welcome to today photo of the Day! Here we have a tiny 9mm with a big backstory. This is Detonics Pocket 9, and to get it you have to get Detonics. The company was founded around 1976 in Seattle by a couple of explosives engineers, Pat Yates and Sid Woodcock, along with money man Chuck Lifford. They named the gun company after the explosives organization from which they emerged, which is fitting.
Detonics made its name with the Combatmaster, the first mass-produced subcompact 1911 in .45 ACP. Before that gun, a cut-down .45 was a custom job that a few gunsmiths built at a time. Detonix turned the pocket .45 into a catalog item years before “tight carry” was a household phrase, and Jeff Cooper called it the ultimate defensive handgun.
The Pocket 9, created in 1985 and 1986, was a departure from the company’s 1911 debut. It is a short double-action blowback 9mm, single stack, six rounds, smaller than the Walther PPK. The problem was of time. Detonics was already heading towards bankruptcy, and it broke up in 1986. Only 1,760 Pocket 9s left the building before the lights were turned out, making this little 9mm one of the last ones produced by the original Detonics.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Detonix Model Pocket 9 Semi-Automatic Pistol with Box.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/797/detonics-model-pocket-9-samiautomatic-pistol-with-box. Accessed 3 July 2026.
