I've been shooting handguns for 30 years, which I admit makes me a young one to many here. I accept this. In the last 30 years, never have I experienced such utter reliability as I have with Makarov PM pistols. It doesn't matter if they are Russian military surplus (fixed sight, not Baikal imports), East German, or Bulgarian. To a pistol, I have never had so much as a whimper. In my opinion, they really are the unsung hero of pistol reliability.

My polymer gun-owning buddies poo-pooed the idea of a 50-year-old pistol being able to hold its own against their space-age polymer wonders, but range time eventually makes all possible quirks known. Perhaps being an an abject clean freak regarding my guns may have something to do with it, but I'm beginning to see other guns I own exhibit trouble where the Makarovs keep chugging. I have, over time, changed out the recoil, extractor, and magazine springs to all Wolff products. The extractors themselves seem to be able to chew through a ridiculously high amount of steel-cased ammo and appear none the worse for wear. I doubt I would try this with my other guns.

What are your thoughts, guys? Any other admirers of the venerable Makarov PM?

I've had a few. Great guns but over time I sold them all. No real reason other then to streamline ammo, mags and shooting calibers

Also had the Polish P64. If you like the MAK you'll like this. A little different than a Makarov but still cool. Fair warning though. ...DA pull is like 30#

Funny you should mention the P64. I was reading about them just this weekend, and also watching a few YouTube videos. The hideous trigger pull was mentioned every time. I would like to have one, because they do look like cool little shooters. There are spring kits from Wolff that help with the trigger.

You can get Wolff springs to fix that issue. Another neat one is the later P83 Wanad.

The 64 reminds me a lot of a 38spl m36 snubby. U notch rear sight, small front sight, low capacity, heavy for it's size, easy to conceal, about the same energy and fps

Once upon a time, my buddy Milt, USA, was assigned to the British Army at Whitehall.
He obtained and hand carried to Aberdeen the very first Makorav that we got our hands on.

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Interesting story. It would be neat to learn more about that episode, such as thoughts on the pistol from Aberdeen armorers compared to the 1911.

The Makarov PM is touted as being the first gun in space, as the Soviet cosmonauts flew with them.

Just an FYI: I had a Russian student that corrected my pronunciation of
the Makarov. I pronounced it Mack a rov. He pronounced it Mu care ov.

MAK is the English pronouncement I guess. It's actually Aaaa like sound. Longer like in "car". Something like Maa car ov.

Also Makarov PM is redundant. PM stands for Pistol Makarov.

You are correct, sir. The emphasis is on the second syllable, "mah-KAR-ov".

Such a fine pistol. I believe if I could only have one pistol it might be a Makarov PM. Years of using these things has shown me they are freakishly reliable. Even the dirtiest, nastiest ammo doesn't phase these things as long as you clean them well after shooting. The extractors are stone cold hardened something or other, maybe tungsten. Years of use on steel-cased ammo doesn't seem to phase these things. And, for better or for worse, as a hold-over habit, I use nothing more than Breakfree CLP. It harms no finishes and does a "good enough" job of cleaning, lubricating, and protecting that I've seen no use in buying the newer, more spendy products that I honestly believe offer nothing more than a way to divest me of my income.

The closest I've gotten to one is a Hungarian PA-63, which is a dead ringer for a Walther PP, but in 9x18. If you replace the stupid thumb rest grip most of them have and install a Wolff spring kit they make an inexpensive and effective pistol.

Those are great shooters, too. Alloy frame, which makes it a bit lighter to carry. There was something about the steels and alloys used in Eastern Europe during the time of the Makarovs, Hungarian PA-63, Polish P64; they are incredibly durable. It's difficult to learn much about the manufacturing processes since they were made when info behind the Iron Curtain was hard to obtain by mere mortals. I'm assuming the metals are heat treated. I have a friend with a pre-45 1911 made by Remington Rand. I warned him not to shoot hot ammo in it because I do believe those older 1911s made by anyone were not heat treated.

Lovely pistol. I had one of the East German ones, 1962 vintage, the best-made of a well-made type. After the fall of the Wall you could get them for $150. Nowadays you can hardly find them.

Of course being German, it wasn't just a Makarov. It was a "Ernst Thälmann Modell M", so called because it was produced at the state-owned (ready for this?) "VEB Fahrzeug- und Jagdwaffenwerk Ernst Thälmann" in Suhl. In case anyone cares, Thälmann was a German Communist leader murdered by the Nazis. Giving the pistol a different German name was probably a gentle way for the East Germans to stick it to their Russian overlords, since Makarov was not the inventor, but just the manager of the program to build the gun based on the plans for the Walther PP Ultra which the Soviets had captured at Zella-Mehlis, right next to Suhl.

If you talk to former East German police officers, they all wanted a Modell M, but production was limited and they tended to be allocated to higher officers and party members; regular cops had to contend themselves with the imported Hungarian PP copies mentioned above as the PA-63, which did not enjoy a sterling reputation (although I suspect quality control is significantly better on guns exported for profit to Western markets than it was pre-1989 for guns dumped on Communist neighbors to fulfill plan quotas).

