While there we spent a couple of nights with one of my best friend's who moved his family down to Chapin, S.C. area a few years ago. During one of the day's we spent there, my friend and I went to the local firing range to wring out a 1953 Romanian Tokarev, an AR15Bushmaster in .223, along with a newer Mossberg lever action 30-30.
I have been a gunny all my life and have never owned an AR15. I have thought about it several times over the years, however the money and circumstance never crossed paths close enough for me to actually own one. I also had never fired the 7.62X25 Tokarev of which there are apparently several variations out there.
I was also amazed at the overall military perspective degree of accuracy the Tokarev was capable of off hand with crude sights and inexpensive ammo, even out to around 125 yards.
LINK to history and use of the Tokarev 7.62X25 Pistol
EXCERPTS:
The 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge is a bottle-necked pistol cartridge widely used in former Soviet and Soviet satellite states, China and Pakistan among other countries. The cartridge has since been replaced in Russian service by overpressure versions of the 9x19mm Parabellum.[
The cartridge is in principle an enhanced Soviet version of the 7.63×25mm Mauser. The Soviets produced a wide array of loadings for this cartridge for use in submachine guns. These include armor-piercing, tracer, and incendiary rounds. This cartridge has excellent penetration and can easily defeat lighter ballistic vests (class I, IIA and II) as well as some kevlar helmets, such as the American PASGT helmet. Although most firearms chambered in this caliber were declared obsolete and removed from military inventories, some Police and Special Forces units in Russia, Pakistan and (mainly) in China still use it because of the large quantity of stored ammunition still available.
There is a common misconception that 7.62 Tokarev surplus ammunition in the United States uses copper-coated mild steel bullets, and that this increases the chance of dangerous ricochets when fired at hard targets and can damage bullet-traps often used on shooting ranges. While steel-core ammunition in 7.62×25 is available internationally, in the United States the importation of 7.62×25 cartridges loaded with copper-coated steel bullets is illegal; federal law defines these as armor-piercing pistol ammunition. The so-called steel bullets sold in the United States are generally lead-core bullets with copper-washed steel jackets, and these do not present a significantly greater risk of ricochet than a standard copper-jacketed projectile.
SERVICE USE:
The most notable use of this cartridge was in the Tokarev TT-33 pistol, which was the Soviet Union's standard service pistol from the early 1930s until the mid-1960s. It was also used in the Czech ČZ vz. 52, which was the standard Czech service pistol from 1952 until 1982. The cartridge was also used in several sub machine guns, including the Soviet PPD-40, PPSh-41, and PPS-43, the Russian PP-19 Bizon, and the Czech vz. 24 and vz. 26
MY INPUT:
My friend and I had a great range session working with all three guns and a chance to talk about old times etc. All in all we had a great time. God willing and the creek don't rise and money permits, I would like to pick up an AR15 some day and have it tricked out and put a scope on it. GOD BLESS South Carolina.
I was also impressed with the handling qualities of the Mossberg 30-30. The trigger is better out of the box than the Marlin's I have handled and or owned, however with the installation of the Wild West Happy Trigger conversion kit, the Marlin is a better gun and feels better in my hands. The Mossberg is an affordable hunting rifle out of the box for those not likely to be as concerned about triggers as I am. Specs are 6.7 lbs, 20 inch bbl, 6 round tubular magazine, 1 in 10 twist on barrel and wood stock with blued steel bbl and receiver.
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