jar
Contributing Member
One thing not mentioned so far.
The Makarov transition and expansion was during the post WWII Cold War era. In the European theater 9mm Kurz aka 9mm Corto aka 380 was fairly common in both the civilian and even with some military. The Makarov design will chamber and fire a 9x17 380 round while the 9x18 Makarov round is too big to chamber in the Western 380s. If things had gone south that would mean the Soviet troops could use any 380 ammo acquired in the field if necessary but the NATO troops could not use captured Soviet ammo.
The Makarov transition and expansion was during the post WWII Cold War era. In the European theater 9mm Kurz aka 9mm Corto aka 380 was fairly common in both the civilian and even with some military. The Makarov design will chamber and fire a 9x17 380 round while the 9x18 Makarov round is too big to chamber in the Western 380s. If things had gone south that would mean the Soviet troops could use any 380 ammo acquired in the field if necessary but the NATO troops could not use captured Soviet ammo.