laststandonzombieisland

I ran across this little gem during the 145th NRAAM in Louisville last week at the Radom VIS club’s booth. It’s not a Russian/Soviet Nagant M1895 with Polish markings but a Polish FB Radom-made Nagant revolver with matching (and Polish-marked) ammo.

Whaa?

In the 1920s, Poland started off as a country with no firearms factories on their land and a hodgepodge of German, Russian, Austrian, French and British weapons. The first modern handgun made in country was the Nagant, classified as the wz.30.

The Poles came across a liquidation notice from the Nagant brothers in Belgium whose factory was under receivership and they got the whole works including machines, templates, plans and parts for a song. It made sense to put in a bid on the concern, as the Poles had inherited a large stockpile of Tsarist-era Nagants and were making their own 7.62×38mmR gas-seal rounds for those captured guns already.

Between 1931-37, some 17,000 Polish “Radom Nagants” were made for state police and security forces before the line was shut down in favor of the VIS pistol. They undoubtedly saw much wartime service but this example shown above, made in 1935, is in near-pristine condition.

The more you know…

And yes, you will see much more goofy stuff from the NRA meeting in coming weeks. I’ve just had to digest it all.