Production year on Bulgie Mak?

[animal]

Is there any way to find out the production year on a Bulgarian Makarov?

The only markings on the gun are the circle 10, an import stamp from C.A.I. and the serial number: XX 24 XXX.

[DragonDog]

On other Mak forums I have read, the middle two digits is supposed to be the production year, starting from 1960. In your case, you would add 24 to 1960, meaning a production year of 1984.

There is some additional speculation that somehow the Bulgarians don't follow a calendar year with these numbers, but some sort of fiscal year. But the above is the general consensus as I've heard it. To my knowledge, however, no one has acquired the definitive or official list of production codes from the Arsenal factory.

[animal]

Thanks for the info. That sheds at least some light on it.

[DragonDog]

BTW, the way I now understand it is that all of the parts for the Bulgies were actually made in 1972 - 1974. Then they just sat around in a warehouse until they actually needed some finished guns put together. They would then roll on the serial #'s at that time.

Supposedly, the earliest date anyone's seen for a Bulgie is 1977 (date code of 17). I have a Russky Mak dated 1976 - don't know if at some point they just decided to farm out the production to Bulgaria, or if they were all produced concurrently. Maybe some E.G. owners can chime in? Don't know how the dates run on them.

Take care.

[Gun Toter]

I believe the EG Makarovs were produced from 1960 to 1965. Many of them (including the 1963 dated one of mine) were reworked several times over the years. I hope to find out more about the Bulgarian Makarovs as I have one on layaway to be picked up soon.