FB P-64

The P-64 is a Polish semi-automatic service pistol chambered for the 9x18mm Makarov cartridge. It was developed in the late 1950s at the Institute for Artillery Research, the body that later became the Military Institute of Armament Technology, by a six-man team of engineers, and it is also called the CZAK, a name built from the initials of the designers' surnames. A competition for a new service pistol opened in 1958, and after trials in 1961 the shorter Model M, first made in .380 ACP, was chosen over the longer Model W and rechambered for the Makarov round. The pistol entered service in 1965, built at the Łucznik Arms Factory in Radom, and replaced the 7.62mm TT pistol with the army, police and security forces. It is a double-action blowback design with an exposed hammer, a six-round single-stack magazine and fixed sights set for 50 metres. Although it resembles the Walther PP, it is an original design protected by its own Polish patent. Production has ended and the WIST-94 is replacing it, but it remains in Polish military and police inventories.