Who Made the Best Makarovs?

H

Hard Ball

New member
My son wants to buy a Makarov pistol for his girl friend. He wants to get her a good one. I don't have much experience with Makarovs. I have two questions I'd like to ask

1) Which country (****ries) made the best Makarovs?
2) will a good quality Makarov reliably feed hollow points without modification
 
East german maks are supposedly the best overall and, judging from the posts I've read, good at digesting hollowpoints. Mine has no trouble, even with the big mouthed Corbons. The only problem with EGs is that SOME of them misfire a lot. Apparently the safety lever gets slightly shifted and blocks the hammer. Mine has misfired twice in > 1000 rounds, and otherwise never malfunctioned, so I'm happy with its reliability. Go with an East German mak.
 
From what I have been hearing the German made ones are the best. However, they are getting harder to find and the prices are going up on all makarovs. There is a good web site you may have seen posted http://www.makarov.com good for all this info. The makarov will feed just about anything you put in it. I recommend the JHP that barnul is bringing in the country. Also have heard good things about corbon JHP. American Handgunner magazine recommended one for a cheap effective gun. I have a Bulgarian one. It seems that these are the only ones that I have seen with much regularity lately. Got mine for a C note form jg sales and my friendly FFL gal. She will order me just about anything I want. Hope that this helps. Ammo is dirt cheap too! $100=1000rds The ammo I mentioned above $5-6=50rd box!!!!! Lots of fun little money-----DAROGUE1
 
Hard Ball: I´ve tried both E-German and Russian, for me the best(Accuracy,reliability,etc) are the Russian.
 
I have one of each. Right now, the East German shoots the best, only because it is an issued piece. My Bulgarian is unissued, and the mechanism is not broken in yet. The Russian is a commericial, and it shoots ok, but the adjustible sights are a little funky. I am sure that given time, the Bulgie, and the EG will shoot the same. However, the Bulgarian seems to favor the hollowpoints a little better than the EG.
 
Well I own two a Bulgarian ( Unissued) and an East German by far the East German is nicer. They both shoot the same but the Bulgy has a lot more tooling marks and the east german is like glass all over. I never saw a Russian so I can comment but the Russian guns are hard to find and most are in 380. The difference is that you can find unissued Bulgies but all the east german guns are used.
 
I've always heard that the Simon Suhl Maks were the best produced. I think these guns were made from East German parts but were assembled in West Germany. I think they were a commercial variant. There where not many made.

Don't see many Milsurp Russian Maks. Would definitely like to get one...
 
The general consensus here and at the Mak.com message boards ranks the pistols in this order:

East German
Soviet Military
Bulgarian Military
Russian Commercial
Bulgarian Commercial

But then, there are the weird Maks. The Chinese military maks, the Simson-Suhl German Maks, the Miltex Special Edition Maks - all of them command a higher price premium for various reasons. All of the above pistols, except for the Chinese model, are considered better than the plain varieties with the Chinese fetching the big bucks for its collectable value.

In general, if you can get an East German or a Soviet Military mak for under $250, grab it as fast as you can! I passed up a primo Soviet model at $150 a few months ago and have been kicking myself ever since. Don't pay more than $200 for a Bulgarian military model (I paid half that for mine). The exotic maks, if you can find them at all, should be picked up for no more than $300. The Simson Suhl and Miltex pistols are especially good. The other models I don't know much about.

Be wary of the Russian Commercial models, though. While they're very good, their adjustable sights are irreplaceable and if you lose that tiny screw (known to happen), you're screwed. Of course, you can always buy a new slide with better sights installed, but that'll set you back another $160 or so.

In conclusion, any mak you can get will be great, but you might as well go for the rare and exotic pistols while you can still find them!

Relevant links:
http://www.makarov.com/ - source of most of my information
http://www.aimsurplus.com/ - where I got my Mak, they might get more soon
http://www.jcarmory.com/ - last I checked, unissued military Bulgarians with all the accessories go for $140 on that site
And the myriad of retailers advertising in Shotgun News.
 
There all depends on what you mean by Best. If you mean what is the highest quality Markarov from a manufacturing perspective then the answer would be an East German or one of its derivatives, i.e., Suhl. If you mean reliability then it does not make any difference. I have a Russian, two Bulgies and two East Germans and none have ever missed a beat nor have any failed to feed Barnaul hollow points. Unless you are a collector, go for the best deal on the Mak you like.
 
Of the two I own, the East German (ex-Stasi) is the nicest on all counts - better fit and finish, better accuracy, etc.

As for hollowpoints, it reliably feeds those Barnaul hollow points, the ones with the opening so big that I've begun calling them "crater tips".

Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
 
Improved Makarovs???

I hear that the Russkies came out with an improved Mak a few years back, one that was made for a hotter loaded 9x18, and was supposed to be tougher. Does anyone know about these guys? Just how much better are they than regular Makarovs, and how much hotter is the ammo?

Thanks
 
I bought a pair of the EG Maks when they were still $129, and they're a great little pistol. Certainly, they are one of the firearms bargains of the year 2000...
 
My two Bulgies are the most accurate, my East German is the prettiest and my two Russians are the most Russian, but have adjustable sights (commercial). Right now the Bulgies are the best deal. All are accurate and have been 100% reliable.
 
I don't have any personal experience with Mak's, but several of my friends have them, and they're all East German makes.
 
As Sierra says, it all depends on what you mean by "best". If you're looking for a shooter, then the Bulgarian milsurps currently offer the most bang for the buck. If you're looking for the most refined Makarovs, then the East Germans are the ticket. If you're looking for the most collectible, then you'd probably want a non-import marked Russian military or an unissued non "zz" prefix Norinco. Slightly behind those are a host of other limited production and commemorative models.

But the bottom line is, virtually any Makarov is going to do the job with outstanding reliability. From my safe I can currently choose from over a dozen Maks of widely varying origins. And there's not a single one of them to which I wouldn't trust my life.

So find a Makarov you can afford, regardless of origin. Then buy it and shoot it.

As for hollowpoint ammo, I carry and recommend Barnaul. It's Russian manufactured, with a bullet profile very close to ball ammo. It chronos around 1000fps with good expansion. And best of all, it can be had for about $115/1000rds shipped from http://www.dansammo.com . So your practice ammo can also be your carry ammo.

Take care all. Marko
 
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