The P-83 Wanad ( Pl.

Vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an ...

) is a single-action and double-action Polish

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

, chambered for the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge and designed by Ryszard Chełmicki and Marian Gryszkiewicz of the state research institute Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

. The P-83 succeeded the P-64 as the sidearm for the Polish Army and police. The P-83 is no longer used by both the Polish police but remains in use by some units of the Polish military. It has been replaced by

Walther P99 The Walther P99 () is a semi-automatic pistol developed by the German company Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen of Ulm for law enforcement, security forces and the civilian shooting market. History Design work on this new generation sidearm began ...

pistols in Police service and partially by the FB VIS 100 and WIST-94 pistols in the Polish military.

Design details

The P-83 is a double-action/single-action straight-blowback operated pistol with a single stack 8-round box

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. It is formed primarily of

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...

stampings which have been blued. The pistol has an external case extractor on the slide which actuates a

loaded chamber indicator Close-up shot of a safety of an M16A2 rifle In firearms, a safety or safety catch is a mechanism used to help prevent the accidental discharge of a firearm, helping to ensure safer handling. Safeties generally can be divided into subtypes su ...

(which, both visually and tactilely, indicates the presence of a round in the chamber). There is a manual safety lever on the left side of the slide with the upward position being "Safe" and the lower position being "Fire" (there is a red dot on the slide which is hidden by the safety when in "Safe"). The "Safe" position decocks the hammer while the

trigger Trigger may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Trigger (''Only Fools and Horses''), in the TV sitcom * Trigger Argee, in science fiction short stories by James H. Schmitz * Devil Trigger, a transformation ability of ...

remains in the single-action position, and drops the

firing pin A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed sprin ...

down to a position where the hammer face is milled out to prevent contact with the pin. Additionally, the firing pin has a hook designed into the rearmost portion that will engage with the rear of the slide to prevent forward movement when the safety is engaged. When the safety is disengaged, the trigger will return to full forward extension to allow a double-action first trigger pull. The P-83 also has a hammer block safety, similar to some

revolvers A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

. The P-83 has a traditional European heel magazine release and a lanyard loop on the left side at the base of the grip. The magazine release is tensioned by the hammer spring as a simplification measure. The grip panels are grooved black plastic that form the side and back of the grip section, and are held together by a single screw.

Civilian version

Civilian guns have different shaped sights, a rounded hammer and different markings on the slide: a Polish eagle followed by “RADOM wz. P-83 9×18 POLAND Z.M. ŁUCZNIK”. The name of the importing company is stamped on the left side of the frame.

References

External links

World Guns, Modern Firearms, Handguns, ''P-83 pistol (Poland)''P-83 Wanad Pistol, User's Guide: Safety and Instruction Manual for the Polish P-83 (P83) Wanad Pistol Makarov 9x18mm
{{FB firearms .32 ACP semi-automatic pistols .380 ACP semi-automatic pistols 9×18mm Makarov semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of Poland Simple blowback firearms Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1983