1990 Bulgarian Makarov Range Report
I had an interesting morning shooting the Makarov for the first time. I was up at the Glass Factory above Santa Barbara, Ca. at sunrise. I brought my graduated AR500 gong set, two of the Rubber Do All Impact Self Healing Targets, a ball and a square and my normal wood and steel target stands to shoot at some paper targets.
Ammo Used
50 rounds of steel case Silver Bear 95GR FMJ 9x18 Mak
100 Rounds of RWS Geco Brass 95 GR FMJ 9x18 Mak
50 Rounds of Hornady XTP 95 GR JHP 9x18 Mak
Shooting Impressions
I prefer the stock Bulgarian Red Star grips but the pistol didn't come with the mounting screw for those grips. I ordered the correct mounting screw from Liberty Tree Collectors but it has not yet arrived so I was relegated to using the black rubber grips with the thumb shelf that the previous owner had installed.
Operational Details
Overall, the trigger felt pretty smooth with little stacking, grit and only a bit of take up before engaging. The included Makarov magazines hold eight rounds of 9x18 Makarov and I kind of liked the open sides on the magazine. That feature reminds me of my Ruger SR22 magazines. I find that the round count holes on my of my pistol magazines just don't seem to be that accurate so it is refreshing to have a magazine that when you zone out while loading and forget how many rounds you have loaded, you can just look at the loaded rounds through the side of the magazine to get a count. While the Euro style heel release is definitely not my favorite, it is serviceable, although I still find myself looking for the magazine release button near the trigger guard. I trend to shoot a lot of guns per range visit because I am a C&R guy and I like the variety. When I am shooting alone, I often bring five or six guns and when I go with the few friends, I often bring ten or twelve guns. Not the best for my shooting skills, I probably should only bring one or two guns per trip and become better with them, but I like shooting a variety of guns when I am just plinking, it just seems more fun.
How Did It Shoot?
The Makarov seemed to shoot slightly to the left of POA, I tried a variety of grips and stances but no matter what I did, my shots were always landing to the left of the bullseye. Not a big deal. The sights on this pistol, while not great, are usable and I made a few shots at some misc targets like my 3" gong repeatedly at about 75'. I am not a natural or particularly great pistol shot so I was happy with these results.
We Want To See A Target
Please ignore the small holes in the target, those were from my .32 ACP CZ50. This was my best three shot group from 25 yards, about a 2.75" spread. Not too bad, as I said, I am not a great pistol shot, but I continue to practice and improve slowly. I am not showing some of my much worse targets where I have groups sprayed all over the target at even 7 yards. It's too humiliating! So based upon my results, I would say that I need a lot more pistol skills and practice but the Bulgarian Makarov is more than up to the job.
Recoil was light with all three types of ammo used and the pistol fed all 200 rounds perfectly, including the Hornady XTP JHP with not a single failure. I am interested in getting a chronograph out with this gun and I will be running some tests with ballistics gel too. I look forward to putting more rounds downrange with this pistol. So far, it is definitely a keeper. For $300.00, I think I did well.
