Talk to me about the TT-33. Post Pics if you got them!

I shot a friend's CS-52 which was nice and relatively low recoil and once he told me how much the ammo cost I knew I needed tog et something in 7.62x25. I'm thinking about getting a TT-33. Just wondering if anyone has any opinions on them that could help. They seem to be like AKs in the sense that Poland, Romania, Russia, China, etc made copies of the thing. I can find the Romanian ones easily for about $200 which isn't bad but does the same AK quality rules apply? Should I avoid the Romanian guns and go for the Polish version? Are there other versions out there to look for? Who else is selling them at the moment? Any info or pics would be appreciated.

I have both a TT33 and CZ52.

I like the TT33 better, it shoots well, has a better trigger than the 52, and felt recoil seems less.

Both are pretty cool guns, both are very inexpensive.

Buy both

Perhaps I will but his CZ52 was giving him problems so I think I'll get the TT33 and then maybe get a CS-52 assuming I can find one. I'm just wondering if the romanian guns are any good.

The Romanian Tokarevs that are on the market are actual surplus, not made for the commercial market like the various Romak/SAR/WASR AKs. They're good to go....but the import mandated safety is a bit Works but not the best, the safety looks like it was filed out of scrap metal in a cave.
The only Tokarevs that may be questionable in function are the ChiCom ones, mostly the 9mm versions.

I have both a Cz52 & TT33 & agree, the Tokarev is nicer to shoot. The trigger pull is quite a bit better, the hammer/firing pin really slams the primer (less need for a 2nd strike on wonky surplus ammo), better ergonomics & the recoil is less.

I have only owned a ChiCom Tokerov in 9mm. I did not like all to well only due to the short grip. I have really big hands so it was a little hard for me to hold. It was however a very accurate pistol. I would like to get another one just to have.

Tokarev. Shoots great, shoots cheap, influenced by venerable 1911 but easier to clean, actual surplus (mine is a 1954 stamp), etc.

Good buy. Got mine from Centerfire Systems

I just got two of them from one of my distributors the other day and 2k ammo for $$600! Shot one tonight and was surprised at the lack of recoil. The trigger sucked ass, but the gun was still accurate. They both are Romanian mfg and were clean although one had the slide serrations damaged.

ETA: If you happen to get a high grip you will learn not to fast! It's a hand biter!

got a romy from centerfire as well. A1 shape, shoots excellent. after shooting both the 52 and the TT33 i went with the TT. it just fit me better.

SW

I've seen several Yugoslavian M57 Tokarevs on gunbroker lately. Might be right up your alley because the Yugo Tokarevs have a longer grip. 9 round mag instead of 8, though you'll be stuck using Yugo specific mags, the regular TT-33 mags won't fit. IIRC they also made a 9mm version but I haven't seen any for sale.

+2 get a Yugo M57 while you can. The longer grip is a super improvement over standard TT33's and they are real quality pieces. They are $229 from SOG.

Romanians are really hit and miss for condition and the import safety is an Abortion.

I like Toks over the CZ52, I have two Russian- 1943 and a 1951 , Chinese 54-1, Romanian and a Yugo 57.

This might be a stupid question as I honestly can't recall if pistols in general have a chrome lined barrel or not, but to the Yugos have a chrome lined barrel or like everything Yugo does that mean no chrome?

I have a Romanian TT-33 and just orfered another. Very reliable. The feed lips are part of the hammer/sear assy. And even mags that are slightly damaged up top will function fine. Very accurate for what it is. Smallish grip but even with my big hands I have no problem with the grip. Yea, it is a hand bitter but not as much than my Mil-Spec 1911 was before I went with a beaver tail grip safety.

Its slim with a short grip so it would be the ideal CCW gun IMO as it also still retains a good size barrel. My add-on thumb safety needed alittle bit of file work since it wouldn't engage with a mag inserted. No problems now though and locks the trigger in a very positive way.

Eats all ammo including the Wolf Gold HP ammo which shows pretty good gel tests. Rounds expanded from .45-.60. 12-16in. Of penetration. Don't remember the energy though. Surplus is corrosive but alittle hot/boiling water or Windex will take care of it until a proper cleaning. Get the Romanian surplus ammo. Its clean with normal primers that won't need to have a second strike. All in all a really good pistol to have IMO.

