In the United States, I think most gun owners who have heard about the TT-33, aka the Tokarev, respect it. They are a little obscure, but lots of folks have one in their collection, and it’s often a neat little gun. What Americans don’t really understand is how popular the Tokarev was across the world.
The Tokarev Versus The World
In many ways, it’s the AK of handguns for Communist military forces. Variants of the TT-33 were spread far and wide through Eastern Europe, Asia, and beyond. This has left a lasting impression on the world and has steadily influenced the arm’s designs of Eastern Europe and Asia.
Today, we will look at some oddball Tokarevs that are offshoots and evolutions of the weapon.
The North Korean Type 68
North Korea does some weird stuff. They tend to take proven designs and modify them for reasons beyond me. Maybe work more on your folks not starving to death and less on modifying working designs. The North Korean Type 68 blends the Tokarev features with the Browning Hi-Power features to create an interesting little gun.
Off the top, the North Koreans trimmed the barrel from 4.6 inches to 4.25 inches. The linking system was revised to essentially mimic the Browning-style cam. The Type 68 also used a detent-retained barrel pin similar to the Hi-Power and a solid barrel cam.
They moved the magazine release to the heel rather than a push-button arrangement. The Type 68 could use a standard TT-33 magazine, but Type 68 mags reportedly do not work in TT-33 guns. The Type 68 features an odd vent rib across the top of the gun. It’s actually a handsome little pistol.
Tokagypt 58
A Tokarev, designed in Hungary for an Egyptian contract, is certainly an interesting gun. The Tokagypt 58 was built by the famed Hungarian firm FEG with the intent of arming the Egyptian military. These weren’t too far off from a standard TT-33 but had some noticeable changes.
First, it’s a 9mm handgun rather than a 7.62x25mm gun. The swap between the 7.62 to 9mm isn’t difficult, and most Tokarevs can swap to 9mm with a barrel swap. The Tokagypt 58 featured a manual safety placed at the rear of the gun that was easy to access. The gun had wrap-around grips, and the lanyard loop changed a bit, but that was about it.
Egypt received half of its order before canceling the rest. The pistols were then sold in Europe, where they kept popping up in left-wing terrorist groups in Germany, Portugal, and Spain. Reportedly, they are very nice guns, and Norinco even made 7.62×25 copies of them.
K-14VN
The K-14VN, also sometimes spelled K14-VN, is a Vietnamese copy of the Chinese Type 54, which is a copy of the TT-33. Now, it’s starting to lose definition like a picture downloaded and uploaded repeatedly. However, the K-14VN does introduce a radical new feature!
A double-stacked magazine! That’s right. This 7.62x25mm pistol can hold 13 rounds of ammo rather than eight. The K-14VN features a wider grip and has a sleek, all-black look. Simple grip panels adorn the gun; it’s not all that remarkable outside of the double-stacked magazine.
Aimpoint dolled one up with a suppressor and ACRO years ago for a trade show, and I won’t lie—I really want an optic-ready Tokarev. The K-14VN continues to be used by the Vietnamese military.
Zastava M88
Yugoslavia has always been creative when it comes to WARSAW pact weapons. They’ve adopted and adapted various guns in their own way. That includes the Tokarev. They have eight gun adaptions, but the M88 is the most interesting. With just a passing glance, you might not even recognize it as a Tok descendant.
The M88 doesn’t look like a Tok. It came in 9mm and .40 S&W, making it the only .40 S&W Tok I know. The M88 uses a single-stack magazine but takes a more compact route. The barrel is trimmed to 3.5 inches. It has a massive slide safety on top of everything. The hammer is the main giveaway that it has a Tokarev legacy.
It’s a stout pistol used by police and military forces before being replaced by a more modern pistol. EAA and the K-VAR/FIME group have imported these guns. It’s a solid little pistol, and I think my collection needs one.
Tokarev Sportowy .22 LR
Like most Warsaw Pact countries, the Polish fielded the Tokarev. They also wanted a cheaper way to train soldiers to shoot a handgun. They developed a .22LR version of the TT-33, called the Sportowy, which translates to Sporty. I’d guess it was also used for sport shooting purposes.
The Tokarev Sportowy predictably ditches the short recoil operation for a blowback system to cycle .22LR. The gun is likely much higher, but it appears to replicate the size of the standard TT-33. What’s weird is how the Polish designed the gun. Instead of having a dedicated .22LR magazine and grip design, they used 7.62x25mm adapters. Each adapter would be loaded with a .22LR round and used with a standard TT-33 magazine.
Each adapter is a floating chamber, which would help the gun cycle and even create a more aggressive recoil impulse. It’s an odd choice, but it might have been easier to produce since magazines are always tricky and would have given a better training experience.
Tik-Tok
The Tokarev is an awesome gun, and everyone needs to shoot one. It’s sad that many modified Tokarevs are not imported or available. However, if you keep your eyes and wallet open, finding a good shooter at a great price is not hard. Maybe, just maybe, you can get a weird one.
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