FEG PA-63 9x18mm
I first bought one of these pistols back in the late '80's when they started importing them. It was cheap, it was handy, it was concealable. It fit the bill.
Plus it looked like James Bond's PPK but was in 9MM!!!
OK, so it was in 9x18 Makarov instead of the more common 9x19 Parabellum, but what difference could 1mm in case length really make?
Lots, it turns out, but despite that this is a nice little concealed carry gun. Just don't try hunting Grizzleys with it.
...or hopped up poodles strung out on junk.
Ballistically it's marginally better than a .380ACP, and while these diminuative cartridges have lots of detractors, there are lots of dead guys who can attest to their effectiveness. Best choice? Not really. But a carry piece is useless if it's at home in the safe because it's too big, and I'd rather have something with me than nothing.
The PA-63 was the carry piece of the Hungarian Police and Military from around 1963 through 1996, through the height of the Cold War. That is a storied service history its designers should be proud of. But which designers? The Hungarians at FEG? Or the earlier Germans at Karl Walther Waffenfabrik? The PA-63 is an unashamed evolutionary copy of the storied Walther PPK unabashedly.
I mentioned above that I bought my "first one" back in the '80's, I did, then one day someone broke into my truck and stole it! Needless to say, I liked it so much I went out and bought a replacement. Then one day I got a phone call from the local Police Dept. My original pistol had been recovered two states away in a botched robbery attempt in the hands of a 15 year old. I was happy to get it back, and happy to get it off the streets, and happy that the system worked.
I was unhappy in that the pistol had vice marks all over it! I don't know, maybe the cops did some sort of forensic testing, or maybe the perp thought it would be pimpin with cross-hatched dimpling all over it.
Who knows...I traded it to a friend for some forgotten must have treasure, and kept this one. Then I traded this one to a different pal about six years ago, missed it, and eventually got it back from him along with my equally missed Virginia Dragoon. Lesson to you kids out there, never part with your firearms!
Do as I say, not as I do!