School me on Tokarevs

jawn · Apr 9, 2012

I'm pondering purchasing a Polish TT, mostly because of how the slide serrations look, and I'm wondering if other countries' Tokarev pistols are also worth considering. I'm also staying away from Yugos just for the fact that their magazine capacity is different.

Feel free to share your experiences with these pistols. I'm looking for a budget blaster for the giggles.

fivepointstar · Apr 9, 2012

Russian TT33 are sweet!!

I have a Romy and its OK, fun shooter but not built very well IMO. 7.62 Tok is a great round and affordable

LostSoul · Apr 9, 2012

For a budget shooter, pretty much any Tokarev is a good choice. I have a Polish, it's a great range toy. The grip angle is a little weird, but you get used to it. Mine is about as accurate as I am. Surplus 7.62x25 is getting more expensive, but it's still a decent deal.

Scott7891 · Apr 10, 2012

Pretty much all Tokarevs are going to be the same reliability, milspec and parts wise. They were built to the universal combloc standard set out by the Soviets.

Romanians are the cheapest and least desirable because they make up the majority of tokarevs in the country.
Next are polish ones. They are more collectible because they look like WW2 era soviet tokarevs (the Romanians adopted the post-war style you can tell by the slide serrations on both)
The Chinese would be the next desirable because no more can be imported and had their safeties installed at the factory. They also made a 9mm. version but not as desirable as its 7.62x25 counterpart
The holy grail toks are considered the Russian variants since they are the "original tokarev", they were not modified, and like the Chinese ones no more can be imported.

Bulgaria did not make tokarevs. The Czechs and Hungarians made their own designs. The north Korean variant type 68 is very rare.

The guns and ammo are not as cheap as they used to be, you missed the boat on their super-cheapness. Tok's easily go for more than $250 easily these days and crates of the ammo cost the same. They are fun shooters and a poor-man's AP round if you will since they are bottle-necked so they have a lot of penetration behind those rounds.

rrrrrrkevin · Apr 10, 2012

Scott7891 said:
Pretty much all Tokarevs are going to be the same reliability, milspec and parts wise. They were built to the universal combloc standard set out by the Soviets.

Romanians are the cheapest and least desirable because they make up the majority of tokarevs in the country.
Next are polish ones. They are more collectible because they look like WW2 era soviet tokarevs (the Romanians adopted the post-war style you can tell by the slide serrations on both)
The Chinese would be the next desirable because no more can be imported and had their safeties installed at the factory. They also made a 9mm. version but not as desirable as its 7.62x25 counterpart
The holy grail toks are considered the Russian variants since they are the "original tokarev", they were not modified, and like the Chinese ones no more can be imported.

Bulgaria did not make tokarevs. The Czechs and Hungarians made their own designs. The north Korean variant type 68 is very rare.

The guns and ammo are not as cheap as they used to be, you missed the boat on their super-cheapness. Told easily go for more than $250 easily these days and crates of the ammo cost the same. They are fun shooters and a poor-man's AP round if you will since they are bottle-necked so they have a lot of penetration behind those rounds.

What about the Yugo?!?!

I have a Romanian and a Yugo(M57). I really prefer the safety style on the Yugo and the longer grip(+1 magazine capacity as well), but when I bought it the barrel was very rusted out and it is noticeably less accurate than my Romanian. The barrel rust out of the box to my knowledge is not all that common though so I wouldnt use that as a determining factor. Mine was newly imported, but when people dont clean them the corrosive ammo can cause this.

Scott7891 · Apr 10, 2012

rrrrrrkevin said:
What about the Yugo?!?!

I have a Romanian and a Yugo(M57). I really prefer the safety style on the Yugo and the longer grip(+1 magazine capacity as well), but when I bought it the barrel was very rusted out and it is noticeably less accurate than my Romanian. The barrel rust out of the box to my knowledge is not all that common though so I wouldnt use that as a determining factor. Mine was newly imported, but when people dont clean them the corrosive ammo can cause this.

I didn't include the Yugo cause the OP doesn't want one because of its non-standardization. Otherwise I would have included it.

yellowsled · Apr 10, 2012

Bottom line, they are all the same to be honest. Romy, Chinese, Russian, Yugo, Polish. There are Hungarian ones but they are very hard to find and cost a ton.

