Makarov

H

hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
13,182
I love Makarov's. They are such a cool little gun and they really pop with that 9x18.

I've had this IJ70 I've had for about 10 years and it has always amazed me for such a small gun how well it shoots.

They took the system down at work at 3, so I left work at 2 and went to the WV Hunt show. Several nice knifemakers there including some very impressive damascus by Herb Derr.

Then I got hom and it was STILL LIGHT!! So I grabbed my Makarov and went out and cracked 50 rounds off. At 25 yards I kept them all on the paper, most in the target and a lot in the black. Offhand with a gun with a 4" barrel:thumbup: Don't know if it's the round, the sights or the fact that the barrel is fixed but the gun shoots great. Plus I got 2000 rounds of ammo for 180 bucks so it's cheap to shoot. Have a CZ82 that shoots as well but the Mak is even tinier and has a kool jump and lots of sparks shooting it in the evening!

usethis.jpg


Anyway not bad for a gun that was $160 new:thumbup:
 
Maks are very cool. Some are C&R... some aren't. It's a grey area.

The east's James Bond gun. Can get the ammo cheap by mail, or gunshows.


I need a CZ-52 when they're back in stock in Feb. $89.

They can keep the $89 Nagant revolver. Don't need that.

But the Mak- that's a cult thing right there. Must be something to it, why people love 'em.

Lucky HD. I gotta drive to bust caps.



Ad Astra
 
I have one myself,but in .380;frankly the thing shoots as well as my Glock 21 .45!! :eek:

It's my grandma's gun if any were to try her they would have an awful surprise! :D like any Russian weapon dirt simple and fix-it-with-a-hammer kind of tool.

The Nagant revolvers have a .32 S&W or .32 auto conversion cylinder I'd like to try :D
 
ferguson said:
Sweet looking and shooting pistol! Is 9x18 the same as .380?

Steve
Click to expand...


It's the same caliber, but the case is one millimeter longer than .380, and one shorter than 9mm. ;)

Take care.
 
I am fond of the Makarov as well. My IJ70 18A is never far away, though I do find the recoil to be a bit sharper then any of my other handguns. Not that it is a mule, it just feels sharper to me. Subjective I suppose. I still love the little fella.

ferguson:
9x18/9mm Makarov is a completely different critter than the .380acp/9x17/9mm Kurz. They are not interchangeable, though sometimes a gun that can fire one can be re-barreled to fire the other. The 9x18 is a Russian round designed to fire a bullet weighing 95 grains with a diameter of 9.2 MM or .363 diameter. The .380 is a bit skinnier then the .380, which generally pushes a 90-grain pill of 9mm or .355 diameter. In most cases velocities are similar. Neither generally breaks the sound barrier, which is possably why they are both so accurate. The 9x18, however is imported in one loading which is "hot on the tails" of a standard 9x19 load balistically. The Silver bear hollow point is 115 grains pushing 1126fps. A standard 115-grain 9x19(also called the 9mm luger and 9mm parabellum) is generally only around 1150 fps, though of course, high performance and +p loads blow the makarov out of the water. For comparison, a standard .380 load with its 90 grain bullet moves at about 1000 fps, Standard 9x18s do the same with 95 grain bullets. As before, premium ammo always moves faster.

Dhanyabad
Jeremiah
 
Madmanamus said:
It's the same caliber, but the case is one millimeter longer than .380, and one shorter than 9mm. ;)

Take care.
Click to expand...
And the bullet is .363 (if I remember right) as opposed to the 9's .355 dia

*Goes to look at the Cabela's reloading catalog*
Shoot! not listed.
 
Mine is the commercial version with adjustable sights.

I'd love to have a military one. Makarov.com which is about half an hour or less from my place has a bunch usually. They had the Bulgarians dirt cheap a while back and then they dried up. I wish I'd have picked one up. They are cool little guns.

I never knew that about the silver bear. How do they feed? I had some trouble with the Hornady? Hollow points not feeding due to the flat hollow point.

Bullfrog,

It's kind of a bark and jump don't you think? My CZ 82 holds 12 and is a bit heavier and it doesn't jump like the Makarov. The trigger is surprisingly good on mine.
 
I like makarov.com too, I would also like to pick up a russian military model, but they are expensive and rare, compared with what else is out there.

The double action trigger isn't too bad, about as heavy as a Ruger GP-100, but maybe a bit rougher and shorter, the single action is excellent though. I don't really go in for the old "breaking a glass rod" trigger. Maybe it is too many years shooting surplus bolt actions, but I prefer a bit of movement in a trigger before it goes boom. The East German model is supposed to have the best trigger and finish, but I have never handled one.

The IJ70 18A is the rusian commercial model with adjustable sights and eight shot magazine. I think it is one of the better CCW guns, and one of the few I would ever carry with a round in the chamber, as it is both a double action and has an easily accessible safety which locks the hammer and trigger. Good safety features in my book, though others may not agree. My only complaint is that the finish is quite thin. it hasn't been used too much, but the finish is wearing thin in many spots and some light rusting has appeared despite my best efforts to stay it.

As to the silver bear, I believe it is a new shipment of ammo from the russian barnaul company. They have two different kinds of ammo loaded pretty much the same way. Silver Bear has a nickel-plated steel case, Brown Bear has a copper washed steel case. They are both loaded to the same velocity I believe, and of the two Brown bear is cheaper. I bought some Brown Bear, but I haven’t had a chance to shoot it. So I can't comment on reliability, other then to say I don't recall ever having a russian round not chamber, or fire for that matter, in any of my Com Block guns.

