Yugo M57 Tokarev Pistols

[Mike]

Hi, I've been working with several M57 Tokarevs. They are in great shape and cheap.($200) They are 50's guns made from a 30's design. Fairly accurate and surprisingly mild shooters. The 7.62x25 has neat ballistics that copies the 30 Mauser.(87gr at 1390 fps). Only problem I've had is plenty of glue like cosmoline. Cleaned my pistol and it jammed, FTF. Re-cleaned the magazines and removed a very tiny amount of cosmo. Then no more problems. Surplus ammo is cheap around 10 cents a round. JG Sales, Wiedener's, Dan's Ammo and even Gander Mtn. have these. Here's a write up on the M57, www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=100000100 Regards, Mike..... PS ....I have no relationship with the above companies except as an occasional customer.

[Art]

They are really pretty good pistols if you take into account that the originals were single action pistols without a safety.

The gold standard of Com Bloc 7.62x25mm pistols were the CZ 52s which used to be available at very popular prices. Too bad they've pretty much dried up. One of the most overengineered firearms I've ever seen but great shooters

[Mike]

They are really pretty good pistols if you take into account that the originals were single action pistols without a safety.
The gold standard of Com Bloc 7.62x25mm pistols were the CZ 52s which used to be available at very popular prices. Too bad they've pretty much dried up. One of the most overengineered firearms I've ever seen but great shooters Hi, I remember the CZ 52's. I shot one ,they were a large pistol. Never bought one. Some had problems, but don't rember what . I think cracked blocks(?) As you say over engineered but now I wish I had one. I always liked Tok's. I like 1911's and the Russians copied some of the features. Nice flat compact and handy. I hate the safety and just ignor it, but then I don't carry it. Regards, mike

[Art]

Hi, I remember the CZ 52's. I shot one ,they were a large pistol. Never bought one. Some had problems, but don't rember what . I think cracked blocks(?) As you say over engineered but now I wish I had one. I always liked Tok's. I like 1911's and the Russians copied some of the features. Nice flat compact and handy. I hate the safety and just ignor it, but then I don't carry it. Regards, mike

There were some problems with 9mm conversions but those were the only ones I know of. I never heard of any issues whatsoever with the 7.62x25mm ones. Very strong pistols. The lockup was the same roller locking system as the MG 42 machine gun and the H&K recoil operated rifles.

You are correct, they are beefy pistols.

[starmetal]

The weak link in the CZ52's are the roller lock system. You will notice the notches in the slide for the rollers leaves a very thin portion of the slide remaining and it is here where they will crack. There have been blow up tests done between the Russia Tokarev and the CZ52 and the Russian is the stronger of the two...yes you guessed...the CZ52 slides cracked at the roller notches. With ammo that isn't super hot the CZ52 will service you for a long time. I had one and didn't really like it, something just wasn't right with it's ergonomics. About the only thing I liked on it was it's nice wide smooth faced trigger.

[Art]

First while I have not seen the test results you mention and don't know who performed them, I am going to accept that the test results you refer to are accurate.

The CZ 52 roller notches are very very small and only take up what looks like about 1/8" of the bottom of the slide only. While I can see how if the slide were to break it would break there first, I can't see it happening without an extreme overload. Since you said the CZ 52s failed "first" in a blow up test I imagine that extreme overloads were used to obtain that result since the load the CZ 52 was designed to shoot, Czech M48 ball, was what would be at least a +p+ 7.62x25mm loading (85 gr bullet 1,600-1,640 fps actual.) In fact the lightest load the CZ 52 will function reliably with is the Tokarev load (85 gr bullet 1,400-1,450 fps actual) which is itself sort of a +P 7.63X25mm (7.65 Mauser, .30 Mauser) Mauser. The .30 Mauser load produces 1,350- 1,400 fps. I understand the Mauser load will function quite well in a Tokarev though I haven't tried it myself

I wonder how thick the metal is at the locking grooves in a Tokarev slide? Those grooves are much more extensive than the small semi circular cuts in a CZ 52 slide.

Metallurgy counts too, but both Soviet and Czech metallurgy were almost always top notch.

Ergonomics are of course, another matter. While I enjoyed the CZ 25 I owned as a recreational shooter it would not have been my first, second or even third or fourth choice as a defensive firearm based on ease of use alone.

By the by. I did obtain some very geriatric Czech M48 ammo when I got my CZ 52, lots of duds and hangfires but MY GAWD when it did go off!!! The report was very loud even with hearing protection, the muzzle flash would have done justice to the USS Iowa and the recoil wasn't inconsequential either. Needless to say a good many folks on that indoor range came over to see what I was setting off.

[dryheat]

You never want to dry fire a CZ52. The original firing pins will break. You can get better replacements for them. The pistols also exhibit a phenomenom called "trigger slap". I read up on it some time ago and there is even a kit to eliminate it, but at the time I wasn't going to invest any more into a $130 pistol. I like them. I keep it in the truck. If it gets stolen I'm not out much and the bullets will darn sure go through a car door.

[joem]

I have a few CZ 52's and only had a problem with one. It wouldn't chamber some of the surplus ammo. Upon closer inspection I found the bolt face was mis-machined as in tapered. Once machined true, function was good.