Makarov Opinions

[brushy bill]

Found very little with the search function, so may be that many haven't bothered with them, but is there a consensus on Makarovs out there? Wondering about a Bulgarian model as E. Germans appear to have dried up or are too expensive (almost price of an M&P or Glock). Thoughts?

[Business_Casual]

It's a fantastic pistol for committing suicide.

M_P

[Dave Berryhill]

It's a fantastic pistol for committing suicide.

M_P

Now THAT'S funny! :D

Most of them are ok "shooter grade" pistols for range use as long as you get one chambered in .380. 9mm Makaroni ammo isn't as easy to find. I can't see getting one for any serious use other than to kill tin cans with.

[geminidglocker]

The Bulgarian Makarovs are excellent. I bought one for my Mom. I've owned 2 of them myself, but friends wanted them more than I did so I sold them. Ammo is cheap, and while the sights leave much to be desired, with a little practice you can become quite proficient with them. Go to Makarov.com, there you will find the knowledge you seek. I say thumbs up to the Mak. It is typically stone cold reliable. Don't discount it based on snide remarks you hear from folks. Give it a chance and you will be impressed at the value they offer for the money. Do check out www.makarov.com.

[geminidglocker]

Now THAT'S funny! :D

Most of them are ok "shooter grade" pistols for range use as long as you get one chambered in .380. 9mm Makaroni ammo isn't as easy to find. I can't see getting one for any serious use other than to kill tin cans with.

BS. Around here in Vermont it is easier to find 9X18 Makarov than .380. Not to mention 9X18 is a lot cheaper.

[zgrins1]

I own IJ-70 which is a Russian Civilian version of Pistolet Makarova and here is what I think.

Pros: Small, Reliable, Can be accurate if you manage to learn how to use stock sights

Cons: One of the crappiest sights I've ever seen on an auto pistol, 9x18 is not as good as 9mm but ammo costs as much, Recoils about as much as a 9mm, Single stack 8rd mag(unless you have PMM), Little to no accessories and/or aftermarket parts, Mad catch located at the bottom of a mag-well, Mags are not drop-free

Overall I think you can find a better pistol.

[geminidglocker]

Admittedly MUCH better can be had, I carry a Glock for example. But as far as the Mak is concerned, around here you can get a box of 50 Golden Bear HP, 95gr. for $6.99.:)

[zgrins1]

Around where I am ammo runs $10 to $13 for a box of 50

[geminidglocker]

Around where I am ammo runs $10 to $13 for a box of 50

YIKES!!!!:eek:

[Business_Casual]

The Bulgarian Makarovs are excellent. I bought one for my Mom. I've owned 2 of them myself, but friends wanted them more than I did so I sold them. Ammo is cheap, and while the sights leave much to be desired, with a little practice you can become quite proficient with them. Go to Makarov.com, there you will find the knowledge you seek. I say thumbs up to the Mak. It is typically stone cold reliable. Don't discount it based on snide remarks you hear from folks. Give it a chance and you will be impressed at the value they offer for the money. Do check out www.makarov.com.

I wasn't being snide, I was serious. It is a terrible pistol when compared to everything except not having a pistol. That is my opinion. Your opinion differs, but that doesn't mean it is snide of you to state it.

M_P

[geminidglocker]

Just tryin' to give the good ol' Mak a fair shake, that's all the OP asked for. No offense intended. That said, I'de rather have a Makarov than a Ruger LCP or a Kel-Tec. Would you agree?

[Business_Casual]

A Ruger? That's just plain mean, Gemini, plain mean.

You'd shoot a man's dog wouldn't you? Well, his cat at least.

M_P

[geminidglocker]

A Ruger? That's just plain mean, Gemini, plain mean.

You'd shoot a man's dog wouldn't you? Well, his cat at least.

M_P

You know me too well. Yes, I have shot a cat, but it had mange and I suspected it was sick. I would not even shoot a coyote unless it asked me to, as I am a total Dog lover.

