Cold War Pistols in 7.62x25

TJm15.38 · Mar 24, 2023

I've collected several "Cold War" pistols over the years. These three are all chambered in 7.62x25 Tokarev. The single pistol photo is a CZ-52 manufactured in 1954 and refurbished 1984. It's an interesting Czech design that was supposed to be chambered in 9x19, but the Soviets in the 1950's forced the Czechs to chamber it in 7.62x25 in order to have commonality of ammunition within the Warsaw Pact. It uses a recoil action with roller locks similar to the MG-42 machine gun. The other two pieces are a Radom (Polish) TTC (top) and Cugir (Romanian) TT-33 (bottom), copies of the Russian TT-33 design from pre-WWII. The original Tokarev had no manual safety, nor did either of these pistols until they were refurbished and the US made them add the safeties or they couldn't be imported. They are good shooters, but the add on safety gets in the way. Thanks for looking.

Fishinfool · Mar 24, 2023

Nice collection. I bought one of those CZ-52's years ago, when they were being imported cheap. Got ahold of some Czech 7.62x25 ammo, and boy was that stuff hot. Felt like firing a .357 mag. The .30 Super Carry, years before its time? .....

Larry

ralph7 · Mar 24, 2023

I had a CZ-52 as well.
Beware doing a hammer drop on a live cartridge, they are notorious for firing without touching the trigger, happened to me.

Echo40 · Mar 24, 2023

Very nice.

I have one of the Romanian Tokarev TT-33C models by Cugir, but unfortunately I have something of a love-hate relationship with it because the online retailer that I purchased it from grossly misrepresented it as; "Meticulously reconditioned and refinished by the factory" yet it arrived in absolutely terrible condition with rust all over it and inside of it, the magazine was completely rusted out, and the safety lever fell out the first time that I broke it down to clean it.

Even after I cleaned it up, it looked like this...

My Romanian TT-33C "Meticulously reconditioned and refinished" according to the seller.

Worse yet, I could have bought an Italian police trade-in Beretta 92S for the same price. So yeah, never quite warmed up to it.

TJm15.38 · Mar 24, 2023

ralph7 said:
I had a CZ-52 as well.
Beware doing a hammer drop on a live cartridge, they are notorious for firing without touching the trigger, happened to me.

Yeah, it's got a weird de-cocker on it which I wouldn't trust with a round in the chamber. Not even sure why they put that in the design since it is single action only.

TJm15.38 · Mar 24, 2023

Forte Smitten Wesson said:
Very nice.

I have one of the Romanian Tokarev TT-33C models by Cugir, but unfortunately I have something of a love-hate relationship with it because the online retailer that I purchased it from grossly misrepresented it as; "Meticulously refitted and reconditioned by the factory" yet it arrived in absolutely terrible condition with rust all over it and inside of it, the magazine was completely rusted out, and the safety lever fell out the first time that I broke it down to clean it.

Even after I cleaned it up, it looked like this...

"Meticulously refitted and reconditioned"

Worse yet, I could have bought an Italian police trade-in Beretta 92S for the same price. So yeah, never quite warmed up to it.

Both these Tokarevs were nicely finished and the Romanian had an absolute perfect bore, but about the second time I cleaned it the safety fell out just like yours. It was hell getting it back in. Of the two, I would give the edge to the Polish (Radom) even though it's bore had some wear. Radom in Poland has always put together quality guns.

TJm15.38 · Mar 24, 2023

Fishinfool said:
Nice collection. I bought one of those CZ-52's years ago, when they were being imported cheap. Got ahold of some Czech 7.62x25 ammo, and boy was that stuff hot. Felt like firing a .357 mag. The .30 Super Carry, years before its time? .....

Larry

Yeah; a really powerful cartridge, but probably overpenetrates like hell. I could never think about reloading this cartridge because all these pistols eject the fired cases somewhere between here and the moon.

Tex1001 · Mar 24, 2023

I got a deal about 20-22 years ago on a pile of Starline 7.62x25 brass for my 2 CZ-52s.
I load them with a max load of AA#9. You should see the fireball.

ETA:
It sure quiets the crowd with their .223 AR pistols.

)

Waldo · Mar 24, 2023

I bought a CZ 52 when they first started importing them. I thought the price was right so I got it. I have fired it a few times, but I am not real thrilled with it. In the early 1970s I met a guy who had a Viet Nam bring back Tokarev. It was priced fairly reasonable, but the ammo was impossible to find. When they started imposing them with the add-on safety, I did not want one. I hate government mandated safeties on C&R firearms. A few years ago someone imported the Yugoslav version. The main difference seems to be that the Yugoslav version has a magazine that hold one more round. One distributer had a version where the trigger was replaced with a trigger that had a safety lever in it, like a Glock. That was the only alteration. He also had the original triggers for sale. I bought one. I found a case of ammo and now have enough 7.62X25 ammo for the rest of my life. I have a Ruger Blackhawk in .30 Carbine and have contemplated seeing if I could find some one to make a 7.62X25 cylinder for it.

Echo40 · Mar 24, 2023

TJm15.38 said:
Both these Tokarevs were nicely finished and the Romanian had an absolute perfect bore, but about the second time I cleaned it the safety fell out just like yours. It was hell getting it back in. Of the two, I would give the edge to the Polish (Radom) even though it's bore had some wear. Radom in Poland has always put together quality guns.

