Makarov - Part 6

I have decided to continue this very indepth commentary and cover all bases so that you will know how to completely disassemble the Makarov pistol and we will go thru the complete reassesmbly. I do not plan on going into this much detail on future commentaries because with out drawings to show you its very difficult on my part. You can be certain that even though this is a fairly inexpensive pistol with approx. 30 parts, it is an all time world classic. If you own one its a keeper.

The following is the detailed disassembly procedure;

As always make sure the pistol is empty, "BEFORE" you pull the slide back to check the chamber, remove the magazine. This is a standard safety rule of practice for all semi auto pistols. The mainspring clamp must be pushed down to remove it, the hammer must be rotated forward while doing this. If the mainspring clamp is too tight, use a nylon or brass punch and tap it using a small brass hammer. Be sure to cover it with your hand or it will go flying.

You can now remove the mainspring from the frame. Your next step is to release the sear spring off the slide stop using a very small screw driver. In order to remove the sear and the attached sear spring, rotate the sear forward and line up the flat end of the sear pin with the corresponding sear pin hole in the frame and you can remove it from the frame holes.

You will now remove the hammer by rotating it forward so that the ends of the hammer pin match up with the cutouts in the frame that hold the hammer pin. One end of the attached pin is flat, it is a keyed installation. It only goes in and out one way, similar to the sear and its attached pins. They are one piece designs.

To remove the trigger bar from the trigger, just lift the trigger bar out after separating it from the trigger. In order to remove the trigger from the frame, you must pull the trigger guard down, in the down position, much the same way as you did in the basic field stripping operation. Push the trigger forward and unhinge it and pull down out of its recess in the frame.

You have now removed everything out of the frame, except the trigger guard assembly. I see no reason to go any further and remove the trigger guard unless you are preparing to refinish the frame. If it must be removed, a pivot pin must be removed from the frame which includes a strong trigger guard spring and a pin.

I see no reason to remove the barrel. There is a special press fixture tool made by Federal Arms Company that will make this an easier operation.

Now you are ready to disassemble the slide. In order to remove the thumb safety, it must be rotated ALL the way up and it will match up with the cut out in the slide and you can easily remove it. To remove the firing pin, tilt the slide with the muzzle end up and it should drop right out.

To remove the extractor from the slide, I always tape the slide with masking tape to protect the finish around the extractor. I put the slide on my work towel and using a small screwdriver, depress the extractor plunger and while it is depressed you can rotate the extractor out. Now you can release the plunger and spring out of the extractor tunnel assembly of the slide. The slide is now fully stripped, except for the rear sight and there is no reason to remove the rear sight. If you have a Russian Makarov with the adjustable sight I suggest you leave it alone.

All you have left is the magazine assembly and you can remove the plate on the very bottom (magazine floor plate) , now you can remove the magazine spring and follower from the bottom of the magazine body.

This Part 6 concludes the complete stripping of this very good pistol that is a superb design using about 30 parts and springs.

PLEASE NOTE: I will conclude this Makarov series very soon as I want to first explain to you the total reassembly of this pistol. At one time these Makarov's were very cheap, now that people realize how good they are prices have sky rocketed. I have always suspected the reason the Russian Makarov had an adjustable rear sight was because the US Government set up that requirement in order to allow the Russian Makarov to be imported. My opinion only.


AUTHORS PERSONAL NOTATION: This commentary as well as all my previous commentaries are my personal opinion only and my own viewpoint. Its very difficult to explain how to disassemble and reassemble a handgun in words only without pictures. In future commentaries I will not do this because I am concerned I will lose the reader. Remember I work on over 100 different types of handguns and refine them all. I will never get into the gunsmithing part of what I do, but I will help you in every other way. I never wanted to rely on just working on the 1911 pistol like so many other people do as part time wannabbee SMITHS, its not the aesthetics that is so important as they would have you believe its the workmanship of the internals that most do not have a clue what to do except cut your springs and use grease and their two dollar foreign made medium grit stone. And you wonder why you have misfires. Get real, its not that easy to refine the internals of any handgun.
Please feel free to email me if there is something you want me to write about.


Teddy Jacobson / Pistolsmith
www.actionsbyt.com
281 277 4008
tjacobson@houston.rr.com
www.actionsbyt.blogspot.com/