Anyone Have Any Russian or "ComBlock" Firearms to Share?

[les.b]

I am mostly a Smith and Wesson admirer and collector. After the Smiths, I probably have more Colts than anything.

But as a boy growing up during the Cold War, and being scared to death when the Russians launched "Sputnik", I have always been intrigued by Russian, Warsaw Pact, and Chinese Communist military gear, especially firearms. So back in the 1980s, when we first started to see bits and pieces of stuff coming in from places like China (first, if I remember correctly), I was curious. I'll bet a lot of others were, as well.

Anyway, little by little I would pick up something here and there, but while guns were coming in slowly, there wasn't much ammo to shoot in them, and American companies weren't making any at that time.

I thought that maybe some of you folks have had similar experiences, and would like to share some photos and stories. Like I said, this isn't my main interest, but I have a few things and experiences to share,

So let me start out with a handgun that I ran across in the back of the safe the other day. It is a Russian made Makarov, apparently original military, in the correct 9mm Makarov caliber, dated 1987, and with an original Russian military holster and belt, also dated 1980s.



The Soviet medals are really a little out of the correct era, the Order of the Red Star is earlier, and although the Order of the Great Patriotic War was made in the 1980s, it was probably for issue to a WWII vet who had lost his, or had never been issued. I thought they added a nice touch, though.

Please share any photos and or stories, lore, related to these interesting firearms, or correct me in any errors that I might make as we go along.

Best Regards, Les

 

[Engine49guy]

Found this 51 pattern Chinese Tokarev in a local shop marked $100, Suspected it was an early Korean war bring back but alas no paperwork .



Shown below with a Polish Radom Tokarev import from 1955


CZ-52, Interesting gun with roller locking lug system:


Radom made Polish P-64 "Makarov" (More like a PPK than a Makarov ).

 

[Richard Simmons]

Nice pistols. The closest I can come are these four long guns, L-R: Albania, Yugoslavia, China and Russia.

 

[les.b]

Found this 51 pattern Chinese Tokarev in a local shop marked $100, Suspected it was an early Korean war bring back but alas no paperwork .



Shown below with a Polish Radom Tokarev import from 1955


CZ-52, Interesting gun with roller locking lug system:


Radom made Polish P-64 "Makarov" (More like a PPK than a Makarov ).

Engine49guy:

That's the stuff!! I was hoping I wasn't the only one around here with some of these treasures!!! I also have a Chinese Tokarev which is a bringback without docs, and will post it as soon as I can find a picture. That's a beauty.

I start back to school next week, and all of my firearms reference books are in my office there. I will try to keep track of some of these nice finds and their markings in some of the references.

Love your other selections as well.

Thanks for sharing with us!!!

Best Regards, Les

 

[Papaw]

1943 Mosin Nagant 91/30 from the Tula arsenal. A real brute.

 

[les.b]

Nice pistols. The closest I can come are these four long guns, L-R: Albania, Yugoslavia, China and Russia.

Richard:

That's pretty impressive: Albanians were/are about as scarce as "hen's teeth" in my necklace of the woods!! To have those four all together is pretty cool. I haven't tried lately, but at one time I was looking for an Albanian SKS, and there were only a few imported, if I remember correctly. The Russians are pretty scarce too, and of course all of the variants were made under "license" from the USSR, and usually with loans of and help setting up the tooling. Sometimes one of the "autonomous respublics" would tweet the design a little, as we see here with the Albanian and Yugoslavian versions, but the design stayed pretty consistent.

Thanks for sharing!!

Best Regards, Les

 

[JaPes]

I own a single AK-47, an IZHMASH IZ132Z AKM. One of the last batch ordered by the importer before the U.S. trade sanctions against Russia prohibited any new orders.

Started out looking like this CAI cheap furniture hot mess.

It now looks like:

 

[les.b]

I own a single AK-47, an IZHMASH IZ132Z AKM. One of the last batch ordered by the importer before the U.S. trade sanctions against Russia prohibited any new orders.

Started out looking like this CAI cheap furniture hot mess.

It now looks like:

JaPes:

Very cool. The AK series of firearms are really a whole field of study in and of themselves. They are probably the most prevalent firearm on the planet, and one of the ones with the most variations. Yours is pretty cool....

Thanks for sharing with us.

Best Regards, Les

 

[les.b]

1943 Mosin Nagant 91/30 from the Tula arsenal. A real brute.

Papaw:

Well, that's one of my aliases too: "Papaw", AKA "Pappy". You have a beautiful Mosin there. Looks like it's in good shape. Do you shoot it much? I have a few that I'll post sooner or later, and the cartridge is phenomenal. Capable of better accuracy than I am.

Thanks for letting us see your fine Russian treasure.

