9mm Makarov defense rounds?

[NcongruNt]

Hey everyone,

I am about to be in the waiting room for a new CHL (class is on March 3rd), and am looking for some good defensive rounds for my pistol.

I've got an FEG PA63 chambered for 9mm Makarov. I've shot mostly FMJ out of it, but several boxes of Silver Bear JHP have shown me that it is not a reliable load for this gun - it tends to jam when trying to chamber. I've checked several forums, and seen the Hornady JHP recommended. I've also read interesting things about the Glaser Blue Tip Safety Slugs and the Pow'rBall rounds.

The Safety Slugs seem like an interesting approach, but I don't think I could bring myself to spend enough money (at $15 per 6 rounds) to give them a good testing at the range to justify carrying them in a daily carry weapon. I hear the blue tips are good for not overpenetrating and for stopping power.

The Pow'rBall ammo seems to be a reasonable alternative to the Safety Slug, and is supposed to mushroom well, even through thick clothing. I have heard a couple of reports that these also tend to overpenetrate (as seems to be reported for Corbon ammo in general).

As it stands now, I'll probably be going with some Hornady JHP (after some range testing, of course), as it has been reported to feed flawlessly through the PA63. My only concern with this is effectiveness through clothing, as well as reports that 9mm Makarov JHP is less than optimally effective in situations other than a frontal, unobstructed shot.

Anyone with experience with this caliber or any sort of constructive input, please feel free to comment below with your thoughts and/or recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

[Greybeard]

Sorry to hear the Silver Bear does not run in your Mak. I've had 2 Russians for a long time and they've both ran fine with everything we've fed 'em.

Most folks avoid the pre-fragmented loads except for very specialized purposes. Like you said, they are quite expensive to test in quanity for reliability - and they are far more likely to underpenetrate than anything in Mak weights and velocities is to overpenetrate.
And the possibility of overpenetration is typically overblown anyway. In reality, the far, far greater probability of damaging something unwanted on the other side is misses. I'd suggest not getting hung up on anybody's hype, just keep shooting various brands of "self defense" loads until you find one that's 100% reliable out the muzzle, then practice regularly.

[ghentry]

Not to get this thread off track, but how do you like the FEG? I've seen them online and considered getting one since they are so inexpensive.

[NcongruNt]

I really like the FEG, personally.

I have heard a lot of people complain about the recoil, but in my experience this is because they are running ammo that's way too hot for this gun. It isn't designed to shoot anything over 95 grain, and most of the people I hear complaints from are running 110 or 115 grain through it. I accidentally bought a couple of boxes of Wolf 100 grain, and realized when I shot it why people complain.

Considering that the gun only weighs 21 ounces in the first place, it's fun to shoot, and much more accurate than you'd expect from a very light aluminum gun. DA trigger pull is quite heavy (upwards of 18 lbs), though there are inexpensive springs you can buy on Makarov.com that can change this quite easily. I ordered one of these (11 lbs), as well as a new recoil spring (13 lbs as opposed to the stock 11 lbs) to save on slide wear and reduce recoil and ejection distance (right now my cartridges end up at about 4:00 8 feet away).

My only complaint about the gun is that it was not designed for people with big hands. I have pretty large hands, and because of the way the grip forces my thumb upward, I get a little bit of slide bite. I ordered new grips without the thumb groove, and I think this will fix the problem for me - we'll see on my next trip out to the range.

Stock, the gun is inherently right-hand only, due to the thumb groove. Also, the safety/decocker and magazine release are both designed for right-handed thumb operation, so if you're a lefty, this might be a concern.

All these things considered, the gun is fun out-of-the-box, accurate, and is nice and affordable. I ordered mine from aimsurplus (http://aimsurplus.com) , and it came with 2 magazines, a cleaning rod, and a manual. I believe I paid $130 for it, plus shipping and FFL transfer costs. I ordered 5 extra magazines from J&G Sales (http://jgsales.com/) for $15/ea.

9mm Mak ammo is a little hard to come by in local shops, but not impossible. I know of 2 shops in Austin that carry it, and you can find it online in lots of places. Hornady JHP (which I'm told feeds flawlessly in the PA63) seems to be out of stock in most places online, but one of my local shops carry it. Hornady ammo is expensive, though - $15 for a box of 25. FMJ ammo is really easy to come by, and aimsurplus has lots Sellier & Bellot FMJ surplus for sale at a good price (I ordered 1200 rounds for $199 shipped). I've never had a feeding problem with any of the FMJ I've tried (Wolf, Silver Bear, Winchester, Sellier & Bellot). You probably won't find 9mm Mak at most of the box stores, but Cabela's seems to carry it.

[9mmGuy]

Is that the same as 9x19 or 9x18? have you looked at hydra shocks or speer gold dots?

[Ranger+P+]

My pops is a collector of Russian and German pistols and has quite a collection- he has a PA-63 9x18, CZ52 7.62x25 (ugliest gun in the world) and a FEG in 7.65mmBrowning (32ACP). I have shot all of them and they are fun to shoot, I would not trust my life to them, though.

He deals with J&G Sales and Centerfire Systems for guns and ammo.
Pretty cool companies if you like curio/relic stuff and they have a good supply of AK/SKS items also.

[Mike1951]

I'll be dealing with the same issues. I picked up a CZ-82 at the last George Brown show and just today picked up two of the PA-63's from my FFL.

J&G had them for $109, but that was with one mag. With the price of the second mag added, it came to about the same price as yours.

I had bought two boxes of the Silver Bear 94gr JHP when I bought the CZ-82. One of my C&R dealers, who is a CZ-82 enthusiast, said it was not a reliable feeding load.

Sportsmans Guide has the Wolf 100gr that you mentioned for $128/1000 and it would be a good choice for the CZ-82, but not the PA-63.

I am still contemplating the best defensive round but will probably stock up on the Silver Bear 94gr FMJ for plinking.

The springs on Makarov.com are the same you would get from Wolff, but are priced slightly higher.

http://www.gunsprings.com

Recoil springs are $7.89 and hammer springs are $8.99/3.

Plus, Wolff sells calibration packs with different tension springs for determining which works best.

[zigzag]

Brown Bear FMJ is also good in my makarovs.

[GKings1]

I like the Hornady JHP the best for it's balistics, but it would not feed reliably in my CZ-82 so I ended up using Silver Bear and haven't had a problem yet. You can usually find Hornady for about 12 dollars a box at the gun show in Houston. As far as I know, none of the stores around here carries it. Also, if you can find some, some have success using the Speer gold dot. However, as far as I know, you have load them yourself. I have yet to find any, but would like to try them someday. That is for the CZ, I don't know how it would feed with the FEG.

[bj]

Hi dont know if this counts but I have a CZ83 and a Makarov and I use 95 GR. xtp over Tightgroup and they both function with no trouble B.J.

[arthurcw]

A guy on The High Road did a test on the Hornady 9mm Mak rounds.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=258974