I just bought a Norinco 213 which is a 9mm TT-33. I bought it for $75 without seeing it from a guy that got a bunch of police evidence guns. All I had was a discription saying no mags and missing safety.

Turned out to be a stainless steel version. some tweeker polished all the bluing off. It was wearing the wrap around grips covered in electrical tape. Sexy.

I've got a bunch of 213 parts to complete it. I've got three mags, the missing safety and a brand new set of standard Chinese grips.

Here are some Iraqi insurgent captured last year. First is a 1949 dated nickled/chromed TT33 and a 1982 dated Makarov, both Soviet manufactured.



CD

This is all so subjective, but here goes: Arguably the Polish T-33 is the best ( fit and finish ). I personally prefer the currently available Yugo M-57's, a little different, plus the slightly increased capacity is a plus. I think you will find that you shoot more accurately with the T-33's than the 52's.

Here are a couple of pics of the Norinco 213 9mm I bought for $75. I didn't have a camera on hand to take pictures when I brought it home. At that time it had the wrap around grips covered in electrical tape. It was also missing the safety.

I already had a few parts on hand including a crusty safety and a nice set of standard grips, shown here. The safety fit too tight to install so I fit it but left it very tight. I think I'd rather it just stay in the fire position. I hear that sometimes these would turn themselves to the safe position during firing.

The gun didn't come with any mags. I was hoping that it would take the mags that I already had. I have two new and one crusty 213A mags, which are the correct length for a 9mm. These require a spacer that fits in the magwell, which I also have. I am going to keep these parts in case I want to run it as a 9mm in the future.

At first I was a little bummed to find out that this is a 213B, which uses mags that are long enough to fit a 7.62x25. After thinking about it for a bit I realized that this is a blessing. I have the spacer so when I do want to run 9mm I just need to install that. Neat thing about the 213B is that the ejection port is long enough for the 7.62x25. The ejection port on the 213A is not.

So I put in an order to Numrich and got a new Chinese 7.62x25 barrel for $35. I also ordered some 7.62x25 mags. Now I need to order a couple of spam cans of ammo.

Other issues with the gun. The finish has been polished off. That isn't stainless. It was a blued steel gun that some tweeker got a hold of. The lanyard loop has been ground off. I can live with that. The rear sight is missing. I have a crusty rear sight in my collection so no problem there. The front sight has been ground down. That sucks.

So I have a couple of options. I can rebuild the front sight with the TIG and file it to shape. Or I can do something custom and either fit some night sights for another application or make something myself. I have a couple of extra tritium tubes including a nice fat one that would make a great front sight.

I really like my polish TT. I have both the CZ52 and the TT and prefer the TT over the CZ. That being said the import safety ruins the aesthetics of the weapon. I removed my import safety and threaded the remaining hole. I then took some screws of the same thread; cut them to plugs and red loctited them in there. A dab of cold blue later, no more import safety I'll post some pics when I stop being lazy.

That sounds like a most excellent idea!!!! I have one on the way and it should be here tuesday! I'll have to post pics when she comes in. I'm hoping that it's in good shape. I bought it from Military Gun supply....anyone know what the quality is like from these guys???

Which country did you go with?

That seems like a good idea with the safety removal. From what I understand it doesn't keep it very safe to begin with.

I got a Romanian one.

A "hand biter"?? ...You guys must have ginormous hands, because my medium-sized hand is almost in another zipcode from the hammer on my TT33.

Got any pics yet? I'm considering getting one from MGS myself.

You'll get pics friday. Well, at least you should. I have it on order as well as two cases of Romanian 7.63x25 from Aim surplus.

Well, I went to go pick up my pistol. It's not there. Was supposed to be there Wednesday....FFL called them thursday to find out where it was and they said it hadn't been paid for when he had a receipt for it. I'm a little unhappy with the company right now but what can ya do? I should have it wednesday or so. I'll post pics then after I clean her up.

That sucks. I'm looking forward to seeing this thing as much as you are.