- They all shoot the same.
- Same fit and finish.
- Look almost identical except for small visual items.

Romy ones are still the cheapest, but they are almost cost wise on par with Polish now. I say buy one of each....

I am trying to locate a Russian one now, so if anyone is selling at a reasonable price please let me know!

Left to Right:
Romanian
Chinese .30 (non type 54) 7.62x25
Chinese 213 9mm
Polish
Yugo M57

rrrrrrkevin · Apr 10, 2012

Scott7891 said:
I didn't include the Yugo cause the OP doesn't want one because of its non-standardization. Otherwise I would have included it.

My bad. I totally missed that part.

erwos · Apr 10, 2012

Too bad, because I actually think the longer grip on the Yugo is a good thing for the TT's ergos.

yellowsled · Apr 10, 2012

erwos said:
Too bad, because I actually think the longer grip on the Yugo is a good thing for the TT's ergos.

not everyone needs that long of a grip. its a personal choice.

Rick3bears · Feb 28, 2013

I have two Romanians and when they arrived I was shocked. Both look like they just came from a showroom. Clean bright bores, excellent trigger actions, over all wonderful. One problem. The accompaning magazines were so full of cosmoline I had to push it out with a stick. Also I got one mag that doesn't break down like the others. Instead of the base plate being held on by a part of the spring, It has some kind of metal dimple in the baseplate and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get the baseplate off. Anyone got any ideas?

Abraxaslotus · Feb 28, 2013

I got a polish tokarev.

Love it, but only came with one mag.

Cannot find another mag that does not jam while feeding. Anybody else have that problem?

roady · Feb 28, 2013

I got one for sale in the classifieds if any one is interested.

http://www.mdshooters.com/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=12698

shortround91 · Feb 28, 2013

I have a Yugo and love it. I shoot seller and bulk corrosive. As said earlier make sure and clean her up after shooting corrosive, its not hard a little windex works wonders for the corrosive ammo. Roady I just sent you a message and am hoping to add a Norinco to my collection. Numerich's has a lot of parts and mags for them too. That 762x25 is one little nasty fast cartridge as well. Which ever way you go brand wise they are some fun pistols to have some fun with. I also think cheaper than dirt sells this tool that you can make hollowpoints out of standard ammo as well. I havent tired it myself but I don't know of anyone that produces a hollowpoint for them as well. Good luck and enjoy.

Machodoc · Mar 1, 2013

I have two Poles and two Romanians. I think the fit and finish on the Poles (Radom) is a slight bit better than on the Romanians, but not by enough to really matter. One of each of mine is a Safe Queen, having arrived in like-new condition. The other two came in nearly as nice looking. Got them from Classic and SOG, with hand-select option, but that was before the madness.

Don't ignore the CZ-82 ....

reverendbeer · Mar 5, 2013

yellowsled said:
I say buy one of each...

I fail to see how this is bad advice.

dementlr · Aug 18, 2013

I have a Romanian due for delivery this week. I suspect I will also order a Yugo or start the search for a Russian once I put a few rounds through the TT33.

tdt91 · Aug 18, 2013

Rick3bears said:
I have two Romanians and when they arrived I was shocked. Both look like they just came from a showroom. Clean bright bores, excellent trigger actions, over all wonderful. One problem. The accompaning magazines were so full of cosmoline I had to push it out with a stick. Also I got one mag that doesn't break down like the others. Instead of the base plate being held on by a part of the spring, It has some kind of metal dimple in the baseplate and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get the baseplate off. Anyone got any ideas?

It just slides off

Sirex · Aug 18, 2013

If you are just going to buy one fore blasting, I would offer the opinion of buying a Norinco 213 in 9mm, then buying the 7.62 barrel a barrel bushing so you can also shoot 7.62x25, at the same time having a 9mm pistol. It's easier to find 7.62 parts than 9mm parts to convert over now. Kinda like having 2 guns in one. Just my $.02

Machodoc · Aug 18, 2013

Keep in mind that even though many of us got spoiled by cheap 7.62x25 surplus ammo, and that seems to be about gone, most of the newly-made stuff (esp. PPU and S&B) come in brass cases with boxer primers. It's a pretty straight-forward reload.

School me on Tokarevs

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