Makarov Pistol Guide (2026): Prices, Variants and 4 Best 9×18 Pistols

Last updated September 22nd 2026

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Best Makarov and 9×18 Pistols in 2026 at a Glance

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Makarov in 2026

The Makarov is the pistol the Soviet Union adopted in 1951 to replace the Tokarev, and it stayed in service across the Eastern Bloc for the rest of the Cold War. It’s a steel, double-action blowback gun built on Walther PP ideas, it holds eight rounds, and it’s about as close to unbreakable as a pocket-sized service pistol gets. For decades it was also one of the cheapest good handguns you could buy in America.

That last part has changed. Russian-made pistols stopped coming in years ago, the Bulgarian surplus that fed the market for two decades has thinned out, and the prices have moved up with it. There’s still plenty of 9×18 to buy, though, if you know which guns count as a “Makarov”, which only share its cartridge, and which listings aren’t what they look like.

I’ve owned and shot all four pistols on this list, and I carried a Bulgarian Makarov for a couple of summers. This guide covers the variants, how to tell them apart, the curio and relic rules, the ammo traps and what each gun really costs right now. If you’re building a surplus collection, our Mosin Nagant buying guide and best M1 carbines guide cover the long guns, and the used handguns hub tracks the wider pre-owned market.

Prices below are what the retailers we track were asking on September 22, 2026. Every pick has a live price card that refreshes through the day, so trust the card over any number frozen into the text.

Makarov Variants: What You’re Actually Buying

“Makarov” gets used for two different things. Strictly, it’s the PM pistol that Nikolai Makarov designed, built at Izhevsk in the Soviet Union and under license in East Germany, Bulgaria and China. Loosely, sellers use it for any pistol chambered in 9×18 Makarov, including the Czech, Hungarian and Polish designs that only share the cartridge. Both show up under the same search, so it helps to know the families.

There are three licensed PM makers you’ll actually run into in the US, plus the Chinese Type 59, which is rare here:

• Soviet (Izhevsk): the original. Imports ran only from 1992 to 1995. A few more came in between 1998 and 2009 as “sneak” Makarovs, Russian pistols that Bulgaria and East Germany had stocked and that got imported with the wrong country marked on them. Collectors pay extra for those.
• East German: made from 1958 to 1965. They carry a deep, smooth blued finish and black plastic grips, and the internal parts are numbered to the gun. These are the ones collectors chase.
• Bulgarian: licensed in 1970, in real production from 1975 and built until 2007. Same design, red-brown star grips, and the gun you’ll find on dealer racks today.

Mechanically they’re the same pistol. They shoot the same, take down the same way and carry the same way. What changes the price is the finish, the country, how loud the import mark is and whether the numbers match. For a shooter, a Bulgarian is all the Makarov you need. For a collection, an East German is the one to hunt.

How to Tell Who Made a Makarov

Flip the pistol to its left side and look at the frame. Each arsenal stamped its own mark there, and it’s the fastest way to check a listing’s claims. A circled 10 means Bulgaria’s Factory 10. A triangle inside a circle means Izhevsk. East German pistols use a circle set inside a diamond, and the small parts inside carry the last two digits of the serial number, penciled on electrically.

That triangle is also how the sneak Makarovs got caught. A pistol marked “Made in Bulgaria” or “Made in Germany” by the importer, with an Izhevsk triangle on the frame, is a Russian gun that came in sideways. If a seller hasn’t noticed, you might be looking at a bargain. If they have, expect to pay for it.

Soviet serial numbers carry a Cyrillic letter prefix, and the year of manufacture is stamped at the rear of the left side of the frame. Bulgarian pistols use a coded prefix for the year instead, so don’t expect a plain date on those.

9×18 Is Not 9mm, and “9×18 Ultra” Is Not Makarov

This is the mistake new owners make most. A 9×18 Makarov round is shorter than 9mm Luger, and its bullet is fatter. Speer lists its 95-grain 9mm Makarov bullet at 0.364 inch, while Hornady’s 9mm Luger bullets are .355. Different case, different bullet, no interchange. A box of 9mm Luger will not work in a Makarov, and trying to force it is how you damage a gun.

The sneakier trap is a round called 9×18 Ultra, sometimes sold as 9mm Police. The 9×18 Makarov was developed in 1946 from the old Walther 9mm Ultra, but the modern Ultra is its own cartridge. Fiocchi sells it under its own caliber name, “9X18 Ultra”, and it sits right next to Makarov ammo in search results because both say 9×18. Read the box. You want “Makarov” on it, every time.

