Type 59 Makarov: China’s Copy of the Soviet PM

From the Soviet PM to the Chinese Type 59

After the Second World War the Soviet Union opened contests for a new service pistol. Nikolay Makarov’s design won, and the Soviet Armed Forces formally adopted it as the 9mm Pistolet Makarova, or PM, in December 1951, to replace the Tokarev TT. It fired a new 9×18mm cartridge designed by Boris Semin. The round’s lower pressures allowed a practical straight-blowback pistol, which kept the design simple.

China already made copies of the Tokarev, the Type 51 and Type 54. The Makarov copy followed as the Type 59, first produced at Factory 626 in Bei’an, Heilongjiang Province, according to Wikipedia, which also gives its nickname, the “Red Star” pistol. Wikipedia’s two articles disagree on how long the military version stayed in production, one giving 1959 to 1960 and the other 1959 to 1963, so we leave the end date open. The same account notes that Soviet technicians were withdrawn from China during the Sino-Soviet split and that later copies were of poorer quality. The Type 59 served as one of the People’s Liberation Army’s standard sidearms alongside the Tokarev copies, and was later supplemented by the QSZ-92.

The Norinco export version

Civilian Type 59s were made for export by China North Industries Corporation, better known as Norinco. Wikipedia lists the export M59 in 9×18mm and gives .32 ACP and .380 ACP versions under the names NP 39 and NP 19. The Armory Life says the Chinese exported Makarov-type pistols in 9×18mm and .380 ACP, and its author’s own commercial Type 59 in 9×18mm was made by Norinco and imported by China Sports International of Los Angeles.

How to read Type 59 Makarov markings

On the right side of the slide of the pistol in our video, two lines read MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO and CSI LA CA USA. MOD 59 9X18mm. The first line is the country and the maker. The second is the importer and its city, then the model and the cartridge. CSI LA CA matches China Sports International of Los Angeles, the importer The Armory Life names for a commercial Type 59. MOD 59 is the export model name, and 9X18mm is the original Makarov chambering.

The serial number, ZZ271003, is stamped on the left side of both the slide and the frame. Those are the two places we checked.

Slide serrations are a secondary clue. Wikipedia and The Armory Life both describe Chinese Type 59s with 10 grasping serrations on the left side of the slide and 17 on the right. Wikipedia adds that early Soviet PMs share that pattern and later ones have 13 on each side, so the count alone does not prove a pistol is Chinese. The pistol in our video shows 10 on the left. The markings are the better evidence.

The grip is a one-piece, brown checkered wraparound with a single star in a circle. Wikipedia describes military Type 59s with a shield embossed with five stars on the grip. We have not confirmed whether this grip is the one the pistol left the factory with.

What the markings do not tell you matters too. The slide identifies the maker, the importer, the model and the cartridge. It does not give a year of manufacture or a date of import, and we do not date this pistol from it.

How the Makarov straight blowback works

A locked-breech pistol holds the barrel and slide together for the first instant of the shot and unlocks them before the slide can run back. The Makarov has no lock. Nothing holds the slide to the barrel. When the cartridge fires, the gas pushes the case back against the face of the slide, and only the slide’s weight and the recoil spring resist it. The heavy slide starts back slowly, and by the time it has moved far enough to open the breech, the bullet is gone and the pressure has dropped.

That is why the Makarov is heavy for its size. As Wikipedia’s article on the PM puts it, in a blowback pistol the heavy slide is needed for inertia, to delay the opening of the breech until internal pressure has fallen to a safe level. Wikipedia gives the PM’s weight as 730 g, about 26 oz, and The Armory Life calls it a 1.625-lb, all-steel pistol. The barrel is pressed and pinned to the frame, and the recoil spring wraps around it, so the barrel never moves.

That balance depends on the cartridge. In the video we put it simply: a blowback like this only works with a moderate round, and 9×18 Makarov was designed for exactly that. It is not the same as 9mm Luger. The Makarov bullet measures 9.27 mm and the case is about 18 mm long; 9mm Luger is 9×19mm, and the two are not interchangeable.

