Tokarev TT-C Part 1

Every morning, I wander over to the shop with a cup of coffee in hand, sit back in my chair, put my feet on my desk and spend fifteen minutes, before everyone else arrives, contemplating the bigger issues in life. Most recently there was the issue of comb over versus buzz cut to weigh. My dad was a genuine tough guy, a WWII Marine who saw combat in the Pacific and lived his life… fearlessly. The only thing that ever got to him was his hair loss. What began as thinning, soon turned to baldness and ended in a comb over. I was amazed that a guy so strong and so accomplished could be wrestled to the ground by uncooperative hair follicles. It seems we spend a life time trying not to become our parents. I like my new buzz cut. A little dab of Kroil…

Even in today’s oppressive political environment surplus firearms are still plentiful and affordable. Availability of specific firearm types vary, but there is always something interesting to examine and shoot. The most recent shop acquisition was a Romanian TT-C Tokarev 7.62×25 Pistol from Aim Surplus. Aim runs a good operation; prices and customer service are good, shipping is quick and they never sell those grease soaked rifles and pitted bore handguns that have become common with other surplus resellers.

The TT was named after its place of origin and its designer; Tula Arms Factory and Feodor Vassilivitch Tokarev. The design of the TT drew heavily on the FN Browning M1903 and Colt 1911, however, the TT has some interesting innovations of its own. The first model adopted by the Russian Military was the pattern 1930, which was later revised as the pattern 1933 1) 2). The TT-C is essentially a TT-33 that was manufactured under license in Cugir, Romania. This example was manufactured in 1952.

A thumb safety was added by the importer to meet U.S. import requirements where the original had none other than the half cock hammer position. It is a stubby safety. It is a hard to operate safety… but it is now my safety. The TT is a short recoil operated, locking breech pistol. In battery, two radial lugs on the barrel interlock with two radial grooves in the slide. As a bullet leaves the pistol’s muzzle, the slide moves rearward, a link connecting the barrel to the frame pulls the rear of the barrel down and unlocks the barrel lugs from the slide. The slide continues rearward cocking the hammer, then forward stripping a round from the pistol’s magazine and moving it forward into the chamber as the pistol returns to battery.

Anyone familiar with a 1911 type pistol will find this very familiar and disassembly is very much the same with the exception of a slide stop retaining clip on the right side of the slide which does as it is named, a modular hammer / sear assembly and grip panel retention latches. Parts fit and finish is actually quite good and this pistol has an excellent bore. While the TT-C is slab sided and relatively compact, it is a beefy pistol with lots of slide mass and barrel bore and chamber thickness.

The 7.62×25 Tokarev Cartridge

Pictured left to right, inexpensive practice ammo:

Winchester USA 85 Grain FMJ Muzzle Velocity: 1647 fps and Muzzle Energy: 514 ft. lbs.

Prvi Partizan 85 Grain Full Metal Jacket Muzzle Velocity: 1722 fps Muzzle Energy: 560 ft. lbs.

If this doesn’t seem impressive, consider that the 357 Magnum 125 grain typically generates 1300 fps of muzzle velocity and 469 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. The Tokarev cartridge operates at nearly 35,000 psi. Its close cousin, the 30 Luger is listed at 34,000 psi, however, commercial Tokarev ammo in comparable bullet weights is rated at 400 fps – 600 fps higher.

With the pistol cleaned up and checked out, reloading dies, brass and bullets on the way, I’ll take a break to work on other projects and get back with developed handloads and some performance assessment with something other than FMJ ammunition.

1) Modern Combat Pistols, Popenker
2)  The World’s Great Handguns 1450 – Present, Ford