Makarov Mag Release

[bgrav321]

Handled a few today at a gun store. I couldn't get past the mag release. Is it possible with practice to be able to do it quickly? I compare it to other autos I have shot with a standard 1911 style mag release where the mag will just fall out when you push the button, and it seems much slower in a gunfight. Is it just me, or are they all that stiff and difficult?

 

[Steve C]

Where they true Makarov's or one of the many PPK type pistols chambered for the 9mmx18 Mak which many call Makarov's but are not.

The mag release on the bottom of the true Makarov's are easy to use, just hook the index finger around the magazine floor plate extension and disengage the latch with your thumb and pull out the magazine. Not as fast as a thumb release free fall magazine but typical of the European mag release that retain the magazine. Quick enough to reload with practice but may cost a second or two if it where to be used in a timed competition.

 

[Snowdog]

I know I will probably sound like a broken record, but look into the CZ-82 if you haven't already. Same caliber but with a 50% greater magazine capacity, wider but about the same size otherwise, controls in the same locations as the venerable 1911 (that many are used to) and best of all, usually less expensive.

I'm not the greatest fan of the magazine release on the Makarov (or many others such as the P64), but they aren't really that hard to get used to. I recently found myself pressing the heel clip release and pulling on the base of the magazine of my P-64 in an automatic, almost fluid motion during my first range trip with it.
It turns out I did this with my Makarov (IJ-70) when I still had it years ago and my brain just picked up where it left off with this type of magazine release, so I do think you can get used to it without any problems.

 

[bgrav321]

Does being an Imez pistol make it less quality? I'm not so familiar with Makarovs. They had a Baikal and another Russian one for 400 each, then an Imez for 220. They all seemed roughly the same condition.

 

[denfoote]

Does being an Imez pistol make it less quality? I'm not so familiar with Makarovs. They had a Baikal and another Russian one for 400 each, then an Imez for 220. They all seemed roughly the same condition.

Different factory same Makarov.

How is Izmech different from Baikal?
IMEZ stands for Izhevskii Mechanicheskii Zavod or Izhevsk Mechanical Factory located in the city of Izhevsk near the Ural Mountains. They produce the Makarov, PSM, various shotguns, airguns, artificial pacemakers for the heart, oil drilling equipment. It is a goverment, state owned enterprise, but has the right to close its own business contracts and deals without govermental interferance.

Baikal is a foreign trade organization this is similar to North China Industries (NORINCO). This was a govermental organization that was used to market Soviet goods abroad. These days Baikal is hardly active in any trade with the US, largely because of the Bill Clinton imposed "voluntary trade restrictions." IMEZ used the grips with Baikal on it because...well, it was all they had.... Baikal also traded autos, trucks, various other consumer goods. Not only guns and ammo.

http://www.makarov.com/makfaq.html

Unless those other two Makarovs are Russian mil spec, they are over priced.

 

[harmon rabb]

I know I will probably sound like a broken record, but look into the CZ-82 if you haven't already. Same caliber but with a 50% greater magazine capacity, wider but about the same size otherwise, controls in the same locations as the venerable 1911 (that many are used to) and best of all, usually less expensive.

This.

Of course, due to my love of comm-block stuff, I want one.