TOKAREV a 1911 Contemporary

The TT-30 & TT-33 Tokarev pistols were 1930s contemporaries of the M1911/M1911A1 pistol. Originally chambered for the 7.62X25mm Tokarev cartridge, a bottleneck high-velocity cartridge. In this video, I give the viewer an overview of the newer versions made by Zastava, the M57 & M88A. Unlike the TT-33 these two examples have manual safeties, mounted in the slide. The Tokarev is a single-action-only pistol. The slide must be manually operated or the hammer manually cocked before it is ready to fire. The safety acts as a firing pin block. Also, the trigger can NOT be operated if the magazine is removed. An additional feature many will not like. However, if you find yourself in a struggle to retain control of the pistol, ejecting the magazine may buy you time to win the fight or escape. Even with a round in the chamber, once the magazine is ejected it can not be fired. Even if doesn't fall free, if it isn't fully seated and locked in it can not be fired.
Internally, the pistols take much from the Browning/Colt M1911/M1911a1 pistol. In other words, the Communists did what they always do, they stole the work of others to make their own. The fire control group, however, isn't a total rip-off as the entire unit comes right out during a routine field strip. Unlike the M1911 which takes patients to get right. I give Feodor V. Tokarev two thumbs up for innovation on that. A modular trigger group was indeed ahead of its time.
In the end, the Tokarev TT-33 was a crude pistol meant for mass production yet was reliable and had a powerful high-velocity cartridge that saw service from the 30s to the 70s. It worked but it is definitely the black sheep of the semi-auto pistol world. Right beside High Point in the ugly category. Both work but damn they are ugly... at least to me.
NOTE: M1911/M1911A1, all M1911 pistols in U.S. Army inventory were converted to the A1 configuration in the early 1920s. Only civilian 1911s produced before the changes in the production standards remain completely original until the 100th-anniversary retro models were made around 2011. Or those produced under license in foreign countries. Further, all M1911A1s were the G.I. standard of 1921 until withdrew from service in 1986. Sixty-five years of service with no updates give you a good indication of how much the Army and defense department thought of sidearms. Colt was no better, only introducing one z new magazine and the 4.25" Commander in that time frame. No wonder they lost the contract in the 80s.