Polish military hip holsters for the P83 and P64

Leather to kydex, factory or custom.
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EMS
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Joined: August 14th, 2013, 3:33 am

Polish military hip holsters for the P83 and P64

Post by EMS »

When in 2003 Poland joined the US-led anti-Saddam coalition they realized that the standard issued holsters were fixed on the belt and as such incompatible with body armor or modern tactical vests. They had to design newer holsters which could be worn on a belt, a hip panel or on a vest. They also designed a new camouflage pattern the "Desert Panther" a variation of the current Polish army "Panther" camouflage. The hip holsters come in 2 sizes, large holsters are for the "Wist-94" pistol and smaller "Universal mount 2055 T" (T for tropical) for the P-64/P-83 pistols. The holsters I have seen were made in 2003 and 2005 by the Ivo-Hest company. The holsters were issued with pistol lanyards but not all soldiers were using them. Around 2005 all Wist-94 pistols in Iraq were sent back to Poland and replaced with P-83 pistols after several problems with reliability and magazines falling out of the pistols by themselves. When the Wist-94 pistols returned to Poland, they were found to be filthy and not properly cleaned and the ammo was found to have primer that required too much force to be ignited (optimised for SMG's) so no faults were found with the Wist-94 pistols and it's design The Wist pistols were quickly returned to service, but their bad reputation with Polish soldiers follows them until today.

The small universal holsters might have also been used in Afghanistan but so far I Have not been able to confirm this. At first pistols were issued only to a very limited number of soldiers, mostly officers but later during the Iraq war they became much more common, especially in smaller bases where soldiers were required to wear a weapon with them all the the time.

Where to look if you want one of those holsters? Send me a PM or take a look at my (or other seller's) auctions on Gunbroker.
Attachments
The Polish patrol is debriefed by the team leader after completing the afternoon patrol around the perimeter of Camp Babylon, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Two of the Soldiers show their 7.62 mm PKM light machine guns and all are wearing body armor.<br /><br />Date<br />    21 Mar 2004<br />Location<br />    Perimeter of Camp Babylon, Iraq<br />Camera Operator<br />    SSGT RICKY A. BLOOM, USAF<br />Photo ID<br />    DFSD0416537<br />    040321F2902B017
The Polish patrol is debriefed by the team leader after completing the afternoon patrol around the perimeter of Camp Babylon, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Two of the Soldiers show their 7.62 mm PKM light machine guns and all are wearing body armor.

Date
21 Mar 2004
Location
Perimeter of Camp Babylon, Iraq
Camera Operator
SSGT RICKY A. BLOOM, USAF
Photo ID
DFSD0416537
040321F2902B017
T1.jpg
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Weasel640
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Re: Polish military hip holsters for the P83 and P64

Post by Weasel640 »

I love how the muzzle of the PKM light machine gun is a rest for his hands. Looks like it's design to be used as a drop leg holster too.
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Joker31
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Joined: February 4th, 2015, 5:27 am

Re: Polish military hip holsters for the P83 and P64

Post by Joker31 »

Seen US Airman use a 240B muzzle as a chin rest, soldiers do stupid crap when they are tired, heard gunners firing off bursts all the time after a long patrol and they fall asleep, wakes them up really quick.
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