Makarov Recoil - Am I The Only One ?

[Mike H]

So here I am, new to the US and new to my Mak.

I loved everything about it when handling it, but then I came to shoot it for the first time. I had 2 types of ammo, the wife had picked up a box of Russian Novosibirsk LVE and I picked up a box of Wolf 109gr. This was just before I got my Pearce grip, I wanted to try out the original Red Star grips, biiiiiiig mistake.

I managed exactly 2 rounds of Wolf before the web of my hand began to sting, the LVE was much milder and shot with some strange firework effects out of the muzzle. I managed to dispose of all 100 rounds and retired home to find some ice.

So then I fitted the Pearce, waited for the pain to subside, picked up 3 boxes of Wolf and headed back to the range. As I sit here typing I once again have a battered thumb joint and web in addition to a missing patch of skin on top of my thumb joint caused by the backstrap in recoil, not slide bite.

Wolf ammo makes this little gun leap around all over the show and I seriously need something a LOT milder to shoot, the wife won't even go near it, so it's no more Wolf thankyou. My local dealer is asking $16+ for a box of American Eagle, someone is having a laugh in their pricing department, S&B is $10 whilst I can get Barnaul for about $5 per box. This I have yet to try but it promises a less painful experience.

I think part of the problem is the heavier bullet (109gr versus 95gr) but the Wolf still feels like it is loaded right upto the pressure limit, something I don't like from a safety angle anyway.

So am I the only one, or is the Makarov a "heavy for caliber" recoiler, I'm beginning to doubt my first choice of defensive pistol, and I'm thinking a locked breach 9mm would have been a smarter choice.

Mike H

[Oleg Volk]

Mak does kick hard for its caliber, esp. with 109gr ammo. S&B 95gr ball and Barnaul JHP are relatively mild but your Pearce grip is your best bet.

[kptaylor]

Hornaday XTP is pretty light recoiling and accurate. Barnaul (?) is good, too, and cheap.

[Adventurer_96]

The American Eagle stuff is great to shoot, if you can swallow paying that much money for a box of ammo! I bought 5 boxes of the S&B stuff this past weekend but I haven't shot it yet.

The CCI Blazer in the non-reloadable cases was good for plinking, and if you can find some of the inexpensive Chinese Norinco stuff, it wasn't bad either.

I have a cheap wrap (not a Makawrap) from Hogue which has made all of the difference. I haven't tried the Makawrap or Pearce yet.

What kind of Mak do you have? Have you had this kind of problem with other handguns?


Check Six.

[Tecolote]

Maks have a stout kick. It's a hot round and the blowback action makes things worse. The best solution I've found is a pair of Pearce Grips. You can find them for under $15. Just make sure not to over tighten the grip screw because you'll bind the mag.

[Redlg155]

I second the vote for the Hornady ammo. It is definitely much milder than the Russian stuff. I shot a box of it last week against the Russian "green box" type and it was definitely milder.

I keep mine stoked with the Hornady ammo. One word of caution with the Hornady ammo. Make sure that you check for excessive bullet setback after repeated chamberings. The cases aren't sealed as with the Russian ammo so the bullet is held only by case tension instead of having the laquer sealant helping to hold the bullet. I've found a couple of cases with minor setback. Polishing the feedramp help tremendously, but I still check them to avoid any future problems.

Good SHooting
Red

[denfoote]

My Makarovs bite me in exactly the same place. After about 50, or so rounds, the joint is pretty raw. I found that changing to the Pierce grip did not help. The solution for me was shooting gloves!!! The recoil does not bother me.

[oweno]

Yep, that Wolf ammo is hot stuff. It seems to me that the Blazer ammo is just as hot.

I've been using the green box stuff from Novosibirsk and I'm really happy with it. Dan of Dan's Ammo, though, says he can no longer import it. I've got a set of Makawrap grips but for some odd reason, I shoot better with the issue grips and the recoil don't bother me so that's what I use.

By the way, if my counting is correct, last week I put my thousandth round through my Mak (Bulgie milsurp). Norinco, green box Russian, white box Wolf, Blazer and not one failure of any kind.

