One-up in a Tokarev?

[mic]

To all those who always wanted to know why you should never carry a Tokarev TT-33/Type 54/213 etc with a round in the chamber, allow me to discuss this.
For the newbies out there who does not know what a Tokarev pistol looks like, below is a typical example of the Chinese copy of the famous Russian Tokarev or TT-33 pistol. This example is a Chinese manufactured Type 54



This your typical soviet era Tokarev pistol, chambered for 7.62x25. As you can see, it has zero external safety's. The only external controls are the trigger, mag release and slide-stop. The commercial 9mmP chambered version will have a safety lever just above the rear beavertail below the slide. This safety only disconnects the trigger transfer bar to the sear. This was added in as an afterthought to make the firearm legal to import into the USA.

It is also important to note that this is a single action pistol and the hammer must be fully coked for the weapon to fire. The standard magazine hold 8 rounds.

The original Russian design called for an easy to mass-produce, robust and reliable pistol. This can be debated but the Tokarev chambered in the original 7.62x25 cartridge is very reliable. The same cannot be said for the 9mmP version though.
To make the pistol easy to manufacture and cheap to produce, such things as a firing pin block, external safety, drop safety feature, inertia firing pin were all omitted. In the field, it is preferred to chamber a round right before you use it. (Israeli carry condition comes to mind). If a round is chambered and the firearm is dropped, there is probably a 99% chance that the gun will fire. Regardless if the hammer is forward or back. There is however a single safety feature built into the gun. If the hammer is on half-cock position, then the slide / trigger is locked and the firearm cannot be fired.
The firing pin is such that it rests on the primer of the case should a round be in the chamber. Allow me to demonstrate.
Below is a picture of the hammer, forward on an empty chamber. You will notice that the hammer is now flush with the slide.



Here is another pic, but this time with the hammer down on a chambered round. You will notice that the hammer is now about 2mm away from the slide. The hammer is now in direct contact with the firing pin, and the firing pin is in physical contact with the primer.



As you can see, the Tokarev is not safe to carry one-up and this should be avoided. If the only firearm at your disposal is a Tokarev, then I would suggest you save some more money and buy a decent self defense firearm before you injure yourself or anyone else. The Tokarev was originally designed as a hardy battle pistol where "accidents" were an acceptable statistic.

Historically, the Tokarev pistol did service from about 1933 right up to about 1951 when it was replaced by the Makarov pistol, chambered in 9x18. Interesting to note is that the Tokarev is capable of firing the 7.63 Mauser cartridge, but a Tokarev cartridge could severely damage the 7.63 Mauser due to it being a high pressure round.

[Ds J]

Thanks mic! It clears things.

[MFouche94]

To all those who always wanted to know why you should never carry a Tokarev TT-33/Type 54/213 etc with a round in the chamber, allow me to discuss this.
For the newbies out there who does not know what a Tokarev pistol looks like, below is a typical example of the Chinese copy of the famous Russian Tokarev or TT-33 pistol. This example is a Chinese manufactured Type 54



This your typical soviet era Tokarev pistol, chambered for 7.62x25. As you can see, it has zero external safety's. The only external controls are the trigger, mag release and slide-stop. The commercial 9mmP chambered version will have a safety lever just above the rear beavertail below the slide. This safety only disconnects the trigger transfer bar to the sear. This was added in as an afterthought to make the firearm legal to import into the USA.

It is also important to note that this is a single action pistol and the hammer must be fully coked for the weapon to fire. The standard magazine hold 8 rounds.

The original Russian design called for an easy to mass-produce, robust and reliable pistol. This can be debated but the Tokarev chambered in the original 7.62x25 cartridge is very reliable. The same cannot be said for the 9mmP version though.
To make the pistol easy to manufacture and cheap to produce, such things as a firing pin block, external safety, drop safety feature, inertia firing pin were all omitted. In the field, it is preferred to chamber a round right before you use it. (Israeli carry condition comes to mind). If a round is chambered and the firearm is dropped, there is probably a 99% chance that the gun will fire. Regardless if the hammer is forward or back. There is however a single safety feature built into the gun. If the hammer is on half-cock position, then the slide / trigger is locked and the firearm cannot be fired.
The firing pin is such that it rests on the primer of the case should a round be in the chamber. Allow me to demonstrate.
Below is a picture of the hammer, forward on an empty chamber. You will notice that the hammer is now flush with the slide.



Here is another pic, but this time with the hammer down on a chambered round. You will notice that the hammer is now about 2mm away from the slide. The hammer is now in direct contact with the firing pin, and the firing pin is in physical contact with the primer.



As you can see, the Tokarev is not safe to carry one-up and this should be avoided. If the only firearm at your disposal is a Tokarev, then I would suggest you save some more money and buy a decent self defense firearm before you injure yourself or anyone else. The Tokarev was originally designed as a hardy battle pistol where "accidents" were an acceptable statistic.

Historically, the Tokarev pistol did service from about 1933 right up to about 1951 when it was replaced by the Makarov pistol, chambered in 9x18. Interesting to note is that the Tokarev is capable of firing the 7.63 Mauser cartridge, but a Tokarev cartridge could severely damage the 7.63 Mauser due to it being a high pressure round.

Interesting write up Mic. It's quite a scary thought for pistol lack any internal or external safeties, but to have a firing pin resting on a primer - wow! It reminds me of the reason why you only load 5 cartridges in a colt single action army and keep the hammer down on an empty chamber.

Sent from my GM1901 using Tapatalk

[Luker]

Thank you.

[SSP]

On the 9mm guns setting the hammer to half cock locks the slide and all but prevents the gun from being cycled unless full retard strength is applied, which causes damage.

I don't know about the 7.62 guns.

[mic]

On the 9mm guns setting the hammer to half cock locks the slide and all but prevents the gun from being cycled unless full retard strength is applied, which causes damage.

I don't know about the 7.62 guns.

Half cock locks the slide and trigger on the 762 version as well.