Friend of mine deals in surplus guns. He's getting me a 7.62x25mm Tokarev pistol for $128 - delivered.
Can anyone suggest a good book that will tell me how to maintain this pistol? I want to learn how to dissassemble it, make minor repairs, etc.
What do you all think of these guns? I was impressed by the velocity of the round, but I'll end up reloading for it- hopefully with cast bullets.
Thanks

There are a couple of different pistols that can be called "Tokarev". Probably the most common is the CZ-52. You can read more about it at www.makarov.com, and several other places. They have a reputation of being very decent firearms.

There is a submachine gun round that is loaded quite a bit hotter than the CZ-52 "likes", that is sometimes sold as CZ-52 ammo. Be careful.

If it is a russian , polish or chinese TT-33 type it comes apart like a 1911a-1. Mark

Get a CZ-52, a much more refined pistol than a Tokarev, bothe shoot the 7.62x25 round. Clark will probably chime in, with if you load 100grs of Bullseye with a 200gr bullet in a CZ it will crack the barrel!

Thanks for the replys. It is a CZ-52. I'm not real familiar with these pistols but that will soon change. I am going to try and turn a firing pin before I fire mine. My friends firing pin broke on his.
I'll watch out for that machine gun ammo. I think that's what my friend had. It was very hot and it gave a tremendous muzzle flash. It was old 1954 dated military ammo.
Thanks again for the help. I'm already printing out a manual from that site.

I've had a CZ-52 going on 3 years now... it's a nice pistol and it hits pretty hard and accurate. Just don't dry fire it, the pins are cast. Makarov.com has forged replacement firing pins (and thumbable slide releases) available. Hogue handall (large) fits pretty nice if the grips not to your liking.

I mistakenly bought some of that SMG ammo when I got my cz. It was Bulgarian manf. and the flash coming out of the ejection port was mighty impressive, let alone the muzzle flash. I'd been told by some guys that x25 was a "hot" round and at that point I was definitely believing them, this stuff went off so hard it made my trigger finger sting. I didn't find out about the Bulg. ammo until I'd used all 100 rounds of it that I'd bought. Too bad, it was really cheap, too.

Starline Brass makes casings that are affordable, and I'm working up some loads to test out with Hornady 100 grain XTP's. and AA #7. These combloc guns are .311 bore, so .312 ammo (32 cal) works really well.
A friend of mine also has a CZ and put together a load with WIN 231 and Speer Gold dot 60 grains. His powder charge was weak though and didn't cycle the action, so he's hotting them up to re-test. I bought Lee dies, but they don't make carbide in this caliber, so I can't get away without lubing the casings.
CDNN has about the best prices for used mags that I know of.

If you work up any load please let me know... I'll post any that are successful. You were the only hit I found in the threads about Tokarev ammo.


Shoot well, and live.

A Tokarev pistol, as designed by Tokarev, will cost twice as much $ as a CZ52 [fires the Tokarev cartridge].



I have lots of both.

You get what you pay for.

The CZ52 and the Nagant revolver are the cheapest pistols for sale in the US right now.

If you feel like bottom fishing, go ahead.



Some history on the Tokarev pistol



Background on the CZ52



I personally like the Tokarev and consider an improvement over the Colt 1911 [which I have lots of]. I like to get a 9mm barrel and ream it to 9x23mm Winchester. This really makes the Tokarev rock. The 158 gr. XTP and 8 gr. Power Pistol is the max 357 mag load, but I shoot 16 gr. of Power Pistol with this bullet in my Tokarev, with a shorter OAL than the 357 mag. Firing 7 rounds of that rapid fire, and keeping it on the paper requires some concentration, as the recoil is horrific.



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