Its like trying to use a moisant nagant 91/30 for a long range deer rifle. It would cost you about $450 to scope one and install a good trigger on it, as opposed to just buying a savage bolt action $300 30-06 at wally world in the first place.
Seriously? Have you ever tinkered with a "mosin-nagant"? You can adjust the trigger with a file and a piece of tin can, and mounting a scope can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it, with all the scout mounts and repro mosin sniper scopes out there, it's never going to be more expensive than scoping that $300 GUN. you're already $200 behind going that route. But this thread isn't about the mosin-nagant, so moving on to the tt-33.
Heres another members post about his now dead CZ52 , your Tokarev could end up the same way.
Did one of these things eat your dog or something? The tt-33 is not a cz-52. They're made in different countries using different tooling methods and different mechanisms altogether. Further, that's literally the only cz-52 I've ever heard of failing in this fashion. The tt-33 is built copying a JMB design, so if you think they're inherently unsafe, then to be charitable or intellectually honest you have to also submit that the 1911, 1903, and 1908 colts are inherently unsafe. As is any modern gun utilizing the same kind of locked-breech design (including, for example, those two kimbers and brownings you mentioned in your range report thread).
As for ammunition prices: of course they'll go up. Everything goes up in price per inflation and availability. You're .45 will go up, and is way higher than 7.62x25 is now. If it gets cost prohibitive, sell the gun (which will also have gone up in value due to inflation. Funny how economics works). The fact that 7.62x25 is cheaper than any other center fire round on the market, has energy levels that blow 9mm para out of the water and some approaching .357 sig, and available in a handgun that's slim, accurate and comfortable, makes it a pretty freakin' enticing thing as far as I'm concerned. There's no reason not to buy it at the price it's at now, and investing in something that you know for a fact will go up in value later is pretty much exactly how you make money in any field ever (though I know that's not the intent here... just a nice side effect).
It's chambered in the tt-33, the cz-52, some ak variants, some sterling rifles and pistols, ppsh variants, it makes a good cheap plinking round for mosin nagants with a $20 adapter.
FMJ may have been considered legal to carry 20 yrs ago, but there have been new court cases tried and won by victims of shooting involving FMJ, HUNTING AND TARGET LOADS , HANDLOADS etc.
Doesn't matter. You can't cite a source for FMJs being treated any worse in a courtroom than hollow points (though I've seen plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that the OPPOSITE is true). The biggest factor here is that this argument is completely ridiculous, because hollow point ammunition in 7.62x25 is widely available and pretty cheap. A simple internet search would have told you that.
but, here's a couple links!
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=360976
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/49074-5.html
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/37236-5.html (though this is sold out)
In any case, if you want a fun plinking gun with plenty of muzzle energy for self defense, with plenty of ammunition available to make it viable for self defense, a gun that has the capability of defeating lower-rated armor, with the cheapest bulk prices of any (that I know of) centerfire round... buy a tokarev. I've never known anyone to be dissatisfied with one, other than the funky grip angle, which can be fixed any number of ways.
Edit: XR, I just read your plastic vs steel pistol thread, and now I'm more confused than ever. The tt-33 should be right up your alley: it's an all-steel gun utilizing nice machining and build quality for far cheaper than even the plastic guns you loathe (for, I think, biased reasons, but that's neither here nor there). Russian heat-treating methods have been fantastic since the late 19th century. I've never heard of nor seen one KB, and they're about as reliable as they come (like most things Russian-made).
