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Ok, I was window-shopping in a nearby pawn shop while getting some work on my truck, and amidst a bunch of generic polymer pistols, I found an IJ-70 AH (the commercial, doublestack Russian makarov) in 9mm mak caliber. It was missing the firing pin, but is otherwise intact and in good condition (a strong good, bordering on VG). Bad news is that there is only 1 magazine, a 10 rd pro-mag. I tested it out mechanically, it seems to feed and cycle fine.

Slide is nearly pristine, very pretty. Frame appears parkerized (from what I read, that's how they came), and the serials do match. Original grips, looks ok. I was able to pick it up for $175. I found a firing pin online for under $20, so it will be still under $200 total once I get it up and running.

This was an impulse buy, as I wasn't actively shopping for another pistol (and due to the gun safety lock I didn't realize at the time it was missing the firing pin). I also own a VG DDR makarov, and when I swapped slides, everything seemed to work. All other mechanicals seem ok ( I won't know about the mag function until I take it shooting, but it SEEMS to work fine).
Note that I blurred the serial in the photo, it is actually very sharp.

I wonder whether the previous owner broke or lost the firing pin, and didn't know how to find/replace it. Now, the concern is that perhaps the promag magazine doesn't work worth a flip, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it; I can always stash the gun away and hunt for some original KBI mags. And I know it will take the single stack in a pinch.

So, was this a good deal, or did I pay too much?

Sounds good give us a range report.

Update: the firing pin came in. Note- if you need one, I definitely recommend that seller (ravmahal); he has a bunch in stock and ships very fast.

After reading up on makarov.com, I inserted the pin, which was beyond easy. I can definitely see the appeal of the makarov, as it's a piece of cake to work on. Pin rattles as it should, dents the snap cap. I will take it out to the range later this week.

Ok, been busy but I was able to take it to the range today. Just a short session. 50 rounds of Brown Bear, or 5 sessions with the aftermarket promag. Fed flawlessly, grouped about 2 inches at 15 yds. Nice trigger, too. I have to figure out how to adjust those adjustable sights, as it printed consistently down and to the right, in the 7 ring, at about 4 o'clock.
Oh, and since the air conditioner at the range was busted, and I'm in south Louisiana (it was 95 degrees outside, had to be way over 100 inside )- functioned perfectly in a very hot environment. Handled a lot of sweat, both on the grip as I shot, and dripping on the gun and magazine while I reloaded. Too bad I didn't need to get any cosmoline off of anything, as that definitely would have been the place to do it; it would have melted right away!

The lady running the counter was nice, she gave us free cokes and stuff. I did try to run a couple more pistols, but it was just too hot.

But- I think I found out what I wanted to know. The gun was accurate, it functioned fine. And I cleaned the heck out of it with Ballistol afterwards, as I got it wet (looked like I dropped it in a puddle).

I also ran a box through my CZ 75, as I just replaced wood grips with factory rubber, and they were great in that environment. Nice grip. Again, for shooting inside a sauna, the gun was very comfortable.

That was a great price overall then.

Should make a great carry piece.

Update- I want to give a big thumb's up to Greg at Gunthings.com. For those of you that have the double-stack Makarov, you know spare magazines are rare as heck to find, and pricey when you do.

For some reason, gunthings didn't list in the first couple of pages in a google search, but eventually I came across the site. He had several ProMag magazines listed, at an extremely fair price (about what you might expect for Promags in a very common model). I ordered several, and they arrived in as-new-in-old-packaging; basically the original package had been opened with an exacto knife. As for being "new", they were indeed brand-spanking new. They both were a little rough in cycling for the first few times by hand, but are loosening up now.

Now, I know, ProMags are not usually something to get excited over, but the originals cost about as much as the actual pistol if you can find some. For having a couple to try to wear in as extras, this was great.

I think he still has a few available, if anyone is interested.

Give us a range report on their function.

Non factory mags can be a hit or miss thing for functionality.

Thanks for the update and heads up on the mags.

Curly1 wrote:Give us a range report on their function.

Non factory mags can be a hit or miss thing for functionality.

I will, I look forward to a range trip as soon as I get a little time off from work.

Note that my initial firearm purchase came with only a promag, so I can't compare to factory orig. My "old" promag functions 100% so far.

The new purchases both seemed a little stiff in terms of cycling. The first time I put one in and racked the slide, the slide stayed back. After carefully disassembling the gun a few times to remove, and repeating the process a number of times with both good and "new/bad" mags, it appeared to catch/stick on the left lip of the mag, just as it was about to feed a round. A little love tap caused it to go into correct position, and cycled the snap cap. Repeated racking required less of a tap each time, and now one mag feels identical to the old one, and the other is very close.
My guess is there is some waxy surface that is being rubbed off, as there doesn't seem to be any scuffing of the magazine.

You can use single stack Makarov mags in your double stack version of the IJ-70. They work fine, but do leave a space at the bottom. They are fine for range work, and lots cheaper than the Russian double stack mags. The double stack commercial Russian Maks are pretty rare here, as their importation was banned along with other Russian guns back in the 90's.

I had some Promags that came with a P228 I bought years ago from CDNN, and I replaced the mag springs with Wolff springs, and de-burred the followers, and they worked 100%.

I have some mags for my East German mak. I wanted the extra capacity for this one.

edit- phones are crappy to post from
always sounds blunt!

As I said, I've got another single stack makarov, as well as a P-64 and a PA-63 (I recently learned on another board that it was an East German contract issue, that is why it's also all black and the slide is marked as it is). Also a CZ-82. I like these smaller milsurp firearms. They're small enough to be handy in a pinch, and given the old Soviet mentality, you have to assume reliability was a premium (probably a reason they went to a blowback design).

Nice to hear about the other promag tweaks, it seems like a magazine can be problematic but fixable... if you can find the issue.