100% reliable. Gotta like that.

Owen

[Bobbalouie]

Ya know, my Dad recently brought up his Mak and we went plinkin'. The Mak really does have a kick to it. Compared to the Mak, my inexpensive poly Ruger P-95 9mm felt more like a mildly enraged marshmallow.

Because of its blowback action, the Mak's barrel is mounted directly to the frame, which transfers all the energy of the recoil directly. The Ruger has a more "Browning-esque" recoiling barrel which moves with the slide for most of the recoil, softening the kick.

If you want to take advantage of that sort of action in the same caliber and equivalent size, you might look around for a used Colt Mustang or 380 (no longer made). Still and all, you can't beat the price of a Mak... especially if yours is paid for.

Bobbalouie

[sjones]

the mak's just plain kick. I shot a friends mak and it kicked a lot worse than my kel-tec p-11. Mine is a real 9mm and has a locked breech and kicks a lot less. Get your self a p-11 and quit fooling around with the mak. sj

[Richard]

Maks kick but I have shot a lot of pistols that kick more. Yes, the recoil is related to a straight blow back design. I would switch to the Pearce grips and live with it. I like my Mak well enough to recommend it. My recommendations do not come easily. Regards, Richard

[logansdad]

My commercial Russian mak doesn't hurt me, even with the original red star grips. HOWEVER, the only ammo I've put through it is the S&B 95gr FMJ stuff. Got some Barnaul FMJ on order and will see if it differs in the recoil department. Also, I picked up a couple of boxes of the (now discontinued) CorBon 95gr JHP @ 1050fps for carry and am wondering how much more felt recoil this load will generate.

sjones, interestingly enough, I had just the opposite experience. Rid myself of the P11 after one reange session.

I do not consider myself to be oblivious to recoil, but the Mak doesn't bother me at all.

[Mr986]

Well, sounds like you've experienced it all. The safety on mine opened up my thumb when I started shooting with a revised grip.

The Pearce grips helped me a lot; I tried the 19 pound spring and it didn't seem to matter much. Personally, I thought the red/blue box stuff froms Dan's--Novosibersk(?) recoiled a bit less than the green box.

As a plinking gun, I thought it was fun--accurate, reliable and inexpensive, with a decent trigger.
As a defensive gun, a 9 x 19 would make a lot more sense--heavier, faster bullet for more energy. For under $300 there are a number of pistols which are accurate, reliable and recoil far less than the Mak--P95, HS2000,TZ-99 are few. CZ-75b's run about $350 in OH.

Again, depends on what you'll be doing with this pistol.
Best of luck.

[Oris]

Mike H, there is no problem with Mak at all. All this crying about recoil and hurt hands and feelings is coming from the milk-fed
tender Westerners like yourself, who just were not born to shoot
some real man's gun. Real men shoot Mak and do not b*tch
that it hurts. So, drop this kindergarden attitude, start drinking
vodka, stop asking foolish questions, read Jack London to learn how to survive and I'm sure, you gonna be just fine. Let me know
if it worked for you...

P.S. If it didn't, there is no hope for you...

[Sam Norton]

Use a stronger recoil spring. The reason it kick so hard it that the slide is slamming against the frame. Buy a Wolf spring kit. It comes with four springs. Next to the heaviest seems the best. Note: you will also need stiffer mag springs, otherwise the bullet does not have time to get into position before the slide comes back forward, causing the bullet to nosedive on the ramp.

Best Regards
Sam

[chrismc1]

Well, your right in saying that the recoil is heavy for caliber as it likely is the most powerful blowback pistol you can get. Never tried Wolf or S&B ammo yet, have tried the Barnaul, Novosibirsk and the American Eagle ammo, 100% reliable. I have the black, stock plastic grips for my E. German, and it does kick, but no more than a hot 9mmP to me, then again I have a heavy build too. I would advise some grips. Or if you are still wanting the 9x18 and even heavier pistol, the CZ-83 in 9x18 could be viable. I think it is likely the heaviest 9x18mm out there other than the Makarov.

