Posted on 11/20/2015 3:59:33 PM PST by Celtic Conservative
Just bought a Tokarev TT. Interesting pistol. It's been called the "Soviet 1911" and after disassembly and cleaning I can see why. Mine is a romanian model with a production date of 1956. To meet import regulations a frame mounted trigger safety has been added. It's fairly crisp and positive functioning, but just the same I don't think I'll be using it a lot. Most literature I've read on the TT doesn't recommend carry with a round chambered anyway. The Soviets carried them chamber empty. I'm looking forward to getting some range time with it when possible. I heard they're fairly accurate as-is and require little tuning. The price is what attracted me. Out the door was about $250. That came with a military flap-style holster and cleaning rod. What it didn't come with was a spare magazine. I've heard it said that this wouldn't make a good concealed carry gun due to the fact it's single action only, which I can certainly understand. Pity though, as its's such a slim weapon with a single stack mag. The ballistics I've heard are good, with an 86 gr. bullet going out at 1500~1700 Fps. I've been told ammo is tough to find, but with a couple of phone calls I was able to locate a box for $20 and they were JHP to boot. The only thing frustrating me is spare mags. Other gun gurus out there, I welcome your comments and experiences with this weapon.
Big honkin' piece of steel with a big bark and a nastier bite. At one point it seems they were just about giving them away, I think I paid $89 for mine in 2008 or so.
Not as elegant or with that same history as the TT, but probably a better overall weapon.
Is that the CZ 52 model with a decocker that sometimes acts like a trigger?
My Dad carried a Tokarev for a while in VN until he ran out of ammo and chucked it for a Browning Hi-Power.
The problems with military surplus guns for self defense? 1950 was a long time ago. The manual of arms for an East Bloc hog=leg is a lot different from a modern pistol.
How do you strip the mag? The magazine release may be on the heel of the grip, not on the frame near the trigger guard. Rails for lights? Forget it. Night sights? Nope. Just primitive steel half moon front and slit rear sight.
That slide safety, sure you know where it is as you experience adrenaline dump and tunnel vision?
Military pistols weren’t made to be that accurate since they were considered a `last-ditch’ close combat defense and tolerances between moving metal parts were loose on purpose, something like an AK, to allow for grit/lack or too much grease—to avoid jams. And after many thousands of training rounds, they don’t got any tighter. Same goes for a lot of our surplus 1911s.
Safety. Some of the war-time pistols were made using compromise steel compounds due to war exigencies, so if you try out some hot +P+ 9 mil in it, hope it doesn’t blow up in your hand.
A lot of them are unreliable. Many are just worn out, springs and pins just waiting to break, and good luck finding replacement parts.
So there are some downsides.
Upside? You probably didn’t pay too much.
What’s your life worth? Your vision? Want a new nickname, `Lefty’?
If you want to know more, American Handgunner, Jan. Feb 2016, p. 90, `Surplus Guns for Defense?’
Don’t let Roger Goodman know! Your gun could go rogue!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnetFL4Cc54
Part of the sky-high ammo prices that the gun writers keep claiming don’t exist. They don’t want to admit that their sponsors are gouging the public.
As for Tokarevs, the Polish-made ones are the best finished, the Russian ones are most desirable to collectors, but they’re all pretty much the same gun. The Yugo ones have the least obtrusive add-on safety, and hold an extra round. Also they are available new-manufacture.
I’ve had 2 CZ-52’s and did not like them. Clumsy to handle and painful to shoot. I thought the first one might have had issues, so I got another one that was no better. I much prefer the Tok. Your mileage may vary.
Norinco made them in both calibers. I had a 213 that I shot thousands of rounds of hot surplus 9mm ammo through. I had to file down the soft peened steel on the frame and slide several times, and finally decided it was worn out. That was back when surplus 9mm ammo was about 3 cents a round.
What you say about the CZ-52 is correct but I still like them.
They are too heavy and I have read that the firing pins are prone to breakage because they are cast iron. They must have thought that was the best thing to use as they are beautifully made on the inside.
I think the only gun I have ever seen which was far better made on the inside than out.
The clip which holds the grips on is also supposed to be bad about breaking. I figure if mine ever breaks I will just wrap the grips with athletic tape until I get another one.
They are supposed to be extremely strong.
If money’s the problem, there a lot of good handguns out there for under $300. I bought a Smith&Wesson `Sigma’ (Smegma) in .40, and hated it after taking it to the range the first time.
The trigger is stiff but it loosened up some, and I figure that might help prevent an accidental discharge (New York puts a stiffer trigger on the Glocks it buys) and I don’t expect to lack hand strngth if I really need to fire it. It always goes bang, is “Idiot/Me-proof” and is accurate for my purposes. So now it’s next to my bed.
I have a sweet CZ P-01 (decocker) used for carry that I bought barely used. They have made good guns for many years.
Around 1990 a bunch of police depts. were going to Glocks and there was a flood of .38 S&W model 10s, Colt Official Police and other old .38s.
You could easily find a near mint one for $99. In fact they all seemed to be $99 no matter the condition. It took a few years but the prices eventually went way higher and the glut dried up to just a few.
I bought a 6 inch Official Police for the $99 and it may be the best gun I ever bought for the price. It was a ten in just about every respect. Finish, trigger pull, both double and single action is just about perfect. Accuracy about made me go back and see how many more I could find. Mine consistently kept 148 grain wadcutters under and inch at 25 yards and that was for six shots!
The trigger was better than most Pythons and in fact had the same action but those trade ins had been used enough to smooth out even smoother than the Python.
You just could not get a better gun for less than a hundred dollars.
Which model? We love our CZ-82s. Reliable and accurate as hell.
That was one of the videos that convinced me to get it.
CC
I’m not certain about the model.
They were 75.00 ea with 2 clips and a cleaning rod thingie and holster.
Seemed cheap so I got 3 of them.....
Ammo is dirt cheap. At least it was. I bought 550 round sealed cans from sportsmansguide dot com.
Correction... I just looked on sportsmans guide. A can of 1200 rounds is now $420.
Thanks president Obama. I bought mine not more than a year ago and 550 cans were only about $59
I guess I won’t go plnking with it so much now.
On the occasions I fired my old .30 Broomhandle Mauser, it was energetic enough to suggest being a reasonable imitation of a semi-auto .357 magnum.
Never fire 7.62 Tokarev ammo in a Mauser Broomhandle. The Tok ammo is loaded way hotter than the Mauser ammo, and will destroy a Broomhandle. Find specific 7.63 Mauser ammo.
Used police guns are usually cheap and usable, if not pretty. The revolvers are gone by now, but pretty much every type of current 9mm or .40 caliber pistol has been traded in by some PD. You can usually get one for half what a new one would run.
Yes, thanks, I’ve known that for many moons, what few rounds I fired were old commercial, and the bolt stops are notoriously fragile in the C96. I didn’t align the bore with my body, I held it at arm’s length at a 45 degree angle towards the ground. I almost had it reworked to 9m/m, but didn’t.
There are a couple of companies making 7.63 Mauser ammo, Privi Partizan and Fiocchi, and maybe others. If yours has a decent bore, it doesn’t need to be rebarreled. I was shooting a “Red 9” Broomhandle which was made in 9mm for WW1, and the bolt broke in 2 and the rear half hit me in the chest. Not hard, just a thump that made me say “WTF?”
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