Poland - Forgotten Weapons

wz.88 Tantal: Poland’s Alternative to the AK-74

July 16, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

As part of the Warsaw Pact, Poland anticipated adopting the AK-74 after it was developed by the Soviet Union. However, the eventual Soviet terms for license fees and export restrictions were too severe for Polish […]

Polish PM63 Rak at the Range

June 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 18

Whether it is described as a machine pistol, a submachine gun, or a personal defense weapon, the PM63 Rak is really not the best examples of this sort of thing to actually shoot. The open-bolt/slide […]

PM63 Rak: An Interesting Polish SMG/PDW Hybrid

June 7, 2019 Ian McCollum 29

The PM-63 Rak is a pretty interesting Polish Cold War machine pistol or personal defense weapon. It fires from an open bolt, but uses a slide like a pistol rather than a bolt in an […]

Polish and German Police Silenced CZ-27 Pistols

April 25, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

Today we are looking at two suppressed CZ-27 pistols, one Polish and one German. The Polish one was issued by the Ministry of Public Security, an agency which only existed from 1945 until 1954. It […]

Sheet Metal and Wood: The Polish Sudayev PPS 43/52

February 17, 2018 Ian McCollum 19

Poland was one of the states which manufactured the Soviet PPS-43 submachine gun under license, but they decided to make a change to is in 1952. Where the original PPS-43 used a top-folding metal stock, […]

Poland’s Battle Rifle: the wz.38M at James D Julia

March 17, 2017 Ian McCollum 39

Had it not been for the German and Russian invasions in 1939, Poland might have entered the 1940s with a very modern semiauto infantry battle rifle – the wz.38M. Designed by Josef Maroszek (notably also […]

James D. Julia: Polish wz.28 BAR Shooting, History, Disassembly

March 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

In the aftermath of WWI the newly-united Poland had a military equipped with a mishmash of leftover light machine guns, from Chauchats to MG 08/15s. They wanted to adopt a new standardized weapon, and trials […]

RIA: Polish Ng30 Nagant Revolver

February 11, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

The Model 1895 Nagant revolver is pretty common in the US thanks to large imports of Russian revolvers, but we rarely see Polish Nagants. These were adopted as a sidearms for police organizations under the […]

RIA: Radom’s Vis 35: Poland’s Excellent Automatic Pistol

February 9, 2016 Ian McCollum 23

In the 1920s Poland began looking for a new standard military pistol, and tested a variety of compact .380s. The representative from FN brought along an early iteration of the High Power (along with their […]

RIA: Gewehr 29/40 Mauser

February 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

Over the next couple weeks we will be looking at several Polish firearms, and the first one is today: the G29/40. When German forces overran the arms factory in Radom, Poland, they captured in nearly […]