Makarov

Lore & Background

Before the nuclear exchange, the PM Makarov was a standard-issue sidearm for Soviet police and military personnel. When the bombs fell and the surface became a radiation-blasted wasteland, those millions of small pistols survived in lockers, safes, and the hands of the last living people. In the metro, they became the default sidearm of station guards, merchants, and the occasional desperate survivor who had nothing else. In Glukhovsky's novel, Artyom's Makarov is treated with a quiet, almost familial respect. It is not a trophy or a symbol of rank; it is the tool he has cleaned and reloaded a hundred times in the dim gaslight of the station workshops. When he ventures beyond the platform edges into the black, the click of the slide and the weight of the grip against his palm are the only constants. The pistol does not save him from the horrors of the surface, but it is the one thing he can always count on to still fire. In the 2010 video game, the Makarov is the weapon in Artyom's hand from the opening sequence. It is modest by the standards of the later armory—limited magazine, modest stopping power—but its reliability in the claustrophobic first stretches of tunnel and station makes it the player's first true companion. Upgrading it, saving its scarce 9×18 rounds, and learning its recoil pattern form part of the early-game rhythm that defines the Metro experience.

In Their Own Story

The tunnel is black. Not dark—black. Artyom presses his shoulder into the cold polymer of the Makarov and feels the familiar ridge of the trigger guard bite into his finger. Somewhere ahead, something breathes. He does not raise the pistol yet. He lets his eyes adjust, lets the smell of wet concrete and old blood settle into his lungs. The slide is dry. The magazine is full—eight rounds he counted twice an hour ago in the blue glow of a dying flashlight. He exhales through his nose, keeps the barrel level, and takes one more step into the dark. The Makarov rides steady against his cheek, small and warm from his grip, the only honest thing in a world that has forgotten how to be honest.

Reader's Guide

In Metro 2033 the Makarov PM is Artyom's starting pistol, already in his hand when the game begins. It is a single-action, semi-automatic 9×18 mm weapon with an 8-round box magazine. It sits at the bottom of the pistol tier, below the more powerful options that appear later, but its low recoil and fast draw make it perfectly serviceable in the tight corridors of the first few stations. Ammo for the Makarov—9×18 mm rounds—is the most common pistol cartridge in the game and can be scavenged from dead enemies, found in supply caches, or purchased at station merchants. Because the magazine holds only eight rounds, managing ammunition is part of the early-game tension: every shot in the dark costs something you may not be able to replace for a long stretch. The pistol can be upgraded at the in-game workshop, where you can improve its magazine capacity, add a suppressor, and refine its sight. These upgrades are inexpensive compared to higher-tier weapons and make the Makarov a viable sidearm well into the mid-game, especially in close-quarters encounters where the longer rifles are harder to bring to bear. Lore-wise, the Makarov is the weapon of the common survivor. It is not a collector's piece or a military-grade tool; it is the pistol a station guard keeps under his desk, the one a trader slides across a table for a handful of cartridges. Its presence in Artyom's hand from the first frame to the last underscores the novel's and game's central theme: in the metro, survival belongs to the patient and the prepared, not the armed and the elite.

Did You Know?

• In Glukhovsky's novel, Artyom's Makarov is the weapon he carries from the very first scene in the station all the way through his journey to the surface and beyond, making it the single most-mentioned firearm in the book
• The 9×18 mm Makarov cartridge was specifically developed to pair with the pistol; it is smaller and generates less recoil than the 7.62×25 mm round used by the older TT-33, making it easier to control in the confined spa
• In the 2010 video game, the Makarov is the only pistol Artyom has access to during the opening stretch of the story, meaning the player's first combat encounters are fought with an eight-round magazine and no backup weap