In my 20 or so years collecting I only came across an Astra 600 once, and I passed on it because the guy was way too proud of it and would not budge on the price, primarily because of the German markings.
I regret that now. This model has serious history!
When I was hot and heavy into Curio and Relic collecting fifteen or so years back I had several different flavors of Makarov, including a true East German PM (with original DDR markings) a Polish P-64, A Hungarian FEG PA-63 and a very rare Bulgarian PPK clone.
As with all Eastern Block C&R Military pistols, the double action trigger on Mak’s were atrociously bad, somewhere between 15 and 25 pounds. This was a purposeful design however to keep peasant conscripts from shooting their own dicks off.
Other than that, they were a real pleasure to shoot with a caliber I would describe as a “.380 ACP on growth hormones”.
“Carry the biggest gun you can tote comfortably and shoot accurately. The reason being is if it is not Comfortable you will leave it at home in the gun safe instead of having it in your pants when you need it and if you can’t shoot it accurately, well, what are we really talking about carrying a gun for?” –Clint Smith, Thunder Ranch.
It all comes down to manual of arms and PRACTICE.
Yeah six rounds of .44 Mag should do the trick against any foe, two or four legged.
IF you can put the rounds where you need them to be ACCURATELY under STRESS.
I had a C&R License (FFL 03) for around twenty years off and on back in the “golden era” when you could find plenty of German and Yugo Mausers, Lee- Enfields, Mosin-Nagants, Swiss K-31’s and Norinco and Russian SKS’s all for very reasonable prices.
It was a great way to learn about firearms, improve your gusnmithing skill-set (I taught myself how to repair Mausers this way) and amass a nice “collection” of very usable military weaponry including pistols and revolvers.
One of the many perks of having a C&R License is you get the weapon delivered directly to your home without the need of a Gun Dealer as a middleman. I cannot tell you the excitement of seeing the Big Brown Truck of Joy come rumbling up the road!
The Tactical Hermit 
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