New member with norinco Tokarev question

[surfzombie]

i found a couple of different Norinco for sale and thinking about getting one of the two. One is a model 213 and the other is a model 54-1. What is the difference between the two besides the grips and which one is more desirable between them. Are they good shooters? Any input would be greatly appreciated. I think this is my first post on the forum and I am from Utah and look forward to getting to know some of you all.

I forgot to mention that they are both chambered in 9mm and both selling for the same price.

 

[Mastiff]

The Model 213 is 9x19 Luger straight from the factory. The 54-1 was originally in 7.62x25. It is very easy to convert the 54-1 to fire 9x19, you just need a spare 9mm barrel and barrel bushing. Ream out an additional 9mm barrel and you can fire 9x23 Winchester or 38 Super through the pistol. 9mm barrels can be had for less than $40.
It is nowhere near as easy to convert a Model 213 to fire the 7.62x25. The lockwork is a little farther forward, and the ejection port is too small to be able to clear unfired 7.62x25 or 9x23 Winchester rounds.
That said, I owned a Model 213 that was totally reliable, over 55,000 rounds with no failures. It was also my most accurate pistol. If you only want to shoot 9x19 Luger, the Model 213 would be the way to go, IMHO. If you want to also fire the cheap surplus 7.62x25, or the 9x23 Winchester (the ballistic twin of the 357 Magnum), go with the 54-1.

 

[surfzombie]

Thanks for the info that helps me out greatly. So are the mags interchangeable?

 

[Chris taylor]

Well it all depends on if the 213 has a spacer in the mag well to accept the smaller 9mm magazines... so there are original tokarev magazines (wide) with a spacer inside of them so they can accept 9mm without feeding issues(big mag well). and there are certain 213 models with spacers in the gun from the factory so they can only use use small magazines (thin)... so if the spacers are in the magazines, then the well of the pistol can accept normal sized tokarev clips. But if it has a spacer in the gun its can only take the chinese counterparts. Did I lose you? This extremely hard to explain. Hopefully someone with more expertise could post pics or have a better explanation. Hope it helped!

-Chris-

 

[surfzombie]

Chris I watched a video on youtube the showed how to convert a 213 to shoot the 7.62x25 and he shows how to take the spacer out so that the gun can accept the wider regular mags and I guess that some of the wider mags have the spacer built into them for shooting the 9mm.

 

[Mastiff]

FWIW, I haven't had a problem firing 9x19 Luger through the 7.62x25 mags.

 

[synquest]

The Model 213 is 9x19 Luger straight from the factory. The 54-1 was originally in 7.62x25. It is very easy to convert the 54-1 to fire 9x19, you just need a spare 9mm barrel and barrel bushing. Ream out an additional 9mm barrel and you can fire 9x23 Winchester or 38 Super through the pistol. 9mm barrels can be had for less than $40.
It is nowhere near as easy to convert a Model 213 to fire the 7.62x25. The lockwork is a little farther forward, and the ejection port is too small to be able to clear unfired 7.62x25 or 9x23 Winchester rounds.
That said, I owned a Model 213 that was totally reliable, over 55,000 rounds with no failures. It was also my most accurate pistol. If you only want to shoot 9x19 Luger, the Model 213 would be the way to go, IMHO. If you want to also fire the cheap surplus 7.62x25, or the 9x23 Winchester (the ballistic twin of the 357 Magnum), go with the 54-1.

That remark about the converting the Model 213 to shoot 7.62x25 is completely incorrect. Some believe the lockwork is farther foward... not true. The ejector notch, which is part of the hammer spring housing is cut farther forward on the 213, but the hammer spring housing (lockwork) is in exactly the same location. The ejector notch can carefully be moved back with a dremel to accomodate the longer 7.62x25 brass. After doing this, the ejection port on the 213 is plenty large enough. Also the extractor on the model 213 is slightly different, and while it will work with 7.62x25 brass it is not as reliable as replacing it with the correct extractor.

 

[PabloJ]

Thus far I have put 1250 rounds through 213. I fired Federal, Remington, Winchester, and Ruag FMJs through the gun. It is fun gun to shoot and accuracy is acceptable. The most accurate load was Federal 'Champion' which sells for about $10/50 at Walmart. The worst performer was Swiss made Ruag ammo with copper washed soft iron jacket which was the most expensive stuff I used. Stoppage rate was about 3 to 5 per 500 rounds.

 

[JTH]

I have a Norinco Tok 9mm. Who sells the mags for the 9mm Luger for this pistol? Didn't mean to hijack thread, just seemed an appropriate question w/o starting a new topic. Thanks in advance.
JT

 

[Shadow 7D]

gunbroker
egunparts
sarco

and a few that escape me right now