Makarovs are great pistols! The most common type on the market are the Bulgarian mil-surps, identifiable by a circle 10 mark on the frame by the slide release lever. There are commercial Bulgies sold under the Arsenal brand, or Miltex, but I haven't seen quite as many of these. The circle 10s were the ones SOG and other distributors had for just $125 about 6 months ago, now Bulgies are generally up around $200! For a nice EG you're looking at around $325-350 right now. It's true the Russians are the originals but the real milsurp ones aren't ultra common. Milsurp Russians have fixed rear sights and usually the only markings on them are in Cyrillic. The most common Russian Maks these days seem to be commercial IJ-70s, some of which are chambered in .380. These commercial Russians have adjustable rear sights that should be avoided if you intend to carry your Mak, since they snag. There's the odd double-stack 10rd Mak floating around, also made in Russia by Izhmech, but mags for these are scarce. The German made Simson Suhl is generally agreed to be the sweetest of the sweet in the world of Maks. I saw one go for about $900 on Gunbroker a few months ago. 8-O
Maks are blowback action, DA/SA with a decocker safety. On my Bulgy the DA pull is long and slightly heavy (10-12 lbs?) and I did a little fluff & buff to smooth mine out. The SA is just sweet. The EGs generally have a smoother DA pull than the Bulgies. Maks also have chrome lined bores, at least my Bulgy does, and mine arrived almost mirror-like... appeared to have been shot very little. Definitely had more holster wear than bore wear. Sights are a bit small but it shoots where I aim. Maks have a nice simple design with a very low parts count, and are beautifully easy to strip down.
Since you're new to Maks and looking at gun shows, I feel it's my duty to inform you if you don't already know... there is no such fawking thing as a Polish Makarov. You will see plenty of Radom manufacture P64 pistols that sellers call "Polish Maks." These are the ones SOG and others still have for about $140 and there are tons of these on the market; at least in my area I see more P64s than true Maks at gun shows. They don't look like a Makarov; they look more like a Walther PPK. The only reason somebody confused them into the Mak name is because they happen to shoot the 9x18 (ak.a. 9mm Mak) cartridge.
Anyway, Bulgies and EGs are what you're most likely to see as far as real Makarovs. If you've got the extra scratch, by all means get an EG, but a Bulgy certainly won't let you down. Both are nice shooters and worthy of a spot in anyone's collection!
There's lots of info and goodies to feed your Mak addiction at makarov.com. There is also a pretty active and extremely knowledgeable group of Makarovniks on the Mak forum at
http://www.gunboards.com.
