Polish "Radom" VIS 35 pistol - lots of pictures

Just the other day, I bought some guns from an aging gentleman - and one of them is a Radom 35. It only has one clip - that fits in a little slot on the holster. According to the gentleman, it was his fathers gun. I will dig it out and see what variation it is.

Okay - thanks to the great pictures from Stoggie, I understand that it is a Nazi type I VIS.

All the birds and lettering and the shoulder stock slot match up.

The leather holster with flap is well worn - and the gun fits in it like home. It has a little leather strap which appears to be an aid to getting the gun up out of the holster. There are no original markings on the holster - though there are a couple of names written inside.

I do agree with others who have approved of the style and quality of the Radom - It holds very well in my hand and just feels ... right.

Thank-you Fellows - for an interesting thread.
 
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joe n said:
Hope I'm not hijacking, but Kidvett knows his stuff, definitely vouch for this man:)

On another Radom note, here is a pic of my Great Uncle during the last days of the war in his village. Note his pistol stuffed in his belt.
kohoupic20copy1.jpg


And here is that same pistol I found in the attic over 50 years later
evrop200051.jpg


I love the Radom. a great pistol.
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Thats amazing! Are you able to shed any light on what your great uncle did? It is always neat to hear more personalized backgrounds as opposed to broad stories.
 
In these times many people called themselves partisans, although realistically many were like my Great Uncle. He was a young man, not even out of his teens. He watched in person the demise of Schorner's 9th Army. He picked the firearms up over the course of those few days, nothing heroic at all.
Some of the population of this village, sickened by years of war and occupation, chose to take potshots at retreating German troops. Others just went out and witnessed history in the making. He was more of the latter.
The village was severely bombed by Red Army aviators only a couple days after this picture was taken, resulting in great losses of civilian life.
My Great Uncle joined the postwar Army, became an officer, and had plans to make this his career. But Communism was no way of life for him, he detested the postwar regime.
He and another officer beat up a couple guards at an airfield, stole a small airplane and attempted to flee the country for the West.
I never learned how exactly the plane was brought down, likely by the error of the two occupants. One was killed, my Great Uncle was arrested and spent 20 years in a Uranium mine.
He died about 15 years ago now. Pardoned after the Wall came down.
So no heroics, just his story. And his Radom. Thanks for reading:)
 
joe n said:
In these times many people called themselves partisans, although realistically many were like my Great Uncle. He was a young man, not even out of his teens. He watched in person the demise of Schorner's 9th Army. He picked the firearms up over the course of those few days, nothing heroic at all.
Some of the population of this village, sickened by years of war and occupation, chose to take potshots at retreating German troops. Others just went out and witnessed history in the making. He was more of the latter.
The village was severely bombed by Red Army aviators only a couple days after this picture was taken, resulting in great losses of civilian life.
My Great Uncle joined the postwar Army, became an officer, and had plans to make this his career. But Communism was no way of life for him, he detested the postwar regime.
He and another officer beat up a couple guards at an airfield, stole a small airplane and attempted to flee the country for the West.
I never learned how exactly the plane was brought down, likely by the error of the two occupants. One was killed, my Great Uncle was arrested and spent 20 years in a Uranium mine.
He died about 15 years ago now. Pardoned after the Wall came down.
So no heroics, just his story. And his Radom. Thanks for reading:)
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WOW! That is an amazing story! If a movie were to be made about your great uncles life I bet it would do very, very well. Do you have the Kar98 aswell?
 
Another P-35

This is a great and informative thread - thanks to all for contributing and adding to our collective knowledge.
I also have an early P-35 VIS. It has the P-35(p), WaA 77 , nazi eagle, and nazi 623, slot for shoulder slot, and serial 1013.
Is this a type II sub-type I?
I also have a nazi marked holster with a name inside, and one side bakelite grip replaced by a "handcrafted" wooden one, similar to other reports.


stoggie said:
Yup, type II. Some would call it a Type II, Sub-Type II. This is because mine (sub-type I) has the P-35(p) German designation under the FB Radom VIS marking, where as yours does not. This was omitted at some point early on in VIS manufacture.

