[rich abbott]

Which is superior and why?

[Deaf Smith]

The new Yugos' with their 1911 style safeties.

I'm quite impressed with mine.

Deaf

[30-30shooter]

defiantly the yugo, i have one of the chrome plated classic arms ones. the yugos just balance better.

[Oldnoob]

Chinese.

The main reason is you can get one in near perfect condition that haven't been through hell like other surplus TT clones.

The 2nd reason will be the safety location. Even after you removed it, it still leave you a huge hole at middle of your frame.

But out of 3 you listed, Yugo will be my pick. Though some parts will not be as easy available as other TT clones.

[wnycollector]

The fit and finish of my Polish Wz48 is first class.

[Snowdog]

From a fit and finish standpoint, I've read the Polish Tokarevs have the edge. However, If I could only have one, I'd choose the Yugoslavian M57 as the fit and finish aren't anything to complain about and it simply fits me better.

The longer grip comes at the price of different magazines but it does give the slight advantage of one extra round.

[wally]

Though some parts will not be as easy available as other TT clones

Especially magazines, much harder to find and 2-3X the cost when you do. For a range shooter I'd go with the Romainian or Polish, which ever is cheaper and stock up on mags and ammo, althought the days of <$0.09/shot appear over :(

[GBExpat]

I have 2 Polish, 4 Yugo an 1 Romy (and 3 Russian) TT-33/Variants.

I have found them all to be accurate, reliable and comfortable (& fun) to shoot.

Of the 3 types you have mentioned, my Romy exhibits the worst Fit & Finish and the Polish, the best, with the Yugos a close 2nd Place.

For self-defense use (bare 2-hand grip, ready for action), I have found the add-on safeties on both the Romy & Yugos to be much more easily manipulated than the Polish safety.

I like the adjustable dovetailed front sight on the Yugos.

For an idea of my hand-size, I wear size Large gloves ... and I find the original TT-33 grip-size to be comfortable; none wasted & none extra ... perfect length for my hands. If I were actually wearing winter/thick gloves, I would need the extra-long grip of the Yugos.

HTH

[Shadow 7D]

Hey, what about the Hungarians, and the North Koreans???
Also the Tokegypt - Hungarian contract made for Egypt in 9mm with factory safety.

OH, and as far as anybody who has done any research...
they are all the same, built to the same basic specs, and NO BODY has been able to prove or show this 'SMG' tok ammo, yet another internet rumor.

[nathan]

The Yugo might be the ticket followed by the Polish. But with the ammo surplus in low supply , that be hard to find ammo.

[Scimmia]

For me, the grip was the deciding factor. Most of the TT clones were too short to be comfortable, the Yugo fit well.

[vellocet]

Of my four (Norinco,too) I like the romey best. Best gun for the money, no needless complications like the yugo has, with a wonderful factory refinish. The norinco nine is a swell pistol, too, and appreciated with 7.62x25 getting crazy. By the way, SOG has bulgy ammo for 128 for 800.

[Shadow 7D]

and remember that any tok can take the norinco grips (except the yugo)

[leadcounsel]

Who specifically likes the aftermarket design like the 1911 vs. the one near the trigger that rotates?

I understand it's needed for importation and I personally like the 1911 style safety best and wonder why would they do an aftermarket safety like the ones found on the Romy and Polish...?

[Bozwell]

Anyone have first hand experience with the Bulgarian surplus in 7.62 tok? I read some internet rumors about it having some hot submachine gun rounds mixed in some of the cans, but I'm wondering whether that's more fact or fiction.

[WardenWolf]

The Romanian ones tend to have the best fit, but not the best finish. I don't mind the safety on my Romanian one. It's not awkwardly located, and it solidly blocks the trigger. And the strong half-cock position, hammer design, and firing mechanism of these guns makes them still quite drop-safe. It's been shown, through the course of a hammer-follow malfunction someone had, that the half-cock safety will indeed catch the hammer and not allow it to strike the firing pin as long as the trigger is not intentionally pulled (even if it remains pulled from a previous shot).

