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purchaced a new gun makarov

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Ezrider

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i just bought a makarov in good condition for $125 after some haggling with a pawn shop. unfortunately i did not get to take it home with me today, they delayed me on the background check, don't really know what happened that has never happened before however they said i should be able to pick it up within a few days. I am quite excited about my new purchase. I really liked the feel of it in my hand. I cant wait to take it too the range for a test run.

what do you guys think of the 9x18 makarov ammo?

can these guns be carryed decocked/safty off with one in the tube?

where can you buy holsters for these both cc and posibly oc holsters?
 
younggun20

younggun20

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I just sold my mak. the Bulgarian model I had was able to chamber de cock and raise again to have round in chamber hammer down and safety off.

After searching and searching i ended up with cheap uncle mikes pancake IWB holster. but I believe i recently saw Fobus had holsters for the makarovs. hope this helps some

The only 9x18 I could ever find in Ut was S&B and wolf.
 
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CarryOpen

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Wish I hadn't sold mine. I carried it condition 2, decocked and unlocked. If you can still find one, there was a company called Falco that was making nice leather holsters for them a few years back. They were IWB and I bought mine from makarov.com for $25 when they were still operating.
 
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TheMrMitch

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If in good condition, you stole that Mak. Even if it was another brand and not a Mak....still a good price. PA63 and P64s both use the 9x18 Mak ammo and are often called Maks.

I used a 95 grain Barnaul JHP to fire into a block of ice. The JHP went 3.25 inches in and broke into nine pieces. You judge the bullet. I trust it to do good.:dude:

9x18jhp-1.jpg
 
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Ezrider

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i went to my local gun store today to check out ammo for it, they had a couple different ball ammo for it in stock i asked them about jhp ammo and at first they said it wasn't available that they were aware of, so we get to talking and he decides to pull out his catalog we find a few different manufactures who had jhp for the 9mm makarov so he ordered a case of 2 of them one was hornady wich surpised the both of us that they had it. The other was brown bear. They said it should come in, in a week or two. He also said he will keep it onhand now that he knows its available. price for the jhp are around $17 per box of 25. ball ammo is about $17 for a box of 50 or surplus ammo for 7 bucks for 15 (january 2010 incase this thread comes up in somones serch later on)
 
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Ezrider

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TheMrMitch wrote:
If in good condition, you stole that Mak. Even if it was another brand and not a Mak....still a good price. PA63 and P64s both use the 9x18 Mak ammo and are often called Maks.

I used a 95 grain Barnaul JHP to fire into a block of ice. The JHP went 3.25 inches in and broke into nine pieces. You judge the bullet. I trust it to do good.:dude:
Click to expand...
I am 99.5% sure its an actual mak. The .5% is just because its not in my hands right this moment but it looks identical to the makarov's i looked at on the internet right down to every last detail. when i get it in my hands ill be able to determin for 100% certanty as well as the country of origin.

The pawn shop I bought it from normaly has very fair prices. They were asking $175 for it. I haggled them down to $125. Internaly it looked in excelent condition externaly looked real good other than some skuffing on the slide. The biggest thing that impressed me about it was how rugged of a design it was. It just felt in your hand like it could be run over by a tank picked back up and still fire. but it was still a farily compact size and felt good in your hand. I am jonsing big time to get to take it to the range.
 
Sonora Rebel

Sonora Rebel

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If it looks like this it's a 9x18mm Makarov. This one's E. German, bought NIB somewhere around 1986 for $150. w/mil flapped holster and 2 mags. I have never had this thing jam... althoI had some bad Chinese ammo that failed to fire. Wolf ammo works like it was made for it... (it was). I've tried to make it jam... it won't. My wife now open carries this daily.... in it's black flapped mil holster.
 
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Ezrider

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younggun20 wrote:
I just sold my mak. the Bulgarian model I had was able to chamber de cock and raise again to have round in chamber hammer down and safety off.

After searching and searching i ended up with cheap uncle mikes pancake IWB holster. but I believe i recently saw Fobus had holsters for the makarovs. hope this helps some

The only 9x18 I could ever find in Ut was S&B and wolf.
Click to expand...
when you chamber around then activate the safety which drops the hammer and then flip the safety back to the fire position is the hammer still blocked until you squeeze the trigger? or is there a risk of a discharge i like the idea of carrying in this manner because then its just draw and squeeze. i will look into the uncle mikes pancake holster and the fobus. although uncle mikes tend to be a little thick for my liking.




sonora, it looks just like that other than a black hand grip instead of brown. and more of a matte black Finnish on the slide
 
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Task Force 16

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Ezrider wrote:
younggun20 wrote:
I just sold my mak. the Bulgarian model I had was able to chamber de cock and raise again to have round in chamber hammer down and safety off.

After searching and searching i ended up with cheap uncle mikes pancake IWB holster. but I believe i recently saw Fobus had holsters for the makarovs. hope this helps some

The only 9x18 I could ever find in Ut was S&B and wolf.
Click to expand...
when you chamber around then activate the safety which drops the hammer and then flip the safety back to the fire position is the hammer still blocked until you squeeze the trigger? or is there a risk of a discharge i like the idea of carrying in this manner because then its just draw and squeeze. i will look into the uncle mikes pancake holster and the fobus. although uncle mikes tend to be a little thick for my liking.




sonora, it looks just like that other than a black hand grip instead of brown. and more of a matte black Finnish on the slide
Click to expand...

My employer has an IJ-70 Makarov, that looks just like the one Sonora posted a picture of.

His had a hammer block that moves into place with the triggerabout half wayfoward.

I believe I saw a Fobus holster for the Mak/PA63 on the Sportsmans Guide web site. They also always have 9x18 Wolf, Brown Bear and Silver Bear FMJ ammo in bulk (250/500/1000 rds). Sometimes they have the Hornady JHP as well.
 
