Posted 5 years ago
kwqd
(1189 items)
The P-83 Wanad is a single and double action Polish semi-automatic pistol, chambered for the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge. It was designed by Ryszard Che?micki and Marian Gryszkiewicz of the state research institute O?rodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy in Radom. The P-83 replaced the P-64 as the service pistol of the Polish Army and police forces. The P-83 is still in limited use by both but has been replaced to a large extent by more modern pistols chambered in 9 mm Luger.
This pistol is 6.5" long x 4.9" high x 1.2" wide and weighs 26 ounces. The P-83 is a double-action/single-action straight-blowback operated pistol with a single stack 8-round box magazine. It is primarily constructed of sheet metal stampings which have been blued.
The P-83 has an external case extractor on the slide which doubles as a loaded chamber indicator that both visually and by feel indicates that a round is chambered. There is a manual safety lever on the left side of the slide, upward position being "Safe" and lower position being "Fire". A red dot on the slide is hidden by the safety lever when in "Safe" mode. The "Safe" position decocks the hammer so that the trigger remains in the single-action position, and drops the firing pin down to a position where the hammer face is milled to prevent contact with the pin. The firing pin is designed to prevent forward movement when the safety is engaged. The P-83 also has a hammer block safety.
The P-83 was designed and adopted because of the very expensive milling and finishing processes needed to produce the P-64. The P-83 is remarkable and ahead of its time as it is made almost entirely from stamped metal parts, even the slide. There are very few milled parts in this pistol and it was much cheaper to produce. That being said, very advanced manufacturing techniques were needed to produce a pistol made almost entirely by using the stamping process. A very fine article in the blog below goes into extensive detail about the process used to produce this pistol.
https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?401013-Polish-P83-More-Than-Meets-The-Eye
More information about the P-83:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FB_P-83_Wanad
Looks almost identical to the HSc Mauser.
Do you have trouble finding 9x18 ammo ? Why create a cal. between 17 m/m & 19 m/m ? Seems to deliberately add to the confusion. Can 9x19 m/m cases be trimmed & sized down to work for reloads ?
@blunderbuss2 - Good eye! It does look pretty similar.
Thanks for loving my P-83 post blunderbuss2, Jenni, Thomas, officialfuel, vintagegirl66, fortapache and welzebub!
Ammo is very easy to find on line. I have not really looked in brick and mortar stores. Probably not so easy to find there. The 9 x 18 cartridge was the standard pistol caliber for Soviet Bloc nations and it was designed so that it would not chamber in pistols that shot 9 mm Luger. It is readily available as several military surplus pistols that use this caliber have been widely imported into the U.S. and are very popular for concealed carry and self defense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9%C3%9718mm_Makarov
Thanks for taking time to look at my Polish P-83 pistol Beachbum58, bobby725 and yougottahavestuff!
Thanks for taking a look at my P-83 pistols mtg75!
Thank you sanhardin!
Thanks for looking at my P-83 ttomtucker and Beachbum58!
Great information! I learned a lot from your post. Thank you.
You are welcome Daisy1000! Thank you for taking the time to read it!