Last year I had attended an estate sale of a World War II veteran and successfully got the winning bid on a "bring back" Tokarev. It is a 1943 arrow in a triangle in a circle production. I've read that this denotes a Tula factory relocated further east into the Soviet Union during the Nazi invasion. It lacks the usual pre and post war black bakelite grip panels and instead is adorned with checkered wooden grips. The pistol has matching serial numbers on the frame, slide, barrel, hammer assembly, and magazine and is in 95% blued condition with no wear of the metal parts. Since the Russian officer who it probably once belonged to never practiced good firearm hygiene where corrosive ammo is concerned, the inside barrel is badly pitted. I use a spare Yugoslavian barrel if I want to do any serious shooting with it.

   The stories this old pistol must have.

 

  Here's my 1943 TT33 in it's full glory!
 
 

  It's wonderful that this pistol lacks that clumsy safety lever!
 

  The Tokarev uses military surplus or reloaded ammo. Starting from the left is my favorite cartridge, the Polish manufacture ammo from the 1950's. Next is my reload using Starline brass with either my 100gr Lee bullets or the Penn Bullet Co. 90gr as shown on the very right. Bullets are always sized to .308".
 

  Another goody to have is a Tokarev holster to accent your pistol. This type from China is tanned leather with shoulder strap and is lined in blue corduroy. There is a spare magazine pouch on the holster and a twin pouch carried separately on the belt.

Tokarev's are become harder to find, but they do appear sometimes in pawn shops, private collections, and gunshows. Hopefully, one day importation of the Russian Tokarevs will once again resume.