Sonora Rebel

Sonora Rebel

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Task Force 16 wrote:
My employer has an IJ-70 Makarov, that looks just like the one Sonora posted a picture of.

His had a hammer block that moves into place with the triggerabout half wayfoward.

I believe I saw a Fobus holster for the Mak/PA63 on the Sportsmans Guide web site. They also always have 9x18 Wolf, Brown Bear and Silver Bear FMJ ammo in bulk (250/500/1000 rds). Sometimes they have the Hornady JHP as well.
Click to expand...
The grips on this one are Soviet. This has a hammer block as well. It's not marked IJ-70 tho... Ernst Thalman, Suehl is listed as the mfg. This is prob'ly named after the German KPD commie leader who was croaked in Buchenwald in '44...
 
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jeeper1

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Just think of the cartridge as a 380 magnum. I have a couple of CZ82s in 9x18 and they are great handguns but I consider the cartridges as too under powered for self defense.
 
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Task Force 16

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jeeper1 wrote:
Just think of the cartridge as a 380 magnum. I have a couple of CZ82s in 9x18 and they are great handguns but I consider the cartridges as too under powered for self defense.
Click to expand...

So.... you probably wouldn't get to upset if I shot you with my CZ82 then, huh. :lol:

.22LR cal has been used successfully for self defense on many occassion. The Mak round was considered good enough for combat, at one time.
 
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Ezrider

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in my research iv been doing sense purchasing this gun the 9mm makarov ammo is comparable to 380+p loadings but with a slightly larger diamater. being that my favorite self defense round is 9mm luger i fell pretty cofident in the makarov ammo's ability. the only real issue i see at this point is ammo availability. iv only been to my normal gun shop that i buy most of my ammo from and they had fmj instock. they ordered two cases of jhp 9mm ammo after i inquired about it today and they say they will keep it in stock from now on. so hopfully ammo availibilty wont become an issue. although in a shtf senerio i could see the makarov turning into a paperweight. if it was powerfull enough to be a military service pistol i would assume its powerfull enough for self defense use
 
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Task Force 16

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Ezrider wrote:
in my research iv been doing sense purchasing this gun the 9mm makarov ammo is comparable to 380+p loadings but with a slightly larger diamater. being that my favorite self defense round is 9mm luger i fell pretty cofident in the makarov ammo's ability. the only real issue i see at this point is ammo availability. iv only been to my normal gun shop that i buy most of my ammo from and they had fmj instock. they ordered two cases of jhp 9mm ammo after i inquired about it today and they say they will keep it in stock from now on. so hopfully ammo availibilty wont become an issue. although in a shtf senerio i could see the makarov turning into a paperweight. if it was powerfull enough to be a military service pistol i would assume its powerfull enough for self defense use
Click to expand...

The bigest difference between the Ruger 9mm (9x19) and Mak 9mm (9x18) is the cartidge size. The casing of the Ruger ammo is just a tad bit longer than the Mak, and the primer end of the Ruger is slightly larger in Diameter than the Mak.

There's a reason for this. From what I've been told the Russians made the Mak round slightly different from the German Ruger round, so that the Germans couldn't use the Mak round in their guns if they captured any of it. Of course, this meant that the Russians wouldn't be able to use captured German ammo either.

I've often heard the .380 refered to as a 9mm Short. It's casing is even shorter than the Mak casing.
 
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Ezrider

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right the 380 is a 9x17 9mm Luger is 9x19 and the 9mm mak falls in between at 9x18 with a slightly larger diameter bullet. I'v been told that is possible to shoot 9x17 from a makarov but you loose a little bit of accuracy personally i don't think I'm willing to try it. considering that 380acp currently is at a higer price than 9mm mak plus a loss in accuracy i dont see any reason to load a makarov with 380acp unless posibly in a shtf senerio. i would immagin 380 wouldent cycle very well threw a makarov eather.
 
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jeeper1

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"I'v been told that is possible to shoot 9x17 from a makarov but you loose a little bit of accuracy personally i don't think I'm willing to try it."

The base diameter of the 380 is .016 inches smaller than the 9x18. Also the case mouth is .017 inches smaller than the 9x18.
Because of the size differences plus the shorter case length and .005 inches bullet diameter difference I doubt you could get the 380 cartridge to fire.
 
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Ezrider

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see based off the same numbers i would come to the opposite conclusion. i worked as a machinist for a while .016 is a very small difference but enough of a difference that mak ammo wouldn't work in a 380 but i would say it would work the other way around. figrure an average sheet of paper measures between .06-.08 inches. .01 is very small. i would put money on that it would fire, but when .380 ammo is more expensive why do it? I dont think i will ever try it. it would be currious to know if anyone here has ever tryed it?
 
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jeeper1

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I just checked and the standard sheet of printer paper is .004 inches.
I also am of the opinion that a 380 would go far enough into the 9x18 chamber to be beyond the reach of the firing pin.
I definitely like the 9x18 cartridge. It's just not my first choice in a self defense cartridge. Or my second or even third choice for that matter.
 
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Task Force 16

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jeeper1 wrote:
"I'v been told that is possible to shoot 9x17 from a makarov but you loose a little bit of accuracy personally i don't think I'm willing to try it."

The base diameter of the 380 is .016 inches smaller than the 9x18. Also the case mouth is .017 inches smaller than the 9x18.
Because of the size differences plus the shorter case length and .005 inches bullet diameter difference I doubt you could get the 380 cartridge to fire.
Click to expand...
The .380 casing is shorter than the Mak casing. My guess is that a .380 would drop too far into the Mak chamber and the firing pin would not be able to strike the .380 primer. Same would hold true in dropping a Mak round into a Ruger chamber.
 
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