[colt191145lover]

I have found most Makoarovs to be very solid acurate and reliable little guns.
There are better choices for self deffence , keeping in mind that 9x18 its alot closer to .380 then 9mm. With that being said i think its better than a sharp stick and find it more shootable (easier to make hits with FOR ME ) then say a Kel Tec P3AT, after all only hits count. Just know its limitations and drive on. YMMV

Colt

[Iraq Ninja]

I used to have one that came from a captured Iraqi Air force officer. It was a Russian model and very well made.

I carried it as my BUG gun when doing low pro work because it was the only thing like it we had at the time. The sights left a lot of be desired, but if you had good ammo for it, it worked well.

I worked with a few Poles (GROM) and one former Spesnatz operator and they all spoke well of it. The caliber is not the best, but it does the job up close if needed. The design is rather ancient, so don't expect a modern fighting pistol.

I found it more suitable to shoot than the LCP that had a bit more snap to it. Given both, I would take the LCP though.

[Clay]

Typical Soviet firearm. Reliable, durable, and crude. The triggers on the ones I have shot have been terrible. Might make a good glove box or tackle box piece. I wouldn't carry one unless I had no other option.

Regards,

Clay

[John_Wayne777]

Found very little with the search function, so may be that many haven't bothered with them, but is there a consensus on Makarovs out there? Wondering about a Bulgarian model as E. Germans appear to have dried up or are too expensive (almost price of an M&P or Glock). Thoughts?

As a collector's piece, I think they are interesting. There are probably more Makarovs out there than just about anything else. They are, generally speaking, simple, reliable, durable handguns dramatically overbuilt for the cartridge they fire. If you have a handgun fetish like I do, a Mak is something you want in your inventory.

As a carry gun, it sucks. It's heavy relative to the anemic firepower on board. The trigger sucks. The sights on most models are rudimentary at best. Some specially imported models come with decent adjustable sights, but those are generally hard to find and expensive. The safety placement sucks. Heel-magazine releases suck. It's got a bunch of sharp edges...

It's a Warsaw pact service pistol with all the good and bad that entails. There are FAR better options for a defensive pistol on the market. Now I bought my almost new Bulgarian Makarov for a little over 100 bucks at a gunshow years ago. It was probably the cheapest handgun at the show. If I had only that amount of money to spend on something I needed to defend my life, the Mak would have been eminently reasonable as a choice given my other options. (Fingernails or a pointy stick)

As a collector gun, if you can find one at a decent price I say go for it. I enjoy my Bulgy even though I've put barely 200 rounds through it since purchasing it a bunch of years ago. As a defensive handgun the world would have to be at SHTF levels for me to carry or employ it for that purpose.

[decodeddiesel]

I hate to admit it, but since the Army decided a light infantry team leader does not need a secondary weapon I carried one around in a holster attached to my chest rig during my first tour in Iraq. I didn't know shit about Makarovs, but my buddy told me it was Russian. It shot well, and beat the hell out of not having anything but other than that I didn't think too highly of it. Eventually I traded it to a buddy for a FN High Power which was way better. Soon there after our BN CO had a fit about NCOs carrying around captured pistols and the whole thing stopped. Suffice to say I couldn't exactly go down to my local Gander Mountain and pick something else (read Glock) up.

Honestly in reality it is not that much smaller than (and probably weighs the same as) a Glock 19. The Glock is light years and then some ahead of the Makarov. If you keep your eyes open you can find a used G19 for marginally more than a Makarov.

[geminidglocker]

Well at least this thread has evolved into an educated discussion, versus a bashing. ;)

[Iraq Ninja]

Soon there after our BN CO had a fit about NCOs carrying around captured pistols and the whole thing stopped. Suffice to say I couldn't exactly go down to my local Gander Mountain and pick something else (read Glock) up.

Honestly in reality it is not that much smaller than (and probably weighs the same as) a Glock 19. The Glock is light years and then some ahead of the Makarov. If you keep your eyes open you can find a used G19 for marginally more than a Makarov.

