Makarov - Ammo Availability?

G

Guyon

New member
I've been thinking about getting a 9X18 Bulgarian "unissued" Mak. I think the gun is a great value, and I sort of like the idea of getting a pistol that was made in the 60s but never used. I'm just a little worried about finding affordable ammo a few years down the road. I don't really care to go for the .380 version, even though .380 ammo is so easy to find. But I've seen posts here on TFL that are skeptical about the availability of 9X18 ammo in the future.

What do some of you think? Will this ammo be produced more and more by US manufacturers? Is mail order the only way to get this ammo, or do some stores/shops actually stock it?

Also, how does the 9X18 round stack up in terms of performance? Is it at all comparable to, say, a .38?



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Guyon
NRA & GOA Member
Vote for your rights!!!
 
Many US manufacturers make it (Federal, for one, Remington for another), so I don't see a worry there.

Availability of the gun drives the market and there are many of these litle beauties out there.
 
I roll my own "ammo" but check out "Makarov.
com" for ammo links.9x18 is cheap and available, I feel the Mak is one of the
best pistols out there beating many that
cost 3 times as much.
 
What the heck, why not stock up now and avoid the rush later. I have done that for all of my guns. I have a preset minimum that I will not allow my ammo stash to fall below, when it does, I buy another case.

7th

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SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POLICE, KEEP THEM INDEPENDENT.
 
"...a preset minimum that I will not allow my
ammo stash to fall below, when it does, I buy another case." I LIKE that idea! I think I'll adopt it for my arsenal. Thanks for the tip.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined."
--Patrick Henry, during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution (1788)

GOA, JPFO, PPFC, CSSA, LP, ARI, NRA
 
I think I will panic! Does this mean there will be no ammunition for my Makarov? I doubt it. There are probably a million Makarovs in this country. Does anyone really think that our ammunition companies will leave them unfed? Regards, Richard.
 
7th Fleet wrote:

"What the heck, why not stock up now and avoid the rush later."

A "rush" is exactly what I'm afraid of. If people have to stockpile the ammo for fear of its future scarcity, I'm not sure I want to get the Mak. While it sounds like a fun, durable gun, I have better things to do with my time than scour gun shows and the internet for a particularly scarce cartridge (I'm not saying this is the case now, but some posters here raise on TFL have raised this possibility).

So I'm wondering if any signs point to increased production of this cartridge by major companies as the Mak has become more popular in the States. If it looks like the ammo is going to get more abundant instead of more scarce, I would feel better about the purchase.

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Guyon
NRA & GOA Member
Vote for your rights!!!
 
So if by some outside chance there's no more 9x18 ammo five years from now, you'll have wasted all of $150 and had a lot of fun shooting in the meantime. What's the big deal?
 
Never seen a decent sized ammo seller that didn't have 9mm Mak in stock. Backwoods Bubba's Beer & Bullets won't stock it, but the local K-Mart does.
 
I agree with craigz. The nice thing about the Mak is that the gun is so cheap! If you bought the gun and were only able to use it for two years, you still got a great deal.

You should be able to find Mak ammo for around $110 per case (1000 rounds) mail order. Buy yourself a case and have at it...
 
I'm not quite so free with my cash. For one thing, I don't have as much as a lot of posters here on TFL appear to. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but if I sink even $175 into a gun (which is what the Mak will cost me after shipping, FFL fees, background check), I'd like to be able to use it for years to come. I'm particular about the tools and guns I buy; I don't always buy the very best (or else my post would be about custom 1911s), but I will only buy quality items that will last. What attracted me to the Mak in the first place is its reliability and its durability at such a good price. However, what good is that durability if you can't find ammo?

Thanks to B Shipley. I have found the Federal and Remington loads online, and I'm happy to find that all the ammo for this gun doesn't come out of Russia. JayDrummond's post about K-Mart is also reassuring. To be honest, I haven't even checked local shops and stores for 9 mm Makarov; I may call around tomorrow and see who stocks the cartridge here in town. I know you can get it cheap online. Also, doesn't CorBon make a decent defensive load in case you do carry this gun?

To be honest, with so many of these pistols floating around (both in eastern Europe and now, the U.S.), I expect the ammo to remain available. But I posted here to find out if someone knew something I didn't about availability.

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Guyon
NRA & GOA Member
Vote for your rights!!!

[This message has been edited by Guyon (edited September 04, 2000).]
 
I recently picked up an East German Mak from AIM Surplus, no FFL fees with my C&R license. It's a very nice shooter, and ammo is everywhere, I can't see that being a problem. Of course, I also reload, so I'm sure it won't be a problem for me! :)
 
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