On this date, 19 November
2014, Russia allowed citizens to have the right to bear and keep arms for self-defense.
I will post information about the Makarov pistol from Wikipedia and other
links.
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Makarov pistol
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Type
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Place of origin
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Service
history
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In service
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1951–present
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Used by
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See Users
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Wars
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Production
history
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Designer
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Designed
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1948
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Manufacturer
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Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (USSR/Russia), Ernst Thaelmann (Germany), Arsenal AD
(Bulgaria), Norinco
(China)
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Produced
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1949–present
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Variants
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See Variants
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Specifications
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Weight
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730 g (26 oz)
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Length
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161.5 mm (6.36 in)
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Barrel length
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93.5 mm (3.68 in)
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Width
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29.4 mm (1.16 in)
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315 m/s (1,030 ft/s)
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Effective firing range
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50 m (55 yd)
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Feed system
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8-round detachable box magazine (10- and 12-round available on the
PMM)
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Sights
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Blade front, notch rear (drift adjustable)
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The Makarov pistol or PM
(Russian: Пистолет Макарова, Pistolet Makarova,
literally Makarov's Pistol) is a Russian semi-automatic pistol. Under the project
leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became
the Soviet
Union's standard military and police side arm
from 1951 to 1991.
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Parkerized and dura-painted Makarov PM.
Russian production.
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Development
The
Makarov pistol was adopted by the Soviet
Union in 1951, following a competition created to replace the obsolete
Tokarev TT-33 semi-automatic pistol and Nagant
M1895 revolver. Rather than building a pistol to an existing cartridge in
the Soviet inventory, Nikolai Makarov took up the German wartime Walther
"Ultra" design, fundamentally an enlarged Walther PP,
utilizing the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge designed by B.V. Semin in
1946. For simplicity and economy, the Makarov pistol was of straight blowback
operation, with the 9×18mm Makarov cartridge being the most powerful
cartridge it could safely and practically fire. The Luftwaffe
had rejected this pistol design some years before because of its poor accuracy.
Although the nominal calibre was 9.0 mm, the actual bullet was
9.22 mm in diameter, since caliber in Russia is measured between the
grooves and not the lands of the rifling. Being shorter and wider, the 9mm
Makarov cartridge is thus incompatible with pistols chambered for 9×19mm Parabellum cartridges and vice-versa.
In
1951, the PM was selected because of its extreme reliability, simplicity, and
ease of manufacture over other competing designs. It remained in wide
front-line service with Soviet military and police until and beyond the end of
the USSR in 1991. Variants of the pistol remain in production in Russia, China,
and Bulgaria. In the U.S., surplus Soviet and East German military Makarovs are
listed as eligible curio and relic items by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, because the countries of manufacture, the
USSR and the GDR, no longer exist.
In
2003, the Makarov PM was formally replaced by the Yarygin
PYa pistol in Russian service, although as of 2012, large numbers of
Makarov PMs are still in Russian military and police service. The Makarov PM is
still the service pistol of many Eastern European and former Soviet republics.
North Korea and Vietnam also use Makarov PMs as standard-issue pistols.
Design
The
PM is a medium-size, straight-blowback-action, all-steel
construction, frame-fixed barrel handgun. In blowback designs, the only force holding the
slide closed is that of the recoil spring; upon firing, the barrel and slide do
not have to unlock, as do locked-breech-design pistols. Blowback designs are
simple and more accurate than designs using a recoiling, tilting, or
articulated barrel, but they are limited practically by the weight of the
slide. The 9×18mm cartridge is a practical cartridge in blowback-operated
pistols; producing a respectable level of energy from a gun of moderate weight
and size. The PM is heavy for its size by modern US commercial handgun
standards, largely because in a blowback pistol, the heavy slide provides
greater inertia to delay opening of the breech until internal pressures have
fallen to a safe level. Other, more powerful cartridges have been used in
blowback pistol designs, but the Makarov is widely regarded as particularly
well balanced in its design elements.
