Found very little with the search function, so may be that many haven’t bothered with them, but is there a consensus on Makarovs out there? Wondering about a Bulgarian model as E. Germans appear to have dried up or are too expensive (almost price of an M&P or Glock). Thoughts?
It’s a fantastic pistol for committing suicide.
M_P
Now THAT’S funny! 
Most of them are ok “shooter grade” pistols for range use as long as you get one chambered in .380. 9mm Makaroni ammo isn’t as easy to find. I can’t see getting one for any serious use other than to kill tin cans with.
The Bulgarian Makarovs are excellent. I bought one for my Mom. I’ve owned 2 of them myself, but friends wanted them more than I did so I sold them. Ammo is cheap, and while the sights leave much to be desired, with a little practice you can become quite proficient with them. Go to Makarov.com, there you will find the knowledge you seek. I say thumbs up to the Mak. It is typically stone cold reliable. Don’t discount it based on snide remarks you hear from folks. Give it a chance and you will be impressed at the value they offer for the money. Do check out www.makarov.com.
BS. Around here in Vermont it is easier to find 9X18 Makarov than .380. Not to mention 9X18 is a lot cheaper.
I own IJ-70 which is a Russian Civilian version of Pistolet Makarova and here is what I think.
Pros: Small, Reliable, Can be accurate if you manage to learn how to use stock sights
Cons: One of the crappiest sights I’ve ever seen on an auto pistol, 9x18 is not as good as 9mm but ammo costs as much, Recoils about as much as a 9mm, Single stack 8rd mag(unless you have PMM), Little to no accessories and/or aftermarket parts, Mad catch located at the bottom of a mag-well, Mags are not drop-free
Overall I think you can find a better pistol.
Admittedly MUCH better can be had, I carry a Glock for example. But as far as the Mak is concerned, around here you can get a box of 50 Golden Bear HP, 95gr. for $6.99.
Around where I am ammo runs $10 to $13 for a box of 50
YIKES!!!:eek:
I wasn’t being snide, I was serious. It is a terrible pistol when compared to everything except not having a pistol. That is my opinion. Your opinion differs, but that doesn’t mean it is snide of you to state it.
M_P
Just tryin’ to give the good ol’ Mak a fair shake, that’s all the OP asked for. No offense intended. That said, I’de rather have a Makarov than a Ruger LCP or a Kel-Tec. Would you agree?
A Ruger? That’s just plain mean, Gemini, plain mean.
You’d shoot a man’s dog wouldn’t you? Well, his cat at least.
M_P
You know me too well. Yes, I have shot a cat, but it had mange and I suspected it was sick. I would not even shoot a coyote unless it asked me to, as I am a total Dog lover.
I have found most Makoarovs to be very solid acurate and reliable little guns.
There are better choices for self deffence , keeping in mind that 9x18 its alot closer to .380 then 9mm. With that being said i think its better than a sharp stick and find it more shootable (easier to make hits with FOR ME ) then say a Kel Tec P3AT, after all only hits count. Just know its limitations and drive on. YMMV
Colt
I used to have one that came from a captured Iraqi Air force officer. It was a Russian model and very well made.
I carried it as my BUG gun when doing low pro work because it was the only thing like it we had at the time. The sights left a lot of be desired, but if you had good ammo for it, it worked well.
I worked with a few Poles (GROM) and one former Spesnatz operator and they all spoke well of it. The caliber is not the best, but it does the job up close if needed. The design is rather ancient, so don’t expect a modern fighting pistol.
I found it more suitable to shoot than the LCP that had a bit more snap to it. Given both, I would take the LCP though.
Typical Soviet firearm. Reliable, durable, and crude. The triggers on the ones I have shot have been terrible. Might make a good glove box or tackle box piece. I wouldn’t carry one unless I had no other option.
Regards,
Clay
As a collector’s piece, I think they are interesting. There are probably more Makarovs out there than just about anything else. They are, generally speaking, simple, reliable, durable handguns dramatically overbuilt for the cartridge they fire. If you have a handgun fetish like I do, a Mak is something you want in your inventory.
As a carry gun, it sucks. It’s heavy relative to the anemic firepower on board. The trigger sucks. The sights on most models are rudimentary at best. Some specially imported models come with decent adjustable sights, but those are generally hard to find and expensive. The safety placement sucks. Heel-magazine releases suck. It’s got a bunch of sharp edges…
It’s a Warsaw pact service pistol with all the good and bad that entails. There are FAR better options for a defensive pistol on the market. Now I bought my almost new Bulgarian Makarov for a little over 100 bucks at a gunshow years ago. It was probably the cheapest handgun at the show. If I had only that amount of money to spend on something I needed to defend my life, the Mak would have been eminently reasonable as a choice given my other options. (Fingernails or a pointy stick)
As a collector gun, if you can find one at a decent price I say go for it. I enjoy my Bulgy even though I’ve put barely 200 rounds through it since purchasing it a bunch of years ago. As a defensive handgun the world would have to be at SHTF levels for me to carry or employ it for that purpose.
I hate to admit it, but since the Army decided a light infantry team leader does not need a secondary weapon I carried one around in a holster attached to my chest rig during my first tour in Iraq. I didn’t know shit about Makarovs, but my buddy told me it was Russian. It shot well, and beat the hell out of not having anything but other than that I didn’t think too highly of it. Eventually I traded it to a buddy for a FN High Power which was way better. Soon there after our BN CO had a fit about NCOs carrying around captured pistols and the whole thing stopped. Suffice to say I couldn’t exactly go down to my local Gander Mountain and pick something else (read Glock) up.
Honestly in reality it is not that much smaller than (and probably weighs the same as) a Glock 19. The Glock is light years and then some ahead of the Makarov. If you keep your eyes open you can find a used G19 for marginally more than a Makarov.
Well at least this thread has evolved into an educated discussion, versus a bashing. 
Thats funny, because I knew one General whose PSD team carried HK pistols and his aid had a MP5.
Glocks now run about 800-1000 on the black market. The Iraqi Police officers like to sell theirs.
Learning to field strip a MAK without access to the internet was a challenge to say the least.