EDIT: Actually, I will have to double check my books, as it may be a sub-type III. You will also notice the Waa are different. They went from E/Waa77 and E/623 to E/77 and E/Waa623. But now we're just getting picky :)
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firewire said:
This is a great and informative thread - thanks to all for contributing and adding to our collective knowledge.
I also have an early P-35 VIS. It has the P-35(p), WaA 77 , nazi eagle, and nazi 623, slot for shoulder slot, and serial 1013.
Is this a type II sub-type I?
I also have a nazi marked holster with a name inside, and one side bakelite grip replaced by a "handcrafted" wooden one, similar to other reports.
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Sounds VERY interesting! Please post pictures!!!
 
Those finding an early type I Radom should examine the barrel,they are factory blued same as the rod.Later barrels were polished bright--no blueing. Some say kriegsmarine did not have a lanyard loop but I have no official documentation of this requirement.
 
Imperial luger said:
Those finding an early type I Radom should examine the barrel,they are factory blued same as the rod.Later barrels were polished bright--no blueing. Some say kriegsmarine did not have a lanyard loop but I have no official documentation of this requirement.
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Type I Radom VIS pistols do not have a factory blued barrel or guide rod, those destined for the KM had blued barrels and were engraved with the eagle over M on the slide and and N on the front strap.

A Radom issued to the KM never ever had a lanyard loop.
 
15567

Thankyou for your insight.

Just so I understand your post correctly are you saying the kriegsmarine Radom is not a type one. And are you also saying that KM Radoms only went to the Nordsee fleets. fully aware of N and O property markings on most german handguns but as I said do not have official documentation, my earliest Radom is serialed 31X. No Nordsee property marks and no km eagle left slide--without lanyard loop and blued as stated.

Would very much like to authenticate this Radom as issued to the Kriegsmarine but I will not go that far unless seeing some official documentation.
 
Imperial luger said:
15567

Thankyou for your insight.

Just so I understand your post correctly are you saying the kriegsmarine Radom is not a type one. And are you also saying that KM Radoms only went to the Nordsee fleets. fully aware of N and O property markings on most german handguns but as I said do not have official documentation, my earliest Radom is serialed 31X. No Nordsee property marks and no km eagle left slide--without lanyard loop and blued as stated.

Would very much like to authenticate this Radom as issued to the Kriegsmarine but I will not go that far unless seeing some official documentation.
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Some of the early pre-alpha were assigned to the KM which consisted of the Baltic and Nordsee fleets with some of these having the fleet numbers on the front strap preceded by an N. J. Still book has a good write-up and serial numbers and yes technically they would be considered Type 1 Radoms but issued to the KM.

Yours as described is indeed very interesting being a pre-alpha that somehow might have missed the KM procurement markings and likely would have had them if delivered to the KM.
 
15567

Thankyou again, have been studying KM property marks for many years and know Mr. Still quite well, I've read Axis pistols and do note that no O property marked Radom pistols have been reported so far.Not meaning to hijack the thread for personal gain however the subject matter is Radom pistols.
 
And what a great shooting pistol the VIZ 35 is!! Rapid fire groups are TIGHT. It is my favourite shooting WW2 pistol. Beats my both High Power and 1911A1 hands down.(and holds it's own against my competition STI Trojan.)
Mine is an early NAZI version before they let the QC slide and deleted features.
 
weird thing is mine has the same thing. My grandfather got it back in the day like that. I had always liked to assume it was used in a fight where the grip broke and someone fashioned a home jobby on the right side. I was going to by a set of matching grips and keeps these as they are the original.

Mine has the stock slot, Waffe markings (77), 623, EagleSwastika,RO on the barrel (does anyone know what that is). It also appears to have runes or symbols on the trigger guard(looks almost like a moon/sickle) as well as 6 of them on the underside of the slide by the serial number. I love this gun as it is accurate and for smaller hands it fits perfect. The only drawback is the limited magazine capacity but in reality 9 rounds is not much different then 10 and still plenty.



AdamP said:
My father has one of these as well. His is missing the right side grip panel (has a bubba homemade replacement that was put on before he bought it) and the finish is not nearly as nice as yours. He was thinking about getting it refinished as the originality is already mostly gone.

Anyone have a source for replacement parts (grips, mags, etc) ?

Nice score! I'm definitely jealous of that one.

Adam
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