At the end of the 20s of the last century, the command of the Red Army announced a competition for the creation of an automatic pistol. The new pistol, as conceived by the command, was to be easy to use, reliable, of course, automatic and technologically advanced in production. The announced competition was under the personal control of the People's Commissar Voroshilov and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin.
Soviet designers began to develop a new pistol. The talented gunsmith Fyodor Vasilievich Tokarev, who represented the Tula Arms Factory, also took part in the competition.
Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev
First, Tokarev, on the basis of the American Colt 1911, created a heavy pistol chambered for the 30 Mauser cartridge of 7.62 mm, 25 mm long. The decision to cross the American Colt with the German patron Mauser was made by Tokarev for two reasons. Firstly, cartridges of caliber 45 ACP (11, 43 mm) used in Colt were not produced in the USSR. Secondly, barrels for a pistol under a caliber of 7.62 mm could be made from defective barrels of three-line rifles, as well as produced separately, several weapons factories had equipment suitable for these purposes, and the technology was quite well developed.
Colt 1911
The resulting pistol was heavy, cumbersome and expensive to manufacture, although it could fire both single shots and bursts at a distance of up to 700 meters. He did not pass the tests, a strict military commission rejected the sample, but at the same time gave valuable recommendations for improving the prototype.
Therefore, for further work, the modernized "Colt 1911" model of 1921 was adopted as a model. The second modernized version of Tokarev's pistol received from its predecessor a successful layout, the principle of operation of automation and a colorful appearance, while becoming much lighter, simpler and more technologically advanced.
Unlike his "Pope" Colt, which had two mechanical safety locks, Tokarev's pistol had none, which greatly simplified the design of the mechanism. The mainspring was placed in the trigger itself. When the hammer was cocked to a quarter, he locked the bolt cover, preventing a shot from being fired. And the trigger itself was designed in a completely different way - a semi-closed type, with a protruding cocking wheel.
In addition to the Tokarev pistol, pistols of two more Soviet designers, Prilutsky and Korovin, as well as foreign pistols of the well-known arms companies Walter, Browning and Luger (Parabellum) were presented at field tests.
Tokarev's pistol bypassed all competitors and, according to the results, was recognized as the best.
The new pistol received the official designation "7, 62-mm pistol of the 1930 model" and was adopted by the Red Army, where it received its legendary, better known throughout the world, unofficial name "TT" (Tula Tokarev). Over the next three years, the identified technological shortcomings were eliminated.
The pistol also had design flaws. So, the safety platoon of the trigger allowed involuntary shots, the store sometimes fell out at the most inopportune moment, the cartridges skewed and jammed. The low resource (200-300 shots) and low reliability caused fair criticism. A powerful cartridge, intended more for submachine guns, in the "TT" quickly broke the bolt. Particularly ardent critics of the new pistol called one of its shortcomings the inability to shoot from it from a tank: due to the design feature, the barrel of the pistol did not crawl into the rifle embrasure.
After three years of various modernizations, the troops received a new "TT" (model 1933), which went through the Great Patriotic War. In the course of this war, the main drawback of the "TT" was revealed - a small caliber. A bullet of 7, 62 mm caliber, despite its high speed, did not have the stopping effect that was inherent in 9 mm German pistols. It also turned out to be very sensitive to low temperatures, mechanical damage and pollution. The Germans had the "TT" designation Pistole 615 (r), and they quite often used captured "TT", despite its shortcomings.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the pistol "TT" model 1933:
caliber, mm - 7, 62;
muzzle velocity, m / s - 420;
weight with a magazine without cartridges, kg - 0.845;
weight with loaded magazine, kg - 0.940;
total length, mm - 195;
barrel length, mm - 116;
magazine capacity, number of cartridges - 8;
rate of fire - 8 shots in 10-15 sec.
The famous photo "Kombat"
Production and modernization of "TT" continued throughout the war and after the war. The last modernization was carried out in 1950, the pistol assemblies began to be made by stamping, making the weapon much more technologically advanced in production.
The volume of production of pistols "TT" in the SSSR for the period from 1933 to the end of production is estimated at about 1,740,000 pieces.
In 1951, the Makarovsky PM of the Izhevsk Arms Plant was adopted. The production of "TT" has ceased, its time has passed.
The TT pistol was produced in different countries at different times. Hungary - Model 48 and TT-58 (Tokagipt-58), Vietnam, Egypt, China (Model 59), Iraq, Poland, Yugoslavia, etc.
The traumatic model of the Leader TT pistol is sold in gun shops at the present time. The pneumatic version is produced at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant. Combat pistols "TT" are still made in China.
