7.62 Tokarev

Wolf makes some nice hollowpoints that expand very well (to .45) on impact. This makes it viable as a defensive round. I do not recommend FMJ's for self-defense, though. The Tokarev round is very high-velocity and FMJ tends to overpenetrate without expanding on a soft target. In fact, the FMJ rounds can even penetrate Level 2 body armor (while expanding to a very nasty .46), and is one of only a very few handgun rounds that can do so.

You should be fine using it for self-defense as long as you follow the manual of arms for your pistol and carry it safely. A Tokarev with a good trigger safety can be safely carried locked and cocked, despite what some people will say. The half-cock position on a Tokarev is strong enough to prevent discharge in the event that you strike the hammer hard enough to break the primary cocking notch. If you don't want to do that, you can still carry it with the hammer in the half-cock position.

Although I dearly love the 7.62 Tokarev round and the weapons chambered for it, but it is not really a viable defense round. You can do MUCH better with modern JHPs and the more modern and ergonomic pistols that go with them. I shoot the 7.62 round a lot, but only for fun.

The Tokarev round will actually make a freaking mess. It's so high-velocity that you really do get hydrostatic shock.

compared to other common pistol rounds?

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The 7.62x25 reminds me of the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Indiana picks up the Luger, fires it once, and the bullet goes through all 4 or 5 Nazi soldiers in a row.

It's an 85gr bullet at 1300+ fps. I would just make sure to get the Wolf hollowpoints to keep in it or Hornady makes a .309" XTP if you reload.

I use my m57 as my office gun. I reload, so I'm not limited to on the shelf ammo.
100gr of Hornady XTP at just over 1500fps. That's just over 500 ft/lbs of energy. Expands to over half an inch, and the bullets hit with authority with a recoil that's less than my 9mm. I think the tokarev is an overlooked round because there is not much available ammo other than surplus/fmj out there.

SGAmmo has the WOlf brand JHP.

FWIW ...

I have several hundreds of S&B 86gr FMJ 7.62x25 that I acquired by ~2005.

Currently, for SD 7.62x25 ammunition, I simply pull & replace the bullets on some of those with Sierra .30cal 85gr soft-points that I have in my kit.

Going at 1300-1400fps, these Sierras expand very well.

It most certainly will kill someone and has a higher velocity as said in other posts. As for personal defense in situations where numerous people are in the vicinity I don’t use it, the 7.62x25mm will go through someone easily (Home defense, mine is loaded and ready to go.) just keep in mind that any bullet no matter how it is designed could possibly cause injury or death to innocent bystanders that are behind an assailant. (No bullet is designed with absolutes) I simply choose to use ammo like Hornady "Critical Defense" or Winchester "PDX1" for my peace of mind knowing I am making an attempt to do the best I can not to hurt anyone else if possible, but again there is no such thing as a guarantee.

I used to carry a 7.62tok as a backpacking gun as I was not concerned about innocent people becoming a backstop. However, as cheap surplus has started to dry up, I just don't find it all that practical to shoot as modern ammo is fairly pricey and harder to find.

I think a Tokarev is an excellent gun, though. I have a 9mm Norinco that is my jeep pistol because I enjoy the feel of it and shoot it so well. I'll also admit that the 7.62 is no slouch in the energy department. However, for the flash and ear-splitting noise as well as the chance of OP, I wouldn't carry a gun chambered in 7.62 for defense on the street.
That's just me

I would look for Chinese made Navy Arms TU pistol chambered for 9x19 cartridge. Last one I have seen was like new with two magazines and price was only $239. Since it had standard Tokarev mag well and long ejection port one could always put 7.62 barrel in it if that is what was desired.

Hi I am looking for some education here. Are you people talking of a pistol chambered for the Tokarev Cartridge or for a Tokarev Mod TT-30 (wooden grips) or TT-33 (plastic grip with soviet star). Neither of the two pistols had any safety other than half-cock. So where does "cocked and locked" on such a pistol come in? And all Tokarevs I handled had a horrible trigger.

Regards

Winfried

winfried said:

Hi I am looking for some education here. Are you people talking of a pistol chambered for the Tokarev Cartridge or for a Tokarev Mod TT-30 (wooden grips) or TT-33 (plastic grip with soviet star). Neither of the two pistols had any safety other than half-cock. So where does "cocked and locked" on such a pistol come in? And all Tokarevs I handled had a horrible trigger.

Regards

Winfried

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They're talking about TT pistols imported into US that have safety fitted. I had Chinese Model 213 9x19 that had safety which could be engaged when round was in chamber and hammer in ready to fire position (what americans call cocked and locked). The original TT military pistols were manual safety-less and designed to be carried with empty chamber.

And all Tokarevs I handled had a horrible trigger.

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<nodding> All but two of my TT-33 and Variants (multiple Russian, Polish, Romanian and Yugoslavian) required some careful trigger/sear TLC before their trigger action was satisfactory.

So far I have never had a trigger problem.

Hornady makes a fine 85gr XTP bullet just for the Tokarev round, but not sure if they offer loaded ammo for it.

Hmmm ... SDM, so far I have only found mention of their 90gr XTP bullets. Any idea where I can source some of the 85s?

Thanks.

I wouldn't worry about it. The Wolf hollowpoints have been tested to expand very well. The velocity of the round lends itself very well to hollowpoint expansion.

I have Tokarevs from at least 4 countries and shoot 9x19, 9x23, and 7.62x25mm through them.
I have the reamer.
I have the John Remling book on collecting Tokarevs..
I have produced a mountain of data on overloading Tokarevs.
I have scoped a Tokarev, put a sniper barrel on it, and shot groups at 100 yards.

That said, IMHO, self defense handgun cartridges should not be necked down. If it would feed, we would neck UP!
We don't need more sub shock wave velocity penetration, we need more hole area for bleeding.

The 45acp is a better handgun cartridge for self defense.
The 7.62x25mm is better for shooting prairie dogs at long range.

As far as safeties & triggers go...

My Yugo Zastava M57 has a safety that was added when it was imported to the U.S.A.
And the trigger has a VERY hard pull.
I'm guessing it's up around 15-18 lbs or maybe even a bit more.

(how does lbs abbreviate pounds? that makes no sense)

The Tokarev, with hollowpoints, compares very favorably to the 9mm. Base round size isn't everything.

I dug this up from the THR archive:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=245469

Can we say exploded (you name the organ) anyone?

Compare this to:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=376514

The Tokarev round did significantly MORE damage, and actually expanded better. Don't underestimate this round. The 7.62 Tokarev is a perfectly viable defensive round with proper ammo. It got optimum penetration without overpenetrating and left a massive wound channel.

You're probably right on the Hornady 90gr., I was just thinking 85gr. Haven't loaded them in awhile. I was close, though!

Just pull the bullets on S&B 7.62x25 and reseat the Hornady bullets. The S&B is full-power; their FMJ's violate Level 2 Kevlar like it's not even there. They get similar results on armored targets as the hollowpoints do on unarmored ones.

I wish the guns made to shoot tokarev were as potent as the rounds themselves. I own a cz 52 that jams around 10% of the time and feels like crap the other 90%. Its a scary powerful round, usually has too much overpenetration to be a good choice... although if someone is trying to hide behind a car or a brick wall I guess it would come in handy.

An actual Tokarev will digest anything.