Russian Pistol Calibers...

[David4516]

Do you think they will catch on with US manufacturers?

The russian rifle calibers (most notably the 7.62X39) have become more and more popular in this country over the last several years. Now there are even US made guns being chambered for them.

Do you think something similar will happen with russian handgun rounds?

7.62 Nagant:

Proably not going to go anywhere. It's just too weird.

7.62X25 Tok:

Cool caliber, I'd love to see new guns chambered for it. I think the main things holding it back are, A: it's really long for an auto caliber, and B: the .357 sig is based on the same concept and is more common (not to mention more "powerful"), therefore people would probably buy a .357 sig over a 7.62X25

9X18/9mm Makarov:

This one has the best chance of becoming more popular in the USA, IMHO. It could be chambered in really small autos and packs more punch than .380 ACP. I'm not a kel-tec fan, but I bet something like a 9mm Mak version of the P-3AT would have alot of advantages, and be very popular.

 

[Kevinch]

9X18/9mm Makarov:

This one has the best chance of becoming more popular in the USA, IMHO. It could be chambered in really small autos and packs more punch than .380 ACP. I'm not a kel-tec fan, but I bet something like a 9mm Mak version of the P-3AT would have alot of advantages, and be very popular.

Speaking in ballistics, the 9X17 & 9x18 are so very close that I doubt you'll see much effort to chamber new pistols in the latter. The Makarov round really isn't much more powerful than the .380ACP.

 

[David4516]

That is ture if you read the reloading manuals, but their Mak loads are a bit watered down. I've loaded some that were higher than Maximum with no problems at all.

.380 = 90 gr bullet, 1020 FPS

9mm Mak = 95 gr bullet, 1100 FPS (hot loads of course)

It's not a HUGE differance, but I think it is enough of a differance to make 9mm Mak worthwhile...

 

[JERRY]

as long as the former soviet block pistols are abondant and the ammo doesnt dry up, the 9x18 will be here for a few more years, maybe a decade or so.