Bumar
Fabryka Broni

Czak and Wanad: The Postwar Radom Pistols

After the Tokarev pistol production ceased in 1956, several new military sidearms chambered for the new 9 mm x 18 Soviet round were proposed. The Radom design team (headed by R. Białostocki and R. Chełmicki) designed the ‘wz.58’ semiautomatic pistol, but it was rejected and finally the new handgun was designed at the WITU (Military Ordnance Materiel Institute) in Zielonka near Warsaw. This pistol, called the ‘CZAK’, after initials of the designers’ names (W. Czepukajtis, R. Zimny, M. Adamczyk i H. Adamczyk, S. Kaczmarski i K. Kowalewski), has been manufactured at the Radom plant as the P-64, with 190000 made between 1966 and 1977. It was a quite successful, but difficult and expensive to manufacture pistol, and so during the 1970s WITU and Radom plant started several R&D programs to create a better and cheaper o­ne. These programs have spawned the aluminum-framed P-70, polymer-framed P-75, and finally, Project ‘Wanad’ pistols P-76 and P-78 with sheet-metal press-formed and spot-welded frames. The Radom’s P-78 was designed by M. Gryszkiewicz in two variants: the P-78A with automatic firing pin lock and P-78B with classic mechanical safety. The military have chosen the P-78B, later known as P-81, and finally accepted into the inventory of the Polish Army and Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1984 as the ‘9 mm pistolet wz.1983 (P-83)’. The P-83 was manufactured until year 2000, but the final numbers are still secret. Besides the military model, a civilian P-83G gas blank model, chambered for the 9 mm PA ammunition was manufactured and sold in 1990s.

At the same time a modernized version of the P-83 was proposed, the P-93, with slightly longer barrel and trigger mechanism of the rejected P-78A and P-81E – with automatic firing pin lock and no mechanical, external, safety. Lack of interest by the state services combined with restricted civilian market spelled the doom for this interesting pistol, finally abandoned in 1995.

Then, in mid-1990s M. Gryszkiewicz have designed MAG-95, a completely new ‘Wonder-Nine’ style pistol – with high capacity magazine for 9 mm x 19 Luger cartridges. Three years later an aluminum-framed variant followed, the MAG-98. It was a good pistol, but o­nce again, lack of military contracts combined with restrictions o­n civilian market have spelled doom o­n it, and the MAG pistol demised with the ZM Łucznik SA in 2000. After several years the MAG briefly resurrected in 2008 as the modernized MAG-08, fitted with light mounting rail under the frame dust-cover.

In 2002 Polish Police have introduced an ultra-modern P-99 polymer-framed semiautomatic pistol designed by the renowned German company of Carl Walther Waffenfabrik of Ulm. o­ne of the conditions set out in the contract was the license-manufacturing in Poland, and so begun the co-operation between Radom and Walther. The P-99p was initially o­nly assembled at the resurrected FB Radom from 100% imported parts, but gradually the FB took over manufacturing of all metal parts for the pistol and o­nly the polymer frame is still German-made. So far the Police have taken over more than 50000 of these pistols, which gradually phases-out all older handguns from the Police – both Radom-manufactured and imported. Recently (2008) another Walther pistol has been offered by the FB Radom for the undercover police, the sub-compact PPS, successfully blending compact size with potent 9 mm x 19 Luger chambering.