TT33 Cutaway

[eos]

Recently acquired this cutaway TT. I have yet to ascertain it's national origin.

Serial number is one Latin letter followed by 4 digits and no proof marks (which I suppose means it was a purpose built cutaway and not a conversion from a service pistol).

Feel free to comment/speculate.

 

[wheaty]

They came out of Bulgaria about 20 years ago to Century Arms (International) when they were in Montreal. A UK dealer bought them except for a few that were sold here in Canada. Quebec wanted to register them while other jurisdictions did not want to. They sold for around $125 at the time. I seem to recall they were a slow mover and got down to under $100 before they were all scooped by the UK dealer. We never know how good we had it when Century was in Canada....

 

[eos]

They came out of Bulgaria about 20 years ago to Century Arms (International) when they were in Montreal. A UK dealer bought them except for a few that were sold here in Canada. Quebec wanted to register them while other jurisdictions did not want to. They sold for around $125 at the time. I seem to recall they were a slow mover and got down to under $100 before they were all scooped by the UK dealer. We never know how good we had it when Century was in Canada....

Thanks for the information. Could not find a good picture of a Bulgarian to compare it with. The front sight made me think of the Yugoslavian TT variants but the slide serrations did not jive.

BTW, Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet? The letter in my serial number is a distinct Latin "U"

Century? Hell, yes we had it good then.

 

[Calum]

It's also not a Hungarian Minta.

 

[bas]

With those slide serrations I would have said war time Soviet. I had a look in Datig's book, Soviet Russian Tokarev "TT" Pistols and on pg 79 he describes a similar pistol (photos on pgs 86-88).

Datig theorises that its made in Poland on Soviet tooling that was sent there shortly after the war.

 

[eos]

With those slide serrations I would have said war time Soviet. I had a look in Datig's book, Soviet Russian Tokarev "TT" Pistols and on pg 79 he describes a similar pistol (photos on pgs 86-88).

Datig theorises that its made in Poland on Soviet tooling that was sent there shortly after the war.

Thanks. This info seems more likely given the slide serrations and use of Latin letters but the front sight shape is still enigmatic.

 

[bas]

Sorry was being lazy, I should have quoted the text:

A most interesting cutaway demonstration specimen is shown in the illistrations on pages 86 and 87. The only markings in evidence are the digital grouping "000075-21-1951", engraved on the hammer group and the digit 112 stamped into the underside of the barrel. Of the former it is believed that the number 21 is an arms code for Poland and the 1951 represents a date, possibly the year of the sectioning.

Of special note are the original type of side serrations in contrast to those employed on post 1945 dated TT pistols. Contrarily when comparing the right-side views of the original TT with the postwar Tokarev pistol, it may be noticed that the curved lower line on the front of the slide, arcing to a position adjoining the forward extremity of the frame is cut at a much wider angle on the postwar than the original. (This arc is relatively identical to that of the same festure on Polish VIS wz35 Radom pistols).

It may also be noted that the front sight blade is of a different contour and height on the two types, the cutaway bearing the postwar version. In summation of these features, one might state that this basic specimen in question, sectioning apart, could be termed a transition between TT pistols of the original and postwar patterns, bearing features of both.

It is believed that the U.S.S.R sold a set of TT tooling to Poland early in the postwar period but of the noted Polish speciments the original type of arced slide conture and slide serrations were retained whereas on Soviet Russian examples dated between 1947 and 1953 inclusive, they were not. The compsition hard-rubber grip-plates, though retaining the familiar 5-pointed star, are lacking the accompanying C C C P (SSSR) lettering. This was to become the norm for TT pistols made in the Soviet Union for and/or domestically by the Peoples Republic of China.

This unusual specimen has been sectionalized to a much greater extent than any other cutaway demonstration firearm as yet personally encountered, the magazine alone bearing nine seperate cuts! No mass produced version of the TT pistol despite origin or nationality (Soviet Russian, Polish, Chinese, Hungarian, Yugoslavian, North Korean etc) has been found to be identical to specimens of the cutaway in guestion

(Boy, I forgot how he can go on!).

On closer inspection, the pistol in his book is identical to the one you've posted here including the front sight and locations of the sectional cuts. The only exception is that the magazine has been sectionalized and it still retains the left (sectionalized) grip.

 

[eos]

Sorry was being lazy, I should have quoted the text:



(Boy, I forgot how he can go on!).

On closer inspection, the pistol in his book is identical to the one you've posted here including the front sight and locations of the sectional cuts. The only exception is that the magazine has been sectionalized and it still retains the left (sectionalized) grip.

Thank you very, very much for the full quote. The magazine of mine has one sectioning but it is above the trigger stirrup, left side. Oddly, the frame was not sectioned to show it. I should acquire a grip panel for it.

I was able to find one much like your description on a vendor's site in France: