The gun was initially conceived as a replacement for the FB P-64, FB P-83 Wanad and WIST-94 in the Polish military. At first there were plans to modernize the MAG-98 with the help of Works 11, but this idea was soon dropped. Work on the development began in 2009. The design was to be in accordance with the requirements of the Polish military, which were outlined in a tactical-technical document published in 2014. The projects head designer was Piotr Dygas, who was supported by an engineering team which included Paweł Madej and Marian Gryszkiewicz. Both of whom were related to the development of the MAG-95/98 pistol. Despite external similarities to the MAG-98, the PR-15 was actually designed from scratch because FB Radom did not have the technical documentation of the pistol, which was owned by a different company that was bought by Works 11. However, the initial prototypes did feature some components from the MAG-98. There were twelve pre-production prototypes manufactured for various trials, including military certification tests. These were also presented to journalist in 2014, which later created some confusion over the origin of this guns design. In reality, the designs are largely incompatible, including their magazines. Preliminary and qualification tests began in 2016. Development of the pistol ended in 2017 and it passed military qualification tests at the end of the year. In December 2018, a contract was signed for the delivery of PR-15, or Vis 100, to the Polish army. In 2019, the contract was extended to a total of 19,900 pistols. The name PR-15 is derived from the acronymization of pistolet, meaning pistol in Polish, and Radom, which is the name of the company. The number 15 signifies the initial projected year of release of the pistol. Ragun is a portmanteau of Radom and gun.
Design details
The PR-15 Ragun is a semi-automatic pistol chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum round, utilizing the short recoilmethod of operation. The gun has a double-action/single-action trigger with a pull force of 25 N in single-action and 50 N in double-action and 14 mm of travel. It features an aluminium-alloy frame with a MIL-STD-1913 compatible rail, which enables the attachment of tactical lights or laser sighting equipment. The frame has steel inserts to accommodate the steel slide. The metal parts are covered with Tenifermetal coating for abrasion and corrosion resistance. The frame grip covers are plastic. It was developed to be fully ambidextrous, with the magazine release, slide stop and decocker lever positioned on both sides of the gun. Some of the components are manufactured with metal injection molding. It uses a double-stack, 15-round box magazine, weighing about 90 grams. Civilian versions of the gun might have an option for fitting a rail adapter on the slide of the gun to attach red dot sights.