Ugh, you just reminded me of something I forgot to mention... The barrel has a dent at the muzzle!

Personally, I'd say that the pinnacle of Soviet surplus sidearms was the FEG PA-63, which was essentially a clone of the Walther PP with an Aluminum frame chambered in 9x18 Makarov.
Seeing as Walther themselves actually approached FEG themselves with a deal to produce a low cost variant of the Walther PPK/S which was essentially just an FEG SMC-380 rebranded as the PPK/E, I'd say that speaks for itself regarding the quality of the pistols they produced.

Retired W4 · Mar 26, 2023

All very interesting threads. Here is a Chicom copy of the TT33 I brought back from Vietnam. It had a rough life in the jungles of SEA but works flawlessly.

TJm15.38 · Mar 26, 2023

Retired W4 said:
All very interesting threads. Here is a Chicom copy of the TT33 I brought back from Vietnam. It had a rough life in the jungles of SEA but works flawlessly.

I think it looks cool. You've got some Chicom ammo for it too. I have a good supply of commercial Norinco 7.62x25; good shooting stuff. It says it's noncorrosive, but I clean the pistol as if it is. You're Vietnam bring back is worth some money if you have documentation to verify. By the way, thanks for your service.

NY-1 · Mar 26, 2023

I was fortunate enough to stumble across this 1950s-era Chinese Type 54 from RGuns recently. It was imported with the Glock style trigger safety that can be removed by simply swapping out the trigger, and the import markings are discrete and on the bottom of the frame. Arsenal refinished and in surprisingly decent shape for its age. If only 7.62x25 ammo was a little more available these days!

Dave_n · Mar 26, 2023

I have two CZ-52s without safeties and a large supply of Czech surplus ammo. Never dry fire these pistols if you still have the original "iron"firing pins. A sure fire method of converting the pistol to a club! I replaced FPs in both with steel versions that were available around 30 years ago. Dave_n

Retired W4 · Mar 26, 2023

TJm15.38 said:
I think it looks cool. You've got some Chicom ammo for it too. I have a good supply of commercial Norinco 7.62x25; good shooting stuff. It says it's noncorrosive, but I clean the pistol as if it is. You're Vietnam bring back is worth some money if you have documentation to verify. By the way, thanks for your service.

We don't need no stinkin' badges, I mean documentation. It's called hole baggage, in a ship's hole.

Here is a P-64 I got recently at a local pawn shop. Walther like, no slide release, a loaded chamber indicator and a monster DA trigger pull, from 1969.

I guess I should have put the 64 in your 9x18 thread,

Puller · Mar 26, 2023

I bought a CZ52 back when they were under a hundred bucks and ammo was dirt cheap too. It's a fun gun to shoot, especially in low light. The original firing pins are quite fragile and I broke mine when I dry fired it and replaced it with an aftermarket stainless steel pin and have not had another problem.

Ivan the Butcher · Mar 26, 2023

TJm15.38 said:
Yeah; a really powerful cartridge, but probably overpenetrates like hell. I could never think about reloading this cartridge because all these pistols eject the fired cases somewhere between here and the moon.

I had a CZ-52 about 20 years ago, my best friend's son still has it. I also have a C-96 "Broomhandle Mauser", that spend long years in China.

If you are a reloader, ammo is very east to make! I have RCBS dies. I use full length sized 223 brass (or 5.56 NATO) and lube again and FL size in the 7.65x25 dies with the decapping stem removed. (I have a table top band saw to remove the LOOOONG neck) Then trim to length. I inside ream the neck to .308 at the same time as length trimming. (never found out if this was necessary or not, it just seemed like a good idea) Lyman cast bullet handbook has data. Load Hot of the CZ-52, and 30 Mauser loads for everything else.

The exact process makes 300 Blackout brass too, with the correct dies!

Ivan

2152hq · Mar 26, 2023

Puller said:
I bought a CZ52 back when they were under a hundred bucks and ammo was dirt cheap too. It's a fun gun to shoot, especially in low light. The original firing pins are quite fragile and I broke mine when I dry fired it and replaced it with an aftermarket stainless steel pin and have not had another problem.

I also bought one of the CZ52 pistols at the time they were cheap.
$100 bought a nice one.
SOG was my source.
It started out badly. The primo condition example came with a badly corroded bore. How could they have missed that.
They never sent the extra magazine advertised.
.
I did get it all straightened out with them eventually.

The pistol was fun for a while. Ammo was cheap but then the once in a while Ka-Booms reported on the Net with the Bulgarian (?) mfg surplus ammo (bnz headstamp IIRC) didn't make me feel so confident with it.

The firing pin never did break, so that was good.
I sold it for more than I bought it for,,another good thing.

Probably the best about the CZ52 adventure was after I had gotten free of it I saw an ad for Original CZ52 Leather Holsters w/ 2 org Magazines and Cleaning Rod...$14.99 .
Just as pic above.

I bought a dozen of those rigs and parted out the individual mags for $25 each at the time, the holsters for $20e. Don't remember what I did with the C/Rods. Maybe they went w/the holsters.
Big time Capitalist that I am.
I kept a couple of the holsters,,they fit the Star A, B , A/B Super pistols as well as the Walther P38/P1 perfectly and have used one for that. Gave the other away for the same use to a friend.

Cold War Pistols in 7.62x25

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