Makarov was born on 22 May 1914 in the village of Sasovo to the family of a railway worker.

He was hastily qualified as an engineer and sent to the Zagorski Machine Works (now in Sergiyev Posad).

Makarov's work, which made use of some elements of the Walther PP, won the competition and was adopted by the army in 1951.

[1] Later, he was elected to the Soviet of Working People's Deputies in Tula Oblast, and was chosen as a council member of the scientific and technological society Mashprom.

He died on 13 May 1988 as a result of his seventh heart attack and was buried at the 1st Municipal Cemetery in Tula.