So I finally got to take my 1946 Russian made TT 33 to the range.
The build quality and finish are very dubious nothing is smooth or polished, the barrel bore looks like they applied to much pressure when drilling. It is a bit rough. Trigger is HEAVY. Magazines are poor quality and the cartridges have a tendency to go nose down when loading. OK that's the negative stuff.
It cost $169 so big deal to all the above. It is not a custom built 1911 but then it doesn't cost $3000 to $5000 either. It is compact and quit slim. Really a small gun compared with most full sized guns today. How does it shoot?
Surprisingly it shoots pretty well. Absolutely no problem hitting a man sized target in the body core at 25 meters. This is the standard they are required to meet. Had a couple of FTF until I figured out the cartridges were nose down in the mag. Load the mag give it a firm tap with your knuckles or on the bench. Cartridges come up to proper alignment and away you go. Perfect reliability after I learned this little trick.
As I said trigger is heavy but you get used to it. I was coming from a target gun with a 1.5lb trigger so I thought I was trying to lift a truck. Having said that it is no worse than most double action triggers out there. You get used to it. After the first 20 rounds I was putting most shots within 3-4" at 10 yards. Good enough.
The 7.62x 25 cartridge is snappy but not really a problem. You usually see some burning powder come out of the barrel but nothing like a Coonan. Lots of fun to shoot. Blaze away. If it breaks through it away and get a new one.
The TT 33 uses a system based on the 1911 with some modifications, for ease of production mostly. This gun shows you how sound the basic Browning design is. A very crudely made gun to the point there are machining marks on the feed path, barrel, slides etc. etc. Works exactly as it was designed to. Oh, no real safety, just a half ####. Strips mostly the same as a 1911 but with a few minor wrinkles.
Conclusion, happy to add it to my collection of Soviet WW2 era firearms. Very similar to the others, not going to win any prizes for production quality etc. but it works as it is supposed to. Not going to throw my Pardini away but I am happy with the TT 33.
The build quality and finish are very dubious nothing is smooth or polished, the barrel bore looks like they applied to much pressure when drilling. It is a bit rough. Trigger is HEAVY. Magazines are poor quality and the cartridges have a tendency to go nose down when loading. OK that's the negative stuff.
It cost $169 so big deal to all the above. It is not a custom built 1911 but then it doesn't cost $3000 to $5000 either. It is compact and quit slim. Really a small gun compared with most full sized guns today. How does it shoot?
Surprisingly it shoots pretty well. Absolutely no problem hitting a man sized target in the body core at 25 meters. This is the standard they are required to meet. Had a couple of FTF until I figured out the cartridges were nose down in the mag. Load the mag give it a firm tap with your knuckles or on the bench. Cartridges come up to proper alignment and away you go. Perfect reliability after I learned this little trick.
As I said trigger is heavy but you get used to it. I was coming from a target gun with a 1.5lb trigger so I thought I was trying to lift a truck. Having said that it is no worse than most double action triggers out there. You get used to it. After the first 20 rounds I was putting most shots within 3-4" at 10 yards. Good enough.
The 7.62x 25 cartridge is snappy but not really a problem. You usually see some burning powder come out of the barrel but nothing like a Coonan. Lots of fun to shoot. Blaze away. If it breaks through it away and get a new one.
The TT 33 uses a system based on the 1911 with some modifications, for ease of production mostly. This gun shows you how sound the basic Browning design is. A very crudely made gun to the point there are machining marks on the feed path, barrel, slides etc. etc. Works exactly as it was designed to. Oh, no real safety, just a half ####. Strips mostly the same as a 1911 but with a few minor wrinkles.
Conclusion, happy to add it to my collection of Soviet WW2 era firearms. Very similar to the others, not going to win any prizes for production quality etc. but it works as it is supposed to. Not going to throw my Pardini away but I am happy with the TT 33.
