In the land of single stack 9's

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I think the S&W 3913 or 908 would be a better choice in all parameters. I own both, and they're certainly not expensive (<$400), or large, or heavy, or unreliable. And you can usually buy a Crossbreed Supertuck "blem" holster for them off the Crossbreed blem thread at XDtalk for $35.
 
It is what it is. I don't see many Makarov's at $200 a pop locally. AIM has them for $220 plus shipping and transfer fee (if you aren't a C&R holder). That puts the price much closer to $275 ($300 if you pay tax on top of that cost). Not bad but not amazing either. If a local store had a Mak priced at $200 I'd be sure to head home with at least one. Ammo is a little harder to find but often priced right with steel cased 9mm. I'm not sure I'd buy one for a duty of any kind but having one for their quality and history is certainly another issue. I had an FEG PA-63 a few years back and gave it to a friend. That pistol is the only one I have not wanted to shoot beyond a box of ammo, though I haven't shot any of the extremely massive pistols out there. From a duty use I would go with either a smaller option in .380 or a similar sized option in 9mm. If the mak or other 9x18 round were to be used for a serious use I would make sure the pistol fed the ammo selected well and run it. I wouldn't trust any of the HP to open so it would all be down to feeding reliability.
 
The days of a $200 mak around here are gone a long time now. I like the Mak allot. I shoot S&B FMJ mostly, but Hornady makes a Critical defense round for it. I carry it CCW, very reliable. I also have a Feg SMC in 380, a Beretta 85B in 380 & a Walther PPKS (Ranger Arms). I do have a CZ75 compact & a S&W 6906 in 9mm, bigger & larger capacity. Different choices for different days.
 
I would have to have one.. A friend and I went to a gun show about 6 years ago.Maybe less..And as we walked around. we came across lots of guys selling these Mac's. they were all greased up in boxes..I asked what are these.? not many knew what they were selling. the did come with a holster. cleaning kit. 2 clips. these looked new,, I picked one up.and handed it to my buddie..what do you think.. he said not bad. but what the hell are they,, beats me,,,they were 165 bucks or about depending what vender you asked, some had red stars on the grips. some didnt,,,I already had a Feg,r61 in 380. but We didnt pick any up.. and I have to say we been kicking our selfs in the ass for not picking one up.These hand guns werent really what you would call a conceal wepons,since they came with holsters.. they arent light..
They are what they are,, a service side arm..My 2 cents,,
 
These hand guns werent really what you would call a conceal wepons,since they came with holsters.. they arent light..
They are what they are,, a service side arm..My 2 cents,,
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I agree that it is a service sidearm, but it is also very concealable. I am sure many were used by Russian cops, and KGB who carried them concealed.

Many people conceal full size 1911's, and other larger pistols, so the Mak is comparitively easy to conceal. A decent belt, and holster works wonders, but even with my regular belt, and cheap Uncle Mike's nylon holster, my Mak carries well.
 
I got one for the GF. The weight, round and grip make it much more comfortable to shoot for her than the PF9 i had or the LC9 i have. I'd prefer she go with 9 but with this she is willing to practice more.
 
maybe I should have said its not a so called pants pocket type hand gun.
hell you can hide a mac10 if you so want,under a coat, but when I think of a hide out I think light weight ,,a hand gun you can stick in your pant pocket where you dont need suspenders to hold your pants up///

thats all i meant,,
 
The Makarov is much smaller than a 1911 and its presence inside the waistband is way smaller than a lot of pistols. My 3913 can't squeeze in a Makarov holster. In fact my Bodyguard 380 won't fit in my Makarov holster. The Mak is a little havy but its lighter than a lot of other CCW pistols. It works great for concealed carry if you ask me.
 
loneviking said:
9 Mak costs about double that of 9mm, and half again as much as .380 where I live. If you reload, the RCBS dies cost over $60 which is twice as much as 9mm or .380. In over four years of picking up brass at the local range I've picked up maybe a handful of 9 Maks as compared to thousands of 9mm and .380. That, in turn, means that if I wanted to reload I'm going to also have to buy brass and can't rely on the local range for a supply. Looks like a losing proposition to me, which is why I sold mine.
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If you order online, 9mm mak is the cheapest centerfire round. A good $2-$3 cheaper than regular 9mm per box... and you can cheaply and easily cut 9mm luger brass down to work for a 9mm mak, lots of guys do it. ;)

The reason people are choosing the single stack 9's is that they're MUCH lighter than a Mak. Maks may be pretty compact, but they're sure as heck not light. They are dead reliable though. I'd trust a Mak to work properly in poor conditions any day of the week over most of the current single stack 9's.

I don't typically carry one of my Mak's, but I would absolutely not feel like I was making a bad choice to carry one. If that was all I had, or all I could afford, I'd carry it with confidence.

I own.. 5 Maks... None of them have EVER malfunctioned. I even decided to not give one a fair shot -- got it "new" to me, didn't clean it, took it to the range with a mixed bag of Mak mags I'd just purchased online and had never used before (some of which seemed to have much stronger springs than others), tried some crappy steel cases ammo as well as some jhp's... damn thing performed 100%. Made my cm9 (new that that time), cleaned and oiled properly, look rather bad.
 
Don't lose sleep averageman, While a good pistol you mention, it is date, heavy and clunky and underpowered compared to todays skinny guns. If money is your only issue fine.
 
The defunct Astra A75 fits my hand like a glove. Parts are hard to come by but springs and mags are still available if you look. The DA trigger is not the greatest but it was my first 9mm and is still a viable SD handgun. Every once in a while I see them for sale and they are a very nice handgun, especially in the lightweight version.
 
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