One of my favorite things about the gun world is that there are so many odd and obscure firearms out there that have their own hidden histories. Some are silly while others are quite fascinating, and today we have the latter. You are looking at a Richardson Industries Phillipine Guerilla Gun. I know what you’re thinking. That looks like the kind of gun you see gun rights activists turn into firearm buybacks at a hefty profit.
The Philippine Guerilla Gun is a slamfire, 12 gauge shotgun that cost all of $7 in 1946. A man named Illif David Richardson produced these guns, and the design and his intent to produce them is a really fascinating story.
The big question you might have is, why? That question is likely followed by, who wanted it? I can’t answer the why, but I can answer who wanted it — not many folks. It didn’t sell well and Richardson stopped producing them in fairly short order. There were plenty of repeating shotguns and single-shot shotguns with much more sound designs. You know, guns that had actual triggers, hammers, and decent stocks.
Even though they were never super popular, they seem to have been robust enough to stick around. I was able to get my hands on one.
The Two Models of the Guerilla Gun
The Philippine Guerilla Gun came in two varieties, the basic and the deluxe. Yes, there is a deluxe version of this gun, and it’s not very deluxe at the end of the day. The basic model is what you see here.
It’s a barrel, barrel sleeve, fixed firing pin, and stock seemingly made from a hunk of old wood. A simple screw could be tightened to prevent barrel movement. This makes transporting the gun easier and was supposed to add a rudimentary safety. The idea was that it prevented barrel movement and kept the gun from firing. I probably wouldn’t trust it very much.
The Deluxe model wasn’t much different. It was still a basic slamfire shotgun, but it had a few extra features. This includes a trigger, but the trigger didn’t fire the gun but released the barrel to allow it to move back and forth. A trigger guard covered this trigger to prevent accidental movement.
The slamfire barrel featured a foregrip that allowed for a bit more control over the gun and firing it. Plus, holding on to the barrel under recoil was likely a little easier with a foregrip.
The Fascinating Origin of the Guerilla Gun
So far, it’s tough to see what exactly is appealing about this gun at all. I mentioned at the beginning of the article that the gun’s history and origin are what makes it fascinating. Illiff David Richardson, the gun’s producer, is not its designer.
The “Philippine” in Philippine Guerilla Gun comes from the Philippine guerillas who fought the Japanese in World War 2. They didn’t have much in the realm of firearms and produced slamfire shotguns with what they had. Much like the Liberator, the Guerilla Gun allowed them to kill a Japanese soldier and retrieve something a bit better than a slamfire, single-shot shotgun.
The American Guerilla
Illiff Richardson is a fascinating character. He enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and wore the rank of ensign. He was involved in numerous adventures in and around the Philippines during World War II and got to know the Philippine guerillas. He and a number of Navy and Army Air Force officers worked together with the guerillas to unify their scattered forces. They were able to establish contact with American forces, as well as set up radio stations to share intelligence on Japanese ship movements. Clearly, Richardson fought alongside them and saw these slamfire shotguns in service.
General McArthur eventually commissioned Richardson as a US Army Intelligence Major, meaning he was in both the Navy and Army at the same time and is the only man to ever receive consecutive medals in the Army and the Navy. He left the military after World War II and had numerous jobs. This includes his production of the Philippine Guerilla Gun in 1946.
Shooting the Philippine Guerilla Gun
Oh boy, I was a bit nervous about this, so I went with some low-powered birdshot. Specifically, I used some Federal Mini Shells. I figured it was an old gun made of pipe and wood, so best to be cautious about these things. You drop the shell into the barrel portion, and the rim keeps the thing locked into the barrel. There is no chamber length listed on the barrel, and you can fit any length of shell into it.
It’s not exactly advisable to load a 3.5-inch load of steel shot or even a three-inch magnum of any kind. 2.75 inches was the standard of the era, but I wouldn’t fire anything too heavy or powerful through one of these old guns. A 1.75-inch shell is perfect for what I plan to do with it.
It takes quite a bit of force to slam fire the Guerilla Gun. “Slam” is most certainly the word I’d use to describe how to fire this thing. You have to shove that thing rearward heavy and hard. The Philippine Guerilla Gun has no sights, so it’s guesswork, but with 1940s buckshot, guesswork is pretty good. Old buckshot spread far and wide, and that’s useful when you’re aiming down the barrel and nothing more.
The recoil was mild, and it was only a 1.75-inch shell. I amped it up a hair with a round of the Federal mini buckshot and tried to pattern the load. The lack of a forcing cone, choke, or anything else ensured a fairly wide spread. At close range, it’s easy to hit a man-sized target with several pellets of buckshot.
Playing Guerilla
I imagine a small group of guerillas running through the jungle, tracking down an enemy patrol and firing in a volley. The volley of buckshot coming from a half dozen guerillas would be sailing a lot of pellets through the air. In the jungle, it’d be easy to hide, and shooters could use the shotgun’s close-range power as a fighting weapon to hit and run, or hit, grab an Arisaka rifle or Nambu machine gun, and sprint to the hills.
While the gun might have been effective, or at least more so than harsh words, it certainly didn’t have much appeal to the American shooter. Still, to me, the story of Illiff Richardson and his guerilla gun is absolutely fascinating.
