More on Mak

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Tom Kinnaird

Inactive
Awhile ago after reading about how wonderful the Makarov is, I bought one. After it got here, I didn't like it. No tecnical reason, I just didn't like it. A couple of days ago I was at our indoor range and had the place all to myself. Now, I have been shooting my PA63s at 10, 15, and 25 yards, but I decided to get all adventuresome and ran the target out to 50. Loaded the Mak up with 8 rounds of "Green Box," got a solid "Bar Stool" position. (Since my legs won't hold me up they got me a bar stool to shoot from) and commenced fire. I put all eight in the eight/nine at 12 o'clock in a group the size of the palm of my hand. I'm not that good-a shot, so I just considered it luck, and tried again--another group about the same size, with one flyer off to the left a couple inches. I have been talking about getting a different pistol, but now, I'm going to get different grips for the Mak---after about twenty rounds these "target" grips it came with are uncomfortable. Then I'm going to use the money I was going to blow on another gun to buy ammo. and practice, practice, practice, until I can shoot as good as this Mak does. All the time, every time. Tom K.
 
Yep, the Mak is a very good pistol IF YOU ACCEPT IT'S LIMITATIONS. I really love my Maks, but I understand why someone wouldn't like them - terrible sights, heavy, etc.

Glad you "grew into" yours. Now, if there was some inexpensive way to improve the sights...
 
One barb Makarovs have against them (IMO) are, as Gino said, horrendous sights. My Russian IJ-70 has adjustable rear sights that look to have been installed as an after-though by a few essentric patients from Bedlam. I can only guess it was to used to accrue the required points to be imported. That itsy-bitsy front sight doesn't have much going for it either.

Also, mine passionately detests CCI 90gr Gold Dots... I get patterns, not groups. Otherwise, the inherent accuracy surprises me, considering what I paid for it.

Fortunately, my Makarov has an acceptable trigger, certainly nothing that adversely affects accuracy.

Even though Makarovs prices seem to have appreciated in the pass couple years, I still feel they are a heck of a value!
 
Tom,
Now you understand the mystique of the Makarov.

It is a damn near perfect carry gun.

I actually like those small sights that everybody complains about
The only criticism I have about it is the sharpness of the front sight. It does tend to grab whatever clothing or skin it touches.

Now as for the accuracy. It is a military design. It is not a hand built custom tuned pistol. It is a known fact that every gun is an individual. Mine display very similar accuracy to what you described. It did take me a couple hundred rounds to understand my Maks.

It also costs ~ 1/20th of a lot of those hand tuned customs.

The Makarov is a very well built, fun, accurate. reliable and inexpensive gun.

I bought mine initially out of curiosity. It blossomed into respect very quickly.

heres a pic of mine..:D
 

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What AC's & 45's said! I love my mak. I carry it everyday. The mak was my answer to the unacceptable accuracy I continuously performed with any snubnose .38 revolver. Great Pistol!!!
 
A couple of things that I did to make the mak better was polish the feed ramp mirror smooth, Next I used very white nail polish on the front sight and last a 19 lb wolf spring and there you have it. I like the red star grips I think look cool
 
There's the an easy fix to the sight problem, I've just done my Bulgie and the difference is so incredible that I keep picking it up just to look at the sights.

Flourescent yellow Makarov Sight Upgrade Package from Makarov.com, $6 shipped, yep six bucks, and they really do glow in the dark.

Gives you a multitude of sight options, but I went with the standard 2 dot rear. The only tricky part was cutting a 1mm x 2mm piece of sight material for the front blade and then securing it in place with a dot of superglue (provided).

I'm looking at mine right now and still can't believe it's the same set of sights.

Also fitted the Pearce grip, 19lb Wolff recoil spring, ramp polished to a glass finish and had the ramp "lip" removed, and throat polish. Total cost if you can do the polishing yourself is $30 including the sight pack, all shipped.

Maks are safe, accurate, reliable, durable, adequately powerful, cheap to shoot, and cheap to buy. I am without doubt a big fan, they make a lot of other guns look pretty silly.

Mike H
 
The trigger modifications described on Makarov.com will work wonders at smoothing out the DA trigger. It's time well spent.

As for the sights, I cleaned mine up with mineral spirits and painted them with flourescent orange, (fronts) and flourescent green, (rears), model paint. Sight picture is easy to aquire now that I can see the d@mn things!
 
I think Ashley makes an Express site or the Makarov now. The Mak I had sure needed some help in the site area, and the Ashley has worked well on my P7s.
 
You can get a set of Pearce grips for it...best grips for the mak. Also check out Makarov.com....even if you are just thinking about
it...they have EVERYTHING>...shoot well
 
Oh, one other thing I'd like to mention....

I was less than impressed with the stock grips that came with my IJ-70 Makarov, so I slapped on a Hogue Handall Jr. and was tickled pink with the results!

It features one finger grove, a slight palm-swell, and fits the Makarov (and my hand) like a glove. I simply couldn't have done better even if I had it farmed it out to a shop for custom grips... obviously could have spent more,of course, but with no better results.

I recommend them whole heartedly for those who want a more comfortable and secure grip.

I included a pic of the Handall Jr. installed on my Makarov.
 

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the grips

I personally prefer the Bulgarian "Red Star" grips that I put on my East German. They are a little slimmer than the original black military's that came with the pistol. I don't care for the rubber type, as they tend to be "grabby" under clothing. I practice and carry the Barnaul hollow point, and don't have a problem with the recoil. I did upgrade to the 19# spring though.
Sights are typical on this type of European pistol, but for a "point n shoot" gun, they are adequate.
 

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I was quickly in and out of my local shop today picking up a serviced long gun and was looking at a stainless version of this gun.
I did not pick it up or really get much of a look at it, but it was stainless, 380cal, black hard rubber or plastic grips with adjustable sites.
I know this maynot be enough info but any idea which country may have made a stainless mak, I think name on the slide begain with a B.
I have been thinking of getting one but never really see them in my area, should i check this one out or considder getting russian model? (are there alloy frame models available or just stainless?)
 
B Shipley; Do you have the BEAST slide ? I wanted the trigger job and the sights so I sent my whole gun to BEAST. He has had it since last February. I have begun calling him every week.
 
I was just over at makarov.com and found this post I am almost sure this is the gun I was looking at.

"What I do know is that Baikal imported some IJ-70s that were beautifully nickel plated (in which countless numbers of folks erroneously believe is stainless, which never existed- all Makarovs are of carbon steel).
Nickel plated Makarovs are exceedingly hard to find, as only Russia's Baikal imported them with this factory-finish option."

Anyboby know about this model?
 
I had my Bulgie nickle plated to help fight corrossion, as I use it as a carry gun quite often. You'd be surprised how nice these little guns look with the nickle finish. I use the Pearce grips on my practice gun, but installed the walnut grips on my Bulgie.
 
pocketman,

B-West.

As you qoute what I posted at Makarov.com (under the name "GeezusWhatNameHasntBeenTaken".... don't ask :rolleyes: ) there are no stainless Makarovs.
Shiny, yes... stainless, no.

That Makarov you saw was more than likely a nickel plated Baikal IJ-70 Imported from Russia by B-West in the early '90s.

It is utterly amazing all the folks who have this particular IJ-70 from B-West that actually believe they have an ultra-rare stainless Russian Makarov. :D
 
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