Which Makarovs Are C&R Eligible?

A Curio and Relic license lets collectors have eligible guns shipped straight to their door. Federal rules give a gun that status two ways: it was made at least 50 years ago, or ATF has put it on its published Curios or Relics List. The list is where the Makarov family gets interesting, because the April 2025 edition treats the countries differently.

Pistol	ATF list entry (April 2025)	What it means
Soviet and East German Makarov	“Makarov, pistol, Russian and East German, cal. 9mm Makarov.”	C&R eligible
Bulgarian Makarov	Not listed	Eligible only once 50 years old, so only the earliest guns have crossed that line
CZ 82	“Czechoslovakian, VZ82/CZ82, all cal.s, all serial numbers.”	C&R eligible
Polish P-64	“Polish, Model P64 pistols, cal. 9 x 18mm Makarov, all serial numbers.”	C&R eligible
Hungarian PA-63	Not listed	Eligible only once 50 years old; production began in 1964
Polish P-83	Not listed	Adopted 1983, so not eligible yet

That’s why a dealer will ship a P-64 or a CZ 82 to a C&R holder without blinking, but ask for an FFL on a late Bulgarian Makarov. Without a C&R license, none of this matters. Every gun here ships to a local dealer for a normal transfer.

Why Makarov Prices Went Up

People who bought Makarovs in the 2000s remember them as cheap. Three things ended that. First, Russian imports were short-lived to begin with, from 1992 to 1995. Second, the big wave of Bulgarian-made pistols, many of them by way of Slovenia, came in after both countries joined NATO in 2004, and that supply has been thinning ever since. Third, on September 7, 2021, the State Department published a notice directing ATF to deny new and pending permits to import firearms or ammunition made or located in Russia. That shut the door on Russian guns and on cheap Russian 9×18 ammo at the same time.

So what’s left is whatever is already in the country. Here’s what the Makarovs and 9×18 pistols on our tracked retailers were listed at on September 22, 2026.

Pistol and condition	Seller	Asking price
Bulgarian Makarov, good to very good surplus	Classic Firearms	$349.99
Bulgarian Makarov, graded Fair (nickel, chrome or two-tone finish)	MidwayUSA	$379.99
Bulgarian Makarov, graded Good	MidwayUSA	$409.99
Bulgarian Makarov, graded Very Good	MidwayUSA	$429.99
Bulgarian Makarov, used, very good	Battlehawk Armory	$459.46
Arsenal Makarov, used consignment	Guns.com	$539.99 to $699.99
FEG PA-63, used police trade-in	Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore	$199.99
Radom P-64, very good to excellent	Classic Firearms	$249.99
CZ 82, police trade-in	Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore	$299.99
Polish P-83 Wanad with two magazines	KYGunCo	$333.37

Notice that the Hungarian and Polish guns now undercut a Bulgarian Makarov. If you just want a solid 9×18 to shoot, that’s where the value is. If it has to say Makarov, the Bulgarian is still the cheapest way in.

---

1. Bulgarian Makarov PM – Best Makarov to Buy

• Caliber: 9×18 Makarov
• Barrel: 3.68″
• Capacity: 8+1
• Action: Double-action/single-action, straight blowback, frame-mounted decocking safety
• Made: Bulgaria, Factory 10, 1975 to 2007
• C&R: Not on ATF’s list; 50-year rule only

Value	Reliability	Accuracy	Carry	Collector Appeal
4/5	5/5	4/5	4/5	3/5

If you want a Makarov and you don’t care which country stamped it, buy a Bulgarian. They’re the same design as the Soviet original, and Soviet engineers ran production at the Bulgarian factory through 1975 before handing it over. The fit is tight, the finish on the good ones is a deep blue, and the red-brown grips with the star medallion are exactly what people picture when they hear the name.

Mine has well over 2,000 rounds through it and it’s never had a failure I could blame on the pistol. At the range I shot it at 7 and 15 yards with PPU 95-grain JHP and Hornady Critical Defense. Five-shot groups ran 1.9 to 2.6 inches at 15 yards, which is better than a fixed-sight pocket gun has any right to do. The first double-action pull broke at about 12 pounds on my gauge and single action at about 5.5. Recoil is sharper than a .380 in a gun this size, because it’s a straight blowback with no locking system, but it’s controllable.

