It remained in wide front-line service with Soviet military and police until and beyond the end of the USSR in 1991. After many major design changes and tweaks, the gun was formally adopted as the 'Pistolet Makarova', or 'PM' in 1951.Īs the new standard issue sidearm of the USSR, the PM was issued to NCOs, police,special forces, and tank and air crews. Tooling was set up in the Izhevsk plant for production. The pistol was therefore selected in 1949 for further development and optimization for mass production. During April 1948, Makarov's pistol experienced 20 times fewer malfunctions than the competing Baryshev and Sevryugin counterparts, and had fewer parts. After stringent handling, reliability, and other tests, Makarov's pistol, which was based on the German Walther PP, stood out from other designs through its sheer simplicity, excellent reliability, quick disassembly. Special emphasis was placed on safety, user-friendliness, accuracy, weight, and dimensions. Several engineers took part in the contest, including Korovin, Baryshev, Vojvodin, Simonov, Rakov, Klimov, Lobanov, Sevryugin and Makarov. The lower pressures of the cartridge allowed practical straight blowback operation (reducing the cost and complexity of the weapon), while retaining low recoil and good stopping power.

Semin, was the best round suited for the intended role.

It was later judged that the new 9.2x18mm cartridge, designed by B.V. As a result, in December 1945, two separate contests for a new service pistol were created, respectively for a 7.62mm and 9mm pistol. What's more, the Tokarev pistols omitted a safety and magazines were deemed too easy to lose. Therefore, the TT30/33 was unsuited for such a role, as it was heavy, bulky, and possessed too little stopping power.

The adoption of the future AK assault rifle relegated the pistol to a light, handy self-defence weapon. Shortly after the Second World War, the Soviet Union reactivated its plans to replace the Tokarev TT33 self-loading pistols and Nagant M1895 revolvers. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military and police side arm from 1951 to 1991. The Makarov pistol or PM ( Russian : Пистолет Макарова, Pistolet Makarova, literally Makarov's Pistol) is a Russian semi-automatic pistol. The Russian and Chinese Makarovs are not thought of highly, except as nostalgic collectibles of a bygone age, although they nonetheless possess the inherent simplicity and reliability of the Makarov design.Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (USSR/Russia), Ernst Thaelmann (Germany), Arsenal AD (Bulgaria), Norinco (China)Ĩ-round detachable box magazine (10- and 12-round available on the PMM)īlade front, notch rear (drift adjustable) The Bulgarian pistols are not quite as polished but are still solid and reliable. Makarovs which were made in East Germany are the most widely preferred on the market. The Makarov was manufactured in several Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War and afterwards apart from Russia itself, they were East Germany, Bulgaria, China, and post-unification Germany, which also found itself with several thousand East German Makarov pistols. Makarov called his design the Pistolet Makarova, and it was selected over its competitors on account of its simplicity (it had few moving parts), economy, ease of manufacture, accuracy and reasonable power. The TT had been loosely derived from the popular M1911 and was, by 1945, felt to be too large and heavy for a general service pistol. The Makarov was the result of a competition held to design a replacement for the aging Tokarev TT-33 semi-automatic pistol. It was probably developed in order to gain as much power as possible in a comparatively small blowback pistol, and there were probably also elements of standardizing on a cartridge that only the Soviet bloc used. Designed by Russian firearms designer Nikolai Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the standard issue pistol for both the Soviet forces and the Warsaw Pact.Įxternally it was in almost every respect a copy of the German Walther PP, except that it was chambered for the Soviet 9x18mm cartridge, a design that is believed to have originated with the pre-war German 'Ultra' round. The Makarov pistol dates from the early 1950's.

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