Bought a Polish Tokarev

[Pablo]

I scored a used 1952 Polish Tokarev. Basically a commie 1911 knock off, but different in many interesting way. Anyone own a Tok?

The only suck thing - the importers took an otherwise nice smooth gun with some level of production workmanship and just put a 1700 era type hatchet job trigger block safety for importing in the USA.

It's a cool little gun. I paid $200 for it. It's been shot, but apparently they didn't do a good job of cleaning at any point after import as the cosmoline grease was still in some areas, only gooed up from powder and dirt. The barrel had quite a bit of lead and copper. I soaked and scrubbed and soaked and scrubbed it 4 times. Amazing to watch the layers of junk strip out of the barrel. I was quite surprised at the build-up in the grooves. I finally got it back to white steel. There are some minor pits - maybe someone shot some corrosive ammo and didn't clean it.

The gun breaks down so easily so I could soak the entire trigger/hammer assembly.

I took it to the range yesterday. The 7.62x25 is a potent round. It shoots nice, tight groups. Lower than I read the skinny sights, but repeatable. The recoil in brief and sharp but in no way uncomfortable. The feeding was generally fine, ejection great.

The only problem is the gun would lock with the slide stop up on many shots. Since it's basically an antique, I thought something was wrong with the magazines or the mechanism, but after inspecting and seeing nothing observably wrong. I stewed on it and wondered if my support hand was contacting the slide stop. Thoughts? Experience?

[BarryinIN]

I've never owned one. A lot of Vietnam vets had them as bring-backs.

I always see warnings to be careful of getting ammo that's too hot for them. It seems like a strong enough action but there is some smoking hot 7,62x25 out there for Russian PPSh smgs. The roller locked CZ-52 can supposedly handle some of the hot stuff. I have a CZ-52 and shot shot surplus ammo through ot that was supposed to be all mean and nasty, but it didn't chrono any faster than S&B. But that's one ammo of many. Many many.

[Pablo]

Hah. One of my borrowed pics must have not liked it......

Yes I was only shooting S&B. I've found some lower cost sources.

Any idea on the slide locking open?

[BarryinIN]

It is interesting how much it's like, but not like, the 1911.

I guess the Tokarevs originally had no manual safety, relying on the user to have enough sense to use an external hammer? John Browning worked that way. If you have ever noticed, his early auto pistols usually had either an exposed hammer or a manual safety lever, but not both.

I have nothing about the slide stop except guesses.

It looks like it has a long shelf that could be easily contacted when shooting.

I've had some 1911s whose slide stops needed recontoured internally. Some types of ammo wouldn't clear the tab that the magazine follower lifts up to engage the stop. FMJ profile would be fine, but bullets with a more gradual ogive curve like Gold Dots would give it a nudge on the way past when feeding. A small clearance filed into it fixed them.

I don't know if that's even possible with a Tok, but you might look.

I had to change my grip when I started shooting HiPowers. Their slide stop has the enlarged rounded part forward of the "axle". My old grip put my weak hand thumb squarely on that part and pressing down, which lifted the rear end up.

This looks improbable with a Tok from your pictures, but thought I'd mention it.

[RebinPA]

I've recently acquired a Romanian TTC (Tokarev) in the original 7.62 x 25 round. It is quite possibly, the best semi-auto I've ever fired. Also likely the most accurate handgun I've used at 50 yards ever.

I'm leaving it just the way it is.