" I warned him not to shoot hot ammo in it because I do believe those older 1911s made by anyone were not heat treated."

Until about the mid-1920s, Colt slides were not heat treated at all. The front portion of Colt commercial slides were treated thereafter for wear resistance. as were WWII M1911A1 slides. After WWII, Colt started treatment of the entire slide. Having said that, I have never heard of a catastrophic M1911/M1911A1 slide failure due to metallurgical reasons. Lots of WWI M1911s fought their way through WWII (and even later in Korea and Vietnam) without incident. I also have fired many thousands of rounds through my ca. 1918 Colt M1911 without incident. But about 15 years ago, I did get a WWII Ithaca slide and retired the original WWI Colt slide, principally for historical preservation reasons, not safety concerns.

Interesting bit of history there. Thank you for sharing.

The East German Makarovs are indeed beautiful guns. The bluing on those is legendary and the overall workmanship is right up there with anything being made today. They also shoot very well. Regarding out-of-the-box accuracy, I would put an East German Makarov up against almost any semi-auto save a Sig Sauer P210 in terms of inherent accuracy.

Good to know, thank you. One learns something everyday. I will inform my buddy and let him make an informed decision. I tend to be leery of older guns and Buffalo Bore ammunition. I know it's probably just me wanting to not see him crater a beautiful gun (albeit one that has honest wear).

Love my Bulgarian mak.I once shot it side by side with my HK p7 and was surprised at how accurate it was.

I have an East German Mak, outstanding little pistol!
The fit and finish on this is fantastic! Wouldn't trade it for anything!

The Makarov is my gun of choice. I own an East German, and it's beautiful, but I carry a Bulgarian military. My practice gun is a Russian commercial in .380. I shoot it every week, usually about 60-80 rounds (l reload), and then it just goes back in the safe until next week. It has not jammed. I also have an Arsenal commercial in the safe, but I hope to find another East German someday. Makarovs are fantastic!

Had a couple and no complaints,serves the intended purpose very well.

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I have had three, a Russian, a Polish, and an East German, and never a malfunction of any kind. I still have the East German one.

I bought a Bulgarian one last year and haven't cleaned it up yet. The only thing people mention is that it is easy for the firing pin to get stuck forward if not cleaned and it will go off if that happens when you drop the slide.

I own two, a Bulgarian and a Chinese. I had to change out the Chinese springs for German ones, the main spring failed after about 200 rounds. They are both quite accurate for a pistol of that type and will eat anything, including modern American hollow-point ammo. The double-action trigger is decent on both, the single-action trigger is actually pretty good. Sights suck, but it isn't exactly a target gun. Not my first choice for a self defense pistol, but if that was what was available I wouldn't throw it away.

I really like the cz82 in 9mm makarov, the cz83 in 9mm makarov, 380acp, and in 32acp. Don't forget the cz50 & cz70 too. Then the tokarev' s too.
So many affordable toys to play with.

I'm a cz82 Makarov fan! Totally reliable and simple.

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East Bloc 9x18 pistols are great fun, and great value if you happened to get in early enough. These are all very well made guns, and if new would rival any current .380 pistols (the closest caliber comparison).

I find the actual Makarov pistols to remind me a lot of S&W semiautos. You get a very similar trigger pull, and in dryfiring, you get a bouncing "doink" from both. You also get a very solid steel piece of gun. Outside of the mag release (on the heel for the Makarov), I would say this is very likely what a 3rd Gen .380 (or 9x18) blowback would have been like.

My CZ 82 feels similar to my CZ 75. Well balanced, solid steel build, same safety setup (cock and lock), same "click" on dryfire.

I like the P64, but even in my smaller hand, this one approaches a subcompact in grip, odd for an actual duty gun that would be riding in a holster on your belt. It's got a weird combo of profoundly heavy DA trigger + very light SA.

I love the PA 63 for the way it looks and feels in the hand (with new left grip), but not so much for how it feels to shoot. That thing stings a lot. I wish the frame were steel, I think it would be much more pleasant to shoot.

I love the Makarov, it's a great little gun!

Mine is a commercial model, in .380. It's never malfunctioned, and it will shoot quarter-sized groups at 10 yards offhand. The sights are small, that would be my only issue with it. It's not in my "carry line-up", but I could carry it confidently.

I replaced the grip with Russian military.

And I'm still looking for an East German model!

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Here's a link to an interesting torture test on Youtube. I would say that it did pretty darn well for a gun you can buy for around $300.

I still have twenty EG, Russian military and Bulgarian surplus that I bought when they were well under than $200. Already sold off my commercial Russians, never really liked them. Time to sell some and only keep one of each but every time I think of selling some, I can't decide which ones.

I have an East German Mak I bought maybe 25 years ago for something like $125. At the same time I bought 5000 rounds of Russian 9x18 ammo. I've fired up about 4000 rounds of the Russian stuff, along with probably 1000 rounds of various commercial hollowpoint loads through the years, and the pistol has never, not once, exhibited so much as a slight bobble. Heavy trigger, blocky and heavy build, lousy sights, mediocre cartridge and all, it is still one of the very best pistols ever designed and built.

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