Range report on FEG PA-63 with reloads

[wellfedirishman]

I have a nice little FEG PA-63 that I picked up from another member here recently.

I got to take it out to the range for the first time today. Fun little gun.

It is a clone of the Walther PP in 9x18 Makarov (aka 9x18 mm), with a single stack magazine holding 7 rounds. The sights are fairly rudimentary, but effective for its range.



The trigger is pretty heavy even after springs have been changed out, but it is definitely shootable.

I loaded it up with a 95 grain commercial cast bullet + 3.2 grains of Bullseye, which gave a pretty steady 960-970 feet per second, for about 190 foot pounds at the muzzle.

Even with the basic sights and heavy single action trigger, it can shoot:

10 yards:




And at 25 yards it will hit center mass, although I was pulling a bit left when shooting here. That is probably about the effective range of this gun.



It makes a very handy little pocket pistol. I am going to dress this one up with some nicer grips and maybe refinish the bluing to a nickel plate.

Has anyone here tried the Lee Makarov mold? I would love to get one in 6-cavity if they are available anywhere, as I have a CZ-82 to feed also.

Edit to add: I loaded these rounds using a Dillon Square Deal with 9mm Luger dies. I just lowered the expander height to match the 9x18 casing, and backed out the crimp die to just give a very gentle crimp on the case. The bullet diameter outside of the casing was an even .365 so the bullets are right-sized. Worked great.

[dbldblu]

I have the Lee mold in a double cavity. The bullets drop out of it at .368". I use them as cast and they chamber just fine. I used Lee lube at first and then I made a lubesizer die in .368" diameter.

[Treeman]

I also have the Lee in a 2 cavity-Mine also drop around .368 and weigh 100 grains with wheelweight alloy.

[9.3X62AL]

That 25-yard distribution looks like "minute of assailant" easily. None of the Makarov pistols were meant for Camp Perry, anyway.

The Maks get a bit bouncy when the loads run closer to mil-spec velocity (95 grainers @ 1115 FPS). 1050 FPS with 100 grain RCBS castings is about as hard as I run the critter (E. German).

[Fishman]

I have the lee 2 cavity also. Fat little round boolits are so ugly they are cute. I think they would be a great one to hollow point if they would feed.

In my experience, the Maks are quite accurate.

[res45]

I pick up my KBI Imports PA-63 a couple years ago,no spring mods as of yet. I make all my brass from once fired 9mm cases and have about 500 converted to date. My first cast loads for the pistol were with commercial 93 gr. RN bullets and W231 3.5 to 3.6 grs. seem to be the sweet spot with this bullet powder combo.

My rear sight is peened in place and it shoots slightly to the left at range but it's not an issue. MV with that load averages about 878 fps with an SD of 17. My Speer 90 gr. Gold Dot HP's are around 200 fps higher with an SD of 23 with about the same accuracy.



I got a couple hundred of the Lee 95 gr. RN bullets from my friend Andy today and plan to try some of those out soon,he's had pretty good success with that bullet and Power Pistol in his CZ in 9 x 18. I think one of those M & P HP molds would be the ticket as well.

[JIMinPHX]

I pick up my KBI Imports PA-63 a couple years ago,no spring mods as of yet. I make all my brass from once fired 9mm cases and have about 500 converted to date.

How are you converting the cases?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
The Lee .363 mold was what it took to get ours accurately reloadable. I tried the 9MM brass route and when 9 mak brass started to be availble used I bought those. You can bell the mouth but I did not find anyway to bell the head and accuracy does suffer.
Bought 2 of the two tone models some years ago when the used variety were $100 at gun shows. Reliable and plenty accurate at 15 feet for what we use them for. One sat on the frig and the other stayed with my wife. I would very much like to have them down here in Peru but the socialist agenda makes the paper work a real bother if you do not reside in the central nest of Lima.
Mike in Peru

[res45]

How are you converting the cases?

Pretty much like this but I use a trimmer with a power adapter to trim my cases down. I read about doing the conversion in an old Speer manual but my friend James made a good video on the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_yrmgh3SToE

[JIMinPHX]

Wow,
for some reason, I kept thinking that the 9x18 had a larger head than the 9 x 19 Luger. That's actually a pretty easy conversion.

[Jal5]

Its not bad Jim, just a little bit tedious when you are doing 100's at a time! I do the same thing,9mm brass is very plentiful at the range. Joe

[Cannoneer]

A close friend of mine died last December and another friend and I had the unpleasent task of cleaning out his garage. We found an old ammo can with around 1500 rds of military WCC marked 9x19 NATO that we divied up and I've been using my share to make into 9x18 MAK brass.

I use a Lee case trimmer shell holder chucked in a drill and the cutter and pilot for the 9x18 MAK. I've made somewhere in the neiborhood of 500 cases myself. I use an RCBS champfer tool to dress up the case mouth after trimming it back.