The
general layout and field-strip procedure of the Makarov pistol is similar to
that of the PP. However, designer Makarov and his team drastically
simplified the construction of the pistol, improving reliability and reducing
the part count to an astonishing 27, not including the magazine. This allowed
considerable ease of manufacture and servicing. All of the individual parts of
the PM have been optimised for mass production, robustness and
interchangeability, partially thanks to captured German tooling, technology,
and machinery.
The
chrome-lined barrel is pressed and pinned to the frame through a
precision-machined ring. The 7kg recoil spring wraps around and is guided by
the barrel. The spring-loaded trigger guard is pivoted down and swung to the
side on the frame, allowing removal of the slide. The front sight is integrally
machined into the slide, and a 3-4mm wide textured strip is engraved on top of
the slide in order to prevent aim-disturbing glare. The rear sight is
dovetailed into the slide and multiple heights are available to adjust the
zero. The extractor is of an external spring-loaded type, and features a
prominent flange preventing loss if a case should rupture. The breech face is
deeply recessed in order to aid in extraction and ejection reliability. The
stamped sheet steel slide-lock lever has a tail serving the purpose of ejector.
The one-piece, wraparound bakelite or plastic grip is reinforced with steel
inserts and has a detent inside the screw bushing preventing unscrewing during
firing. The sheet-metal mainspring housed inside the grip panel powers the
hammer in both the main and rebound stroke, the trigger and the disconnector, while its lower
end is the heel and spring of the magazine catch. The sear spring also serves
another function, powering the slide lock lever. Makarov pistol parts seldom
break with normal usage, and are easily serviced using few tools.
The
PM has a free-floating triangular firing pin,
with no firing pin spring or firing pin block. This allows the possibility of
accidental firing if the pistol is dropped on its muzzle. Designer Nikolay
Makarov thought the firing pin of insufficient mass to constitute a major
danger. The Makarov is notable for the safety elements of its design, with a
safety lever that simultaneously decocks and blocks the hammer from contacting
the firing pin and returns the weapon to the long-trigger-pull mode of double
action when that safety is engaged. This is one of a number of different types
of safety mechanism generally referred to as "manual safety" in order
to distinguish it from safeties that are disengaged by the user in the course
of firing a gun without manipulation of a separate safety control. A
slide-mounted lever has some safety advantages though there is argument over
whether the extra manipulation required can be a risk, especially when the
lever is not positioned in an ergonomic manner.
When
handled properly, the Makarov has excellent security against accidental discharge caused by inadvertent
pressure on the trigger, e.g., in carrying the weapon in dense brush or
re-holstering it. However, the heavy trigger weight in double-action mode
slightly decreases accuracy. The Bulgarian-model Makarov was approved for sale
in California,
having passed a state-mandated drop-safety test.
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Makarov PM
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Operation
After
inserting a loaded magazine and chambering a round by cycling the slide, the
Makarov PM can be directly fired in single-action mode, or carried with the
safety on. When the safety is engaged, the hammer automatically decocks
(returning the pistol to double-action mode) and prevents movement of the
hammer, slide and trigger when engaged. The safety itself can be quickly
disengaged by flipping the safety lever down to the "fire" position.
The pistol can be now fired in double action mode. The action of squeezing the
trigger for the first shot after disengaging the safety cocks the hammer,
requiring a long, strong squeeze of the trigger. The hammer may also be armed
manually, allowing a more accurate single-action shot after disengaging the
safety. The firing and cycling of the action re-arms the hammer for subsequent
shooting in single-action mode. The PM's operation is semi-automatic, firing as
quickly as the shooter can squeeze the trigger. Spent cartridges are ejected
some 5.5–6 metres away to the shooter's right and rear. After firing the last
round, the slide is held back by the slide stop lever/ejector. The now empty
magazine can be removed and a fresh loaded one reinserted. The slide is then
closed by pressing the lever on the left side of the frame or by withdrawing
the slide and releasing it; either action loads a cartridge into the chamber
and the pistol is ready to fire again.
