Makarov pistol as a CCW?

[BluesBrother]

There may be some out there but I've never seen commercially loaded 9 Makarov ammo. Truth is I've never looked. What I've seen available is FMJ commie ammo. I don't think I want to trust my life to ammo made east of Ukraine.

 

[MAXman]

Kind of curious on the thoughts of folks here about this pistol, would y'all consider it a bad/good/great option for concealed carry? I know the ammo type (9x18) is a scarcity, but I've also heard that it's pretty accurate.

I love small blowback pistols, I’ve had three maks. a bakail, a Bulgarian and East German. All three were accurate and reliable, disappear under a t shirt, and rust if you look at then hard.
The commercial Russian was 150$ and a 380, and was all I could comfortably afford when I first started to carry(and the only one of the three I actually carried). The Bulgarian was 180$,The East German was 300$. Last prices I’ve seen were much more expensive. They’re crude and unrefined, so sorta like an ak in that regard. They at least have a usable safety and slide release.

the nail in the coffin was finding a 92d for 300$ and a p239 for 350$, both otd. Far more user friendly and effective designs. Not saying you can count on such deals, but unless you have a makarov right now... grey man has a used Sw9ve that while no one will be in awe of, its the same price as their Hungarian makarov on the next shelf, it’s a 9mm, and you’ll have far better factory and aftermarket support.

 

[Raven]

They are probably ok, but I would feel better carrying a Glock or Sig or some of the other proven brands. For the range they would be fine, I'm just not sure I would want to bet my life on one.

Makarovs were military and police issue all across Europe for like 3 decades before Glock ever existed. They are awesome! I've never ever had a Makarov let me down and I've fired thousands of rounds through quite a few of them. A lot of people nowadays just don't know about them because they pre-date the average adults experience, and the pre-date the internet. Now, full disclaimer, I have had one P64 that a certain forum member bought from me here like 10 years ago, and he swore it had a decocker (it did not). He had found a way to lightly drop the hammer on a live round (by manipulating the safety weird in a manner it was not designed to be) so many times that it went off without a trigger pull. I bought that gun back from him and it got sold to Cabelas and passed thru to their gunsmith.

 

[Raven]

There may be some out there but I've never seen commercially loaded 9 Makarov ammo. Truth is I've never looked. What I've seen available is FMJ commie ammo. I don't think I want to trust my life to ammo made east of Ukraine.

I've seen Gulf Coast Guns and Jay's Guns and Ubers and Grey Man Armory and Academy all have Hornady Critical Defense polymer tipped hollow points in 9mm Makarov.

 

[Raven]

I love small blowback pistols, I’ve had three maks. a bakail, a Bulgarian and East German. All three were accurate and reliable, disappear under a t shirt, and rust if you look at then hard.
The commercial Russian was 150$ and a 380, and was all I could comfortably afford when I first started to carry(and the only one of the three I actually carried). The Bulgarian was 180$,The East German was 300$. Last prices I’ve seen were much more expensive. They’re crude and unrefined, so sorta like an ak in that regard. They at least have a usable safety and slide release.

the nail in the coffin was finding a 92d for 300$ and a p239 for 350$, both otd. Far more user friendly and effective designs. Not saying you can count on such deals, but unless you have a makarov right now... grey man has a used Sw9ve that while no one will be in awe of, its the same price as their Hungarian makarov on the next shelf, it’s a 9mm, and you’ll have far better factory and aftermarket support.

That same price S&W is all fine and dandy, until we can't find 9mm Luger for less than $1 a bullet. All last year when 9mm Luger was astronomically expensive I was buying half price steel cased 9mm Makarov at like 30 cents a bullet. Readily available. One good valid reason to own at least one European caliber pistol... whether it's a 9mm Mak or a Tokarev or something else... no supply shortages or run on the banks for European ammo and you can always find it in bulk and half price on mail order, especially when there's nothing else available due to American politics. European ammo is just not as affected

 

[Fanner50]

Academy had 9mm Makarov just a few days ago. On 9mm Luger....folks who are waiting for it to get cheaper are going to find themselves SOL. Academy's prices are probably about as low as they will be for the foreseeable future. I'm glad I stocked up when WWB was .20 cpr. I don't expect to see that ever again, lol.

 

[Raven]

Academy had 9mm Makarov just a few days ago. On 9mm Luger....folks who are waiting for it to get cheaper are going to find themselves SOL. Academy's prices are probably about as low as they will be for the foreseeable future. I'm glad I stocked up when WWB was .20 cpr. I don't expect to see that ever again, lol.

In my lifetime I expect to see 9mm guns and ammo for free... just laying in the streets... for anybody to pick up, clean off and walk on with it. Only a matter of time. There'll be a "Great Reset" all right, just not the way that European Claus Swab has envisioned. He knows nothing of the American's will to fight. But yeah, I know what you mean. But that's inflation, not so much politics.