Thats funny, because I knew one General whose PSD team carried HK pistols and his aid had a MP5.

Glocks now run about 800-1000 on the black market. The Iraqi Police officers like to sell theirs.

Learning to field strip a MAK without access to the internet was a challenge to say the least.

[decodeddiesel]

Glocks now run about 800-1000 on the black market. The Iraqi Police officers like to sell theirs.

Well I guess since importation is limited to the ones the US is bringing in for IPs they would be relatively scarce. Still though as my physics teacher would say:

Glock 19 >>> Makarov

(G19 is much much greater than MAK).

[ralph]

I've got a E. German Mak..The quality of build is much higher than the Bulgy's, fit and finish is very nice, The trigger is also very nice. The DA pull is quite useable and the SA pull breaks like a glass rod, The Germans took a little more care when they assembled theirs, as usual, the sights are tiny, Still, it's a farly accurate litte piece. I'd put it up against any.380...

[bubba04]

I have been trying to find a mak at a reasonable price for a while now.

[xjustintimex]

my dad has one and my uncle seems to favor them. Ive shot my dads a lot and theres not much I like about it besides a cool factor. it just doesn't feel right shooting it and takes some time getting use to the sights. you can get pretty good with them though my grandpa use to carry (the one my dad has) concealed.

[warpigM-4]

I Have had a Few and have one Russian Mak in 380 good weapon ,I have never had any problems with mine .

[sdacbob]

I have a Bulgy and besides the stiff mag springs its been very reliable. Granted, the 9mm Mak is no powerhouse but keep in mind the the Europeans have never been big on the large calibers. For years the .32 Walther PP and similar caliber pistols was the standard sidearm of most of Europe's police forces. The Mak is similar in design as well as disassembly to the Walther PP. It was also the standard sidearm of the Soviet Military from the 1950's to just recently so that speaks much for its durability and reliability too.

[warpigM-4]

Maks will Handle +P rounds also for a little extra punch

[TOrrock]

I have a Bulgarian PM that I've kept as a truck gun, and as a general shooter.

As other's have stated, there are much better choices. The Makarov was based on the Walther PP series, which is 1920's tech, and while it fires a more powerful round than the .32 ACP or the .380 ACP, 9x18mm is still far less powerful than the better defensive 9mm Parabellum loads.

The size is about the same as the Glock 19, but prior to the early 1980's, there weren't any compact 9x19mm pistols, so for the time the Makarov PM was designed and issued (1950's), it's size isn't out of line.

Also bear in mind that most European and Eastern Bloc countries didn't expect their officers to get into a real fight. The PM performed just fine as a motivational tool.......

If you can pick one up and get a decent price on it, do it. It's a piece of history and my experience has been that they are extremely durable and reliable pistols, and even though the sights do handicap them, all the PM's that I've shot, be they Russian, Bulgarian, or East German, have been surprisingly accurate.


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[GermanSynergy]

I have an East German Mak, made in 1961. Very nice fit and finish, esp for a Combloc sidearm. I've owned it since early 2001, and it shoots very well for what it is. Don't think I'll ever have to buy ammo for it again, as I got a few cases of Polish 9mm Mak ammo a few years ago.

As other posters have already said, it is not a substitute for a modern handgun.

[Heavy Metal]

By the codes, yours was made in 1985.

[skyugo]

i like maks.
liked em more when they were like 150 bucks. nice maks are up over 300 now :(

that said, i'm not real hot on sub-9x19 calibers for serious carry use. but it's a good, accurate reliable pistol.

[Fail-Safe]

There are things that can be done to improve the Mak. A heavy duty key ring for the heel release is the cheapest. Adding a Pearce Grip is cheap. If one can find Colt Mustang sites, they will work for a Mak. The DA trigger can be tamed with some polishing, no biggie.

I wouldnt mind having another as "errand" gun. I still have some Speer loaded 95gr GDHPs, but I think this cartridge would suffer from the same terminal performance issues that plague the .380. Expansion and less than adequate penetration, or adequate penetration and and little expansion.