Its Comming!!!

[shwebo]

Just purchased my first Makarov!!!

They aren't packed in that grease shit are they? Also what should I watch for? Never owned anything like this, so I dont know what to expect...

Im so excited I could shit!

~Brian

[Hoploholicxx]

If you are ordering one of the Bulgarians from SOG, they are packed in cosmo. The pistols are very easy to detail strip, so don't worry too much. That nasty, greasy shit keeps them looking beautiful so its a small price to pay.

[shwebo]

:rolleyes: I am no stranger to cosmoline... I just HATE IT! But it does its job. Thanks for the forward warning. I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes... :p

~Brian

[Bret]

You need to be very careful. Whatever happens, don't purchase another Makarov. I don't care how pleased you are at what you've got for the money. Don't do it. If you do get a second, don't think that that will be the end of it. I started out with a Bulgarian commercial Makarov. I thought I could handle another, so I bought a Russian commercial. The next thing that I know, I'm buying a Bulgarian military, an East German, etc., etc. Now I have ten different Makarovs! The addiction has spread so much that I've even purchased both the commercial and military versions of the Polish P-83 and a CZ-83, just because they are chambered for the Makarov cartridge. You've been warned.

[Gun Toter]

If you want another sweet Mak chambered gun, get a Hungarian PA-63. Looks just like a Walther PP but with a better shaped alloy grip frame. They shoot great and look great too.

[UGACherokee]

Originally posted by shwebo
Also what should I watch for? Never owned anything like this, so I dont know what to expect...

The safety is the only thing holding the firing pin in:

When you rotate the safety clockwise through the "safe" position to remove it, you have to be very careful that the firing pin doesn't slide out with it.

Be careful of it. That firing pin's a sneaky bastard and likes to get out when you're not looking. If it gets on the floor, you'll be a week finding it again.

(Speaking from experience) :rolleyes:

[Hoploholicxx]

Thats a true story UGA. After you clean your new pistol and put it back together, you should shake the gun and make sure the firing pin moves freely forward and backwards. I heard it is possible to put it back in incorrectly and get a slam fire. Have fun.

[UGACherokee]

You can't reattach the safety on a Mak if the firing pin is inserted incorrectly -- the rear of the firing pin is notched to match the safety and slide.

The only problem I've ever had was what I said in an earlier post: the firing pin slipped out on me while I was cleaning the pistol. When I went to the range that evening it wouldn't fire of course, and I was WTF until I saw the tiny pinprick of light.

I looked everywhere for the damned thing and was resigned to buying a new one when it showed up (loudly) during the following week's vacuuming.

I've never taken the opportunity to test whether or not a Mak will slam -fire if it's dropped nose first (I won't test a Glock or H&K either). I've heard that it will -- that's good enough for me.

[ItalianFire]

So a mak will "slam fire"...........possibly fire if the gun is jared into something or dropped hard??.......hum.........Glocks will not fire if there droped or jared really hard that's one of glocks internal safety mechanisms...........I could throw my chambered Glock 19 against a brink wall and it wouldn't fire it would just scratch the hell out of my gun!!:)

[ItalianFire]

I forgot to mention......my mak should be arriving from SOG this week or next week ..........are they totally caked in cosmo?? Am I going to have to completely strip the gun an soak it in mineral spirits or lemon oil??.......which would work better for a blued pistol??

[Hoploholicxx]

The Mak has a hammer block. Even though the firing pin is free floating, it does not have much mass. You would probably have to drop the damned thing from 500 ft to give the pin enough momentum to set off a primer. Now, if you let the channel that the firing pin resides in get dirty enough, it might cause a slam. This leads into your question. There is a bit of cosmo and it needs to be removed. It is not hard to strip the pistol to its component parts. No tools are involved. There are detailed instructions at Makarov.com that are easy to follow (that is where I read that the pin can be put back in incorrectly...other than that its good info). Make sure you run some pipe cleaners through the space the firing pin rests in. When you put the pistol back together, preform a function check and shake the it to make sure the firing pin is indeed free to move in its location. Let us know how you like your Mak when it shows up.

Oh yeah, you might as well throw that Glock against the wall...it could not make it any uglier :D !

[shwebo]

Well I just got my Mak in on Saturday.

It has quite a bit of holster wear on the slide, (I'll post pics later)
And had a lot f cosmo on it, but I more than happy with it.

How hard is it to re-blue one of these????

~Brian

[shwebo]

I slapped this together in MS Word, here it is if anyone is interested, I am only putting the link up, becaue it will take a while to load. But basically it has two cross sections of the Makarov(left & right) with all parts numbered.

http://server3003.freeyellow.com/psr/mak1.jpg

Let me know what you think of it.

~Brian