Bulgarian Mak

[manicmechanic]

Well here's the Bulgarian. My oldest daughter has the camera, so please excuse the scanner weirdness going on.

She's a little rough, but for the price of $150 with 2 mags, clean rod, original Century Arms box, and 85 rounds of Brown Bear 115 gr HP's, I think she was worth it.

I'm still not sure what the deal is with the finish. When they get thin do they get a gold or yellowish tinge?

As far as the ammo, should I only use this in the Mak, and not in the P-64?

The firing pin is nice and loose, I can see it moving when I tilt the pistol with the slide back. Slide to frame seems nice and tight still. I also see how the mag loaders from Timbo on gunboard work, pretty cool.

[nbender]

MM - that's a fine looking Makarov you have! A couple of things I look at:

The lighting on the pictures is not definitive, but there does not look like wear around the muzzle. So I don't think this was carried over there. I don't see the thin finish you mention. Anyway, for $150, I'd buy the like every day.

The safety has not made a pronounced line and doesn't appear to have been used much.

The grips look fantastic - no wear.

The right grip has that mottled look where they didn't mix the colors well when making the resin. That happens. No demerits.

That is one fine looking Makarov. My Century-imported Mak is a great looking pistol with fine, deep bluing. One of the fun things to do a Mak is to learn how to completely dissasemble them because ... it's so easy! Look at the photographs on Makarov.com to help with that. It was how I learned some time ago.

[nbender]

Yeah, I'd pass on using 115-grain Brown Bear in the P-64. It's pretty Huge - travels at 1,000 fps. And I'd get a stiffer spring for the Mak if you plan on shooting heavier loads like that. Great carry ammo, so some say.