F.B. Radom VIS wz.35

In the early 1930's, the newly formed Polish Army was in need of a standard combat pistol to replace Ng 30, a licensed-built Nagant M1895 revolver built by Radom, which by this time was somewhat elderly. To fill this need, the Polish Army advertised a combat pistol competition in which many different entries were submitted including ones by Breda, Skoda, Mauser and two Polish engineers named Wilnewczyc and Skrzypinski.Trials were held in 1935. The result was a draw between the Skoda and Polish designs and, being patriotic, the adjudicators selected the Polish model. Further trials followed, and in 1936, it was put into production as the VIS-35 at Radom.

The VIS-35 used a modified Browning design which had the usual locking lugs on the barrel mating with grooves in the slide. It used a shaped cam similar to that used on the Browning HP-35. Another design change was the use of a recoil spring rod under the barrel replacing the barrel bushing of the colt design. A grip safety was fitted, although there was no manual safety catch. Instead, it used a hammer release catch on the left rear of the slide which, after being pressed , retracted the firing pin into its housing and then tripping the sear allowing the hammer to fall on a loaded chamber in safety. The pistol weighs 37 ounces empty, plus its bulk makes it one of the most comfortable 9mm Parabellum pistols to shoot.

Original Radom production for the Polish army was extremely well made and finished. It can be recognized by a Polish eagle on the left of the side and with the inscription 'FB Radom VIS wz 35', with the year of manufacture and the Patent Number 15567. Production under German control was of a lower standard, and as the war went on, continued to degrade. Also under German control, some design changes took place, including getting rid of the hammer release. Another change was the grips which were originally made out of black plastic with 'FB' on the left side and 'VIS' on the right. These were abandoned in 1943 for plain wooden grips. Markings were also changed, no longer having the Polish eagle but the German eagle and German Fremdengerat Number 'P35(p).

Production ended in 1944 when the Soviet army took Radom, and the factory was wrecked in battle. The pistol was put back in production in 1997 by Radom and can only be recognized by year of production and a better finish.