TT33 pistol in 7.62x25

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A 1933 Soviet TT (Tokarev-Tula). Standard military side-arm in 1930-50s, it uses a high-velocity round with good penetration capability. The bottlenecked cartridge, essentially a souped-up 7.63 Mauser, gives a flat trajectory but, being common to longer-barreled submachine guns, also a considerable muzzle blast. For the ease of production, the locking lugs are lathed rather than milled and so encircle the barrel.

The grip angle is not conducive to point shooting. Sights are quite good for slow fire (if difficult to pick up in low light) but the inherent accuracy is surprisingly poor. An eight-shot group of 3" at 21ft is typical. However, the rate of fire, the power of the cartridge and the reliability represented a big improvement over the previous Soviet sidearm, the Nagant.

The safety visible on the left of the frame was fitted to comply with BATF edict requiring an external safety on imports. In fact, the normal safety of the TT33 is the half-cock notch. The retrofitted safety should not be relied on for cocked and locked carry.

Hi-res