Model 74 "Carpati": Cugir's Romanian Walther Clone
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Published 2024-04-05
weaponsandwar.tv
The Model 74 "Carpați" is a copy of the Walther PP made by the Cugir factory in Romania. The project began at the direction of the Romanian secret police, who delivered a worn out Walther to the factory in 1972 with a request that they produce a domestic copy. Work on the design took two years before the final product was ready in 1974, and was adopted at the Model 74 (although it is colloquially known as the "Carpați", after the Carpathian Mountains around Cugir).
The Model 74 has an aluminum alloy frame and a 90.5mm barrel, almost exactly splitting the difference between the barrel lengths of the PP and PPK. It is chambered for .32 ACP, and is pleasant and easy to shoot, capable of better accuracy than most would expect thanks to its fixed barrel design. It is a single/double action gun, with a decocting lever. The magazine capacity is 8, although users typically load 7 to reduce magazine fatigue - and in police use that standard set up was two magazines each loaded with just 6 rounds. The gun was designed for a minimum lifespan of 3,000 rounds fired.
Entering production in 1974, it quickly scaled up to 6000/month. Production ran until the early 1990s, with hundreds of thousands made. They were used by police and military forces in Romania and also exported widely. After the fall of communism in Romania, a Model 95 was made in two variations. One was a steel framed version in .380 caliber, made in small quantity mostly for export. The other was a copy of the Model 74 chambered for 9mm blanks, which was reasonably popular on the Romanian civilian market. It could be fitted with a less-lethal rubber ball launcher, and the purchase permit for such a pistol also served as a carry permit, allowing them to be kept for at least a minimal form of self-defense.
Thanks to A.N.C.A., the Romanian national firearms collectors' association, for organizing the trip that made this video possible!
www.anca.com.ro/
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All Comments (21)
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The idea of firing some kind of pistol grenade in a self-defense situation sounds both hilarious and terrifying, for everyone involved.
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I like the backwards eotech on that HK416 up there
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It's still quite a standard issue, you can still see these pistols in different police and security service holsters, from Bucharest to the most forgotten village.
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Love the 416s with sight marks and backwards eotechs in the background.
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I bought a century arms import md 74 on gunbroker in 2022. Came across it by total chance and knew I had to have it. Snagged it for a bit less than 300 beans. To this day it's one of my most prized guns, I don't shoot it much but I just love weird .32s and everything Romanian.
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All Deutsche Reich patents before 1945, were annulled by the "London Agreement" of 1946, so effective the Walther designs from pre 45 were free for anyone to copy.
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in 1996, all officers, non-commissioned officers and machine gunners were equipped with model 74 Carpathian pistols...in the battalion where I joined the army
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I am surprised you were not told but these guns are notorious for the defect of firing when a cartige is in the chamber and safety is applied. It happened to me at Tunari firing range near Bucharest and I subsequentely become more appreciative of the redundant range rules.
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Out of all the Carpati videos out there, this is easily one of them.
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The moment Ian mentioned a rubber ball being launched from the end of the pistol, I had visions of the ubiquitous cartoon gun shooting out a boxing glove to knock out their opponent.
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The Romanian fire fighters are military personnel and therefore required to do periodic training with small fire arms. The “Carpati” is what we used to shoot twice a year in the 2000’s and early 2010’s when I was in the fire fighters department. And if I’m not mistaken, they still use them today. Easy to shoot pistol, I could always make an about 8 cm group at 25 m.
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I have had one of these for a number of years. It is a good shooter, and the grip is comfortable, but the gun has an alarming quirk. If you use the safety to decock the hammer on a loaded chamber while holding the gun sideways (sort of "gangsta" style), the gun fires. This does not happen if the gun is held upright while decocking. I do not know why this happens. Also, one thing that Ian does not mention is the magazine, which is different from the Walther magazine by having a spring-steel finger at the top left corner. Youi can see it in the shot that starts at 6:00. I assume it is to make activation of the last-shot hold-open more positive.
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the first thing ian notices about a woman is the 1970s romanian walther pp at home she has in her holster
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This gun, at least in Romania has a bit of a reputation of being underpowered. There was an old myth from comunist times that if you wear a good thick jean jacket, the Carpati wouldn't be able to penetrate it.
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I love this little pistol. I purchased mine in the 80's when the Iron Curtain was lifted. This gun was marketed as a Hungarian FEG. My example has no arsenal mark like the one shown in the video and just below the slide on the frame is marked "FEG HUNGARY CAISTALBVT" Other books have said these pistols were made without markings so they could be sent out to friendly governments and not traced back to Romania. As stated in the video this pistol is extremely accurate. I think I have about 1k shot through it and no signs of excessive wear. I know it isn't worth much so I likely will keep it till i am dust. I do recall the ads in the Shotgun News that this was a Hungarian pistol but we all know now it came from Romania.
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These were popular (and still are) because they are small, light and easy to carry and an simple to manufacture, proven design.
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I have one of these exact same pistols in my (UK) 'Walther' collection, it's nothing like a PP but then it is something like a PP! Great article thanks for sharing and so much info on something that is difficult to research on...
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Very informative... I hope you'll more videos about Romaian guns , now that you've visited a Romanian collection :))
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This video actually helped me find a good lead on information about a video that I am in the process of making, even if I’m covering a different Romanian gun. Thank you for the video!!
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From my experience the threaded cups on european blank guns are more often used to launch fireworks with the blanks, rather than rubber balls.
