The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Was in a gun store in Loveland CO this weekend looking for 9x18 pistols. They had 5 P-83 pistols marked $289.99 or $254.99. I asked the salesman about the price difference when the owner happened to walk by and said, "we are moving those at cost."
I figured 254.99 was what they considered cost, but was very happy to see the gun ring up at $239.00 + tax ($254.34 total) at the register.
Picked the one I liked, best out of 5, and got it for less than I could buy it for online (with shipping and transfer fees). Pistol came in a plastic zip lock bag, with 2 magazines, and a cleaning rod. It was lightly coated in cosmo and wrapped in brown paper.
Pistol cleaned up nice, 100% of bluing with some handling marks, a little cooper fouling in the barrel. So it must have been shot. Can't tell from looking at it, rails do not show any sign of wear.
I'm a happy camper, can't wait to hit the range.

Have fun at the range. They're good shooters!

Haven't shot a 9x18 pistol yet that wasn't

I've been searching the net but can't find an answer:

Anyone know why these are called "Wanad/Vanad" or what the name means?

stover wrote:I've been searching the net but can't find an answer:

Anyone know why these are called "Wanad/Vanad" or what the name means?

From Description and the use of pistol P – 83
Ed. II (Translated edition of the P-83 manual, kindly sent to me by JuniusTaylor)

1. Historical background P-83 pistol
Work on modern guns, which could replace the P-64 started the Military Institute
of Armament Technology (dawn) in Zielonka near Warsaw at the beginning of the 70s
Prototypes were built with large magazines capacity and pioneering molded aluminum
shells, then polymer.

The official launch of the bosses of the Ministry of Development and WdroŜeń
National Defense Program targeted under the code name "Wanad", allows for the
separation of adequate financial resources for development and rapid implementation of
he work design. .

The Polish alphabet does not contain the letter "V". The letter "W" is pronounced like an English "V", thus the word is Wanad but sounds like it should be spelled Vanad in English. That much I know from my rudimentary Polish language skills.

I believe the Polish word Wanad is the chemical element Vanadium. I'm not sure where I picked that up and could be wrong. I'm guessing they picked it as a code word for the project as some sort of a tie to vanadium being a metal, though not one they apparently planned to use in this pistol.
-------

addendum: I just checked a Polish-English online translator and wanad=vanadium.

Doc,
Thanks for the reply. Thought it was odd that the source of the P-64's name is well known, but couldn't find anything on where Wanad came from. I also used Google to translate the word and looked up what Vanadium is online.
Code name makes sense.
Any chance of getting a copy of the translated manual? I found one in Polish online. Great pictures but translating Polish to something intelligible in English seems beyond google translate.

stover, PM sent.

For you fellows who own Wanads, are they more accurate than the Feg PA63?
G.R.

gunnyrabbit,
For what it is worth, my PA 63 seems more accurate than my Wanad. This may be a fluke since the basis for this belief is a very small sample indeed. Just put it in your data base.

First trip to the range --
P-83 is a blast to shoot, I wish I'd have brought more rounds of 9x18 to the range.
Trigger is decent in both single and double action and the recoil is very mild. It is smoother (although a bit spongy) and breaks cleaner than both my Bulgy and DDR Makarovs. The P-64's trigger (after spring upgrade) is a lot lighter in SA but the P-83 has a lot less take up in both SA and DA. Follow up shots were awesome due to the light recoil, again a real blast.
I prefer the feel of a DDR Makarov grip but was able to adjust to the P-83 after putting a few magazine worth down range. I wasn't shooting my best but the pistol grouped well. With focus, which was greatly lacking, I could make a single ragged hole at 7 yards and keep em all in the black at 25. Initially the pistol was grouping about 2" left of POA at 7 yards. One solid tap on the rear sight bought it right on target. It also tended to shoot low. I read that they are sighted in at 50m so this makes sense. May shave a little off the front sight post after a few more range sessions.
I shot 200 rounds of S&B 95 grain FMJ and 25 rounds of 70 grain Pow'r Ball. Both cycled flawlessly.
All things considered, this is a sweet shooting pistol.
It's a stock 1991 manufactured P-83 but what the heck, here are a few pictures of my new carry gun.

http://s719.photobucket.com/albums/ww198/kevstov/P-83/