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First time shooting a Makarov

4K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  merc460 
#1 ·
Went out today with the new Soviet 1968 Makarov and shot 300 rounds through it. First thing that happened was the range officer came over to call the range cold and noticed I had a Makarov. He then proceeded to ooh and ahh about how he wished he never sold his Makarov (I beleieve he said he had a PA-63 or something like that, hard to hear with 2 types of hearing protection in) so I handed it over to him and let him punch some holes in the paper. I took down my targets after 10 rounds for each make of ammo and compared them. No surprise that the brass cased FMJ Sellier and Bellot shot the best out of the 4 types of ammo I tried. Next, and a very close tie with first was surprisingly the Brown Bear ammo. It will dirty up your gun and your hands like crazy but it shoots great. Next was the Silver Bear, not too surprised that it shot close to the Brown Bear but kinda sucks that it got outperformed by little brother. Last was the Monarch ammo. I don't know what to say. I am pretty disappointed in the Monarch stuff. Weird that it shot less well but it is made in the same Barnaul factory that the bear ammo is made in. I was able to pick up the Brown Bear ammo for $9.09 per 50 rds. at the local cheaper than dirt store and warehouse. I was also able to find another magazine for the Makarov at the first range I went to (they used a magnet on the ammo and claimed i couldn't shoot "steel core" ammo). Both of the magazines that came with this pistol have a pressed out area near the bottom for the piece of metal that activates the hold open when the magazine is empty. This one I got at the range looks brand new and just has a slit cut out of it instead of that bulge. Anyone got any ideas? just curious about the difference.
 
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#2 ·
The mags that came with it are the original mags, very similar to EG's In that they have the bulged out section at the bottom, latter Russians and Bulgarians have the bulge cut out. Glad everything went well, I jsut got some Brown Bear in and will try it tomorrow.
 
#3 ·
The bulge, which is found on early Soviet mags and East German mags, is designed to shroud the follower tab when the mag is full. It prevents the tab from damaging the leather mag pouch when it is inserted and withdrawn. I suspect it's cheaper to make the more common ones with the slit, and for the weak fingered, the mag loading tool will do all eight rounds. CB
 
#4 ·
I think you are wrong about Monarch ammunition. One thing I have read is that their brass cased ammunition is made in Serbia. The steel cased is made in Russia, but! Russia has at least three factories that makes makarov ammunition. Without checking headstamp and the box, I can not really see how you determined that it is same as Brown/Silver Bear.
 
#7 ·
I shot both types (Brown Bear and Monarch) this last weekend and man do they look identical. I didn't check the stamp on them but they have the same shade of lacquer and everything. It would be quite the coincidence if they weren't made by the same manufacturer.
 
#9 ·
I've tried 6 ways to take a better closeup than this and I can't. Photographing that tiny trademark is beyond my technology.




This is the same cartridge construction and headstamp as the Barnaul 9x18 HP with the one-armed shooter on front. RAM ammo from the Barnaul factory also has the same headstamp. Any search of info on Monarch I've ever done states that it is made at the Barnaul factory.
 
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