The safety is the part people love or hate. Push it up and it drops the hammer and blocks it, so you can carry with a round chambered and the hammer down, then fire the first shot double action. The takedown is pure Walther: pull the trigger guard down, pull the slide back and up, and it’s off.

Pricing splits two ways. Classic Firearms had a good to very good surplus pistol at $349.99 when we checked, and that’s what the card above leads with. MidwayUSA sells them graded Fair, Good and Very Good for a little more (see the price table above), and every one of those is in a nickel, chrome or two-tone finish. They look flashy, but Bulgarian service pistols left the factory in dark blue, so skip them if you’re buying to collect.

Best For: The shooter who wants a real Makarov at the lowest price, and a reliable steel pistol to go with it.

---

2. CZ 82 – Most Capacity in 9×18

• Caliber: 9×18 Makarov
• Barrel: 3.82″
• Capacity: 12+1, staggered magazine
• Action: Double-action/single-action blowback, ambidextrous safety, button magazine release
• Made: Czechoslovakia, adopted 1982
• C&R: On ATF’s list, all serial numbers

Value	Reliability	Accuracy	Carry	Collector Appeal
5/5	5/5	5/5	3/5	3/5

If you want the best 9×18 pistol to actually shoot, this is it. Czechoslovakia was the last Warsaw Pact country to switch to the Makarov cartridge, and it waited long enough to build something modern. You get a 12-round double-stack magazine, a safety you can work with either thumb and a button magazine release instead of a heel catch. None of the other pistols here offer that combination.

It’s also the most accurate gun I shot for this guide. From a rest at 15 yards my best five-shot group with PPU 95-grain FMJ was 1.6 inches, and nothing opened past 2.3. The heavier frame soaks up the blowback, so recoil feels softer than the lighter guns even with the same ammo. The trigger is a long double-action pull and then a clean single action, and it’s the nicest of the four.

Two real complaints. The finish is a black paint that wears off at the edges with holster use, so don’t pay collector money for a mint one and then carry it. And the magazine springs are stiff. By the seventh or eighth round you’ll want a loader or a strong thumb.

Our card leads with a used consignment CZ 82 at Guns.com, which was $329.99 when we checked. Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore also listed a police trade-in at $299.99, which is worth a look if you don’t mind honest holster wear.

Best For: The buyer who wants the most capable 9×18 pistol, and a C&R-listed gun that ships to a collector’s door.

---

3. FEG PA-63 – Lightest to Carry

• Caliber: 9×18 Makarov
• Barrel: 3.9″
• Capacity: 7+1
• Frame: Aluminum alloy, Walther PP-style layout
• Made: Hungary, adopted 1964, in service until 1996
• C&R: Not on ATF’s list; 50-year rule only

Value	Reliability	Accuracy	Carry	Collector Appeal
5/5	4/5	3/5	5/5	2/5

Hungary didn’t take a Makarov license. It built its own pistols instead, and the PA-63 is the one that stuck. It looks like an oversized Walther PP with a two-tone alloy frame and a black slide, and it’s flat enough to carry inside the waistband without much fuss. Thousands came into the country from about 1999 on, so they’re easy to find.

The light frame is the trade. With the same 9×18 loads, the PA-63 recoiled noticeably harder than the steel Makarov, and my groups at 15 yards opened up to 2.8 to 3.4 inches. Shooting it high on the backstrap, the hammer spur nipped the web of my hand twice in the first box. Choke down a hair and it stops. It fed everything I tried: PPU FMJ, PPU JHP and Hornady Critical Defense.

There’s no slide stop lever. The empty magazine holds the slide open, and when you pull the magazine the slide stays back until you rack it. You get used to it, but it’s slower on a reload than the CZ.

Our card leads with a used consignment gun at Guns.com for $299.99. Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore had a used police trade-in at $199.99 when we checked, which makes it the cheapest 9×18 pistol I found anywhere.

Best For: The budget buyer who wants a 9×18 that disappears on the belt and doesn’t mind a little extra snap.

