Three really awesome guns for extra-short money are the
Makarov Pistol
The CZ-82
and the Radom P64
All can be had for well under $300, all feature a very reliable action, and all are very compact and suited for conceal carry.
One of the big drawbacks of these pistols is their cambering in 9×18 makarov ammo. Overall the round is a solid one, as a slightly more powerful cartridge than the .380 Auto (9×17 Browning Short), tho not quite up to the power level of the 9x19mm cartridge.
Still 9×19 and 9×17 shined over the 9×18 in that defensive loads were easy to find for either cartridge. Those days are over:
With loads like the XTP I’d actually give this cartridge a slight edge over the .380 auto…tho .380 still has more modern pistols designed around it like the Kel Tec P3AT and the Ruger LCP.
Still at 12+1 the CZ-82 is a VERY formidable defensive gun.
#2 Son has an FEG Pa-63 in 9×18 Mak.
The gun shoots.
Shoots well.
Was a bit snappy for him when we got it a few years ago, but he has grown to like it and shoots it well.
Is accurate and would make/will make a great CCW.
Looking to get one of those to go with my Makarov. I’ve heard its a bit snappier due to the lighter frame (compared to a Mak), but otherwise a good pistol.
And I forgot to mention.
Cost was 149.00 and it was new.
The AIM booth had a P-64 at the NRA show. Good lord. That pistol has by far the worst DA trigger pull of any gun I’ve ever held. It’s gotta be 25+ pounds!
Makarovs have horrible triggers too but they’re neat, very sturdy and simple guns. They’re a good choice for gun dabblers who aren’t going to really get into shooting that want a pistol instead of a revolver, or if you are any sort of collector it’s cool to have the standard Cold War Eastern Block pistol. It also makes a good a car gun/cabin gun/office gun that you know is going to go bang no matter how long you’ve left it there. It’s basically the AK47 of pistols.
I had an E. German version that I bought during the great Makarov flood of the 1990s and later sold for a nice profit. I remember getting talked out of buying a Bulgarian for $69 at a gun store. In hindsight, I should have bought a truckload. Even the lesser quality Makarovs work just fine.
Corbon used to make Makarov ammo, I’m not sure if they still do. I sold some of that for a tidy profit too. Fiocchi made a bargain hollowpoint but it was not really defensive. That is great news that Hornady is offering it now.
One of the other 9×18 problems that has been solved since the old days is that all the practice ammo was bimetal. That is not the case anymore. But if you have a place to go where you can shoot steel ammo, that stuff is dirt cheap.
I’ve heard the Makarov being called an Eastern bloc analog to our 1911, given it has the same kind of reliability and it’s very prolific over there.
Well the Makarov and its close cousin and inspiration, the Walther PP essentially assumed the same role as the primary Military and Police pistol for most Nations in continental Europe.
And I would argue that the simple blowback design and fixed barrel makes for a MORE reliable pistol than the more complex M1911 pattern.
It’s dead simple to field strip too. I can’t find it now, but there was a video of whom I believed to be a Russian instructor in a classroom field stripping one in like 2 seconds, literally.
The only thing I’m not sure of is the magazine latch placement, I can’t activate it consistently with any kind of speed. Might be a magazine problem though, I need to get real surplus mags somewhere.
Well the Makarov use the “European” magazine release that’s on the base of the mag well, which as a rule I detest. That’s one reason why I really dig the CZ-82, as not only is the mag release a standard button, but its on both sides of the grips.
The P64 also has the Heel release, but the FEG-63 is damn near an exact copy of the Walther PP including button mag release.
Yeah the more I read about it, the more I want to get a CZ-82. I’ve heard they’re just as accurate and reliable too. Since they’re out of production I should probably do so sooner rather than later. Just from a cursory search magazines seem to be easier to find too.
Any of those items would be decent. Are there others better? Sure, but considering these are former East Bloc milsurp handblasters, you can’t beat the value on them.
Well the P64 is smaller than the others if you have a small footprint to fill. Otherwise the CZ-82 is my personal favorite given that its a double-stack (but in such a small caliber so it isn’t very thick) and has better controls.
