The pistol of the 1933 model (TT, Tula Tokarev, GRAU index — 56-A-132) was the first semi-automatic army pistol of the USSR, developed in 1930 by the Soviet designer Fyodor Vasilyevich Tokarev.
The TT pistol was developed for the 1929 competition, announced with the aim of finding a replacement for the Nagant revolver and several other models of revolvers and pistols of foreign production, which were in service with the Red Army in the mid-1920s.
The German 7.63×25mm Mauser cartridge was adopted as a standard cartridge. It was purchased in significant quantities for the Mauser C96 pistols that were in service at that time.
The competition commission considered the pistol of Fyodor Tokarev’s design the most suitable for adoption, provided that the identified shortcomings would be eliminated. The commission’s requirements included improving the pistol’s accuracy and safety in handling, as well as reducing the trigger pull.
In a few months, the shortcomings were addressed and fixed. On December 23, 1930, it was decided to conduct additional tests. The TT pistol, created by the design bureau of the Tula Arms Plant under the leadership of Fyodor Tokarev, won the competition.
On February 12, 1931, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR ordered the first batch of 1,000 pistols for comprehensive military tests. In the same year, the Tokarev pistol was adopted under the official designation “7.62-mm self-loading pistol of the 1930 model” together with the 7.62×25mm cartridge. The pistol, called TT (Tula Tokarev), was easy to manufacture and operate.
At the same time, the USSR bought a license for the production of the cartridge from the German company Mauser and designated it the “7.62-mm pistol cartridge ‘P’ of the 1930 model.”
In 1930–1932, several thousand pistols were produced. In order to simplify manufacturing, in 1932–1933, some changes were made: the locking lugs were not milled, but turned; the frame was made whole, without a removable handle cover; the disconnector and trigger bar were modified. At the beginning of 1934, the redesigned pistol was adopted as the “7.62-mm self-loading pistol of the 1933 model”.
In November-December 1941, the equipment for the
manufacture of TT pistols was moved to Izhevsk. In 1942, Izhevsk
Machine-Building Plant No. 74 managed to produce 161,485 Tokarev pistols.
