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...one that will actually be a practical carry piece. it is a Bulgarian "circle 10" Makarov (chambered of course in 9x18mm Makarov).

For those of you not familiar with the Makarov, it is a DA/SA semiautomatic that has served as a duty weapon in several "commie countries" such as East Germany(or was it west? ), Bulgaria, etc. It is a single-stack with 8+1 capacity, although double-stack variants have been made. This particular mak came with the origional Military holster, an extra mag, 2 extra sets of grips and a Shado OWB Holster.

I met JLaw out at the Carter's Country range to try shooting it before I bought it. They were out of makarov ammo so I only shot the 24 rounds JLaw brought with him. That was enough to make me decide that I like the gun, so I got it. I also shot his S&W 9mm. With the Mak I was grouping about 3-5" at 7yds(I think, the target had quite a few holes in it), good enough for my first time with the gun.
Back at home, I tried on the holster, which was quite comfortable and concealed reasonably well(Sorry, no pics). It's a pretty nice holster, but I will be looking for an IWB holster for the gun as it tended to print a little.
The gun is easy to strip and clean, however it is a real pain to reattach the slide, it took me almost 10 minutes the first time. One thing I really like about this gun is that the barrel is pinned to the frame and does not move, making it quite accurate.
Another addition to the family!

Good growth & maturity young man.

Congratulations. Looks like a great pistol.

Looks nice.

You'll like it. The Mak is built like a tank, and the round is adequate for defense. They're very accurate. I keep mine loaded with Hornady XTP. Yours already has the Pearce grip, which is good -- just don't over-tighten that grip screw, or you'll be wondering how to get that big crimp out of the magazine.

Don't ask me how I know this.

One other tip that I learned a couple of months ago: keep your thumbs low. I tried my usual "thumbs high" grip that works so well with a .45, but I kept getting failures to fire. I'd fire one round, but the next round wouldn't fire. Second strike didn't work either. So eject that round, and the next fires fine, but the one after that... nothing.

I inspected the unfired rounds for signs of a light primer strike, but the FP never even touched the primer.

After puzzling on it, I found that my thumb was touching the safety just enough to engage the FP block, but it would still let the hammer fall, and would let me pull the trigger in DA mode, but the hammer was never actually touching the FP because it was hitting the block.

Once I adjusted my grip, I had zero problems. It gave me confidence that the safety works as designed, though!

No FTF/FTEs here, but the safety is quite stiff, to the point where it would be nearly impossible for it to accidentally become partially engaged as you mention. BTW, does "Built like a tank" mean it would be safe for +P loads? Does anyone make a +P load for this cartridge? Also, I am looking for a good IWB holster for it, preferably leather. Any suggestions?

BTW, does "Built like a tank" mean it would be safe for +P loads?

The steel is probably strong enough, but the mechanism isn't designed for it. I'd stick with standard-pressure rounds. If you need a hotter load, I'd go with a gun chambered in 9mm Para.

Welcome to the 9x18 family. Go get yourself some Hornady XTP for carry. It's the only quality defense ammo I'm aware of that's made in this caliber. It's good stuff too, the slick brass feeds like butter compared to most other ammunition made for this caliber. I noticed a huge difference in just the feel of the gun when it chambered the first time I put some in mine. You can find some Silver Bear or maybe Wolf steel-cased hollow points, but the Hornady is much better stuff and doesn't have the feeding issues that the steel-cased stuff sometimes does.

Jlaw brought 24 rounds? Did it happen to be the copper-washed steel-cased S&B surplus stuff that AIM Surplus had on sale for super cheap a while back? I know that stuff came in boxes of 24. That's what I've been shooting in mine for the past several months. I bought 1200 rounds and have been burning through the stuff ever since. Nice cheap practice ammo. Cabela's carries new S&B brass-cased FMJ stuff for around $10/box.

Anyhow, I'm glad you like your new pistol.

It was S&B FMJ ammo with a brass coating(??) on the bullet. The box was partly empty. I've never used Wolf and don't plan to

I qualified using a Bulgarian Mak that I'd owned for less than a month before taking the class. So, I can also attest to how accurate these little pistols are, and how they like to settle into the hand with each shot.

I don't carry it, simply because it was a gift from my Dad, & I don't want anything to happen to this particular pistol. (although, I do enjoy it at the range every now and again)

T3hK1w1 wrote:It was S&B FMJ ammo with a brass coating(??) on the bullet. The box was partly empty. I've never used Wolf and don't plan to

Ah, OK. All the commercial S&B ammo looks like that. I wouldn't discount Wolf too quickly, other than it runs dirty and smells funny. You have to realize that these Makarov pistols were MADE to run steel-cased ball ammo, just like an AK-47 or Mosin-Nagant. That's just the way the Russians and eastern Europeans did it.

One thing I would do is check up on the specs of your gun. See what loads it was made to handle. My little PA-63 was only made to handle the 95gr. ammo. I accidentally ran some 100gr Wolf through it once and it hurt my hand to shoot it. Makarov.com is a good resource for those unfamiliar with the ways of the Makarov. They also carry lots of parts and have lots of interesting guides.

The accuracy of these guns is owed to their blowback design. As you mentioned, the barrel is fixed to the frame, making these guns nice and accurate - especially for their size. This design also makes them dirtier to run than most other pistols. Since there is no delay in rearward ejection of the casing from the chamber, you get a significantly more gassing and spent powder residue back in the workings of the gun than you would with other designs. Cleaning it well after each range trip is a good practice.

I hope you are still enjoying the Makarov. It was good to meet you and lots of fun to shoot with you.

And yes, that was S&B ammo that we were shooting the other day. Don't worry about Wolf ammo (if you can find it in 9x18), there is nothing wrong with shooting Wolf ammo. It is plenty good enough and as stated earlier the Mak will handle the steel cased stuff just fine with no adverse effects.

JLaw