Between 19, Century Arms International was among the first to offer the CZ 52 on the American surplus market. shores was the indigenously designed Czechoslovakian CZ-52. In the beginning, it appears that one of the earliest semiautomatic pistols in 7.62mm Tokarev caliber introduced to U.S. The M-57 is equipped with a far more cosmetically pleasing sliding safety adjacent to the left frame. Note the added thumb safety on the Romanian example – a feature demanded by the BATFE prior to import of any pistol of the Tokarev design. Romanian TTC pistols were for the most part refinished prior to export, and the majority of the M-57 variety were imported in “as is” condition. It can be seen that physically the two differ primarily with the longer grip of the latter, which accepts a nine-round magazine in lieu of the standard Tokarev’s eight. Shown here is the Romanian TTC and the Yugoslavian M-57 copy of the Russian Tokarev. Nevertheless, though former Ukraine state property, all are marked “Russia” along with the importer’s address. This unwanted addition was demanded by the BATFE on all pistols of Tokarev design. For that short period of time in the mid- to late-1990s, the limited numbers of Russian-made TT-33 pistols imported by Century International from the Ukraine were equipped with a mandatory aftermarket manual trigger safety required by federal law. Thus, the specimens most commonly available in this country are once again, more often than not, bring-backs from the Vietnam War, Korea or other former combat zones. Currently, aside from those 1990s arrivals from the Ukraine, the author has yet to observe any Russian-made Tokarev TT-33 in this country that came to our shore directly from its Motherland. Furthermore, it was licensed by the Soviet Union to at least three European countries behind the Iron Curtain, as we shall later see. Manufactured at the Tula Arsenal, this eight-shot, short-recoil-operated semiautomatic pistol that takes much of its mechanics from both John Browning’s Colt Model 1903 and Model 1911, is probably one of the most widespread military handguns used throughout the world. In years gone by, Service Armament (later Navy Arms Company) offered a handful in the 1960s, all of which were Spanish military surplus and were leftover Soviet “gifts” from the Spanish Civil War in 1936, however, most of those ‘60s imports came from Finland. Adopted by the USSR in 1933, those very few that have come into the United States were either wartime bring-backs, including a limited quantity of imports from the Ukraine. In reality, it used a round that was an almost identical, but hopped-up version of the old 7.63mm Mauser “Broomhandle” cartridge. Chambered for the powerful, high-velocity bottlenecked 7.62x25mm cartridge, the Tokarev was well known, but not readily available in the West for over five decades. Ironically, Russia never released the surplus Tokarev TT-33 semiautomatic pistols after the fall of communism. Among the best known Combloc pistols, true-to-life Russian Tokarev pistol specimens are few and far between stateside. At the range, the author feels it handles somewhat better than pistols of the Tokarev pattern. The Bakelite grips are fastened by a U clamp. Perhaps a more contemporary design, the CZ 52’s greatest drawback is the lack of a slide latch, and it depends upon an empty magazine to lock the slide to the rear. I have 15 boxes of these and a cursory check of them reveals that they all have the loose bullet seat and, while that alone makes them unsafe to fire, I would not expect these to perform any differently than the previous two boxes.The Czech CZ 52 is the only “un-Tokarev” of the communist Eastern European semiautomatic pistol designs in the Soviet caliber of 7.62x25mm. The high pressure this round produces is why FN adds a coating to the case a coating that prevents the expanding case from sticking to the chamber and subsequently causing a malfunction. Reading reviews written by others, it seems like a proper crimp would help this round, however, the extraction process is hampered by casings sticking. Bullets were not seated firmly and with slight effort could be completely removed or pushed into the casing. When measured with a caliper, a second box of 50, revealed a varying degree of overall length. In comparison, a box of 50 FN manufactured ammunition, fired immediately after testing the Federal ammunition with the same firearm, functioned flawlessly. 28 of these rounds needed a tap on the slide to fully seat the round. In a controlled test using the Rock 57, out of 50 rounds, 47 fired but did not budge the slide to extract, 3 moved the slide back enough with a portion of the casing still wedged in the chamber. In the PS90, rounds would not feed properly after one fired shot. I've tried these rounds in a FN PS90 (with 16inch and 10.4 inch barrels) as well as a PSA Rock 57.
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