First trip to the range with my Makarov

K

Knox

Inactive
Okay, I admit it. I'm in love with the Mak. It did everything I hoped it would do. I really took my time getting comfortable with it and ran only about 60 rounds through it. Extremely accurate for a straight out of the box weapon I paid $130 for delivered. Impressions: While I only ran 60 rounds through it, the recoil was abosolutely no problem. I was a little concerned after reading some other posts that it might be uncomfortable but no problem. I like the standard plastic grips with thumb rest just fine as they are no problem for my medium sized hands and will have no plans to get the Pearce (sp?) replacement grips. Mags were a little tough to load and I look forward to receiving the mag loading tools (and spare mags) I have ordered from Karl @ Mak.com. The SA pull was pretty nice although I'm not spoiled with expensive smith work on my other weapons. DA pull was definitely a little gritty but I was surprised that it didn't hurt my accuracy much. And frankly, I like the heavy DA pull as I plan to carry it with one in the chamber, hammer down, and safety off. Also, the LVE Russian ammo (FMJ, 95 gr. $100 per 1000 delivered from Dan's) was beyond satisfactory. In my opinion, this little pistol is an incredible value and a real quality product. I think I'll sign off and go pet it again.
 
My boss was thrilled with his as a X-mas gift.

Congrats on getting one of the absolute best-buys available. I'm glad that you were not affected by Mak Smack in the palm of your hand. The Pearce grips are a sure cure for it. Or, getting ahold of some milder S&B ammo.:)
 
Glad to see that you like your Mak. I have had mine for several years now. Even with those miniscule sights, I am able to shoot rather accuratly with it.:D
 
Congrats on the new Mak. Mine is quickly becoming my favorite shooter. The more you shoot the smoother the trigger gets. I've got about 1000 rounds through mine. Shot it yesterday along with my BHP. I wish I could get the BHP trigger pull like the Mak.

I also got a Bulg. Mak for my father for Christmas...I can't wait to give it to him. He tried to keep mine the first time I showed it to him.
 
Anyone tried any after-market sights for the Mak? One comment I failed to make in my post was that in the rather dark range environment I had a little trouble focusing on that tiny black front sight.
 
Hello, Knox. I, too, recently purchased a Makarov (new commercial Bulgarian) and was very impressed at what it would vs the money it cost; a true bargain.

As to sights: I purchased a "Beast Slide" available through Beast Enterprises, which you can find at http://www.makarov.com. It is not cheap compared to the cost of the entire new gun at $160. It comes with Novak fixed sights; I took plain black-on-black. Sight picture is vastly improved for my aging eyes.

Removing the parts from your present slide and putting them into the Beast slide is not complicated at all, but I went ahead and just bought new "guts" for the slide so that my original slide would remain intact. Still got less than $200 in the slide and parts.

Considering the costs of the Novaks and having a smith do the machining to install them as well as possibly refinishing the slide, it's not a bad deal considering that time is very short compared to the usual stay at the gunsmith's.

For what it's worth, the Beast slide starts as a new, unfired commercial Bulgarian and is finished in a matte blue. Turns out that the sights are well-regulated from the get-go. I compared the ratios of the originals to the Beast /Novak's and got almost exactly the same result, so it's no accident.

By the way, the folks at both http://www.makarov.com and Beast Enterprises are honest, helpful, and have done everything exactly as they said they would in my case. Parts are delivered prompty and are as advertised.

They also give full instructions on how to change out the parts.

Best.
 
I am also on the Makarov bandwagon. I never paid any attention to them until I read post after post on various internet pages about how great they are. So I bought one. I was completely satisfied. I own several dozen handguns and don't feel the Mak takes a back seat to any of them. I think it is the best buy out there for a self defense handgun or just a plinker. Two nights ago I flipped out and ordered all kinds of stuff from makarov.com. I considered the BEAST slide, but was also considering the whole treatment from the same guy that makes the BEAST slide with the trigger job, throating... for $230. You have to really respect a gun to buy it for $190 (with 2 mags, 300 rounds of ammo, and the Pearce grips), then buy $150 worth of accessories for it, then buy the loading dies, and still consider sending it away for an action/trigger/sight job all of which costs several times as much as the gun.
 
I have a Baikal which I picked up for $110. I like it, and think it is one of the best bargains around. For anyone on a limited budget who wants a small self-defense auto the Mak is one to consider. There are certainly more potent chamberings available in a gun that size, but for the money, you just can't beat it. The sights are hard to see though. I'm considering trying that bright paint they sell (can't remember the name of it right now). I've been shooting the white-box ammo and tried some CCI Blazers and Hornady XTP's. Not one single failure to feed or to fire. Handled properly, the Mak is also a good safe carry gun - shouldn't have any AD's or ND's with it unless the user does something stupid. I would like to get hold of another one, perhaps an East German or Bulgarian. I have a set of the Makawrap grips which I got from Mr. Bloss, but I haven't tried them yet. Right now, I have an Uncle Mike's slip-on grip on it and I like that. I have those things on most of my guns.

Enjoy!

-10CFR
 
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