The little Bulgarian MAK is definately a shooter and using Silver Bear Hollow Points or Hornady XTP's makes it a close range self protection piece that's better than any .380 I've tried.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Jim in PhX: the one you can't make from a 9mm case is a .380ACP.

The only reason I pick up 9mm brass is to make Mak ammo some day. You have to cut off about .040 from the 9mm cases so be preparred for some work. This is where my mill set up using the collet closer and a Lee tirmmer cutter with only a pilot on it would come in very handy.

As far as the trigger goes. I got a barrel from and outfit a few years ago can't remember their name and their gone any way, but included in the instructions for installing the barrel was also instructions on doing a trigger job and it was not hard at all..

My gun has a superb trigger at about 3lb in SA and 9 in DA.

I bet if you googled Makarov Trigger Job you'd come up with something.

Mine has a compensator whihc actually makes the gun easier to shoot whihc is saying something as they are easy to shoot anyway. They just have alot of sharp edges on them.

Mine is in the table next to my easy chair and if you break into my house while I'm watching TV I'll probably shoot you with it.

Randy

[TheGrimReaper]

I myself have been eyeballing a FEG PA-63 pretty hard here lately. I plan on reloading for it too.

[W.R.Buchanan]

From what I've seen of Makarovs the ultimate best is the East German made staggered round versions that hold 12 rounds. They have not only really fine machining but they also have 12 rounds mags. Kind of like the Para 14/45 setup. A little bigger grip to house the wider mag. adjustable sights, and are just plain nice! There are also East German single stack 8 rnd versions. All the East German ones go for big $! The cheapest I've ever seen a 12 round version was $750.

The next best are the Bulgarian made ones and the machining and finish is really nice on those guns.

The Russian made ones are next.

Mine is a Russian made one, and it is pretty good, but it had some sharp edges that needed to be knocked off, but really all of them do. I did a complete trigger/action job when I put the aftermarket barrel in, as it is the very first thing that goes onto the frame at assembly, so smoothing things out as you go back together is pretty easy. I also installed a compensator at that time. It makes a huge difference. This gun has adjustable sights and I bought it in 1992 for $215.00

The company who sold the barrels and compensators went out of business. I think they were ran out by the ATF for bad record keeping.

All these guns need a little TLC to make them smooth and so they won't cut you.

And don't even think about a Chinese made ones as they are pure junk and since the Chinese don't trust their police with ammunition they haven't been shot very much if at all. Don't let that fool you into buying one, pure Krapola!

The FEG PA63 is not a true Makarov and it has an aluminum frame. It is a close copy and all I have seen have been well made and you'd probably never wear out the frame anyway as it would take 10-15K rounds to do it and I don't see many people firing 10K rounds thru one of these guns. They are the kind of gun you put 500 ronds thru to break it in and then a few each month to stay current with it. A good car gun or CC gun that doesn't weigh a ton.

Last but certainly not least is an overlooked diamond , it is the CZ82. It is a single/double action auto you can carrry cocked and locked just like a 1911. Most of these guns were issued to police in the Balkans. They got 6-8 rounds to fire each year for practice and that's it! Most haven't had 100 rounds thru their entire lives. They have some holster wear, but usually they come with a full coverage holster and so they were basically kept indoors for their entire lives. They are chambered for the Makarov round 9x18 also and are some of the best made small pistols ever made. I actually need one of these, and after firing a friends gun I was sold. It is a gun you can actually run like a Glock or quality 1911 IE: they are actually made to shoot! , and are user friendly and won't cut you! Good thing to have in a carry gun. I would not hesitate to take one to a Front Sight class and run 500 rounds thru it in 2 days. I couldn't do this with a Mak, they are just too hard to run for more than a few rounds. Bunch of vids on Youtube under the Makarov key word.

J&G Sales in Prescott AZ has them and the FEG Maks and sometimes Bulgarian Maks for around $200-225+/-. They also have magazines and you always need at least 4-8 for every auto pistol you own.

There used to be a really good Makarov website called Makarov.com but the guy shut it down. He also marketed a variety of doodads for the guns including holsters, mag loaders etc. I bought a few mag loaders and a couple of holsters from him and it was all good stuff, especially the mag loaders which push down on the little tab on the mag follower that normally cuts your thumb.

These are highly underrated guns all. And using one for conceiled carry is a noticable step above a .380 of any kind. They are accurate and easy to shoot well with. I can hit an orange at 15 yards just about everytime with mine, and that means a head shot is easy as long as you don't mash!

Hope some of this info is of value to some of you aspiring Makarov owners, and believe me you won't be disappointed as long as it isn't made in China. The Ruskies only took the best stuff from Germany after the war. The Ural Motorcycle was made from BMW tooling they plundered after the war, albeit obsolete tooling, but usable none the less, and the Makarov is basically a Walther PP.

Randy