Makarov pistol, Soviet & East German

What this entry covers

The entry reads in full "Makarov, pistol, Russian and East German, cal. 9mm Makarov."¹ It names a design, two countries and one cartridge. It gives no maker, no dates and no serial range, so the years shown on this page are our estimate of the production period, not ATF wording¹.

Other countries' Makarovs are not named. A specialist Makarov reference counts China and Bulgaria among the producers of the design, besides the Soviet Union and East Germany³. Pistols that only share the cartridge have their own lines: "Polish, Model P64 pistols, cal. 9 x 18mm Makarov, all serial numbers."⁵ The select-fire Stechkin APS in the same calibre is listed in Section IV⁶.

Identifying it

East German pistols carry a one- or two-letter code before a four-digit serial, followed by a two-digit year code. American Rifleman reports observed years from 59 to 65, with 58 also reported, and prints a table of letter codes by year². The same article describes a small "K100" acceptance mark in a rectangle on the left of the frame of every East German pistol². "Ernst Thaelmann" markings were usually added by importers, so a pistol without them is not unusual³.

Gun Digest places the Izhevsk factory mark and the date on the left of the frame on Soviet pistols, with the serial on both slide and frame. It describes red checkered plastic grips with a circled star on military examples⁴.

Common confusions

• Russian commercial pistols. Later Izhevsk production sold under the Baikal name usually has an adjustable rear sight and "Made in Russia" markings. Surplus military pistols have a fixed rear sight and no markings in the Latin alphabet³. The ATF wording says only "Russian" and does not itself separate military from commercial production¹. Whether a particular pistol fits this entry depends on the ATF wording above.
• Simson-Suhl pistols. Several hundred commercial pistols were assembled in the mid-1990s from leftover East German parts and marked "Simson-Suhl"².
• Bulgarian and Chinese pistols. Bulgarian "Circle 10" pistols and the Chinese Type 59 are Makarovs by design³, but neither country is named in the entry¹.
• Hungarian FEG pistols. These 9×18mm pistols resemble the Makarov, but they are a different design whose parts do not interchange with it³.

History

After the Second World War the Soviets compared designs from several engineers for a pistol to replace the TT-33. Nikolay Makarov's design was chosen and adopted as the PM in 1951². Gun Digest says Izhevsk production continued through 1992, and that imports to the United States began in 1993 and stopped by 1995⁴. American Rifleman puts the first East German prototypes in 1958. It reports that breakages in early cast components led to a return to machining, and that manufacture ended in 1965². American Rifleman attributes the East German maker, the Ernst Thälmann works in Suhl, to a single source, and Makarov.com names the same factory^2,3.

Further reading

• American Rifleman's East German article² covers that country's letter codes, finishes, grips and acceptance marks in detail.
• The Makarov.com FAQ³ explains how to tell the producing countries apart, Bulgarian date codes and importer marks.
• Gun Digest's value-guide entry⁴ is a short summary of Soviet markings and import history.