They make a worthy addition to any collection. As a footnote, though, a limited run of replica (reissue?) Radoms were produced by a revived Radom in 1997 excellent examples can command price tags of almost four figures good originals seem to be bringing anywhere from $450 for a sad-looking wartime piece to over $2,000 for a nice pre-war "Polish Eagle" ( well over $2k if that Polish Eagle has German Waffenamt proofs.) The pistols are a joy to shoot and spare parts, while difficult to find, are not impossibly so. In 1945 the Radom plant was destroyed by the invading Russians it was a sad ending for the last horse pistol. Late-war guns produced by Steyr using slave labor are wretched indeed, with extremely coarse finishes and crude wooden slabs for grips. Polished bluing was replaced by a brushed finish that got rougher as the war went on the slot for the shoulder stock disappeared finally the frame-mounted takedown catch was deleted. The wz.35 was a common issue weapon to the Waffen SS, and as that force grew, the pistol was simplified in manufacture so as to keep up with demand.
RIGHT: "S"-rune on barrel lug, indicating contract manufacture for Waffen SS, most likely by inmates at Mauthausen.Īfter Poland was overrun by the German and Soviet invasion of 1939, the Radom plant fell in the German -occupied half of the country and the Poles were soon forced to churn out arms for their conquerors, who called it the Pistole 645(p). It had a butt slotted to accept a shoulder stock, and was provided with a decocker so that the trooper could more safely return it to his holster with one hand than if he was trying to control the fall of the hammer with his thumb while astride a possibly skittish mount. The gun was chambered in the by-now-ubiquitous 9x19mm Parabellum, and was fed from an eight-round single column magazine. The barrel, while operating on the familiar Browning tilting-barrel short recoil system, used a cammed lug under the breech end to effect unlocking, rather than the more usual swinging link this feature was shared with the FN GP35 "High Power" pistol that was making its debut the same year, and seems to point to a certain amount of Fabrique Nationale influence. The trigger was a sliding affair, similar to that used on many Browning designs, and the grip safety would be familiar to any user of Colt pistols. LEFT: Radom disassembled, showing its Browning heritage. Radom ViS wz.35: The last horse pistol.
OVERALL LENGTH 7.8 LENGTH OF MAGAZINE 4.58 A pistol of basic Browning design developed in the early 1930s by FN and Polish engineers. Berthier-Mannlicher Mousqueton d'Artillerie M1916 ORIGIN POLAND CALIBER 9mm PARABELLUM WEIGHT 36 OZ.
The between-wars Polish army was the last of the European military forces to maintain the cavalry.