The Mrs. might like to check this web site. It deals with a womans aproach and concerns.
http://www.corneredcat.com/

Originally Posted by Mike Barham

Well, to each his own, but all the Maks that have passed through my hands have had very mediocre sights and absolutely awful triggers. Also, good JHP defensive ammo is not exactly common in the oddball Makarov round.

Maks are always popular with the same guys who think Mosin-Nagants are the apotheosis of rifle design.

There's a reason the Mak was the service weapon of quite a few depts in Europe. It's dependable, easy to maintain, and is a TANK. My FEG is a truck gun, and ammo has never been a problem to find. They used to be the standard Hungarian military and police sidearm.

As for the sights, I can't speak for the ones you have seen. Mine are right on. If not, new ones are easy enough to find. I'd choose my FEG over a Bersa (and I like Bersas).

Originally Posted by teknoid

There's a reason the Mak was the service weapon of quite a few depts in Europe.

As I posted in another thread - so what? When did Europeans become authorities on gunfighting (or anything serious)? Especially in the old Warsaw Pact communist countries, where pistols were used more for the bullet-in-the-back-of-the-head style of "law enforcement"...

The "reason" the Mak was popular had nothing to do any ergonomic excellence of the gun - with small sights and grungy trigger - but simply the fact that it was (more or less) an Eastern Bloc design, and the commies always used their own designs.

The only really good pistol design the commies ever came up with was the CZ75, and that was basically just mix of the Western Browning P35 and the SIG P210 designs with a DA trigger tacked on.

ammo has never been a problem to find.

Can you find Gold Dots, Golden Sabers, Hydra-Shoks, etc. at the local gun shop? I've never seen 'em in my local shop, but maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough. Or is it just dirty, non-premium Fiocchi, S&B, and surplus, along with maybe an expensive exotic of questionable reliability?

They used to be the standard Hungarian military and police sidearm.

See above about Europeans knowing Jack about gunfighting. The poor British soldiers here in Afghanistan are stuck with the the SA80 bullpup rifle. It's a total POS, which all of them will tell you if asked. Just because some foreign country issues a gun doesn't make it any good.

As for the sights, I can't speak for the ones you have seen. Mine are right on.

Well-regulated or not, the sights are small and narrow, and thus difficult to pick up at speed. I'm not talking about casual range shooting or plinking, I mean defensive-style shooting against a shot timer: under 1.2 seconds to draw and fire, and sub-.20 second splits. The herky-jerky 20-pound DA trigger also doesn't exactly help in the speed department, either. Your definition of "speed" may differ from my own, however.

Maks strike me about like AKs - reliable, but otherwise sort of crude, unrefined, and not designed to be easy to shoot well.

Originally Posted by Mike Barham

As I posted in another thread - so what? When did Europeans become authorities on gunfighting (or anything serious)? Especially in the old Warsaw Pact communist countries, where pistols were used more for the bullet-in-the-back-of-the-head style of "law enforcement"...

I don't recall saying that this was the "best" gun I own. It is, however, a dependable and accurate gun.
As for ammo:
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ammoproducts.asp

Wide variety, and I have a local gun store that stocks Cor-Bon for me. The trigger is an easy fix, too. I think the Wolf spring kit was $17 from Makarov.com.

I didn't bother with new sights. I've used a lot worse in the last 40 years. They're no worse than the sights on a 1911 G.I. - Perhaps that's why they work for me.

As I said, it makes a nice truck gun. I usually carry a Cougar or M&P, but those are full sized. In the end, to each his own. A lot of folks love their Glocks. I can't stand them, and if someone gave me a Glock I'd trade it. I hate the way it feels. Does that mean I think it's a bad gun? Nope, just not for me. Looks like you feel the same way about Maks. Fair enough.

Beretta Tomcat .32auto. I was suprised how nice it felt in the hand. The Keltec that I shot was a pain the hand.