ASP pistol The ASP was a custom made handgun designed and built by Paris Theodore , owner of Seventrees , Ltd . a custom gun leather shop in New York from the early 1970s to 1987 . The ASP was based on the Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistol . The ASP featured clear Lexan grips allowing the shooter to see how much ammunition is left , a rounded hammer , hooked triggerguard and no front sight . The ASP was responsible for later innovations made in the development of concealable handguns . Background . The ASP was a reworked Smith & Wesson Model 39 or 39 - 2 , employing a shortened slide ; a fixed bushing ( in lieu of the Smith and Wesson designed collet bushing ) ; the unique Guttersnipe sight system ; clear Lexan grip - panels ; a fully ramped and throated , shortened barrel ; and a smoothed and radiused profile to ensure no risk of snagging on the draw . The fixed bushing was tightly fitted to the shortened barrel and dry - lubricated by Teflon - S , which was applied to all components of the pistol , with the exception of the clear Lexan grip panels . Teflon - S is regarded as safe for handling , but not for use in cooking appliance s and utensil s . It is somewhat more durable than more typical Teflon formulations . Teflon - S is occasionally found on the blades of gardening implements . The unique sighting system , referred to as the " Guttersnipe " , was a narrowing U - channel with fluorescent yellow panels that would form three triangles , all pointed at the target when the sight was properly aligned . Checkering was kept to a minimum , and reserved for the frontstrap and backstrap , as opposed to the grip panels , which were smooth to prevent the drawing hand from catching prematurely on draw , thereby minimizing the risk of any misalignment of the pistol during presentation , aiming , and firing . The ASP 9 mm handgun was made in either right - handed , or left - handed models , as the extended trigger guard ( which included a recurved hook for the index finger of the supporting hand — one of the earliest known instances of such a feature ) was cut away on the side of the strong - sided hand ( which would depend on the handedness of the individual purchasing the weapon ) . Included with the gun was a patented double magazine pouch which used a magnet to hold the spare magazines in place . The cost for the complete ASP modification package on a customer - supplied gun was $ 475 . Production of holster s and magazine carriers for the ASP 9 mm were contracted out to Ken Null , who still produces those designs . Theodore ceased production of the ASP in 1987 . Devel pistol . In 1976 a gunsmith from Cleveland , Ohio , named Charles Kelsey ordered an ASP pistol and never received one . His experience lead him to develop an improved version of the ASP . Working with Firearms Instructor Ken Hackathorn , he developed the Devel pistol . The wood grips featured a clear lexan insert , allowing the shooter a visual account of the number of rounds in the magazine . The pistols were coated in an electroless nickel finish and featured traditional sights . Kelsey sent a sample gun to Smith & Wesson , for a factory agreement to produce these pistols on a large scale . An agreement was never reached , yet several of Kelsey ' s improvements were incorporated into the S & W 3913 .