FB PM-63 RAK (Reczny Automat Komandosow)

History

Despite the Soviet influence over Poland during the decades of the Cold War, the country has maintained a domestic arms industry, developing and producing various solutions for local needs. One such product became the PM-63 RAK ("Reczny Automat Komandosow"), a compact recoil submachine gun that entered service with the Polish Army in 1965 and is still used by a wide range of operators today.

Design work started in the 1950s, thanks to Piotr Wilniewczyc (who died before the product was finished). It is manufactured by the famous Luznik Arms Factory in Radom.

Externally, the PM-63 has been given a submachine gun-like shape that favors battlefield elements such as special forces, rearguards, and vehicles/logistics. In addition, such weapons are valued by security, police, crime and terrorists to meet the needs of hand-to-hand combat. The PM-63's pistol grip is straight like the Israeli UZI, but further from the receiver, with the trigger assembly closer to the center.

The short forearm has a collapsible vertical foregrip to help stabilize the weapon under fully automatic fire. The ejection port is located on the right side of the receiver in traditional warfare. Flip rear with front blade assembly provides iron sights.

The wires are fully collapsible to facilitate a very clean, compact form factor.

The PM-63 is favored by various operators around the world for its footprint, light feel and cavity. The original PM-63 was designed around a 9x18mm Makarov pistol cartridge, weighed 3.5 pounds and had an overall length of 23 inches, with the stock extended and only 13 inches folded (the barrel was 6 inches long). Through direct recoil (open bolt) action, the gun fires at 650 rounds per minute at a muzzle velocity of 1,050 feet per second. The entire slide moves like a semi-automatic pistol during the action, with its front end extending under the barrel, acting as an integrated compensator, reducing muzzle climb.

This extension can also be used to quickly start weapons. It has an effective range of 150 meters and is fed from a detachable 15- or 25-round magazine. The recoil of this little gun has proven to be very manageable.

In 1971, a new variant with a 9x19mm Parabellum chamber was introduced as the PM-70, but production was limited due to lack of customer interest. PM-73 in . 380 ACP (9x17mm short) cartridge.

China North Industries Corporation illegally produced the PM-63, based on a redesigned example captured from the border war with Vietnam (1979-1990) as a "Type 82" and supplied 7.62x25mm Tokarev and 9x18mm Makarov taste.

The production time span of this weapon was from 1964 to 1974, by which time 80,000 pieces had been completed. Operators outside Poland became Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Iraq, Palestine, Singapore, Syria and Vietnam. East Germany, North Vietnam and the Soviet Union were all former operators of the PM-63.

This weapon was seen by separatists in the Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine during the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian war. Palestinian terrorists also prefer the compact PM-63.

The weapon was also in service during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in 2001 and 2003, followed by the US-led invasions there, respectively. At the time, Polish submachine guns were veterans of the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

Its first use was during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968).

The similar looking PM-84 "Glauberyt" is a very different Polish submachine gun dating back to the Cold War. It entered service in 1984 and can also be seen chambered and fired in a few different ways with a direct blowback action - albeit with a closed bolt design.

Specification

ROLES

STRUCTURAL

PERFORMANCE

VARIANTS