[garyhan]

I have only experienced the Romanian, but I could hardly be happier with it. finish is very good, fit is excellent, condition is excellent, accuracy is excellent. Bought the standard grade from J&G.

gary

[wojownik]

The Polish TT model (Wz48) has the best fit and finish of the three, however the safety is a bit of an awkward addition (for import reasons). My two Polish TTs are very, very accurate.

The Yugos follow very closely to the Polish, but the safety is a bit better designed.

The Romanian version falls rather far behind in fit in both finish, IMHO.

[nathan]

I only have the NOrinco 54 and i did remove the lousy safety off. I ve shot more than 1500 rds and it shoots 3-4 inch groups at 15 yds. Its a fun gun and i sure would like to get a Yugo for the longer grip.

[PabloJ]

The Polish TT model (Wz48) has the best fit and finish of the three, however the safety is a bit of an awkward addition (for import reasons). My two Polish TTs are very, very accurate.

The Yugos follow very closely to the Polish, but the safety is a bit better designed.

The Romanian version falls rather far behind in fit in both finish, IMHO.
In 7,62x25 I would pick the Polish one largely because longer magazines for Yugoslavian ones are much more expensive and difficult to find. Chinese 9x19 would make most sense to buy.

[brnmuenchow]

because longer magazines for Yugoslavian ones are much more expensive and difficult to find.

The only drawback, but I still love mine and would still buy another any day of the week. :)

[AethelstanAegen]

+1 on the Yugo M57. I like the slightly longer grip and having an extra round per mag is always nice as well. The fit and finish on mine surprised me (in a good way) and it's run with really no problems. I've only ever had it fail to fire once and that was due to a cosmoline gunked up hammer that was fixed by wiping the hammer assembly down. I've had many surplus weapons over the year and so have gotten quite use to removing all the cosmoline, but I swear that M57 is somehow producing the stuff despite all the cleanings.

But anyways, back to the topic, I would highly recommend a Yugo Tokarev. I bought mine pretty much on a whim and it has some of the best bang for my buck I've gotten from a firearm.

[Bozwell]

I had the same experience Aethelstan. I am still finding cosmoline in my Yugo even after a pretty elaborate initiate cleaning and subsequent cleaning after shooting it. I was actually looking at it last night and noticed a few places that need degreasing. I'm set to do another cleaning on it soon. Still, it's a surprisingly smooth shooting gun. I'd like to do some work on the trigger one of these days to loosen it up, but all in all it's one of my favorite surplus pistols.

[AethelstanAegen]

I had the same experience Aethelstan. I am still finding cosmoline in my Yugo even after a pretty elaborate initiate cleaning and subsequent cleaning after shooting it.

Haha. It does seem like I've cleared most of it out by now but it took an awful lot of cleaning and occassionally I still find some. I swear there's a space/time continuum wormhole inside that pistol with the origin in a vat of cosmoline in some eastern bloc factory.

Once again though, it's one of the best buys I've ever made and I'm very very glad I had the whim. It comes out with me on most trips to the range.

[Aeronus]

I've got to toss my vote in for the Yugo m57. I picked one up from Widener's, only $200 with 2 mags, plus new unissued mags for $25 a piece. Great gun, well balanced, and the extended grips make it much more comfortable for me over other models, with the bonus of +1 capacity.

As Aethelstan and Bozwell mentioned, a thorough cleaning is necessary before you take it out to the range for testing time. I soaked mine in a $2 baking tin with a can of acetone, and some rough scrubbing was required in certain areas (slide serrations in particular) to get out hardened grease. Pay careful attention to the firing pin channel, mine was entirely gunked up. Assembly/dissasembly of the pin must also be done very carefully, as the parts can easily go flying out if you slip, and believe me from experience, having the little "cap" for the pin hitting you in the eye is not pleasant.

Cleaning aside, it truly is an amazing piece of tech, even more so when the low cost is kept in mine. Balanced, indestructible, and dead accurate.