Best Regards, Les

 

[Cyrano]

1, 2, 3. Chicom Tokarev. When I was still in the Army, my boss sold it to me for $70 and wouldn't take any more. His kid was geting into it and he was worried. He was a District Senior Advisor in the Parrot's Beak area and picked this one up from a NVA 2d Lt killed in an Arc Light strike. It had capture papers and I put them somewhere for safe keeping. They're safe all right; I haven't been able to find them for 20 odd years.

4, 5. PPSh 41, dated 1944. I think it came out of Korea. I've put a few thousand rounds, mostly cast bullet handloads, down it. I have a couple of drum magazines but they're unreliable,and I shoot it with the 32 round stick magazines.

 

[JohnRippert]

Well, lets see.



Chinese SKS

Chinese Type 53

CZ52's

This M28-76 started off as a Russian hex receiver.

Yugo

3 Russians and a Hungarian

ETA: How did I forget my Bulgy Mak

ETA again!: Must be having my senior moments a little early. I had a AK put together using one of the pristine Romanian "G" kits on a 1.5mm receiver by Armoury USA which was located here in Houston before they folded. Very nice shooter but I prefer tha AR platform so this one gets little love these days. If you know who wins the election it will probably go on the block when the panic buying starts again.

 

[Warren Sear]

Here is my East German Makarov with a few goodies.

I was fortunate enough to be there just as the wall was being opened. It was really something to see.

 

[les.b]

1, 2, 3. Chicom Tokarev. When I was still in the Army, my boss sold it to me for $70 and wouldn't take any more. His kid was geting into it and he was worried. He was a District Senior Advisor in the Parrot's Beak area and picked this one up from a NVA 2d Lt killed in an Arc Light strike. It had capture papers and I put them somewhere for safe keeping. They're safe all right; I haven't been able to find them for 20 odd years.

4, 5. PPSh 41, dated 1944. I think it came out of Korea. I've put a few thousand rounds, mostly cast bullet handloads, down it. I have a couple of drum magazines but they're unreliable,and I shoot it with the 32 round stick magazines.

Cyrano:

I was hoping you would have something up your sleeve!!!

Those are two dandies!!! I love the Tokarevs, and the PPSh 41 is a treasure indeed!!! I love it!!! One ting about the cast bullet handloads, they will never wear out the bore. Great contribution to the thread.

Thanks for jumping in!!

Best Regards, Les

 

[Cyrano]

1, 2. Croatian PHP M7. Don't know whether this qualifies for a ComBlock weapon. There's a short barrreled version, too. Mechanism is a lot llike a Beretta 92. This one thought it was a PPSh-41 so I got rid of it.

3. Two Shanxi copies of the broomhandle in 45 ACP. The one with the stock was actually made in 1930 under the Chang Kai Shek regieme, but was sold to the US in the 1980s by the ChiComs. The other one I think is a replica made by the ChiComs to augment the number of pistols they sold to us in the 1980s.

4, 5. CZ 52 with issue holster. These were mostly rebuilt but the rebuilds looked like new when they sold them in the 1980s. This one has a bad habit: if you push the safety up to drop the hammer, a chambered round will fire.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't have them anymore, but at one time I had...

Three Chinese Type 56 Mosin-Nagants
Two Yugo SKS's
Russian Nagant Revolver
CZ-83
Bulgarian Makarov

I never fired the Mosin's or the Nagant Revolver...or one of the SKS's now that I think of it.

They were all fun to have for the time I had them though.

 

[scoobysnacker]

I have a few, give me awhile to gather up some photos.

A couple of Norinco T-54's in 9mm, that may or may not have began life as issued 7.62x25 before they were given the crappy import safety and sent over here. Standard Tok mags fit.

East German Makarov
Hungarian PA 63, it came with the original holster (which I traded for a lefthanded bianchi Walther PP holster it fits perfectly in)
CZ 82 from Czechoslovakia
Polish P64

Yugo SKS

 

[Mexican Kerry]

I've got a couple of Norinco pistols, pretty good iron for the money. I'll buy these for 250 bucks all week long.

And I have two Norinco "clones" of the Win 1887.

 

[STCM(SW)]

Only one I have. Date is 1941.


Worse SA & DA I have ever shot!

 

[les.b]

Here is my East German Makarov with a few goodies.

I was fortunate enough to be there just as the wall was being opened. It was really something to see.

Warren:

If you only have one Makarov, that's the one to have! I have one, and it is machined like a Walther. Beautiful craftsmanship. The Germans took the Makarov design, but exercised a level of craftsmanship that one usually doesn't see from some of the other communist arms manufacturers.

I would have loved to have been there when the wall came down!!! What an experience to reflect on, and a world changing event. Not to mention the later implications for folks behind the iron curtain, whose lives began to change afterwards.

Thanks for sharing the Makarov and accessories. Truly relics of a time which most of our children and grandchildren know little about.

Best Regards, Les

 

[Marshwheeling]

This CZ 52 was my, first gun:

Actually, I got this CZ 50 at the same time, but in shot the 52 first:

This FEG came along more recently: