Tokarev TT-33

What this entry covers

ATF lists "Russian (U.S.S.R.), Tokarev, Model TT, 1933, pistol, cal. 7.62, mfd. at the Tula Arsenal, Tula, U.S.S.R., from 1933 through 1956."¹ That wording sets three conditions: the 1933 pattern, manufacture at the Tula Arsenal, and a date from 1933 through 1956. The date condition on this page comes from the ATF text¹.

The earlier pattern has its own line: "Russian (U.S.S.R.), Tokarev, Model TT, 1930, pistol, cal. 7.62, mfd. at the Tula Arsenal, Tula, U.S.S.R., from 1939 through 1956." Its dates are quoted as ATF prints them¹. Two .22 pistols, the TT R-3 and TT R-4, are also listed separately¹. Other pistols have their own lines where the list names them: the Chinese types 51 and 54, which ATF marks "(Tokarev)"⁵, the North Korean Type 1964 in "7.62mm Tokarev" and Type 68 in "7.62 x 25mm"⁶, and the Tokagypt 58 in 9mm Parabellum⁷.

Identifying it

Gun Digest places the serial number, a star and the year of manufacture on the rear left of the frame, with the top of the slide also numbered⁴. It describes grips with a star and "CCCP", and notes that wartime pistols may have wooden grips⁴. The Small Arms Survey identification sheet shows vertical slide grooves on the Soviet pistol and on the Chinese types, but forward-sloping grooves on the North Korean, Yugoslav and Hungarian derivatives. It adds that early TT-33s alternate narrow and wide grooves². Modern Firearms describes a 1946 simplification and post-war pistols with smaller slide serrations³.

Common confusions

• Place of manufacture. The entry names only the Tula Arsenal¹. Gun Digest's entry also refers to manufacture at Izhevsk⁴. Whether a pistol from another plant fits this entry depends on the ATF wording above.
• End of production. Sources differ. Modern Firearms dates the end of Soviet manufacture to about 1952³, and Gun Digest gives 1952 for Izhevsk⁴, while the ATF line runs through 1956¹.
• Licensed copies. Modern Firearms names six countries that produced the design under licence, among them China, Poland and Yugoslavia, and mentions export versions in 9×19mm fitted with a manual safety³. The Small Arms Survey identification sheet lists the Chinese Type 51 and Type 54, Hungarian Model 48, North Korean Type 68 and Yugoslav M57 as close derivatives².

History

Tokarev's pistol came out of Red Army trials in the second half of the 1920s and was selected in 1930. Experience with the first few thousand in service led to changes, and the revised 1933 model entered service at the start of 1934³. The pistol is a short-recoil, locked-breech design with an eight-round magazine and no manual safety³; the Small Arms Survey identification sheet also gives the eight-round magazine². The 9mm Makarov PM replaced it, but sources differ on when the TT left Soviet service. Modern Firearms says the army kept it into the 1960s³, and Gun Digest says the late 1950s⁴.

Further reading

• The Small Arms Survey identification sheet², prepared with the Royal Armouries, compares the TT-33 with its foreign derivatives using photographs of slide grooves and markings.
• Modern Firearms³ gives a concise account of development and service.
• Gun Digest's value-guide entry⁴ summarises the frame markings collectors check.