Question for former NVA forum members who used the Pistole M: Did the NVA use lanyards when you used these pistols?
It seems clear to me that other agencies did. Every picture I see of VoPo, TraPo, Zoll, etc. training with pistols, they invariably have them at the end of the lanyards. I can only imagine they used them in the field as well-- my Mak, from the Dresden VP armory, still has a little piece of lanyard inside the original grip from where it was cut off, presumably at or after decomissioning and sale on the private market.
I see many vendors online trying to sell leather lanyards as East German, but I don't see how these could possibly be correct-- they all appear to have catches for the metal hooks as seen on the brown grips of other Warsaw Pact Makarovs, which unless I'm mistaken the East Germans did not use. The genuine East German grips I've seen have all been black, with a hole in the back to run a cloth (nylon?) lanyard through.
I was also ready to ask how the lanyard was kept stowed in service, but I believe I found the answer for myself by looking at a holster: It would appear that the string would fold very neatly behind the little extra flap that's built in at the grip end of the holster, and deploy easily in use. I had always wondered why there was that extra bit of leather there, and it seems this is the only logical explanation. Can anyone confirm this?
It seems clear to me that other agencies did. Every picture I see of VoPo, TraPo, Zoll, etc. training with pistols, they invariably have them at the end of the lanyards. I can only imagine they used them in the field as well-- my Mak, from the Dresden VP armory, still has a little piece of lanyard inside the original grip from where it was cut off, presumably at or after decomissioning and sale on the private market.
I see many vendors online trying to sell leather lanyards as East German, but I don't see how these could possibly be correct-- they all appear to have catches for the metal hooks as seen on the brown grips of other Warsaw Pact Makarovs, which unless I'm mistaken the East Germans did not use. The genuine East German grips I've seen have all been black, with a hole in the back to run a cloth (nylon?) lanyard through.
I was also ready to ask how the lanyard was kept stowed in service, but I believe I found the answer for myself by looking at a holster: It would appear that the string would fold very neatly behind the little extra flap that's built in at the grip end of the holster, and deploy easily in use. I had always wondered why there was that extra bit of leather there, and it seems this is the only logical explanation. Can anyone confirm this?
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