A Gathering of pistols.

[R_Hessian]

I dug out a few Radoms for the heck of it and thought that I would share. I have always liked them
and have not seen these for a few years ( It was like meeting old friends again ). They are a fine weapon and you will note a pre-war Polish as well as my favorite a very late war ( I enclosed a separate pic of it ).
Regards,
Robert
“Ein Hessian”

[R_Hessian]

My Pick!

Pick!

[GerColctor]

Great gun

The Radom is a great handgun.

Very nice collection that you have. I only have one Radom and really enjoy it.

The quality of the guns run the full gamet and that is why they are so interesting to collect.

Joe

[R_Hessian]

Reply

Thank you for the complement on my Radoms! It’s a humble collection compared to a very good friend of mine who has “200" of them. I hope he writes a book on them, the information he has told me about them is incredible.
For example the wood grips on late war Radoms where made out of salvaged German army cheese box’s, No really they where. He went to the old Steyr plant and did a minor dig and they found lots of items to include the remains of the box’s and grips etc. He has also gone to the Radom factory in Poland and talked to people who worked there during the war.
It was at the factory that he found out that all Radoms when completed where sent to Steyr and it was there that barrels where installed. They did not trust the Polish workers.
Also there is a small WaAmpt located on late war magazines that makes them correct to late war guns, if he hadn’t shown me it I would have never known where it was, its “tiny”.
Regards,
Robert

[Douglas Jr.]

Amazing...

Robert,

It is an amazing collection!! I always enjoy the Radom, but I only have one. Its design is great (a development of the Colt M1911A1), and has a lot of variations.

Besides that it would be nice to see a book about this weapon since it is a serious gap in the collectors world . With a reasanoble number of these still available, a guide would help a lot.

Regards,

Douglas.

[R_Hessian]

Thanks,

Doug,
Thank you, they are fun! I have a pre-war "polish" holster w/ "Polish" issue cleaning rod. I will post it within the next couple of days. They are also pretty neat!
Regards,
Robert

[Matt Weber]

Very nice collection of Radoms! Thanks for sharing them with us Robert.

I do have a question on your late war Radom though.
I thought all late war Radoms were to have the "bnz" marked slides? Is yours correct? Please explain further if you can, because I was looking to get one of these (late war one I mean!) Thanks!

Matt

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Robert, great collection! I have learnt a bit fron this thread.
I too like the Radom. Here is a pic of my (de-activated) example.
Does anyone know where all the ones on the market have come from in the past few years, as these used to be hard to find?
Cheers, Ade.

[R_Hessian]

Russia

Most of them have come out of Russia.
Robert

[R_Hessian]

Late war!

Matt,
This was the last series before the BNZ series. My gun was a part of a large "b" suffix that was shelved in Poland for some reason earlier in the war, no one knows for sure why.
When they evacuated the Radon factory they took this large group of shelved pistols to the Steyr factory and then completed the guns.
It was then that they began the BNZ series. All of this was told to me by a good friend who has been to the Radom factory and the remains of the Steyr factory.
So in fact they are a earlier production but end if war completion, kind of neat I think.
Regards,
Robert

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Robert, that is what I thought would be the answer. Thanks.
Cheers, Ade.

[GerColctor]

Radom mags

I have a Radom, subvariation 1 that has a mag with the WaA. So maybe the mags were passed around, if they were late war issued.
Joe

[R_Hessian]

Mag!

Joe,
I will post a pic of a late war stamped mag. within the next 24hrs. for you. when you see where the mark is and how small you will be shocked!
It is not the same location as the other mags. nor is it the same WaApmt.
Till thenRobert

[Matt Weber]

Robert,

Thanks for the answers. That would explain why it looks so nice too! I was puzzled since most of the late war "bnz" Radoms have such rough finish, and are usually parkerized as well. This one appears to have a nice looking finish, and is blued.
Great looking piece! I like it!

Matt

[R_Hessian]

Radom!

Matt,
Glad you like the late war Radom and the story behind it, but the pistol is "phosphate" finished the same as BNZ. It has the nice grey- zinc color to it. Some of the late BNZ's have a green color.
I have a spare (unissued) late war replacement slide that is unnumbered and it is the green.
Regards,