The Tulsky Tokarev self-loading pistol is a legend of the Soviet arms business, the main domestic pistol of the Second World War, the headache of the domestic police and a favorite of various criminal elements that raged in the vast Fatherland both in Soviet times and in the ill-fated "dashing 90s". Why did the law enforcers dislike him and the bandits simply idolized?
Better no karate than two TTs in your pocket
The history of Tula Tokarev began back in 1929, when the leadership of the young Red Army was faced with the task of replacing obsolete revolvers of the Nagant system with something more modern and suitable. Moreover, at that time the Soviet Union still did not have a single pistol. The army and state security agencies were armed with many types of imported pistols and revolvers (some of which were produced in Russia itself, and then in the USSR). The lack of uniformity created certain difficulties in terms of weapons and supply of units.
As a result, according to the results of state tests, the development of Fedor Vasilyevich Tokarev won the competition. A few shortcomings were identified in the pistol, which the design team eliminated in just a few months, after which in 1930 the pistol was tested again. The first small series of 1,000 pistols for army tests was published in 1931. In 1932-1933, the TT was improved several times, and already in 1934 it was officially adopted by the Red Army and state security agencies.
Tula Tokarev is a very simple weapon and therefore extremely inexpensive, easy to maintain, and at the same time has a shot power atypical for pistols of the first half of the 20th century. The muzzle energy of the TT is 500 J. This became possible thanks to the use of a powerful cartridge of 7.62x25 mm TT. As a result, bullets fired from Tula Tokarev have a high penetrating power. At the same time, the pistol for its time was also quite compact.
At the same time, TT had disadvantages. For the first half of the 20th century, TT has disgusting ergonomics. Most of all complaints are caused by the shape of the handle, which does not contribute to a comfortable grip of the pistol. The store is not holding up in the best way either. Early pistols had a relatively high chance of spontaneous firing. Finally, for the excellent penetration ability of a bullet (which can take a helmet, and even some body armor), the weapon had to pay with a not very good stopping effect.
For his time, Tula Tokarev turned out to be a very successful weapon. However, he has a very specific trigger. The trigger mechanism of the pistol is equipped with a safety platoon, which was conceived as an alternative to the "classic" safety mechanism. To use this system, to put it mildly, is inconvenient: setting the pistol to the safety requires cocking the trigger with pressing the trigger while simultaneously holding and tracking the trigger to the safety position. The bottom line is that this whole, by today's standards, is a frankly strange system did not allow carrying a TT in a holster with a cartridge in the chamber … It is impossible to send a cartridge on a safety platoon. Otherwise, the pistol is always in a firing position, which means there is a risk of an accidental shot. It was this feature that made this weapon extremely unpopular among Soviet police officers.
But the Soviet, and then the Russian bandits Tula Tokarev fell in love much more. Gloomy fame came to the pistol even after 1945, when a huge number of army pistols fell into the hands of representatives of the criminal society. Weapons were no less popular in the "dashing 90s". The TT's gangster glory was brought by the lethal cartridge, the absolute cheapness and widespread prevalence of army pistols, which at one time were stamped in the amount of more than 1.7 million pieces. But the most important thing was that very many Soviet TT at one time and were not shot for bullet sleeve law enforcement. The reason for this was the Second World War. The absence of a weapon in the bullet case, in turn, made it difficult for forensic experts to identify the pistol, thereby complicating the course of the investigation of the crime.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about CP33: a pistol with more rounds than a Kalashnikov assault rifle.