Brief Operational History

In the summer of 1928, the Red Army made a decision to develop a 7.62 mm cartridge to be the standard ammunition for semi-automatic pistols and submachine guns.  This was done after the Artillery Committee found that the 7.63 Mauser cartridge was more powerful and accurate than the 7.65 Browning and 7.62 Nagant that they had been using until that point.  They reduced the bullet diameter to 7.62mm and design work began on the new pistol.

In 1930 trials were held to determine the new pistol of the Red Army.  Noted Soviet designers Korovin, Prilutskiy, and Tokarev submitted designs in 7.62mm, while leading foreign models by Browning, Walther, and Parabellum were also tested.  The foreign designs ranged in caliber from .32 to .45 cal.  The Tokarev pistol was soon chosen because of its reliability and accuracy.

Note: It is often said that F.V.Tokarev simply modified John M. Browning's Colt M-1911.  This is usually the result of Western observers during the Cold War thinking that the Soviets could not invent anything on their own and simply copied everything the West produced.  In fact, the TT series was the result of much experimentation and work.  True, some of the parts in the TT are similar to the Browning, but this can happen when two men in the same field are striving for similar results.  It was more likely that Tokarev borrowed a few ideas from the highly successful Browning design and incorporated them into his own, as often happens in weapons design, both in the East and West.

In 1933 modifications were made to the pistol to simplify its production.  These included simplifying the stampings on the outside of the weapon, which are very obvious on the TT-30, and reducing the milling around the barrel to speed production.  Pistols with these modifications became the TT-33.

The first combat actions for the TT-30/33 outside of the Soviet Union were during the Spanish Civil War where they were used by Soviet 'advisors'.  They also saw extensive use in the Winter War on 1939-40.  I do not have enough information to know if they were used in the border wars with Japan in 1938-39, but it would seem logical for them to have been used there as well.

Despite all of this combat experience, the TT would gain its reputation during the Great Patriotic War.  It was seen on posters, in heroic photos, and in newsreels.  The TT-30/33 and the aging Nagant revolver were the standard sidearms of Soviet officers during the war.

By the end of the war it was clear that the 1895 Nagant was obsolete.  The Tokarev pistol would be the only production pistol for the Soviet Army until it was replaced in the mid-1950's by the new Makarov design.  The TT-30/33 was then exported around the world where it can still be found in the hands of revolutionaries and third world armies.  In parts of Pakistan the TT-33 is still manufactured in small shops, but it has replaced in most other nations by the 9mm and .45 caliber designs.

Tactical Use and Limitations

Like the M-1895 Nagant before it, the TT series pistols are a weapon of officers and senior NCO's.  It was not well liked by the crews of armored vehicles as it could not be easily fired out of the vision ports at targets outside, the Nagant could.  Despite this minor criticism, the TT pistol was a great improvement over the Nagant revolver and allowed the Soviet NCO's and officers to fight on equal footing with their German adversaries.

The TT pistol has several limitations as well.  The first is that the magazine release button is positioned in such a way that a soldier may accidentally release it in the heat of combat.  Whether this happened often or not is questionable, but it was a factor in designing the TT's replacement.

Method of Operation

The TT pistols are semi-automatic, recoil operated, magazine fed weapons.  When a round is fired, the recoil of the round forces the slide back (at the same time ejecting the round).  The slide is forced back to its normal position by means of a spring.  When the slide moves back, the next round is stripped from the magazine and can be fired.

Deployment Chronology

Here you can see what weapons the TT-30/33 pistols replaced and what weapons eventually replaced them.  You can find out more about each weapon by clicking on the links below.

Sources Cited

Here are some of the most informative sources that we have used in compiling this information for you.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.

• Soviet Small-Arms and Ammunition, by D.N. Bolotin, published by Finnish Arms Museum Foundation 1995