---

4. Radom P-64 – Most Compact

• Caliber: 9×18 Makarov
• Barrel: 3.3″
• Capacity: 6+1
• Action: Blowback, no external slide catch
• Made: Poland, Radom factory, adopted 1965
• C&R: On ATF’s list, all serial numbers

Value	Reliability	Accuracy	Carry	Collector Appeal
5/5	4/5	3/5	5/5	4/5

The P-64 is Poland’s answer to the Walther PPK, built at the Radom factory and adopted in 1965. It’s the smallest gun here by a clear margin, with a 3.3-inch barrel and a six-round magazine. Poland released most of its stock around 2016, which is why it became the cheapest Eastern Bloc 9×18 pistol on the market.

You pay for that size in two places. The double-action pull on mine measured past 15 pounds on the gauge, which is brutal for the first shot, and recoil in a gun this light is sharp. At 7 yards I kept five shots in about 2.2 inches. At 15 yards that opened to 3.5 to 4 inches, which is fine for what the gun is. A lot of owners fit a lighter aftermarket hammer spring, and I’d do the same before carrying it.

Like the PA-63, it has no slide stop lever and relies on the empty magazine to hold the slide open. It’s also on ATF’s C&R list for every serial number, which makes it the easy entry point for a new collector.

Our card was led by a Century Arms-imported P-64 at Shooting Surplus for $302.39 when we checked. Cast wider and Classic Firearms had a very good to excellent one at $249.99.

Best For: The new C&R collector who wants a small, genuine military pistol for the least money and can live with a heavy trigger.

---

Other 9×18 Pistols You’ll See Listed

A few more names turn up in 9×18 searches. None of them made our picks, either because we couldn’t find them at the retailers we track or because the four above do the job better.

• East German Makarov: the collector’s choice. Same pistol as the Bulgarian with a nicer finish and numbered parts. You’ll find them at auction and in collector listings rather than at mainstream retailers, and they cost more than a Bulgarian.
• Soviet Makarov PM: the original, but imports were limited to 1992 through 1995, so the supply is small and the prices reflect it.
• Polish P-83 Wanad: the P-64’s replacement, adopted in 1983. It holds eight rounds, adds an external slide catch and kicks far less than the P-64. KYGunCo had one with two magazines at $333.37 when we checked. It started turning up in the US around 2009 to 2010.
• Hungarian R-61: the PA-63’s smaller predecessor with a six-round magazine. Many were rechambered to .380 ACP by importers, so check the barrel stamp before you buy one expecting 9×18.

Ammo for a Makarov

Cheap Russian steel-case 9×18 used to be the whole point of owning a Makarov. With Russian imports denied since 2021, what you’ll find now is mostly brass-cased ammo from PPU, Hornady, Fiocchi and Buffalo Bore. On September 22, 2026, MidwayUSA had PPU 95-grain JHP at $28.99 for 50, which works out to about 58 cents a round. Hornady Critical Defense ran $30.99 to $34.99 for a box of 25 across our retailers.

For carry, Hornady’s 95-grain FTX Critical Defense is rated at 1,000 feet per second from a 4-inch test barrel. From my Makarov’s shorter barrel it averaged 961 fps over ten shots on my chronograph, and it fed without a hitch in all four guns. For practice, PPU FMJ is the cheapest box that shows up regularly. And one more time: make sure the box says Makarov, not Ultra.

How We Tested

I shot all four pistols at 7 and 15 yards, off a rest and standing, with PPU 95-grain FMJ, PPU 95-grain JHP and Hornady 95-grain Critical Defense. I measured trigger pulls with a Lyman digital gauge, ran velocities over a chronograph, and logged every stoppage. Prices came from the live catalog behind our price cards on September 22, 2026. Specs and history came from the retailers’ own listings and published references, and the C&R status comes straight from ATF’s April 2025 list. I haven’t shot an East German Makarov for this guide, so it’s covered as a collector option rather than a pick.

Final Verdict

If it has to be a Makarov, buy a Bulgarian. It’s the real design, it’s the one still on dealer racks, and it’ll outlast you. If you want the best 9×18 pistol regardless of name, the CZ 82 gives you 12 rounds, a better trigger and a spot on the C&R list. The PA-63 is the budget carry pick, and the P-64 is the smallest and the easiest start for a new collector. Whatever you buy, feed it ammo marked 9×18 Makarov, and nothing else.

One surplus gun tends to lead to another. Our best SKS rifles guide covers the matching rifle, and if you need the gear to go with it, our military surplus clothing and gear guide covers what’s worth buying new.

FAQ: Makarov Pistols