Variants
The
Makarov was manufactured in several communist countries during the Cold War and
afterwards; apart from the USSR itself, they were East
Germany, Bulgaria,
China and post-unification
Germany, which also found itself with several thousand ex-GDR
Makarov pistols.
The
most widely known variant, the Makarov PMM (modernised Makarov pistol), was a
redesign of the original gun. In 1990, a group of engineers reworked the
original Makarov, primarily by increasing the load for the cartridge. The
result is a significant increase in muzzle
velocity and generation of 25% more gas pressure. The PMM magazine holds 12
rounds, compared to the PM's 8 rounds. Versions that held 10 rounds were
produced in greater quantities than the 12-round magazine. The Makarov PMM is
able to use existing Makarov cartridges and has other minor modifications such
as more ergonomic grip panels as well as flutes in the chamber that aid in
extraction. As of 2015, it is - alongside MP-443
Grach - the service pistol of the Russian Airborne Troops.
A
silenced version of the Makarov, the PB, was
developed for use by reconnaissance groups and the KGB, with a dedicated
detachable suppressor.
An
experimental variant of the Makarov, the TKB-023, was designed with a polymer
frame to reduce the weight and costs of the weapon. It had passed Soviet
military trials but was never fielded, due to concerns about the polymer's
capacities for long-term storage and use.
Countries
like Poland and
Hungary have
developed their own handgun designs that use the 9×18mm round. Hungary
developed the FEG PA-63 and Poland has developed the P-64 and the P-83 Wanad.
While similar in operation (straight blowback), and chambered for the same
round, these 9 mm Makarov firing pistols are often found labeled at gun
shows by some US gun retailers as "Polish Makarovs" and
"Hungarian Makarovs". Nonetheless, these similar designs are
independent of the PM and have more in common with the Walther PP
(which, in fact, was also a major influence on the original Russian Makarov).
A
wide variety of aftermarket additions and replacements exist for the Makarov,
including replacement barrels, custom grips, custom finishes and larger sights
with various properties to replace the notoriously small originals. A
scope/light mount exists for the Makarov but requires a threaded replacement
barrel.
Baikal
Baikal
is a brand developed by IGP around which a series of shotgun products were
developed from 1962. After the collapse of the USSR, commercial gun manufacture
was greatly expanded under the Baikal brand.
During
the 1990s, Baikal marketed various Makarov derived handguns in the United
States under the IJ-70 model. Included were handguns in both standard and
high-capacity frames. They were available in .380 ACP in
addition to the standard 9 mm Makarov round. Some minor modifications were
made to facilitate importation into the United States, including the
replacement of the rear fixed sight with a (low-quality) adjustable sight (only
these Russian models marketed abroad feature an adjustable sight). A sporting
version is the Baikal-442. The importation of these commercial models into the
U.S. was later further restricted with the U.S. Government's importation ban on
Russian firearms.
The
Baikal IZH-79-8 is a modified version of the standard Makarov, with an
8 mm barrel, modified to allow it to fire gas
cartridges. These guns proved popular after the fall of the USSR, and were
used in Eastern Europe for personal protection. However, unlike most gas firing
guns, the body is made of standard Makarov-specification steel, and hence this
gun is popular with criminals due to its low cost of purchase and ease of
boring out to fire standard 9 mm rounds.
Users
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Angola
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bulgaria: Copy pistols were produced since 1960. Arsenal 10 produced them between 1970 and 2007.
- Belarus
- China: Adopted by the People's Liberation Army in 1959 as the Type 59. Produced locally with minor cosmetic differences (i.e. the width of the slide's sight rail and configuration of the safety lever).
- Cuba (made under license)
- East Germany: Copy pistols were produced.
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- Indonesia: Especially used by the TNI-AU officers in the 60s.
- Iraq
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Nicaragua
- North Korea
- Slovenia: Used in the 90s.
- Soviet Union
- Russia
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
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