[bullet44]

Man I thought I was recoil sensitive,but love my
Mak's, now if you want to talk recoil pick up a
22oz. pa-63, if you can't feel it you may as well shoot a 22.!!!!
Kel-tec compared to a Makarov is a no brainer,
the mak will keep shooting when the Kel-tec is
just a lump of parts and plastic.!!

[Destructo6]

I wouldn't say the Mak has a strong kick, but I would characterize it as being sharp. I regularly shoot a couple of hundred rounds, with the black plastic grips, and don't feel a thing. BTW, I couldn't stand the feel of those Pearce grips (anybody want to buy a Pearce with the "High Release" setup?).

[Mike H]

Thanks for the responses.

It seems I'm not the only one who thinks the Mak is a kicker. The Pearce grip is fitted now but makes little difference to recoil damage. As for being a Euro Cissy, all I can say is that blue bruises and a thumb that won't bend are not a product of the imagination.

For the record, I regularly used to put 400 rounds through any one of three completely different locked breach 9mm's during a typical range session without so much as a hair out of place.

The only gun I found to be as uncomfortable in recoil as the Mak was a HK USPc in .357 Sig.

If they ever make a .32ACP conversion kit, I'll be the first buyer, if only so I can get my wife interested in it. They should call this gun Stalin's Revenge, I shall however persevere with other brands of ammo.

Mike H

[Apple a Day]

Stalin's Revenge!!! I LOVE it! ROTFLMAO
Mike, the Makarov has a snappy recoil, no doubt about it. I have shot a lot of different types of ammo through mine and it does make a difference. Grab some Barnaul (slightly dirty but nice) and stay away from the Wolf. I caught myself flinching after a couple boxes of Wolf and never went back. I think the LVE is somewhere in the middle. I got a 19# spring for mine a while back which seemed to cut down on the incredible brass tossing [I think this was how the original Sputnik was placed in orbit] and might have helped with recoil a hair.
A great place for other suggestions is www.makarov.com which was down for a while but might be back up.

[bullet44]

For what it's worth I have found most Russian
ammo to be "hot" I won't use it because of the
effects on the gun more so then the recoil factor,
most american ammo on the other hand is loaded
fairly tame except some special loads. All in
all I have better results loading my own, its fun,
safe(if your careful) and you can tailor loads to
the gun, shoot more for less,and less wear on the gun.

[AndyP]

Blowbacks kick too much (or snap, if you prefer). That's why I sold my perfectly fine 380's (Sig P230 and FEG PMK) and decided to stick with locked breach pistols. Although I've been tempted by Maks more than once, I'm just not going to own a pistol I'm not willing to practice with a lot.

[CaesarI]

First I think Oris was just being funny. I laughed.

Second, the H&K P7 is a blowback pistol, in 9X19, if I am not mistaken, granted however, it is a gas delayed blowback.

What type of numbers does Wolf post on their ammo? I'd be interested in just how fast they were running. I've said it before in an earlier thread, Europeans seem to like their ammo hot, anyone have a reason why?

-Morgan

[Halo]

What type of numbers does Wolf post on their ammo? I'd be interested in just how fast they were running. I've said it before in an earlier thread, Europeans seem to like their ammo hot, anyone have a reason why?

Wolf claims a 109gr bullet at 1033fps.

I haven't found the recoil of my Bulgarian Mak to be a problem, though I haven't fired it for extended periods of time, and I have not tried any of the Wolf ammo (Novosibirsk only).

[VictorLouis]

It's the lower corner of the safety lever that is opening up your thumb. Personally, I also got a bit of slide bite on the web of my hand to boot. I had to trim a lot of meat off of the tip of the safety lever and and blend off any corners with a Dremel. Some careful file and stone work took care of the corners involved with the bottoms of the slide rails. The metal sucked up the cold-blue like a sponge and turned a nice, dark black color.

I agree that the recoil was pretty snappy for me, at first. Several more sessions later, I was much more comfortable with it. I tried a friend's who'd installed Pearce grips, and it was admittedly FAR more comfortable. You have to decide if the extra bulk is worth it.

ORIS, ROTFLAMO.