The best reason to carry a Makarov PM is that you can safely carry a round in the chamber.
The Makarov’s 9 kilo ton, double action, metric-only trigger pull will keep you from inadvertently firing it as its primary safety.
It was deliberately designed that way because it’s a military and police pistol to be carried daily but rarely fired, except for the annual qualification.
That’s how these half century old pistols are still in such nice conditioned, tucked away in gigantic, full flap holster boxes, back when they were carried.
The slide mounted safety locks the whole mechanism, leaving the magazine release as the only unaffected part of the pistol.
That safety effectively turns the Makarov into a paperweight. Not everyone who carries it uses it but it certainly prevents the pistol from firing, inadvertantly or deliberately.
You have to train yourself on its proprietary safety. Sweeping the safety lever down into the “fire” position takes a little time to grow familiar with, if you’re used to most other slide mounted safeties like the Beretta M9, which functions in the opposite manner.
Since average shooters carrying a pistol will more likely have an accidental discharge long before they ever have to shoot to save their life, no one can afford to remain an average shooter. They have to carry the same pistol and be intimately familiar with how to carry it safely.
Single action pistols like the Browning Hi-Power and 1911A1 are often carried in Condition One, meaning a round is in the chamber, the hammer is cocked and the safety is locked into the “on” position. Laid on a table, it’s completely safe. But carried in a holster, the safety often gets inadvertently tripped off during a busy day of activity. That’s why the Israeli military forbid Condition One carry of their Hi-Power pistols. Alternatively, they trained to rack the slide to charge the pistol upon drawing it.
That’s perfectly reasonable in the military but for street cops, they still needed to carry with one in the chamber. The Glock filled that role very well. It has no safety. Pull the trigger and it will fire. Bad news for trigger ticklers and the inattentive or under-trained, who try to holster a Glock with their finger in the trigger guard.
The utility of a Makarov becomes obvious, even with it’s horrible double action trigger.
Unlike the Hi-Point C9 pistol, the Makarov easily field strips by pulling down the trigger guard and lifting the slide off from the rear of the frame. All you need are opposable thumbs, a rag and some vodka solvent to clean the pistol.
It’s safer for the inexperienced to carry, which is why it appealed to new shooters, reacting to the violent zombie apocalypse of 2020.
Buying a gun is a good first step to protect your family and your own life but it’s only the first step. It’s still going to take a lot of training to form good, safe habits along with developing your marksmanship.
The Makarov was a good starter gun to carry for decades. That’s what led to it becoming too over-priced to afford anymore. So what could someone new to all this carry? There are plenty of alternatives. Below is one.
For the same or a little more money, the Fabrique Nationale (FN) model FNX-9 seems to be the best design for the entry level pistol that new shooters won’t out-grow after completing their training.