9mm Makarov Availability

[AndyLate]

Is the 9x18 Mak pretty much a dead cartridge now? I bought two (yes 2 ) CZ82s when the surplus guns hit the market and foolishly did not pick up a few thousand rounds at the time. Now 9x18 ammo is twice the cost of 380 ACP.

Are the Mak chambered guns soon to be obsolete/handload only now that the Russian ammo pipeline is cut off?

I also did not grab 1 or 2 CZ 83 barrels when they were cheap(ish).

FWIW, the CZ82/83 guns are pretty well designed as far as heavy, oversized, and underpowered guns go. Great trigger, carry cocked and locked or DA, decent capacity, ambi safety and mag release.

Andy

[Ron3]

I hadn't noticed.

50 cents a shot? I'd be loading that.

Plated bullets are available for 10 cents each. Lead certainly cheaper.

I've spent a couple range sessions with a CZ82. Quality gun, definitely and a couple thousand rounds through PM Makarovs. In 9x18 it recoils more than Beretta m84. I prefer 7.65x17 in blow-backs.

I had a bad Tula cartridge get stuck in a Makarov (Fired It out) and a dud or two (common with Russian junk ammo) but never had any other type of stoppage.

Check Starline for cases.

[Pappabear]

I got paranoid when they started the whole stopping Russian goodies and bought a couple thowy rounds for my AK's. It sucks get caught behind the 8 ball. Good luck Andy.

PB

[AndyLate]

I got paranoid when they started the whole stopping Russian goodies and bought a couple thowy rounds for my AK's. It sucks get caught behind the 8 ball. Good luck Andy.

PB

I honestly don't consider it behind the 8 ball. I picked up both pistols pretty cheap and got some enjoyment out of shooting them. I still have 300 rounds of ammo.

Its just funny seeing the ammo go from non-existent to common and cheap, then back to uncommon and overpriced in just a decade or two.

The 9x18 is pretty easy to support by reloading, I know. I would rather spend my time loading .45 ACP or rifle rounds.

Andy

[Pappabear]

I honestly don't consider it behind the 8 ball. I picked up both pistols pretty cheap and got some enjoyment out of shooting them. I still have 300 rounds of ammo.

Its just funny seeing the ammo go from non-existent to common and cheap, then back to uncommon and overpriced in just a decade or two.

The 9x18 is pretty easy to support by reloading, I know. I would rather spend my time loading .45 ACP or rifle rounds.

Andy

I hope it didn’t come off bashing you, not the case.

PB

[AndyLate]

I hope it didn’t come off bashing you, not the case.

PB

Nope, not at all and I did not intend to sound defensive.

Andy

[Bret]

I don't ever see 9x18Mak drying up. It's just a less common cartridge. The cheap Russian stuff is gone now, but there are still lots of 9x18Mak chambered pistols throughout the world. It won't be as cheap as regular 9mm, but my guess is that it will be available and priced on par with cartridges like 32APC. Midway has reloadable S&B 95gr FMJ for $17/50rd box. Of course you can always convert regular 9mm cases for reloading if you want to go that route.

[Bimmer]

I don't ever see 9x18Mak drying up. It's just a less common cartridge. The cheap Russian stuff is gone now...

I think this is it, and it's a pattern...

Before my time (so I hear), it was .30 Carbine. USGI surplus ammo was so dirt cheap that hardly anybody produced new ammo, and nobody reloaded it.

Happily, I bought my carbine while the guns were still dirt cheap ($210.- in 1994, IIRC), but the cheap ammo was long gone by then, so I reloaded it from the get-go...


7.62NATO wasn't sooo much different, not so long ago. I always feel like an ass reminiscing like this, but in the late 1990s I could buy quality surplus 7.62NATO for 18¢/round. This was clean, fairly accurate, 1980s-production British ammo (RG) in durable plastic boxes inside sealed steel ammo cans. (Not to be confused with even cheaper but low quality and dirty Venezuelan or Indian ammo!)

AFAIK, the Brits and Germans and Austrians and others sold a lot of their 7.62 ball as surplus after they discarded their FALs and G3s and StG58s and went to 5.56. Of course, those days are long gone...

[Bret]

I always feel like an ass reminiscing like this, but in the late 1990s I could buy quality surplus 7.62NATO for 18¢/round. This was clean, fairly accurate, 1980s-production British ammo (RG) in durable plastic boxes inside sealed steel ammo cans.

I still have and shoot some of this ammunition. The only negative is that the cases can't be reloaded. At the price I paid, it doesn't matter.

[Bimmer]

I still have and shoot some of this ammunition. The only negative is that the cases can't be reloaded. At the price I paid, it doesn't matter.

Me, too...

I saw the writing on the wall and stopped buying Berdan-cased ammo at some point, but for a long time 7.62 was so cheap that I never expected to reload it.

I actually just loaded a mag with RG, so that I'll have some empty Berdan cases that I can test-to-destruction as I set up my annealer... I would feel wasteful if I did that to Boxer cases!