I got it! Man, it looks better than I thought. I am a little disapointed with the safety though. It won't budge! It is in the "off" position though so I guess I don't have to worry about it being all wobly and working itself loose. The grip is much smaller than I had imagined, half of my pinky hangs off it. I can see where I just might get bit by thing thing when I go to shoot it. There is only one small piece of rust on it., on the safety. It is only surface rust. The bore looks like it may have some left over cosmo or its a mix of gun lube and gunk. I dunno, it's brownish. I'll have to clean it to see. The rifling is sharp and bright though. The grips are in 100% condition so I don't have to go buying more of them! Anyway, I'll post pics later on tonight.

picked this up from military gun supply for 200.

Cool. That does look pretty good.

I picked up a Romanian TTC33 from Military Gun Supply 2 weeks ago when they got the new batch in(mines a 1953 vintage)....I finally got to shoot it last sunday. Shoots great, very accurate in an informal shooting session around the old cow pond. I did find afterwards that the rear sight could be slid out of its dovetail....so im going to have to figure out the best way to crimp it in. I'm really glad I finally got one though.

Well when I saw that CIA had some Polish TT-33s in stock I had him inquire about the price and he told me he's get me one for $345 out the door. Sure it's slightly more than the Romanian TTCs but being Polish and considering the reuptation the Polish weaponry generally has I decided to say the hell with it. I picked it up from my dealer Thursday and I had some time so this afternoon I took it apart and removed a lot of the grease from everywhere. This one is stamped 1949. I need to gt some ammo and take it to the range.

It came in a box like this with a spare mag. A second identically sized box has the holster that I haven't bothered to take out yet as I doubt I'll use it






Here's the whole thing taken apart. I removed the grip panels after this once I figured out how. Rather unique to say the least.


The only bad thing is it kind of makes me want to get an 1911 as I don't have one of those yet.

Just an update for anyone taht might be paying attention. I took my TT-33 out shooting last week. I was using Bulgarian ammo from 52, the kind that comes packed in paper wrapped, string tied packs of 16 rounds.

Best "group" of the day was these 3 rounds. The round with the X wasn't mine.



Not but but I was aiming for the head and I have no idea where the other rounds in that mag went.

As an FYI some of this surplus ammo has issues with the brass cracking like so, but it all fired and extracted fine anyway

I picked up 4 overpriced packs of the same ammo... 53-54 head stamps... some of the necks were split before I fired, had a few hard primers (required a 2nd strike) and one bad primer. Inaccurate as fuck with the ammo but the gun works fine.

(click)

Hey, just found this thread, and thought I'd chime in. I just ordered a Romy tok, strait from Century Arms(I have a C&R) got the excellent one since people say Century's grading ain't the best, but i got her for $232 after shipping and all. They had a $10 discount on them, which paid the extra for overnight shipping, which was great Can't wait to get her and see what she looks like.

Any idea what is good ammo? I'm curious to see what kind of accuracy I can get out of it. I've been told the Polish stuff is better but it's still surplus.

I have two tins of http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Romanian_7.62x25.html

Just need to find some time to crack one open and shoot it. From everything I've heard it's good stuff, a far cry from the overpriced shit I was using when I picked up the Tok

I think I'm going to pick up some of the romy ammo from AIM, when I make my ammo order in a week or so. I have heard better stuff about the Romy stuff, over the bulgy ,and polish stuff, that seem to have split necks.

Really? I've heard the Polish stuff was better than the Romanian stuff from most people with PPSH-41s.

Here's a link a friend with a CZ-52 sent me about ammo problems which seems to confirm what you were saying about the Polish stuff being out of spec.
http://forum.ramanon.com/showthread.php?t=70861

Maybe I should snag a tin of the Romanian stuff and the Polish stuff to compare. :D

Got my Romanian from Centerfire and it works fine and is accurate.
7.62x25 has some zip to it.