I think I’ve got four magazines of that exact ammo loaded in the house right now. 2 CZ-82 and 2 PA63. In fact, Hornady’s availability of that ammo is the reason the rest of the defensive ammo in the house is Hornady XTP.
Also, it’s not exactly new, I’ve been shooting that same load for about 4 years now. But every year, it gets more popular, and the price gets a bit better.
Has it been around THAT long? Seems like not long ago the only source for 9×18 JHP ammo was Brown and Silver bear ammo out of Russia, and while those JHPs are probably much better than FMJ or lead ball, I don’t know if I’d trust them for quality expansion and/or weight retention.
Cor-Bon is now making high-performance self-defense loads for this round as well.
http://www.surplusammo.com/9×18-makarov-70-grain-powr-ball-corbon-20-rounds/
I won’t lie, I don’t really trust the Pow-r-Ball loads just because 9×18 (and .380 for that matter) are just so light in bullet weight that losing so much weight for that ball and the bullet cavity seems counter-productive.
If Speed was all that did damage we’d all be carrying Gama sources rather than pistols.
Well I paid alittle more than $150 for my CZ-82, I mainly bought it as a collectible Easter European gun.
I may get another one or two, just to have a set. At the price I paid, they would be almost ‘throw-away guns’. Or Bug-out-Bag guns. Items that aren’t high-quality or precision shooters, but that will work if I leave them alone for a year in the bag.
Great post. The CZ is one of my favorites because it proved so durable over the years. At the price it is a steal.
And its made out of Steel! A Steal of Steel!!! 8)
I’ve had a chicom and an east German mak and liked them both. I rather wish I hadn’t sold the EG one because they were actually beautifully finished and shot well. On the hunt now for a CZ simply because I’ve always liked the innovation of Czech arms. Quirky bunch, the Czechs, but some of their stuff is terribly interesting.
never handled a true Mak…is it up or down 0n the lever for “Safe”?
Up.
That’s the exact opposite of every other slide-safety gun I’ve seen…
During the Mak Boom of the 90’s, they made up some .380 conversion barrels that would allow a better Ammo supply. There might still be a few out there.
Jay has a .380 Mak
I’ve got a Mak (FrankenMak, actually – Russian slide on a Hungarian frame) and a PA-63. Mostly carry the ’63 for concealed carry. The Mak is more accurate for me, but it’s probably not inherent since the action is identical for both. The ’63 is definitely peppier on the recoil, but easier to conceal.
Can’t get comfortable with the caliber, though. I think of it as designed for shooting uppity proles in the head at close range and not much else, and I don’t get much call to do that. For day-to-day I still like my 1911 better.
I have a P-64 (9 x 18 Makarov) and a CZ 83 (.380). The CZ’s trigger is great, whether double or single action, and it can be carried cocked and locked. I installed a seventeen pound hammer spring in my P-64–the factory spring was twenty-seven pounds, gasp!–and it shoots fine with Tula Ammo in it. It banged away on some Bulgarian surplus rounds to no effect, but those cartridges were rotting in a warehouse for decades. The P-64 will fit wherever a Walther PPK will go, but the CZ is a belt gun. Both were cheap, and both work, even though they ain’t purdy. (Isn’t that why we buy Commie Bloc guns?)
With regard to hollowpoints, there’s an argument to be made that given the power of a .380 or a 9 x 18, a good FMJ bullet is what you need to get enough penetration. The Box o’Truth website gives several pages on this subject.
I love my CZ-82, and I use the Hornady for my defensive ammunition. It goes bang every time I need it, and it shoots a really tight group out to about 30 feet. The Fiocci FMJ is good target ammunition if you can’t use steel cased Tulammo for practice. Getting a CCW holster can be tough, but Evyl Robot over at the Holster Site made one for me, and this is a great little pistol for carry. At the price, they’re definitely a great value.
Brass Fetch has this test on some 9×18 hollowpoints,
http://www.brassfetcher.com/var9x18mm.html
the Silver Bear seems to hold up better than I’d have thought.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It1VsLo0KcY
Didn’t hold up so well in the same test as above.