Help on ID'ing a pistol

Ivoryjester123

I am trying to find out if anyone can ID a Russian made psitol. It is marked on the grips as CCCP in a circle type pattern around the Russian star symbol.

On the left side there are several symbols, the number 873, the russian star symbol followed by 1938.

I am assuming this is a Russian WWII era pistol but any real information would be appreciated as to manufacturer, caliber, estimated value, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Ivoryjester

rufe-snow

From your description, your pistol appears to be Model TT-33, Tokarev Pistol. It was the standard handgun of the Soviet Military Forces. Produced in great quanity from the early 1930's to the late 1940's. The cartridge it's chambered for is the 7.62 x 25mm, commonly known, and sold in this country as the .30 Mauser Pistol Cartridge.

Ivoryjester123

Any idea of the average value? I am helping a friend who's husband recently passed away.

Thanks,

Ivoryjester

rufe-snow

Since your pistol was fabricated prior to W W II, there would be substantial collectors interest/ demand in it. Unfortunately I have no idea of what the condition/originally is of the pistol? This would have great bearing on the value, i.e. is there any rust or pitting on the pistol?, is the finish original (reblued), some of the early Tokes had numbered subassemblies (do all the numbers match) etc. etc.. I'm sure you understand me! It's best to get a hands-on appraisal for something like this.

mark christian

This could be an interesting pistol with some value. Your grip panels indicate that the pistol was a standard issue weapon intended for the Soviet Military (there are examples observed with hard rubber grip plates with the CCCP around a triangle within the circle). These are thought to be intended for commercial sales, although solid information on export sales is lacking. The letters CCCP are the Cyrillic alphabetic abbreviation for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 1938 is the production date and my records taken from Soviet military sources show that production of TT pistols that year was 87,022. After this date production increased dramatically and ran well over 200,000 units per year for the duration of WWII- called the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union. Production of TT pistols ended in the Soviet Union in 1953 but continued on in many other countries. The left side symbols are probably Cyrillic letter charactors which were used along with the number 873 to form the complete serial number. 1938 began the "letter-number" serialization system on the TT pistols. Pistols produced prior to 1938 used only numerals for serialization.

Pre WWII TT pistols are rather uncommon. The big question is whether or not this is an original pistol or if it was imported during the early 1990's (I have a two import TT's purchased during that time). Are there any importers markings on the pistol? Is there a safety lever fitted to the left rear portion of the frame below the hammer area? If the answer to these questions is NO then you have a nice TT pistol which in very good condition, with a nice bore, is worth around $300. If it appears new and unissued then it is worth much more. I saw a new example with the corrct spare magazine and holster sell at auction for $450 last year. As condition falls off the value drops as well. If it is an import it is worth no more than $100 in typical condition, a bit more if like new. Full information on these pistols is rather hard to come by. I've been traveling to Eastern Europe for a decade studying their small arms and there are many blank spots in the records...where they exist at all.

Mark T. Christian

Ivoryjester123

The markings on the side in front of the 873 are a symbol that looks like two K's back to back and a rectangle with a straight line drawn through the rectangle from top to bottom. These markings are also repeated on top of the slide.

There is a safty lever on the left side above the trigger that locks the slide back and there is a push button magazine eject on the left side just to the rear of the trigger.

The pistol is in fair to good condition with what appears to be the original blueing, a small area of pock marks on the right side of the slide (it looks like it was dropped and landed on some rocks) but the action works well and over all the piece seems to be very solid.

Does this help further?

Once again thank you in adavnce for your assistance.

Ivoryjester

mark christian

The marking in front of the number 873 are Cyrillic. The first symbol has no equivelent in our own Latin alphabet, but is a consonant which makes a zh sound--sort of like the "s" in the word pleasure. I know a beautiful girl in Bulgaria who's last name begins with that particular letter and she is a pleasure I assure you! The next letter is a stylized Cyrillic letter identical to our letter "F". That ends our lesson in the Cyrillic Alphabet for this evening.

The lever you see on the left hand side which locks the slide open is exactly that: a slide release and is not a safety lever, although it can serve in that purpose. The fact that your pistol has no small added safety at the rear portion of the frame below the hammer means that it was not modified to allow it to be imported into the United States. It found its way here some other way and exactly how would be anyones guess, but plenty of these came into the USA after WWII and especially after Korea. In the condition you now describe and assuming that the bore shows at least some daylight through it and is not rusted or shot out, the pistol would retail in the $200 range...maybe worth another $50 due to its pre WWII production date. Auction or a private sale to an individual collector would be your best method of getting full value for the pistol. A dealer such as myself would be purchasing for resale and would not offer you as much (and no Capt. Kirk, I DO NOT want to purchase the mans pistol). Put the gun up for auction here on GB and I'm sure that it would fetch a good price as there are many serious collectors on Gun Broker.

Mark T. Christian

Ivoryjester123

Mark,

Thank you for all the information. I am gathering together all the items he left behind (about 18 hand guns and 6 long guns). The daunting part is trying to figure out if there is any real value here or a bunch of maybe's. So far we have 2 Colt 1911 US Army 45ACP's, 1 Browning Highpower 9MM, 1 Browning 9MM knock off, a Steyr 1915, a Mauser 7.65mm pistol and of course the Tokarev we have been discussing plus more to be identified.

A what is a man to do when he has so many guns to play with[:)]

Ivoryjester

captkirk3@dslextreme.com

No....Mark...I did'nt say a thing...Niether implied or insinuated....{I have a sense of Humor also}..Just reading your comments and trying to learn something...keep up the Good Work....We could use a 100 of You.......Best....Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk, Tech Staff

mark christian

Thanks Capt., you know I do my best to play by the rules. Ivory, it was brought to my attention by member rufe-snow that the Cyrillic letter which I identified as an "F" my well be a Cyrillic consonant which proivdes a sh sound in the Russian language. I can see no effect that this would have on your pistols value, but if I was in error and provided you with incorrect information I appologize. Get out those other pistols and let us have a crack at them--sound like you've got so good guns there!

Mark T. Christian

Ivoryjester123

Mark,

Now there goes my confidence in your information [:D]. Whats the general American public supposed to do if they can't trust the Cyrillic pronounciation as supplied by those psoting on this forum (not really, just kidding and as you pointed out it doesn't matter to the value)

Ivoryjester