A friend of mine is selling his Makarov. (an East German one for those who want to know) First person he asked was me, and as you all know, I loves me some old Soviet/com-bloc weapons. I agree to take a look, and since he had some free passes to a new range that had just opened, he invited me to a test-firing. Holy Crap is this thing accurate. At 30 feet I can put all 8 shots in the center ring. ^__^
I've never shot a Makarov, but I here they're accurate. The 9x18mm round develops some pretty good velocity, too.
I've handled one, once. A friend of a friend owns one. Give me some history. I honestly know nothing about them outside of where they came from and caliber.
The Soviets basically chose it to replace the TT-33 as the standard issue pistol in 1951. It was chosen for ease of manufacture and simplicity. (they have something like 27 parts) Design-wise they are pretty much just an upgraded PPK. The 9x18 cartridge is decent, and is pretty much the most powerful round the weapon design can handle. It's DA/SA with a straight blow back design, the barrel is fixed to the frame, and they are damn near indestructible.
Interesting. I thought they shared a lot with the PPK. Also, the barrel being fixed to the frame accounts for their reputation for accuracy.
