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Goodbye Makarov

by Marco Vorobiev • March 1, 2012 • 12 comments

Marco Vorobiev was a member of the elite Soviet Spetsnaz in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He’s a U.S. citizen now and conducts training courses that draw on his special forces training. He’ll have a new installment every Wednesday.

This is it. The end of an era. After over 50 years of service, the famous creation of Nikolay Makarov, the 9x18mm PM pistol, a.k.a. “Makarov” is being replaced by the Russian Armed Forces as a standard issue sidearm for officers and NCOs. According to the press secretary of the West Military District, Col. Adrey Bobrun, the Makarov is being replaced by the new Pistolet Yarygina PYa semi-automatic pistol chambered in standard 9x19mm cartridge.

The PYa pistol was adopted by the Russian Armed Forces in 2003. However, there were deliveries of these handguns to the military until mid-2011. Though, the replacement will be gradual and will take some time, Russian officers are being training on both handguns right now.

The new PYa pistol surpasses the Makarov in almost all categories. It fires the world standard 9mm cartridge that gives it a clear ballistic advantage. The PYa is also fed from an 18-round magazine as oppose to eight for the Makarov. Col. Bobrun said all officers who were trained on both “Makarov” and PYa had great things to say about the new gun, and would prefer it to its older predecessor.

Though until now there were no deliveries to the Russian Armed Forces in any appreciable numbers, Russian police and anti-terrorist units have been using the new pistols for a while.

In 2001 I had a chance to meet the designer of the PYa pistol, Vladimir Yarygin, at “Izmech” arsenal in Izhevsk, Russia. I also got a chance to fire a brand-new PYa that was being tested at that time by the military. It handled and behaved a lot like one of my favorite handguns, the SIG P226. The recoil was moderate and soft. Oversized sights made it easy to aim. Before long I was peppering the bullseye on a 25-meter target.

I am not sure if we ever will see the PYa pistol arrive at our shores. Not with current import restrictions. But one can always hope.

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Goodbye Makarov

In Handguns, Uncategorized • Tagged , , ,
  • Heretic

    So….We can expect to see them on the market here in about 50 years? I'll start saving up now.

  • Big John

    CZ75 or Witness clone?

  • Cpl Schaf

    How about keeping your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire there buddy.

    • rick miles

      For all we know he was ready to fire. I mean look at those eyes.

  • Spectre

    It looks like a Ruger P89!

    • Henry Krinkle

      So right. Trigger looks a little skimpy. Capacity?

  • Ivan

    I had a chance to fire this gun back in 2008, the recoil movement is a little odd, but apart from that it seems to be a reliable weapon

  • chester

    We have them in canada, they are alot beter then glocks.

  • Mike

    My screen shows the same pistol as a Viking by Baikal along with the story "Pistols of the 2012 IWA Show". Look 2 stories prior to this one. Maybe Baikal will be able to bring them in with their shotguns.

    • White Slave

      You are on it. Looks to have a different cut on the Chamber/barrel, but good eye on that.

  • Henry Krinkle

    Had a .380 Makarov back in the '90s. Best $150 I ever spent. If I would have known that the 9 x18 would have stuck around, I would have gotten one of those and would still have it today. Reliable blowback pistol, with extremely positive ejection (about 15 feet at my 4 o'clock). Sad to see it go after all these years. Surprised to see such a compact design as standard issue to begin with,

  • kwame

    Does this mean the market will eventually have a new supply of Makarov PM’s? :)