My new Makarov

[Datamancer]

I've had my eye on one of these for a while now, so when I found a good deal from a fellow Calgunner, I jumped on it. Just got it today and haven't fired it yet but hope to very soon. It's a commercial Russian IJ70-18A but I added a thumbrest red star grip that I bought on ebay (still need to find a different screw for this grip though. The original grip screw barely grabs and the head sticks out a bit now).







I picked up a few of these Belkin hard shell Netbook sleeves at Target the other day on clearance for $5 a pop so I turned one into a carrying case.



Anyone have any Russian-style mags for sale? I have mag spaces in my foam to fill!


-~D~-

[PandaLuv]

alright, nice

[kTC xDEICIDEx]

Yea that came out great and cool grips. 

[Datamancer]

Yea that came out great and cool grips. 

Thanks! The only thing I wish is that the new thumbrest grip was more reddish-brown like the original, instead of just plain brown, but oh well. It feels 100% more ergonomic and comfortable with the thumbrest though and I'm glad I found a red-star thumbrest. Usually I only see them in black, which I think takes away from the overall character of the Makarov.


-~D~-

[Datamancer]

P.S. original credit goes to OceanBob for the Belkin hard case idea (originally for use as a car-carry case. See this thread for more details- http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=392121

Here's one I made for my Nambu. These things are great for storage too. You can stand them on end like books on a bookshelf. Great space-saver.




-~D~-

[gatesbox]

I don't own a makarov, but I think they are great, and top of my list in the surplus category. My buddy has one and anytime he goes to a gun store he takes his mag with him and asks if they have any.....just keep nosing around and you'll collect a few. Buy them all...if you find a friendly dealer I've seen them give them away with a good ammo purchase.

[iareConfusE]

Damn good job on that foam work for the carry case.

[wang949]

Wow, a Nambu! Nice.

[Datamancer]

I don't own a makarov, but I think they are great, and top of my list in the surplus category. My buddy has one and anytime he goes to a gun store he takes his mag with him and asks if they have any.....just keep nosing around and you'll collect a few. Buy them all...if you find a friendly dealer I've seen them give them away with a good ammo purchase.

Thanks. I've seen them on gunbroker, but people usually want about $30 for the Russian notch-style mags. Not too bad, but I'll keep looking around and see if I can find a few in the $10-15 range.

-~D~-

[Datamancer]

Damn good job on that foam work for the carry case.

Thanks. That part was actually pretty easy. Lay the gun down, trace it with a felt-tip pen, cut the part out with a click-blade knife and Exacto for the tight spots, then pop out the shapes (this leaves you with cool foam silhouettes of your guns too). Take the silhouette shapes, stand them on end, then slice a thin piece off like like bread from a loaf, then lay the thin slice back down into the cut-out to make a cushioned "floor" for it, then lay a piece of tape across the back to hold it in place.
Quick and dirty $5 pistol case.

I tried to leave myself room for another grip to the left of the first one, and one more mag to the right of the others, if I need them.

-~D~-

[bsg]

congratulations.

if you cruise Gunbroker with some patience and tenacity (like a daily paper route), some decent deals on magazines will probably turn up.

[VegasND]

Your IJ-70 looks nicer than mine. Grip screws are pretty expensive, generally $6 to $10. Apex says they have them in stock:

https://www.apexgunparts.com/product_info.php/products_id/1123

Makarov is pretty cool to shoot but buy ammo in increments of at least 500 online. If you buy one box at a time at your LGS it'll kill you.

Watch for mags -- they come and go. Currently folks seem to want abotu $25 for them but they do pop up cheaper on occasion. I found 6 a while ago for a decent price and bought them, I actually have more than I need for a change.

[morrcarr67]

Nice Mak. I like the grips; nice find on those.

That case is too cool. I'm headed over to Target this morning I'll have to check and see if they have any left.

[Datamancer]

Your IJ-70 looks nicer than mine. Grip screws are pretty expensive, generally $6 to $10. Apex says they have them in stock:

https://www.apexgunparts.com/product_info.php/products_id/1123

Makarov is pretty cool to shoot but buy ammo in increments of at least 500 online. If you buy one box at a time at your LGS it'll kill you.

Watch for mags -- they come and go. Currently folks seem to want abotu $25 for them but they do pop up cheaper on occasion. I found 6 a while ago for a decent price and bought them, I actually have more than I need for a change.

Cool, thanks for the info.
I think my screw is ok, but the problem is the grip. I tried filing it a bit from the inside but I just think the hole isn't drilled deeply enough or maybe the little metal cap that goes inside the hole wasn't stamped in there deeply enough. I think I might need an East German Makarov grip screw like this one instead (on the right)



Either that, or I can head to the hardware store and get a sunken-hex-head bolt to go in there. I saw a guy on Gunboards go that route and it didn't look too Bubba.



Who has the best deal on 9x18 these days? I recently discovered http://www.slickguns.com which has some pretty great prices. It's all user-submitted sales and deals just like slickdeals.com except for gun stuff.

I couldn't sleep last night so I went on a Mak mag hunt and finally found some good prices at Sarco. If you buy 3 or more, they're about $16. I had considered buying some of the reproduction mags from keepshooting.com (found some bad reviews, mostly about their faulty first batch, but overall more good reviews than bad when it came to their new batch) but Sarco wound up being a few dollars cheaper. Truth be told, the mags look identical so for all I know, I may have just bought the KS mags, but through Sarco.

-~D~-

[Datamancer]

Nice Mak. I like the grips; nice find on those.

That case is too cool. I'm headed over to Target this morning I'll have to check and see if they have any left.

Thanks!
In an unrelated search, I found myself at a bunch of Targets this weekend and while I was there, I was actually able to find a few more of those cases at a few different stores. They're on clearance so each store usually only has 1-3 kicking around. They're near the electronics section, usually in the 1st/2nd aisle off to the right of the big, open CD/DVD/TV area, NOT over on the other side by the luggage and big laptop bags, where you'd think they would be.
There's a 13.3" case (the one I used for the Mak) and also a smaller 10" version, which would also be perfect for a small pistol. "Belkin honeycomb netbook sleeve" is what the ones I used are called, but they have a few other padded neoprene sleeves that you could use too.

Happy hunting,
-~D~-