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9MM Helwan

65K views 73 replies 33 participants last post by  Tombstone 
#1 ·
Hello fellow gun owners and those whom maybe interested,


I have been researching online and looking through many places through the internet for information about this gun.. It seems to be quite wishy washy from most of the reviews and comments about the gun..

I bought this gun a couple months ago and it hasn't been good weather out due to weather so I haven't gone to shoot the gun.. Although I did shoot it once, fired a round when I bought the gun from a friend of mine, it shot great, had quite a kick back and much louder than I expected.. This is the first gun I've bought, but not the first I've shot... Since then I have cleaned it extensively, I haven't messed with anything besides taking all of the parts, barrel, spring, and what not out and cleaned very well.. it came with one clip, I bought a cleaning kit and REMOIL and cloth wipes...



I am curious to know more about this gun, I have read some were made in the 90's or something but there are the older military version??
On this gun I have a few marks that are interesting.. One being 'Israeli' writing on one side, and the other saying "Interarms, VA" On the reviews I saw, none of them had this type of writing...

I took a couple of photographs, please let me know your opinion and knowledge!


I had posted this on a different website, now that reading a bit on here, there is a lot more information... If you have any knowledge and information about this gun please let me know!

Thanks!
-RemoteGun
 
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#32 ·
I also have a helwan and have had no problems with it. I bought mine back in the early '90's. For those worried about insufficient heat treating of the metal, you can send yours off to have it dipped in liquid nitrogen like they use to harden some rifle receivers. Faster and easier than heat treating. The extreme cold makes the molecules of the metal compress and hardens the steel.
The Helwan is a copy of the Beretta Brigadier model of 1951. The Brigadier '51 was popularized in the Mack Bolan "Executioner" series of novels back in the 1970's wherein Mack used it as his favorite handgun and was a one man executioner army against the Mafia who killed his family.
 
#35 ·
The Helwan is a copy of the Beretta Brigadier model of 1951. The Brigadier '51 was popularized in the Mack Bolan "Executioner" series of novels back in the 1970's wherein Mack used it as his favorite handgun and was a one man executioner army against the Mafia who killed his family.
Yep, that's what drew me to mine. I wanted something like the old "Beretta Belle" Bolan had. Missed my chance at an early .44 Automag though........ ;-)
Of course, even Bolan upgraded to the double-stack Beretta later......

I have been very pleased with the accuracy of Maadi/Helwan, and am getting ready to begin handloading 9mm Luger for it. It's my only pistol in this caliber.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Criogenic heat treat

I believe the criogenic heat treat (or cold treat) is for austinitic stainles steels not carbon steels.

Draybo

I have an Interarms pistol and just love it! No problems with standard 115 FMJ's. It's one of my go to fun guns but I wouldn't hesitate to carry it as a (legal) CCW.
 
#36 ·
I believe the criogenic heat treat (or cold treat) is for austinitic stainles steels not carbon steels.

Draybo

I have an Interarms pistol and just love it! No problems with standard 115 FMJ's. It's one of my go to fun guns but I wouldn't hesitate to carry it as a (legal) CCW.

I'm certainly not an expert on cyrogenic treatment of gun metal, but I believe the cyrogenic cold treatment is also for carbon steels. I had a friend who sent his Chinese M14 off to be treated that way. It didn't have a problem but he was afraid of stories he had heard of the metal being softer than U.S. made models and thus a few stories of op rods bending and wear on the bolt. So he sent his off to be cyrogenically treated just for piece of mind. I kidded him about wasting his money since I also have a Chinese M14 and have fired many hundreds of rounds through mine with no problems or noticeable wear. He sent a few other of his guns off to be "frozen" too. They marked his Chinese M14 receiver showing that it had been cold treated. His guns were all carbon steel to my knowledge.

.
 
#37 ·
Reply to Bill

Not meaning to stray here. Sorry.

Bill I stand corrected. I need to read a little more!!

We were talking at work about ballistic steels and the very same HT subject came up. It's all carbon steel to begin with. I regret jumping in without researrching. Accept my humble apology please. I too have a Chinese T53 and never once had a thought of it being inferior in any way.

Back on topic. Got a buddy coming over this AM with his new Ruger LCR .38 Think I'll get the Helwan out of the safe and blow the dust bunnies out the tube! They are a cool pistol.

Draybo
 
#39 · (Edited)
Not meaning to stray here. Sorry.

Bill I stand corrected. I need to read a little more!!

We were talking at work about ballistic steels and the very same HT subject came up. It's all carbon steel to begin with. I regret jumping in without researrching. Accept my humble apology please. I too have a Chinese T53 and never once had a thought of it being inferior in any way.

Back on topic. Got a buddy coming over this AM with his new Ruger LCR .38 Think I'll get the Helwan out of the safe and blow the dust bunnies out the tube! They are a cool pistol.

