Mysterious TT's

dimon

dimon

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Newfoundland/Latvia
I am a huge fan of TT pistols and always thought that I knew a little bit about them. Most of my TT's are of Soviet origin and a war trophies.
However, some time ago I came upon of a couple of TT's that may be, IMHO, a bit unusual and different from other stock TT's. Vendors did say that these are of Chinese and Bulgarian origin and the price was right then. So, of course, I bought these rather out of curiosity and, indeed, these pistols turned out be well made and excellent shooters.
The fact that (from my very limited knowledge)Chinese never made TT pistols with wide serrations on slide and also the fact that I have never heard of Bulgaria producing TT variants sparked an urge to start "googling" these things.
The Chinese version with wide serrations led me to Pakistani and Russian resources where the opinions were divided between Chinese (Norinco) and Pakistani(Peshawar Arms) origin of this example. Any opinions on 11 in circle? Obviously its not Polish TT.
The Bulgarian one appears to be more interesting from the way it looks, to fit and finish. Appears to be that its slide sporting some features of Yugo TT and Colt 1911 type pistol. I sent email to Mr. St. Amour asking his opinion on this piece, but there was no response.
Its magazine also looks different from stock TT mag, as seen on photos. Some Internet resources say that this one is of Romanian origin Model 1951. Factory code of 21 corresponds to Romanian Cugir plant code. Here are some links:
http://www.theakforum.net/forums/70-eastern-bloc-pistols/124137-tokarev-article.html
http://digilander.libero.it/albanianfirearms/ttrumun.htm
http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/d...d-spec-rare-tokarev-t33-pistol/prod_2743.html
I am very interested in opinions of the board members about these particular TT's and also will welcome any reference material/links you guys may have.
Also please share images of your TT's of mysterious origin you have in your possession.
Here are the beasts:



 
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IMHO Polish TTs usually feature 11 in oval, their serial numbers begin with 2 letter prefix, just like Russian ones, also the year of manufacture is present on both frame and slide.
 
dimon said:
IMHO Polish TTs usually feature 11 in oval, their serial numbers begin with 2 letter prefix, just like Russian ones, also the year of manufacture is present on both frame and slide.
Click to expand...

This describes my Polish TT. And the serial number runs from the 11 back to the rear sight with no star on the grips.
 
dimon said:
IMHO Polish TTs usually feature 11 in oval, their serial numbers begin with 2 letter prefix, just like Russian ones, also the year of manufacture is present on both frame and slide.
Click to expand...
Yes I just looked at my 3 polish toks and they all had that type of serial # , maybe it was made in Poland for another country so the oval11 but different serial # setup!
 
The fact that 1951-21 TTs are Romanian is relatively new to me (thanks to cornelunc for educating me). Last time this 1951-21 was discussed here nobody was able to ID it, I recall this pistol. Now you need to find correct grips.
As for circle 11 - I incline to think it's Pakistani, interesting one.
 
I though so too until several Pakistani sources said that TTs made there do not have chrome lined barrels. This one does have chromed barrel with matching number. Barrel bushing also has a number matching to the rest of the pistol. Indeed this is very interesting pistol.
 
Well, if you're confused I don't know who won't be. But how do you determine if barrel is chrome-lined? I find it is almost impossible to tell on brand new guns.
 
I looked closely at the both ends of the barrel. There are visible areas where chrome lining stops. I also fired old corrosive ammo through this gun and didn't clean it for a bit. (Don't do it unless absolutely sure lol) Normally, as everybody knows, rust forms very rapidly inside of the non-chromed barrels, but this barrel was bright and shiny, just like new.
 
Well, then I don't know. I would ask on GB - there some knowledgeable collectors there especially when it comes to countries other than USSR.
 
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