Tokarev TT33 primer strike

[red_bailey]

The 1951 has a notch on the hammer that when it is fired the hammer with this notch slows down the travel of the slide. This is just enough to jolt the firing pin back in to the channel and prevents it from contacting the rear of the cartridge after initial strike on the primer. While 1944 being earlier production gun has no notch and the drag marks are more common on cartridges that were fired in tokarev with early hammers.
type 54 and other post war tok variants have this notch. Polish toks are copy of earlier soviet toks and that is why they have these drag marks on primers.

g76

I had a quick look in the safes this morning, and out of all my Tokarev variants, only one Chinese (M213) and one Soviet (war-time but a re-furb) have this notch in the hammer. The remainder are smooth.

Next time at the range I'll take a few down and see just what type of marks they leave on primers, then I'll swap hammers and look for a difference. If this works, I'll report back.

I'll take things apart and measure, see if there's a chance to modify smooth hammers if this is a solution. Measure firing pins and protrusions, too.