I love the little Maks too. What a bargain. I have Russian commercial that I picked up for $110 used, and it is 100 percent. I recently found and immediately bought a new-in-the-box Miltex Special Edition 9x18 in polished chrome (Miltex imported Bulgarian Maks and upgraded them). I'm still working up to shooting it. Miltex has been out of business since 1998. The Bulgarians are the current bargain. The East Germans are the most sought after, and are supposed to be the finest. A Russian military would be something of mild collectors interest (I am not a collector and I don't play one on TV). I think the only Mak to avoid would be the Chinese one.
As far as caliber goes, make sure you get the pistol in 9x18, not one of the .380 versions. The 9x18 round is, IMHO, superior to the .380. Don't get a .380. There is plenty of 9x18 ammo available, and it is reasonably priced.
Hornady loads some XTP rounds for it, and CCI makes aluminum cased Blazer hollowpoints for it. I've tried a few of both and no malfunctions so far. I shoot the white boxed Russian hardball (about $6.99/50 at my local gun shop) for practice/fun. Midway has a special on some new Russian hollowpoints (about $8.99 a box, if I remember correctly) which I want to try.
I guess you have visited
http://www.makarov.com (Karl Bloss' website). Mr. Bloss is probably one of the most knowledgeable makarov guys around, and he sells a lot of accessories from his web business. He and another fellow have a Makarov club over at yahoo.
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/makarov
There is another website called Makarov Information,
http://www.makarovinfo.com/
Hope this helps. Get a Makarov and enjoy it. I just got some Bright Sights paints for my sights. That is the only weakness of the Makarovs, as far as I see it. The sights are small and dark. Yes, there are upgrades available, but for me (I'm poor), spending $160 for a Beast slide with upgraded sights on it kinda defeats the true strongpoint of the Mak - value for the dollar. I think Mr. Stephen A. Camp has one of those upgraded slide assemblies and can comment on it if available. If I recall, he said it was pretty nice.
-10CFR