The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Just curious , all theese mid to earlys 70's little treats , was the production machine in poland stuck in high gear?
is poland selling off its stock for capitol?

Just curious

It's a good question, but one that's pretty much left to speculation (unless anyone has contacts in Poland arms distributors).

My best guess is this - the P64's were made for army/police needs. Eventually due to drawbacks and design improvements, the P64 was phased out and replaced with the P83. The stockpiles of P64's eventually had to be dealt with, and the surplus arms market in the US has been pretty busy (loads of Mosin Nagants, Nagant revolvers, Mausers, etc). So, Poland jumped into the game and exported their P64's.

I've picked up two - one 1974, and one 1976. Haven't shot the '74 yet. They are a great bargain and like you said - little treats to shoot!

The P83 was a cheaper solution and I think no one in Poland was probably happy with the trigger pull and punishing recoil so cut yer losses and sell them to the Amercanskis' they buy anything that goes BOOOM

Well, I think its more of a political question as to why so many of these were produced int he 1970s in Poland.

You have to look at that period of time in Poland to fully understand it too.

The Polish Riots of the 1970's are well documented. The protests were sparked by a sudden and massive increase in the prices of food as well as nearly everything else. As a result of the riots the Polish Army and the Secret Police killed about a 1,000 people shot many more and jailed many, many, many more.

The times were very turbulent.

Constant political unrest, banking collapses, food shortages and the influences of Russian controlled Communism all lead tot he need for more officers, both military and political. To go after what they considered enemies of the state.

Who knows your little P64 and mine to, if they could talk might have many remarkable and frightening stories to tell you.

At this point in my life, I'd rather not know the (possibly) nasty history behind a nice little pistol that I really like. I already know ,very well actually, that the Polish Communist government wasn't composed of very nice people, & I'd like to leave it @ that, just like the possible histories of my WWII P38, P08 Luger,& my Czech CZ52/70/83s, etc. I know how the world works. I just want to enjoy my guns while I can. JMHO of course.