Here's my question, I was told by a person who owns a 9mm makarov that he shoots 380 Kurtz in it with no problem.

As far as I know the 9mm makarov or 9x18 is slightly larger caliber and slightly larger case than the 9mm Kurtz.

I was told the 380 Kurtz or 9x17 is essentially the same cartridge as the 380 acp, 380 auto and 9mm browning short.

Since all these cartridges head space on the front of the cartridge what keeps the 380 Kurtz from being forced into the chamber of a 9mm makarov and thus result in failure to eject. Not to mention the bullet bouncing down the barrel while all the force designed to push the bullet out the barrel bypasses the bullet before it exits the barrel.

Is this a common practice wondering if anyone else has heard of this.

Do not shot .380 out of a makarov with a 9mm Makarov barrel. There are some makarovs with a .380 barrel but 9mm Makarov is actually wider the 9mm and .380 so ammo is not interchangeable. I just checked i have a Russian makarov and i chambered a .380 and it sits in it very loose.

It can be done if you have to but generally its not a good idea to do so. Accuracy will suck but if you are running away from zombies with an empty Makarov and stumble onto a 1/2 empty box of 380 you can use it. Same goes for the Polish P64.

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Yup these guys are right, 9X18 is larger, 380 will physically work, but you can also wrestle a bear while smeared in honey.... I would recommend neither. The pressure of the rupturing cartridge could weaken the chamber and cause a failure, and as previously mentioned, the accuracy sucks....

Thanks for all the input. I couldn't imagine shooting a 380 in a makarov but the guy acted like it was common practice. Is there an old wise tale or misconception that this is acceptable? other than what Arik said.

That comment made me chuckle.

From what I understand a lot of Maks were convereted to 380 when imported into the US. Maybe a lot of folks just think they came that way and that Maks are .380s. I have one in 9x18, and the place I got it from also had .380 versions available. I am pretty sure they had a lot more in .380 than 9x18mm.

Main thing thats needed is a barrel change to go from 380-9x18. The gun itself is way overbuilt for the caliber its chambered in. Tests have been done using 9x19 on a few and while the pressures are much higher the guns were able to fire off a few rounds before major catastrophic failure. This was done at the factory as an attempt to import the Mak in 9mm. So they will hold up to a 380 even in 9x18 form. However you have an unsupported case and the bullet is just bouncing around inside the barrel.

This is one of those guns that are "close enough". Same can be done with a Tokarev going from 7.62x25 to 9mm. Although a 9mm barrel is needed for this. It can also go tge other way but depending on the country of origin the ejection port might be cut too small to reliably eject. ( x19 vs x25).

Generally speaking DONT DO IT. If you want a 380 buy a 380

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P-64, CZ-82, and Makarov all use the 9X18 cartridge I have the first two and would not put anything but 9X18 through. They have polygonal rifling and are accurate with the 9X18 round. Ammunition is available online for the same price as .380 so why use .380. Some LGS and GM around here heave it in stock. Just keep it away from your 9X19. There have been some converted for the .380 round maybe he has one of those.

Yeah, I had one guy who kept telling me this malarky, even though the "9mm Makarov" is actually 9.3mm. Finally he brought the gun to the range, and sure enough, the barrel was marked for 9mm Kurtz, or .380(same cartridge). As several have said, they can be had with conversion barrels, and just READ THE BARREL to select proper ammunition.

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Science plus Art

I'm going to get a lot of flack for this but here goes, most commercial semi autos that are supposed to head space on the mouth of the case do not do so in reality. Most all cases in .45ACP, 9mm and I would suspect the 9x18 Mak are short and the extractor of the pistol holds them against the breech face snugly enough for the primer to be ignited by the firing pin. If the Makarov in question here is in fact a 9x18 I would suspect this is enabling it to fire. As already said its not a good idea. I feed mine the Blazer 9x18 with the Gold Dot bullet and call it a day.

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Stay safe people!

"I was told by a person who owns a 9mm makarov that he shoots 380 Kurtz in it with no problem."

Because one can doesn't mean one should. Many .40s will feed and fire the 9x19, but I don't suggest that either.