 

[BluesBrother]

Raven said:
That same price S&W is all fine and dandy, until we can't find 9mm Luger for less than $1 a bullet. All last year when 9mm Luger was astronomically expensive I was buying half price steel cased 9mm Makarov at like 30 cents a bullet. Readily available. One good valid reason to own at least one European caliber pistol... whether it's a 9mm Mak or a Tokarev or something else... no supply shortages or run on the banks for European ammo and you can always find it in bulk and half price on mail order, especially when there's nothing else available due to American politics. European ammo is just not as affected

Are these the "European" weapons and ammo you speak of? Are you comparing 9mm brass Parabellum defense ammo to 9mm Macarov steel case ball ammo?

'Makarov's Pistol') is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military side arm in 1951.

The TT-30,[a] commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in the early 1930s by Fedor Tokarev as a service pistol for the Soviet military.

9mm Parabellum is the "European" ammo of choice. The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun and sub machine gun cartridge due to its low cost and extensive availability. It is a standard cartridge for NATO a military alliance between 28 "European" countries and 2 North American countries armed forces as well as in many non-NATO countries.

32 ACP (left), 7.62mm Tokarev (middle) and 9mm Luger (right)

Makarov (immediately above) ammo is commonly found with 95-100 grain projectiles. 9mm Parabellum can commonly be found with 147 grain projectiles or 50% larger projectile. Mo bigga, mo bedda IMO

 

[MAXman]

Yeah I think the source of steel cased russian and Ukrainian 9x18 is ahem, drying up.

Look at what happened to 380 and 38 special during 2020. Disappeared. Now it’s 30-40$ a box for range fodder. And the entire year I never spent more than 25$ a box and accrued 60lbs of 9mm, outside of what I shot.( Never had a problem finding 32 acp, and it stagnated on price longer than the rest).

I will say that hornady critical defense for 9 Mak should do what it needs, and is available. If you want a Makarov,or you already have one, go for it. It’ll do what you need.

 

[Tovarish]

I carried a Makarov for a while as my CCW. It’s accurate, concealable and reliable. I have a pretty good stock of hollow point self defense ammo for it. The cons are the limited capacity, tiny sights and Euro style mag release. My old eyes need a more aggressive sight picture. But it’s a dandy carry gun if you keep it’s limitations in mind.

 

[Raven]

Raven said:
That same price S&W is all fine and dandy, until we can't find 9mm Luger for less than $1 a bullet. All last year when 9mm Luger was astronomically expensive I was buying half price steel cased 9mm Makarov at like 30 cents a bullet. Readily available. One good valid reason to own at least one European caliber pistol... whether it's a 9mm Mak or a Tokarev or something else... no supply shortages or run on the banks for European ammo and you can always find it in bulk and half price on mail order, especially when there's nothing else available due to American politics. European ammo is just not as affected

Are these the "European" weapons and ammo you speak of? Are you comparing 9mm brass Parabellum defense ammo to 9mm Macarov steel case ball ammo?

'Makarov's Pistol') is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military side arm in 1951.
View attachment 153681

The TT-30,[a] commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in the early 1930s by Fedor Tokarev as a service pistol for the Soviet military.

View attachment 153682

9mm Parabellum is the "European" ammo of choice. The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun and sub machine gun cartridge due to its low cost and extensive availability. It is a standard cartridge for NATO a military alliance between 28 "European" countries and 2 North American countries armed forces as well as in many non-NATO countries.
View attachment 153685
32 ACP (left), 7.62mm Tokarev (middle) and 9mm Luger (right)
View attachment 153686
Makarov (immediately above) ammo is commonly found with 95-100 grain projectiles. 9mm Parabellum can commonly be found with 147 grain projectiles or 50% larger projectile. Mo bigga, mo bedda IMO

Once again I'll say it... I'd hate to get hit by any of them. The "caliber wars" are over as far as how big around and weight. What matters is shot placement. As far as diminutive sights and single stack mags on a Makarov, these are limitations that most CCW guns shared for the last 50 years. It's only lately that G43X's and P365's were popularizing larger double stack mag capacity for pocket carry, because they're smaller than the gold standard G26/27 and G19/23. If you've got a single stack (whether it's a Keltec, Walther, CZ, Tok, Makarov or the venerable 1911) and you're so worried about it, then carry an extra mag or two. No worries. I was always trained that if you're going into a situation that you know you could need a gun, then carry two. In which case you'll find me packing at least 50 rounds on my person between my sidearm and a BUG. The perp will be lucky if I don't have 3 guns on my person. It's not about weight, it's about how much do you value your life and your family's lives. No matter what gun you pick to carry, carry extra mags. A 6 round gun gives you 6 seconds to live in an altercation... that's how I look at it. Wouldn't you rather have 50 seconds to live? A pocket full of mags is cheap life insurance