[WardenWolf]

My Romanian Tokarev is rock-solid. Not a looker (though mine is worse than some), but it's very accurate and the trigger safety is solid. Trigger can't move at all with it engaged.

[kozak6]

It's not a matter of superior. It's what's better for you.

Some consider the Polish models to be the best finished.

The Romanian models are the most affordable.

The Yugo version is very well made, but at the expense of proprietary magazines and other parts. The safety is possibly the best implemented Tokarev safety, but it doesn't necessarily matter since it's arguably unsafe to carry in condition 1 since it's still a Tokarev.

Some of the Chinese models suffer from soft steel, and pricing varies wildly.

[nathan]

Right now the tokarev ammo supply can be spotty so if you intend to keep shooting the TOkarev type pistols and guns, might as well stock up now.

[brnmuenchow]

Yugo M57 all the way...Love mine!
The only down side is getting extra mags for it can be hard sometimes.

[WardenWolf]

There's a modern commercial Tokarev in 9mm, the Zastava M-10. One look at it and it's very obviously a Tokarev. I'd be interested to see if it could be adapted to 7.62x25 by swapping in Tokarev parts.

[wally]

Anyone have first hand experience with the Bulgarian surplus in 7.62 tok? I read some internet rumors about it having some hot submachine gun rounds mixed in some of the cans, but I'm wondering whether that's more fact or fiction.

I shot up a can of the "bad" Star-3-10-52 headstamp Bulgarian surplus and can verify that it was very inconsistent and has some very hot rounds, along with many almost squibs. Never bought any more.

The current batches may or may not be much better:
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=5&f=20&t=54866

[DrDeFab]

This is the Yugo M57 I got from http://www.wideners.com/ three weeks ago. They appear to be still in stock. Given the results, I am very happy I went with the M57 instead of Polish or Romanian.

All part numbers match, and it appears to be unissued. It came with two brand new mags, in Zastava wrappers. After seeing those, I also ordered two more mags at $25/ea. Of course it came filled with about three pounds of Cosmoline. In addition to the usual cleanup, I recommend removing the firing pin and cleaning out the channel with Q-tips and mineral spirits. (or similar solvent)

The safety may be an afterthought, but it is sturdy, it matches and it seems to be reliable. It's also in the right place and operates the right way. ;) At any rate, I plan to leave it on.

I'll probably never carry it, since I have better options, but if I had to, I would be comfortable with it.

As always, YMMV.

[Cactus Jack Arizona]

Personally, I like the Yugo first because it gives you an extra round. If the Yugo isn't available, I'd go with the Polish version in order to have something from the land of my ancestors.

[weregunner]

Is there a non-bimetal or steel core bullet out there as far as ammo goes.

This is my first m57. Local ranges do not want steel in the bullets of any kind. Seems fair.

[Deus Machina]

Still wanting a Tok of my own...

Without one to compare, I can't tell--is the Yugo's only difference the length of the grip? Meaning, would a quick pass through the milling machine and perhaps a couple new holes for grip screws get it compatible with regular mags?

Not that I would if I could help it, but why the heck not? :D

[Scimmia]

Still wanting a Tok of my own...

Without one to compare, I can't tell--is the Yugo's only difference the length of the grip? Meaning, would a quick pass through the milling machine and perhaps a couple new holes for grip screws get it compatible with regular mags?

Not that I would if I could help it, but why the heck not? :D

The grips attach completely differently on Tokarev patterened pistols. You won't be able to just mill off the bottom of the grip and attach new grip panels.

[brnmuenchow]

This is the Yugo M57 I got from http://www.wideners.com/ three weeks ago. They appear to be still in stock. Given the results, I am very happy I went with the M57 instead of Polish or Romanian.

That is where I got mine... awesome gun!;)

[SharpsDressedMan]

Marschal makes some fine grips for the Tokarev, that make the grip much more user friendly. http://www.marschalgrips.com/