Prepare to be jealous

[ScottLee]

Welcome to my birthday present this year ->

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

That's a Russian Makarov 9mm (East German made, so it's better of course)...vintage Cold War sidearm. Built like a tank, rock solid snap, never jams. I took it out for a "spin" over the weekend, and love it.

[CorpGovActivist]

Welcome to my birthday present this year ->

[Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

That's a Russian Makarov 9mm (East German made, so it's better of course)...vintage Cold War sidearm. Built like a tank, rock solid snap, never jams. I took it out for a "spin" over the weekend, and love it.

OK. I admit it. I am, just a little bit. Do you know the full story of how it got into the US?

My poor Paw Paw thought I was the worst shot of all of his grandsons. My one regret in our relationship is that I never told him that Mom showed me Bambi before the first deer hunting trip; I "missed" on purpose.

The supreme irony is that she is an Annie Oakley in her own right.

[ScottLee]

OK. I admit it. I am, just a little bit. Do you know the full story of how it got into the US?....

Yeah, my dad procured it while living in Germany, where he and my mom were living at the time (about 1993). He was a spy for the Navy for many years and was then working as a retired consultant to Patch Base, which is NATO command center in Boebelingen FRD. His German friend got a line on several weapons that were basically flooding the arms collection market because of the decommissioning of the Staasi and other communist organs following the fall of the USSR. So he got this Makarov, and told me it was pure hell getting it into the USA when they moved back to San Diego in the late 90s. He said he had to fill out a ton of paperwork and convince customs that he was a gun collector (which he wasn't) in order to even get it into the states.

[Icky]

I have a pistol that look s a LOT like that....

A CZ-52. I have EXACTLY what you see below (Holster and all... I even have the lanyard). Standard Czech Officer Pistol at one point.

My father describes it as "RUDE".
Fires a 7.62 X 25mm and it's FAST.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[CorpGovActivist]

Yeah, my dad procured it while living in Germany, where he and my mom were living at the time (about 1993). He was a spy for the Navy for many years and was then working as a retired consultant to Patch Base, which is NATO command center in Boebelingen FRD.

Apropos of nothing, I was sworn in as a midshipman in the Navy in the late summer of 1990, with the intent of being a military attache ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) at a foreign embassy. I bet your dad has some awesome stories. Is that how you picked up Russian?


His German friend got a line on several weapons that were basically flooding the arms collection market because of the decommissioning of the Staasi and other communist organs following the fall of the USSR. So he got this Makarov, and told me it was pure hell getting it into the USA when they moved back to San Diego in the late 90s. He said he had to fill out a ton of paperwork and convince customs that he was a gun collector (which he wasn't) in order to even get it into the states.

Awesome story! How much time did you spend abroad with him, if any?

- Dave

[ScottLee]

I have a pistol that look s a LOT like that....

A CZ-52. I have EXACTLY what you see below (Holster and all... I even have the lanyard). Standard Czech Officer Pistol at one point.

My father describes it as "RUDE".
Fires a 7.62 X 25mm and it's FAST.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Wow that's a slick little number. Those small calibre sidearms are good for keeping the noise down and they are generally more accurate in a long distance.

[ScottLee]

Apropos of nothing, I was sworn in as a midshipman in the Navy in the late summer of 1990, with the intent of being a military attache ([Only registered and activated users can see links] 6q%3Dcorpgovactivist%2Bmilitary%2Battache%2Bforeign%2Blanguages) at a foreign embassy. I bet your dad has some awesome stories. Is that how you picked up Russian?



Awesome story! How much time did you spend abroad with him, if any?

- Dave

They both lived in Germany for about 12 years and I visited them every three years or so. My dad made some interesting friends there - one was the mayor of Stuttgart at the time, one Rolf Rommel....the actual grandson of a certain General Rommel (yes, that one!).

My interest in Russian predated their time in Europe, as my first class in it was as a senior in High School (my school was one of the few at the time that offered Russian). My intent was to join the diplomatic corps at the UN, to work with counterparts in the USSR and hopefully keep us from nuking each other. But after the aggressive way the CIA was recruiting from the Russian Studies Department at GMU, I got disillusioned with the whole thing and went into art.

How's that for a neck-snapping turnaround?

[CorpGovActivist]

They both lived in Germany for about 12 years and I visited them every three years or so. My dad made some interesting friends there - one was the mayor of Stuttgart at the time, one Rolf Rommel....the actual grandson of a certain General Rommel (yes, that one!).

I'd like to buy your father as many rounds as he'd like, and just sit back and listen.


My interest in Russian predated their time in Europe, as my first class in it was as a senior in High School (my school was one of the few at the time that offered Russian).

You were lucky that they did!

I was a little polyglot from early on, with a subscription to TIME and Newsweek by the time I was 8 (and an interest in the Soviet Union). My first journal entry was Reagan's inauguration and the release of the hostages, right after I turned 9; I'd asked for two things for my birthday - a journal, and a college dictionary.

In 9th grade, I started leaving school one day a week to take Russian lessons for an hour. The woman who tutored me escaped from the Soviet Union after the Siege of Stalingrad, by way of Kiev. Her husband and she managed to time their escape behind the Germans, and then managed to get to Western Europe, and from there, to the US.

John L. Lewis of the UMWA worked with the West Virginia Legislature to attract foreign doctors to the state with tax incentives. So, the couple moved to WV to take advantage of that program, he re-credentialed as a medical doctor, and they settled there. At her kitchen table, one day a week from 9th to 11th, I had lessons. Senior year, I organized a whole class, and the county gave her provisional licensing to teach at the high school. I continued with that language at Harvard.


My intent was to join the diplomatic corps at the UN, to work with counterparts in the USSR and hopefully keep us from nuking each other. But after the aggressive way the CIA was recruiting from the Russian Studies Department at GMU, I got disillusioned with the whole thing and went into art.

Aha. So that's the GMU connection you'd mentioned before!


How's that for a neck-snapping turnaround?

That depends. Do you do Soviet-style agitprop art ([Only registered and activated users can see links])?

; )

- Dave

[leftysergeant]

By 9mm, do you mean 9mm Luger or 9X18 Makarov? The Makarov round is a little less powerful than Luger. Still a nice self-defense round. But I do not recommend firing American brass cartridges in any Russian-designed weapon. I had one in 9mm kurz (.380) and brass always bulged around the base. Headspace issues, I think, in the design. Wolf and LVE were the best because they are steel cased. Most combloc weapons are designed with steel in mind.

I have a CZ 52 now and really like the way it performs, as long as I can get good Czech ammo. Erm..."quite" is not a word i would use for the 7.62X25. This is the same round used in the PPSh. Performs more like a rifle round. Asian police departments rate their body armor for resistance to that round. I've heard it will defeat level III armor.

[Icky]

Right... "Quiet" it is NOT! "RUDE" it is!
If you ever get to fire a CZ-52 at night it's a spectacle... A GIANT Ball of fire!