Yes, the obvious choice is to get both

my first pistol was a Russian TT 33 my Dad boughht back from Korea in 1953. I was 6, i still have it. And it still runs great ( after i replaced a few parts lost in my childhood).
I also picked up another Russian in '99 when they were still coming in. 99.99 w/ 2 mags,holster, and lanyard, shipping inc... but with the darn safety.
i bought a Romanian in 07, and my brither bouught me a Yugo M57 just this past April... I sold 3 nice Chinese copies in the very early 90's to a coulpe friends. they liked thhem very much. all 3 were in 9mm. My buddy Georges bought a yugo m70 (?) in9 mm for 189 at a pistol range, nib. It was a very well made piece, we each put a box of ammo thru it that day...
While i love Lugers, i could only afford two, and my defense gun would be mmy .45, i 'll always have room for my Tokarev's... They are like potato chips, you can't have just one... I look forward to getting a Polish Tokarev soon as possiible...
I'll try and post pics later...
If you have questions, ask...

I was just cleaning my Polish TT-33 and I noticed that the barrel bushing (I believe this is the proper term, it's the thing that holds the recoil spring in the slide) is starting to crack. I don't remember if this was in fact there when I first got it or not, I've been inspecting the photos I took and I can't really see it. Either it's always been there and I never noticed it orthese cracks developed after a small amount of surplus and commercial ammo (less than 100 total so far) in which case I can't really shoot it or else the thing might completely crack in which case the damn recoil rod might shoot out the front of the gun or some other unpleasantness. I'm a bit sad now.

Just found this thread. Here's my problem with all these Tokarev offerings coming onto the market lately.

I've read in the not-too-long past that modern 7.62x25 ammo pressures run into 40,000+ CUP. While the CZ-52 is very capable of shooting all flavors of 7.62x25 without a hiccup, the situation with Tokarevs is not as simple, as follows:

The older-manufactured Tokarevs (to use the name generically) were only built to shoot older, weaker 7.62x25 which was loaded to pressures closer to something like 37,000 CUP give or take a few thousand. ONLY the newer production runs of Tokarevs (and I don't yet know which guns from which countries in which production years) are heavy-built enough to shoot the more modern 7.62x25 mil surplus ammo which as I said punches well over 43,000 CUP pressures through the gun.

So the safe thing to do until these wholesalers and dealers are able to provide clear safety data is to buy the (very fine) CZ-52 and shoot all the 7.62-25 ammo you want, or risk buying an "old" Tokarev which is said by the real experts to be unsafe with 7.62x25 loads that runs into the high 30Ks and mid-40Ks CUP.

If somebody can assure me that all these Tokarevs are indeed those which are manufactured to safely fire modern ammo, I'd buy one too, because I enjoy the round so much in my own CZ-52 (it's a nice magnum experience). But I can't make head or tail of the spotty info we're getting about all these so-called TT-33s aka Tokarevs. Sorry for the wet blanket... but better safe than sorry...

I don't know who the "real experts" are who you are listening to, but the CZ52 is certainly NOT as strong as the Tokarev. The machining on the chamber area of the CZ52 for the roller-lock cam leaves the chamber very thin. Tokarevs have been rechambered to cartridges such as 9x23mm and 38 Super. Not a good idea in the CZ52.

You are correct and full of win. Just the other day my buddy gave me some of his 7.62 ammo from Romania because it wouldn't work correctly in his CZ52. I scored free ammo for my TT.

I must have a bad batch of the Romy because 75% of them rupture or crack in my cz-52, brand new headspaced barrel.

A lot of teh brass from the Romanian ammo I have cracks but it doesn't matter to me because I'm not intending to reload them and the TT-33 extracts every one of them fine.

I picked up my Aim handpicked TT-33 today. Disappointed with thte handpicked choice. There are hammer marks on the cocking serration. Both sides. The pin has been smashed down. I can't see how the person who was selecting these pistols could not see the hammer marks. Best out of 5? I don't think so. Anyways, handpick in my case was a misrepresentation. Not worth the $10 extra. Other than that, the pistol is in great shape. Hope it shoots well.
Good luck.

I think your brain capacity is questionable. I have a Chinese one and it works 100%. God, where do peope get this crap from? There's no bad Tokarev's really. I have a Romanian also and it's quite well built.

I've been thinking about picking one up for myself as a cheap shooter and range toy
but I cannot stand the crazy modified safety on the one's that I have handled.

Are there any options for returning the gun to its original condition?

There's different safeties out there but as I understand it most are easy to remove.

Mine from AIM Surplus with C&R license:

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