“Nice Makarov” is what you’ll probably hear when you bring a P-83 Wanad to your local gun range. This is easily forgiven—the Wanad looks and indeed functions very similarly to the famous Soviet sidearm. Should you dare correct the well-meaning commentator, you’ll likely be faced with the most common question it brings up: “What the hell is a Wanad?” The Wanad is a Polish military sidearm that replaced the in the 1980s. Like the P-64 it replaced and the Makarov it resembles, it is a direct blowback semiautomatic pistol chambered in 9x18mm Makarov. ![]() East German Makarov: A Cold War Classic. The East German Makarov is an intriguing pistol that is emblematic of the bygone Cold War era. Interest in the PM is growing as collectors have come to appreciate its fine qualities and numerous variations. May 17, 2003 I will never trust ANY of Gun Tests reviews. Besides flunking the Makarov, they also flunked the Saiga-12, the fine Russian Semi-Auto shotgun based on the Kalashnikov action. They said the reciever cover came off while firing. The P-83 features a 3.8-inch barrel, a double-/single-action trigger, a slide-mounted decocker, an external hammer, and a slide lock/release. It feeds from eight-round, single-stack steel magazines with windowed sides that allow shooters to quickly check ammo reserves. The magazine release is located in the heel of the grip. The P-83 was developed by Radom as a replacement for the P-64. The P-64 was perfectly reliable, but prohibitively expensive to build and had a limited magazine capacity. While not as concealable as the P-64 it replaced, this was hardly an issue since it was a military firearm generally open-carried in a leather holster. A Russian Makarov (left) and the P-83 Wanad (right). Not that any of this matters—the pistol is way too heavy for modern concealed carry, tipping the scales are a gut-splitting 1.6 pounds. The P-83 Wanad’s weight isn’t as bad as it sounds, though. Ultraman videos. Like many contemporary European sidearms, the Wanad operates via direct blowback. While it’s incredibly reliable, this method of operation tends to suffer from recoil disproportionate to its caliber’s power because of the hefty slide weight it necessitates. This is why direct blowback submachine guns tend to be harder to control, especially if they fire from an open bolt. Hefty weight has to rapidly enter battery when the trigger is pulled, then travel rearwards after round detonation. This causes two different recoil “strokes” in opposite directions, occurring one after the other. Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the P-83 Wanad isn’t fully automatic. Nevertheless, the pistol does have more recoil than shooters would anticipate. Recoil metrics aside, the P-83 is a pretty straightforward pistol that borrows heavily from the Makarov—so much so that Makarov magazine can be modified to function in the P-83, but unfortunately not the other way around. This is due to the loading assist peg protruding from from the magazine’s witness slot.
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