Manufactured at Russia’s Izhevsk factory, the Pistolet Makarova or Makarov Pistol was the brainchild of Nikolai Fyodorovich Makarov, who designed his new double-action, straight blow-back pistol around the proven Walther PP/PPK series of pistols.Īfter World War II, the Russians had access to the Walther factory in Germany and shipped much of its tooling back to the USSR. In 1949, the Soviet Union was searching for a replacement to their aging Tokarev TT-33 pistols and by 1951 had adopted a completely new design that ended up being licensed to two Eastern European countries, and to China as well. While wildly used in Soviet satellite countries' militaries, it was not universally adopted.Due to trade restrictions, the pistol had a very short importation window–3 years.Its cartridge, the 9x18mm Markorov, has a no-typical diameter-.365″.Like the German handguns, the Makarov is straight blowback-operated and can be shot in double action.Designed around the Walther PP/PPK series of pistols.How The Makarov Pistol Became A Cold War Icon:
A cloak-and-dagger icon from the Cold War, the Makarov 9x18mm still delights collectors today … if they can get their hands on one. This particular Russian example is one of those that mistakenly entered the United States with import marks of “Germany.” Actual legal Russian importing lasted but a few years. An almost identical comparison is the 9mm Russian-made Makarov at top, with a Bulgarian-licensed copy at bottom.