As to recoil, I have a Glock 20, and a .44spl Bulldog, and I’m not sure either of those two have as sharp a recoil. They seem to push more then slap, if that makes any sense... Recoil is very subjective anyways.

Dhanyabad
Jeremiah
 
The finish is thin on mine too. I used to take it w/me backpacking a lot and it was exposed.

Mak.com last I was there had a couple East Germans but I didn't handle them. I think the last Russian they had was $300.

I've shot about 1200 rounds of Brown Bear between the Mak and the CZ and zero jams in either.

Compared to my CZ52 the Makarov has a sharper recoil and the muzzle jumps more.
 
Your experience with recoil mirrors mine. And the 7.62x25 that your CZ shoots is a much more powerful round.

Dhanyabad
Jeremiah
 
Have two Bulgies. Great little guns for the money.
 
I love may makarov it was the first handgun I ever bought. As it was years before I bought another handgun it was all I practiced with only ever had one malfunction a stovepipe (an empty case caught in the ejection port) in thousands of rounds. at one point I could shoot the numbers out of a standard qualification target 1 round per number at up to 35 feet. I only paid $145 including the upgraded grips and extra mag. Only complaint was that it bites if you dont keep youy 2nd thumb knuckle down. maks rock.
 
I get the cataract on my right eye removed the 10th of February. When it gets well I'm anxious to go out shooting again. My left eye has settled in at 20-25 just one line up from perfect vision and the Dr. assures me that the right one should do just as good or better.
It'll be nice to be able to focus the front and rear sights together instead of just trying to focus one.
It may be that I won't need a scope for tree rats anymore let alone a paper target or beer can.:thumbup: :D :cool:

I really like my CZ-52! The grip reminds me of the Walther P-38 which is my favorite all time old pistol, wish I could get one as cheap as the Czech guns.:( ;) :D :thumbup:
 
Let us know how that goes for you, Yvsa. (But don't tell the squirrels; if they don't know what's coming, you'll knock off half of them before they figure it out.)

For the best of both worlds, when you get that CZ dialed in, take a crack at the varmints with it. When you're used to using .22LR like I am, 7.62x25mm is fairly spectacular in the terminal ballistics department. (Aim for the head if you're going to eat it.)
 
I was shooting my CZ52 right before the Mak, but didn't do quite as well so didn't post a pic:o

It has a slightly more narrow sight and in the evening, shooting at a mostly black target I am not that accurate with it. For a while I had the back of the front sight blade painted white with that Bright Sights paint. I'm not sold on that stuff seems to come off as easy as plain enamel.

I'd love to buy a spare slide, and send the gun off for Novak sights and then put one of the Federal replacement barrels in and see how it does.

I notice with these military sights if it is super bright sun I can't shoot as well, if it is getting evening I can't shoot as well, but in the evening, when the sun is at my back shining on the target and my front sight blade I can really tear it up:thumbup:

I also had some blaze orange targets there for a while with a black dot in the center. Those were great in the evening but terrible in the afternoon. I shoot a lot and it is real interesting the things I notice that affect my accuracy on any given day.
 
hollowdweller said:
I was shooting my CZ52 right before the Mak, but didn't do quite as well so didn't post a pic:o

It has a slightly more narrow sight and in the evening, shooting at a mostly black target I am not that accurate with it. For a while I had the back of the front sight blade painted white with that Bright Sights paint. I'm not sold on that stuff seems to come off as easy as plain enamel.
Click to expand...

Hollow, what are the Novak sights you speak of?
The sights are the thing I'm most unhappy with on my CZ 52.:(
It was getting late in the afternoon when I shot mine and I was in shady woods where it was really hard to see the sights. Had I of been shooting at something as big as a man I might've had a hit or two but as it was I was disappointed in my marksmanship.:o
If there are better sights that aren't to expensive I might be interested.
I am definitly going to get the new firing pin and trigger for mine as well.
I'd also like to have the 9 mm barrel but with the reported loading problems associated with the 9 mm I won't get it.
 
It isn't a Nazi Germany P38, it is the post war police model with an upgraded frame, but then again it costs half of what the original P38 costs. If you can afford 2 CZ52's ($229.99) you can pick up a shooter P38 clone from http://www.kyimports.com/tarus.htm#Walther

I prefer the looks of the Luger myself, though I can't afford one of those.

As to Novak Sights on a CZ-52, http://makarov.com/graphics/cz52/cz1.jpg the Tritium sights by themselves will likely cost you what you paid for the gun, if you opt for a non-tritium model it will probably be about fifty bucks for the sight and another fifty to seventy-five for the gunsmithing. An alternative, and what I do, is to use a round file and slowly file down the rear sight blade, staying as true to center as possible until you have a huge U shaped rear sight. The front sight will still be small, but it really does help (I'm young, but my vision isn't so good anyways). If you like, I can e-mail you a picture of my modified Glock sight so you can see what I'm talking about (don't know how to post pics yet)

kuraa pokha, manmaa naraakha
Jeremiah
 
I love Makarovs and "stocked up" when they were inexpensive. There's a Bulgarian military model that resides in my briefcase, and at home I have two Russian Militaries, five Bulgarian Militaries, three East German Militaries, and a Russian Commercial CO2 "BB Mak."

Ad Astra: If you are interested, I have a CZ52 available, with the original 7.62 barrel and an aftermarket 9x19 barrel, walnut grips and original bakelite grip panels, and three mags, two of which are new originals and never been loaded. noah_zark@alltel.net for details.
 
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