I own a 1976 model and it is extremely well-made, with a beautiful blue finish and a chrome-lined barrel. It is easily the most accurate pistol I own. The trigger has very short take-up and breaks at about 2 lbs. Thanks for another fine video James.
Absolutely agree - good assessment of that pistol. I carried it for years. Really well made in Radom, Poland.A kind of a fuck you to the Communist government, just worked all the time- I was proficient with that weapon. I had ccw but not in NJ , some one gave me a shoulder rig on loan, that thing hung up side down, with one in the chamber, in half cock, pointed at your armpit!😅 But pull free in a New York second, what I serous up close and personal self defense option.
Mine was made in 1971 and it's so well cared for it looks almost brand new. My only complaint is the trigger break, the creep is massive and let off is almost random. Other than that, it's been my primary carry going on 3 years now. Numrich is also making new reproduction mags complete with floorplate, I just bought another about 4 months ago.
I briefly considered collecting and CCing the Warsaw Pact 9x18mm Makarov pistols before I was 21. One of the first handguns I shot was a FEG PA-63 when I was 17 and my memory of it was that it had tiny sights, the ammo gave off plenty of flash/sparks with the discharge, and the recoil was snappy. The recoil especially put me off at the time and then Connecticut banned mags over 10 rounds and so my idea of CCing the CZ 82/83 went out the window. My general opinion on the WP Makarov pistols is that they broadly fall into the category of "carried a lot, shot once a year for qualification" type of officer's handgun, the P64 being more on the pocket carry side of the spectrum, as you noted. I suppose for policing a disarmed country, 6+1 of 9x18mm is seen as sufficient. It's not well known but there was an assassination attempt on Leonid Brezhnev and the perpetrator used x2 Makarov pistols, but the event was quickly hushed up. Very interesting to think that pistols in the pocket carry category seem to be the preferred weapon of assassins of high level heads of state.
On mine I did a recoil and trigger spring change with Wolf Springs, painted the front sight white, and installed (upside down) a Hogue Handall Jr. sleeve on it. I carry mine with 2x extra mags in the hidden compartment of a tactical shoulder bag for EDC. Also I have found that PPU 93gr. 9x18mm FMJ gives me the most consistent results. When that is not available I use 95gr. S&B.
Communist era politics. They were meant to be used by both military and police, and the secret police with their size requirements for concealed carry had more political clout when specifying the pistol.