The Makarov safety that drops the hammer

The lever at the back of the slide is both a manual safety and a decocker. Put it on with the hammer cocked and it lowers the hammer, blocks it from the firing pin, and locks the slide, trigger and hammer. Take it off with the hammer down and the first shot is a long double-action pull; after that the slide cocks the hammer for single-action shots. That is the PM layout, and the Type 59 follows it. Wikipedia notes that the general layout and field-strip procedure resemble those of the Walther PP.

The magazine holds eight rounds and comes out with a heel release at the bottom of the grip, not a button. After the last shot the slide stop holds the slide back. For field stripping, the trigger guard pivots down to free the slide.

The 1994 import ban

On May 26, 1994, President Clinton extended the sanctions imposed after Tiananmen Square and announced that he was “banning the import of munitions, principally guns and ammunition from China.” Writing about Makarov collecting today, The Armory Life notes that Russian and Chinese guns can no longer be imported. So a Norinco Type 59 in the United States today came in before that door closed; the markings cannot tell you exactly when.

Identification and features

Item	Type 59 (Norinco export, 9×18)
Pattern	Soviet Makarov PM, adopted December 1951
Chinese adoption	1959, as the Type 59
Export marking	MADE IN CHINA BY NORINCO
Importer mark on the pistol in our video	CSI LA CA USA
Cartridge	9×18mm Makarov
Action	Straight blowback, fixed barrel
Trigger	Double action / single action
Safety	Slide-mounted lever that also decocks
Magazine	8 rounds, heel release
Weight (PM, per Wikipedia)	730 g (26 oz)
Sights	Fixed

On the floor at OSA

The Type 59 in our video is part of the Old Steel Arsenal collection. If China’s copies of Soviet designs interest you, these pieces on the floor at Old Steel Arsenal come from the same story:

• Chinese Type 56 SKS, Factory 26, circa 1978: the SKS was another Soviet design China kept making long after the Soviets stopped, more than nine million of them by the 1980s. Our guide to common SKS variants covers how the Type 56 differs from the Soviet rifle.
• Chinese Type 56 SKS, Factory 206: another Type 56 from a different Chinese factory.
• Chinese Type 53 carbine: China’s version of the Soviet M1944 Mosin-Nagant carbine, in PLA service from 1953.

For the blowback principle itself, the Mauser Model 1914 in .32 ACP is a much older pistol that works the same way.

The grid below updates by itself as pieces come and go.

The short version is on our Instagram. Watch it on Instagram.

General information for collectors, not legal advice. Production dates and variant details come from secondary sources; check the markings on the individual pistol.

Sources

• Wikipedia, “Type 59 pistol” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_59_pistol (Factory 626 in Bei’an, military production 1959–1963, five-star shield grip, withdrawal of Soviet technicians, PLA service with the Type 51 and Type 54, QSZ-92, Norinco M59 export calibers)
• Wikipedia, “Makarov pistol” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarov_pistol (adoption in December 1951, Semin cartridge and blowback reasoning, heavy slide, pressed and pinned barrel, safety and decocker behavior, DA/SA, heel magazine release, slide stop, trigger-guard takedown)
• Wikipedia, “9×18mm Makarov” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9%C3%9718mm_Makarov (9.27 mm bullet diameter, 18.10 mm case)
• The Armory Life, “What are the Best and Worst Makarov Pistols?” — https://www.thearmorylife.com/what-are-the-best-and-worst-makarov-pistols/ (commercial Type 59 by Norinco imported by China Sports International of Los Angeles, slide serration counts, fixed sights on Chinese pistols, eight-shot all-steel blowback)
• President Clinton, news conference on China’s MFN status, 26 May 1994 — https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1994/05/1994-05-26-president-in-press-conference-on-china-mfn-status.html (ban on importing munitions, principally guns and ammunition, from China)
• Wikipedia, “SKS” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKS (Chinese Type 56 production, over nine million by the 1980s)
• Wikipedia, “Mosin–Nagant” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosin%E2%80%93Nagant (Type 53 as a version of the Soviet M1944 carbine, PLA service from 1953)
• Wikipedia, “Mauser Model 1914” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauser_Model_1914 (blowback operation, .32 ACP)