Cleaning up my new Tokarev TT33 (pic heavy)

blueskies

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I bought a new (well new to me) Tokarev TT33 from Reliable for $199.

After waiting 3 weeks for my ATT I picked it up last week.

The pistol came with a nice leather holster and one magazine. It also had wood grips. I prefer them to the plastic ones.

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It was heavily coated in cosmoline.

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I followed a youtube video on how to strip the pistol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ionYDTkBjO0

The parts were smothered in cosmoline

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I soaked all the parts in Varsol and it started dissolving the cosmoline very quickly. I bushed the parts off to remove all it all. Varsol works very well but keep it away from wood. I bought the low odour type so I could use it indoors.

I used a blueing liquid to cover up light scratches. I then gave a light coat of oil to all the parts and they were ready to reassemble.

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The Tokarev cleaned up pretty good for a gun made in 1945.

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This is a holster I bought on Ebay for $17.

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Now I have to find out how it shoots.
 
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wood grips?????

was it someone's trade in/used gun or direct import from eastern europe???

I love the pistol, dont like the grip too much, too slippery for my liking
 
It's funny, but now that I am going to have an RPAL (application is sent), guns that I never noticed before (such as the TT-33) start looking kind of cool. Nice job on cleaning it up. Hope it shoots well for you.
 
Good tutorial... I will have to do the exact same thing as you. Mine is caked in cosmoline. I bought an extra mag at TradeEx which looks almost new. Where did you get the extra mags? Also, how did you take the mags apart? I thought it was like my Sig 226 mags where you push in the pin on the bottom and slide the plate over... but it looks different. There is cosmo inside the mags.
 
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I bought the extra mags at Reliable. To strip the mags you suppress the small tab in the bottom and slide open the base. At the end of the youtube video I linked to there is a part on the mags.

Good tutorial... I will have to do the exact same thing as you. Mine is caked in cosmoline. I bought an extra mag at TradeEx which looks almost new. Where did you get the extra mags? Also, how did you take the mags apart? I thought it was like my Sig 226 mags where you push in the pin on the bottom and slide the plate over... but it looks different. There is cosmo inside the mags.
 
It's not my dream gun but for for the price it's good value for money and cheap to shoot with surplus ammo. It's also interesting as an historical piece and they are said to be very reliable and quite accurate.

Been thinking about buying one of these..I mean less than $200 for a gun, you can't go wrong
 
My shooting buddy just bought one of these withe the holster and one mag for $178. It is accurate, super reliable and packs a lot of punch also. Worth every dime and then some. Cheap ammo as well.
 
I just cleaned mine today. Wasn't quite as dirty as yours. My mags were just caked in that crap, inside. Pretty gross. Mine is pretty nice. The bore is really nice, other than a little holster wear there are no cosmetic issues. Going to hit the range with it tomorrow and hopefully it will shoot well. I'm always nervous the first time I shoot a surplus firearm... A little worried about the really short grip. My hands are huge. Anyway, here it is:
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Oops, need a Q-Tip to get that cosmo outta there ^
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Nice TT :)

Look at getting the small houge wrap around grip...will beef it up a little bit. Remember people back then were a bit smaller and like a lot of WWII handguns and training they were designed to be shot one handed
 
TT's are great. Ive had one for a while. I always joked that out of all these old outdated pistols I WOULD NOT feel undergunned in a gun fight with a Tokarev. That little sucker packs a punch!!!!!
 
You can also hit targets 100yards away with little to no hold over...aim for the head and you will hit them in the chest!!! Pretty impressive for a 70ish year old $200 gun!!!
 
Ironically "It should be noted that U.S. Army manuals on Soviet Bloc small arms have stated that Czech 7.62mm vzor 48 ammunition(pretty sure this is our surplus ammo in this caliber) should not be used in Tokarev-type pistols, regardless of their country of origin"
That said, I ran about 1500 rds through a Norc Tokaregypt with 7.62 bbl and mag's. After I knocked out the 2nd bbl bushing I bought a FSU one from tradex and sold the 7.62 bbl, mag's and ammo.
It was awesome to shoot. Embarrasses 9 X 19mm, but...almost like a fast street bike. Scary if you stop and ponder it a moment.
But a great gun non-the-less
 
Ironically "It should be noted that U.S. Army manuals on Soviet Bloc small arms have stated that Czech 7.62mm vzor 48 ammunition(pretty sure this is our surplus ammo in this caliber) should not be used in Tokarev-type pistols, regardless of their country of origin"
That said, I ran about 1500 rds through a Norc Tokaregypt with 7.62 bbl and mag's. After I knocked out the 2nd bbl bushing I bought a FSU one from tradex and sold the 7.62 bbl, mag's and ammo.
It was awesome to shoot. Embarrasses 9 X 19mm, but...almost like a fast street bike. Scary if you stop and ponder it a moment.
But a great gun non-the-less

Why? Due to higher than prescribed velocity? I've read that this is not the case and is incorrect. That all the surplus/factory 7.62x25 is extremely close in pressure and velocity. Average velocity is supposed to be 1450 f/s for surplus. Think this is a non-issue.
 
LOL, hell I shot almost a case of it. Don't get crazy on me. I'm not diss'ing the weapon or the round.
I always did wonder though; it sure is hot...
Some numbers are as high as 1600 fps with 86 gr FMJ
And after it started knocking the bbl bushings out ( Granted Norc quality is hit / miss at best ) I said I think I've had enough fun. If it was an FSU pistol and not a Norc I might have stayed the course. But sera. sera.
 
Not this again...

There is NOT 2 types of 7.62x25 rounds...it varies in strength country to country (exp. Romanian ammo I find is garbage in any caliber) but think, how STUPID who it be to have 2 types of one round? One that works in a pistol and one that blows it up...

Logistics nightmare...

Your shooting hot ammo out of a Chinese gun...that to me, seems to be the issue. How many complaints to be see on here of someones RUSSIAN TT-33 getting damaged from the ammo that 99% of people with these guns shoot?
 
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