-a super strength pill.In May 1970 MGM faced
with financial problems auctioned off all of its props including the guns used on THE MAN
FROM U.N.C.L.E. The Masers sold for $45 each, the Walthers sold for $150 each. The rest
went into the hands of collectors. Reportedly, all of the fancy attachments for the guns
were later found in a garbage tip, wether the latter is true or not