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The Tokarev pistol was the invention of Feodor Vassilevich Tokarev, who was the technical manager of the Tula Arsenal about World War I. About 1930 his design for a semi-automatic pistol was adopted by the Soviet Army, and it was called the TT-30, The TT standing for “Tula-Tokarev”. It was used throughout the World War II, and at the end of the war was adopted as Warsaw Pact standard and manufactured in China, Hungary, Poland and Yogoslavia. It was manufactured through the 1950s until finally replaced by the Makarov pistols. The primary way to tell these pistols apart is by the grip markings. The Russian pistols have a star on the grip with “CCCP” surrounding it. The Chinese pistols just have a plain star. The polish pistols have a triangular panel with the letters “FB” like the Radom. The Hungarian pistols have sheaves of wheat. An interesting aside about the Tokarev is that it was on this pistol that Petter based his design for his famous pistol, the French model 1935, which was later used as the basis for the SIG P210. Development took place in the late 1920s and was approved for service in 1930 being called the TT-1930. The Tokarev pistols are recoil-operated, locked breech, blow-back, semi-automatic pistols utilizing an eight–shot detachable box magazine. They are in many ways a simplified Colt/Browning style 1911 design and utilize the same swinging link “parallel rule” operation. The grip safety was omitted. A major feature, however, of the Tokarevs are their reliability. Unlike many other automatic pistols that rely on magazine lips for feeding, the guide rails on the Tokarev are machined into the inside of the frame. This will allow reliable feeding from a damaged magazine. It has a bad finish and loose tolerances. The trigger mechanism can be removed from the frame as a unit for cleaning or repair. Magazine catch is located behind the trigger guard and there is no safety catch. In 1933 the design was slightly changed. The locking lugs on the barrel was lathe turned to simplify the production and the back-strap was a solid forged component and not a separate insert as on the TT-30. It was now named the TT-33 and the TT-30 were upgraded, making the TT-30s extremely rare. The firing pin is not of the inertia type and the hammer may not be lowered with a round in the chamber. For this reason the half cock notch is designed very robustly for safe carry. (Ref. ‘Pistols and revolvers’ by JE Smith, ‘Price guide for collector handguns’ by R H Balderson, https://www.full30.com/watch/MDAxNzU3/tokarev-tt-c-pistol-shooting-review , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQtbNzyO0cE , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76H2jqGtQu4 )

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