Baikal MP-654K Makarov

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Ian
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Baikal MP-654K Makarov

Post by Ian » Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:17 pm

The Baikal MP654K (Makarov) is pretty much unique among air pistols in that it is made alongside an almost identical cartridge pistol. In this sense it is genuine Makarov as opposed to a replica!  

The MP654K sometimes referred to as the 'Air Mak' was introduced by Baikal in 1998. It is said that a large quantity of frames from the high capacity mag cartridge version needed using up and an engineer came up with the idea of converting the mag to house a CO2 bulb and BB's. The intention here was to sell them to the Russian military and police as training pistols.

Made of weapons grade steel with milled slides these proved to be incredibly robust practice pistols.

In addition to their initial purpose they were put on general sale to the public and proved pretty popular in Europe, the Far East and initially America. Unfortunately they were only imported to the States for a short time before this was banned by the authorities who were concerned that they could be easily converted to fire .22 cartridges. The ban continues despite the fact that it would be incredibly difficult and dangerous to attempt such a conversion - the breach and barrel mounting are engineered in such a way as to prevent the .177 rifled barrel being bored out to .22, the ejector mechanism on the slide is ground off at the point of production and key components are not heat treated to make them hard enough for live fire. Quite frankly it would be far easier to just buy a cartridge version!

Due to the popularity of the pistol especially in the Far East production in the early 2000's was simplified with cast slide and some would say lower quality. Even if the latter is true they still remained streets ahead of any other BB pistols available in terms of build and durability.

Last year saw the introduction of the 5th variant which marked a return to the build quality of the very first models. Once again prompted by a desire to do something with a large batch of frames, in this case slimmer single stack ones the latest version was put into production becoming widely available at the beginning of this year.

As mentioned above they have a rifled barrel, something that is seldom found in a BB gun and many of us Air Mak owners use lead BB's - though opinion is divided on whether this improves accuracy. It certainly helps reduce rebounds though!

Having read great reports on this new model  I thought that I would give one a try. Picking it up last month from Oleg at Russian Military I was not disappointed - Baikal quality now seems to back to what it was in the late 90's. This is a superb Mak - in looks, handling  and build quality

It comes in this sturdy cardboard box

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Inside we have the Mak, invoice, owners manual, spares seals, Baikal steel BB's, a CO2 bulb and a test target. No tool as with the older models sadly

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Here is Olegs test target signed to say that it is functioning OK along with the owners manual stamped at the back with serial number and signature of the chap who checked it at the factory - you dont get this with other air pistols these days!

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The Mak, wrapped in greased paper within brown packing paper - this kind of packing belongs to another age (which is a shame!)

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What a lovely handling pistol and I really like those bakalite grips!

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Slimmer mag - not interchangeable with older models

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A return to the milled as opposed to cast slide - great!
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No 'F - pentagon' marks etc on this one

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I did find this one a little dry - a strip and lube didnt take long

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Ready to be nicely tucked away in a new fleece gun slip along with Napier VP90 vapour patch

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All in all Im very pleased with it, this is the third Air Mak I have owned and it is by far the best performer. The mag is much more tolerant of different kinds of BB than the earlier versions. Even shooting Gamos notoriously variable lead BBs there are few jams.

Such is the allure of the 'Mak' a few of us set up a specific forum for them recently - not airgun specific though as its intended to cover all variants be they air, cartridge, non lethal rubber baton, airsoft and deact.
http://makarovpistol.myfineforum.org/in ... 69c8bb3dde

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Post by micken » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:41 pm

Thanks for this, an interesting read and one to look out for as an addition to my collection. It's one of a very few pistols of this type that would tempt me.

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zunmik
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Mak

Post by zunmik » Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:22 pm

Another good one Ian unusual in that they have gone back to the higher quality parts thus a modern classic, did we not have a member from the far east who was into maks in the BPA ? M. :)
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Ian
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Re: Mak

Post by Ian » Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:16 pm

zunmik:2694 wrote:Another good one Ian unusual in that they have gone back to the higher quality parts thus a modern classic, did we not have a member from the far east who was into maks in the BPA ? M. :)
That would be CC (usual forum user name Ssucahyo) who is a professional stage magician. I sent him a spare mag and various tuning parts a few years back and get the occasional email from him. As mentioned in my initial post Mak's are popular in the Far East though many countries have far tighter regulations on air pistols than ours (believe it or not) - for example, in Japan nothing that will fire lead or metal of any description is legal. This is why airsoft is such a big thing. The airsoft companies produce some amazing pieces - I have owned a few of the expensive Tanaka Colt SAA's and the quality has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately I just cant get on with low power 6mm plastic ball shooting.

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Post by pmh » Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:46 pm

Another excellent post.

This pistol certainly seems to have caught the eye of the traditionalist and is certainly set to be one of the true classics.

Kind regards,



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zunmik
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Mak

Post by zunmik » Wed May 01, 2013 4:11 pm

I have owned very few bb pistols because of accuracy concerns & fiddly loading, so how accurate are these, and do you spray bb's in all directions when loading or am i now just out of date with modern bb pistols, M. :?
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Ian
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Post by Ian » Wed May 01, 2013 4:17 pm

It is reasonably accurate up to 6 yards - best in single action as the trigger if very heavy in double. I find H&N lead shot to be the most accurate. Its never going to be as good as a pellet firer though especially with that very short barrel.

I dont find loading fiddly - but then Im not in much of a rush these days!

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Compare the Makarov dot come

Post by Bazmati2020 » Wed May 01, 2013 7:10 pm

I find accuracy between models varies (could just be between pistols)

This is the gen 4 on video (tight group) http://qik.com/video/56638933

Here is grouping with lead and BB's and a 1999 v 2011 Mak
http://instagram.com/p/U6jMCYkQof/

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Re: Baikal MP-654K Makarov

Post by garryt » Wed May 15, 2013 10:35 pm

I remember buying one of these as soon as they came out, but sold it on a year later.
Are the first ones rare now?
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Ian
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Re: Baikal MP-654K Makarov

Post by Ian » Thu May 16, 2013 5:47 am

The early ones arent that rare but are sought after and command quite high prices

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