1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

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Lotema
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1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Lotema »

I've been wanting to add a wz.48 to the collection for a while now but have kept putting it off for it's larger caliber cousins. After seeing the thread about the ones from Buds and having a chance to shoot the ones Titanium Hammer grabbed from there, I figured I'd have to grab one myself. Titanium Hammer managed to convince his FFL to sign up with Williams so he could get one straight from them. Doing so, he found that Williams offered a Very Good non-matching for the same price as what Buds is selling the Good condition ones. So I made his FFL my FFL and had him order one up for me. I picked it up last night and while I haven't fired it yet, I'm generally happy with it.

One scary/interesting thing about this old gal is the trigger. It's a scary light 11 ounces. Yup, zero pounds, 11 ounces. Is there any way to stiffen that up? It does fail the bump test. Dropping it from about 3" onto a carpeted floor will set the trigger off. This is purely a range gun, not going to be hunting the neighborhood squirrels, but I'd like it in the 2lbs + range if possible. Didn't see too much info online about it. Considering how long these have been in-country, you'd think there would be a ton of youtube videos about them but nada.

Right side profile
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Left side profile
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The metal is in really good conditional and the blue is really good except up on the end of the barrel, where it's worn slightly in a couple spots.
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Non matching bolt but I was expecting that.
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Butt plate matches the barrel shank serial number
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Shot of the chamber. Looks like just a touch of peening at the top but otherwise looks good. The bore and crown look nearly brand new. This one should be a great shooter.
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The only real detraction are some gouges on the bottom of the stock. They were a lot more visible before I cleaned it up with the lemon oil. After that, they're not as visually noticeable. Some misc pics of the stock..
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Overall I'm really happy with it so far. Other than the gouges in the stock, it's in great shape. We'll see this weekend how it shoots!

A family photo of all of my current (11) Radom firearms. Need to get a few more Poles, I just really love the fit and finish on them. I've got a lot of Polish ancestry so these ones tend to talk pretty loudly to me.
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Last edited by Lotema on Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Lotema
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Titanium Hammer
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Titanium Hammer »

She looks good & I'm looking forward to seeing her at the range on Saturday! Nice Polish family photo too! :thumbsup:
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by ksbanker »

Very nice!! Great Polish mini collection also!
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Lotema
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Lotema »

ksbanker wrote:Very nice!! Great Polish mini collection also!
Thanks ksbanker! I need to get myself the vis 35 next for the Polish collection next. Just need to bide my time and find one for a reasonable price.
Lotema
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millman
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by millman »

Short of new parts, I don't know what to do about the trigger. Just be damn careful, I suppose.
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Junk Yard Dog
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Junk Yard Dog »

Nice one, you could try a gunsmith and threaten to cut off important parts of his anatomy if he alters the rifle or you can learn to be very careful with it at the range. As in never load a cartridge until you are sitting at the bench rifle pointed downrange and you are about to fire it.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
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Lotema
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Lotema »

Junk Yard Dog wrote:Nice one, you could try a gunsmith and threaten to cut off important parts of his anatomy if he alters the rifle or you can learn to be very careful with it at the range. As in never load a cartridge until you are sitting at the bench rifle pointed downrange and you are about to fire it.
:thumbsup: Very true on both accounts!
Lotema
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bunkysdad
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by bunkysdad »

Aren't these single shot 22's? It looks good, and with the "target" trigger I'd get in a few shooting sessions after a very thorough disassembly to evaluate what comes next. Williams seems to be a good source.
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Lotema
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Re: 1956 Polish wz48 Trainer - VG from Williams

Post by Lotema »

bunkysdad wrote:Aren't these single shot 22's? It looks good, and with the "target" trigger I'd get in a few shooting sessions after a very thorough disassembly to evaluate what comes next. Williams seems to be a good source.
Yes, these are the single shot 22's. The photos make the stock look nicer than what it really is but I'm happy with it. WIlliams is good to go in my book. Great price on the rifle (less than $200 shipped to the FFL) and they shipped it out very quickly.

After doing some shooting with it this weekend, I'll take the rifle all the way down and see if I can figure out why that trigger pull is so light. These rifles are just so ridiculously simple, I'm hoping I'll be able to figure it out. The main problem is the lack of information available about them here in the states. I did manage to find page by page photos of the original manuals on a Polish web site though. Unfortunately, while my heritage is Polish, my ability to read it is very close to zero. I ran some of the pages through the various online translators and at least have a gist of what it's saying.

While perusing the Polish sites though, I did find a place that sells the accessory kits for these. Sling, cleaning rod, bore guide and a combo tool that works on the bolt's castle nut. Unfortunately that place doesn't appear to ship outside of Poland but it shows that there are accessories and potentially spare parts floating around in the motherland. I just need to dig a bit deeper and see if I can find a source that will ship over here. Based on the photo, the sling does indeed look identical to the Russian m44 style ones used on the Polish m44s. I'm sure they used various different ones as well though, like the ones for the ppsh/pps43.
Lotema
Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours. -- Richard Bach
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