robhic, I'm glad to see someone had the same problem as me! Took a brief trip to the range today. First mag went off flawlessly, to my relief. The second mag after the 6th round didn't lock back, and when I inspected it, the mag was sliding out. So I put in a new mag and racked it. Pull trigger, no bang. I found when I racked it, I put the safety on (I'm a lefty, so my right thumb can actuate the safety if I'm not paying attention). Take it off safe, bang bang bang bang bang bang, end with slide locked open, all normal. Reload my three mags, all perform ok, except I get another failure to lock slide after last round with the mag falling out again. It was the same mag as before, one I refer to as "chippy," as the finger rest is chipped. Well I load that mag up again, insert it and make certain it is seated. 6 bangs later, the slide locks open as it should. I think maybe this mag requires a little extra omph to insert and seat, as it is an old warhorse.
So I think the function of the pistol is up to snuff now. The pictured target was at 10 yards and I wasn't really aiming carefully, as I was snapping off rounds quickly to check reliability. Despite that, I'm pretty pleased with the accuracy. And those makarov rounds have a nice little kick don't they? I was shooting Fiocchi 95 grain, but at the end shot a magful of Hornady critical defense 95 gr. Those actually had a lot less recoil, very noticeable.