Draybo
Hi Draybo.

Thanks for getting back with me and being nice enough to apologize although no apology really necessary. Believe me, I make mistakes too. Have fun shooting your Helwan.

Regards, Bill.


.
 
#40 ·
i've looked and looked, still can't find where the screw that fell out in my hand goes. looks like the slide stop screw, but i see nothing missing and nowhere it should go. got me buffaloed. gues i'll have to shoot it and see how it works.
 
#43 ·
tombstone, thanks for that link..... it pointed me in the right direction. i looked at that spot, and that was it. i screwed it in without locktight, will shoot a few times and check to see if it backs out. looked to have never been fully seated..... threads looked new and unused. i have saved lots of money through help on these boards, would have otherwise have had to carry to a gunsmith, also gotten killer deals on firearms and replacement parts. thanks all. i really appreciate it. i guess i was lucky the screw fell ibnto my hands when i was removing the slide or i'd never have known it would work...... i can see how the slide would bind without that small screw. thanks again.
 
#44 ·
I've never had an issue with any of the early Helwan pistols. They seem fine as long as you stick to ball ammo, but all the ones I have seen with bowed or cracked slides are later Century imports. I had to chuckle at the advice to buy a real Beretta 1951. In my many years of collecting have only seen two honest to God Beretta 1951 pistols and one Egyptian contract 1951E ever...bought them all.

Here are comments I posted with this photo on another gun forum a while back.

"Here you see the Rashid carbine with a couple early commercial production Helwan pistols on the left. The first one made for Interarms the other a really rare World of Lugers import model. These were when Maadi made a good commercial grade pistol in the 80s, not to be confused with the much later guns with quality control issues. Some are OK but way too many had spotty heat treatment and lack luster finish that gave some of the Century imported guns a bad name. I have actually seen several Century import Helwans at gun shows with bowed slides and broken locking blocks. Pity as the early guns were very nice some of the later ones were flat out unsafe.

The third pistol to the right is an early Beretta 1951 E made especially for the Egyptians with a slightly longer barrel and a heel release magazine. You can see the slight differences between it and the regular production Beretta 1951 next to it. "

 
#45 ·
i wish there was a serial number range we could use to grade by. mine is CAI marked, very nice finsh. even the insides under the grips are nicely machined and finished. haven't shot mine much, but it looked new when i got it.
 
#47 ·
I must have a decent pistol. "Interarms" import. Kinda rough but it shoots the Winchester White box 115's and my mild handloads very nicely. Guess I should count myself fortunate. It is one of the pistols I like to share with my (few) shooting friends as it is a fun and unique pistol.

Thinking back it too was in the $200 range though it was a pawnshop trade in. I like the pistol! More tha accurate enough for my needs and I really can't remember it ever malfunctioning.

Draybo : )
 
#50 ·
My Dad gave me a Helwan

My Dad gave me my Helwan. It appears to be a Navy Arms Import. I has N.A. RDGFLD.NJ stamped on the body. It has a number on it, but it is below 2700. I have the Egyptian writing on it and I have the mysterious A.R.E. stamped on the left side of the slide, just below the words HELWAN CAL.9 m/m. On the other side of the slide I have some Egyptian writing followed by an engraving that looks like a 'v' an upside-down 'v' a 'v' something that looks like a backwards 7 and then a 0

I have fired this putting close to a hundred rounds through it with no problems. I'm not sure how much my Dad shot it. My Dad passed away a couple months after he gave it to me so I was really unable to get any more information on it.

I did purchase a couple of magazines online, They both kind of jammed up a little on me. Put the original one in and it worked fine. I figure I'll have to alter them a little bit to loosen them up so the round will not bind while being loaded.

I hope this thread is still being monitored...
 
#51 ·
"mysterious A.R.E."

Why is this mysterious? ARE stands for the Arab Republic of Egypt.
 
#54 ·
Oh, my mistake...



I only said that because the posts I read basically said they've never seen one with A.R.E.

I have only used 9 mm Luger 115 gr rounds. I acidently got a box of 9mm Luger 124 gr rounds. Can I use these without damaging the gun?

Thanks,
 
#56 ·
More info on my Helwan

So is there anyway to tell how old my gun is? I tried to contact Navy Arms in New Jersey, but they closed their doors in 2003(?) and sent their records to the ATF. Would they be able to help me? Anybody have any other ideas where to look for more info. I have it in my mind that it may be from the 60's but I don't know where that came from.

Thanks,
 
#57 ·
I found my magazines on http://www.natchezss.com/ they seem to be decent but I have had a little trouble like I said with them hanging up, but I've also not had the time to really look at it to see why it mis-fed. Seems like I paid like $35 for two including shipping.
 
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