zastava m57/ tokarev 7.62x25

[oscarmayer]

i just bought a tokarev it's marked m57 with a yugo... crest on top of the slide. marked on the slide is 7.62x25 m57 . ok i get it. BUT all the research i did last night shows no safety. now i know some of the imports have had safetys installed to make them importable/legal these safetys are mounted under the slide above the magazine release. this "m57" has a factory installed safety in the same location as on the 1911. flip up to put the gun on safe,notch in slide (wish i could post pictures ) but now my question was this a later edition? is this normal? most tokarevs i've seen have no safetys or a "installed" after the fact safety to make them legal for import ???

[AimHigh]

Tough to tell without pictures. Generally I found that Zastava has a "habit" of taking what they have on hand (read: "surplus war-time weapons" made for the YugoSlav military) and refurbing them for sale. If you go to: http://www.zastava-arms.co.rs/english/civilni.htm you will see they they still list the M57. If the old frames/slides etc. fit......... they will use them. They do the same with rifles as their M48/27 looks like a "factory frankenstein" of left over parts. Could they have added the safety to make import standards? Probably. In any case my "guess" is that your pistol was "targeted" (pun intended) at the civilian market to create a positive cash flow for the company.. -AimHigh

[oscarmayer]

this is my first experience with the 7.62x25 i didn't realize it was as hot of a round as it is. it exceeds 9mm +p ballistics if i'm reading correctly. 85 gr @ 1300 + fps with 500 ftlbs me

[bcj1755]

Originally Posted by oscarmayer

this is my first experience with the 7.62x25 i didn't realize it was as hot of a round as it is. it exceeds 9mm +p ballistics if i'm reading correctly. 85 gr @ 1300 + fps with 500 ftlbs me

I've seen a test where a 7.62x25 (fired from a Tokarev TT) and a 9mm were both fired at a Plish milsurp steel helmet. The 9mm bounced off after leaving a nice dent, the 7.62x25 went straight through like it was nothing. Pretty potent little round.

[Helix_FR]

Its a hot round I had a CZ52 that I called my Flame Beltching Hand Cannon. It was the fastest hand gun round until the 357 magnum hit the market. It was not really all that effective in battle however. Over penetration! could take down 2 men if standing one behind the other.

[Dakota Red 1]

Anyone try the Wolf JHP ammo?

[gdmoody]

A couple of years ago, I fired a 7.62X25, a 9mm, .a 40 Cal, a .357 and a .44 Mag at a trauma plate out of a bullet proof vest, the 7.62X25 was the only pistol round that went through the trauma plate. The CZ-52's were selling for around $100 then, my son is a police officer, his comment was don't tell the bad guys about that pistol.

[oscarmayer]

i bought a box of the wolf hollow points and will try them out after i ring this thing out with a 100 rounds of S/B fmj. it might take me weeks just to get the cosmoline off of this thing . those russians were masters at revervse engineering this thing is so much like a colt 1903 but on steroids. the fact this model has a safety which works even with the hammer down ( cant cock the hammer back when engaged) might made it a carry gun option ? nice and flat just have to see how reliable it ends up being after a few hundred rounds.

[Gun_Shy]

The Yugoslavian Zastava M57 is a updated/improved Tokarev variant developed in 1957 for the military of the no-longer-existing country of Yugoslavia; Zastava is now a Serbian company.

The M57 is not an exact clone of the Soviet T30 or T33, unlike the Romanian Tokarevs now available, although it is pretty close. It has a longer grip to hold a longer magazine that holds 9 rather than the 8 rounds of a standard Tokarev. The first models had no safety, but later a safety was integrated into the M57 design (so it is not an add-on for importation, as with standard Tokarevs). They have only recently been imported into the US in any significant numbers, and have a very good reputation.

The downside to this is that you cannot use the standard Tokarev magazines; they are too short. M57 magazines are hard to find, although they may become more available as more of these pistols are imported.

There is a 9mm version known as the M70.

Bill

Originally Posted by oscarmayer

i just bought a tokarev it's marked m57 with a yugo... crest on top of the slide. marked on the slide is 7.62x25 m57 . ok i get it. BUT all the research i did last night shows no safety. now i know some of the imports have had safetys installed to make them importable/legal these safetys are mounted under the slide above the magazine release. this "m57" has a factory installed safety in the same location as on the 1911. flip up to put the gun on safe,notch in slide (wish i could post pictures ) but now my question was this a later edition? is this normal? most tokarevs i've seen have no safetys or a "installed" after the fact safety to make them legal for import ???

[oscarmayer]

thank you "gun shy" by the way this thing is put together i assumed the safety was a factory job. didnt know about the magazines but the one i bought came with 3 total one looks unused. i test fired the m57 over the weekend and was sure what to expect but it fires great , feeds great, puts out one hell of a muzzle blast is heavy enough to soak up the recoil, and went completey through a 55 gallon barrel filled with water. last week i read up on the ballistics having no experience with this caliber and after firing off a hundred rounds i have to say it's impressive.

[AimHigh]

Gun-Shy: You said: " The first models had no safety, but later a safety was integrated into the M57 design (so it is not an add-on for importation, as with standard Tokarevs)." The Zastava web site only shows the right side of the M57 but it does show the left side of the M57 LUX. No safety is visable. I wouldn't think they would market a version with a safey and not emphasize it. They do show the safety on the M70 "Exclusive" though. No disrespect intended, but where did you get your info? Just curious. -AimHigh

[Gun_Shy]

You may be right to question this. There has been a lot of disagreement about whether the M57 safety is an importer add-on or factory safety. I don't know whether the safety was included in pistols as issued to the Yugoslavian military, although I believe the M57 safeties are appropriately considered factory safeties.

I know the early M57s had no safety; that can be verified from photos as well as by people who own them. As well, I own an early M57 (probably 1957 or 1958, based on the 4-digit serial number without a letter prefix) with a safety that was clearly added later. So that makes it an add-on of some sort, but on the another hand, in a description by Slobodan Krstic of the evolution from the M57 to the M88A pistols, including the evolution of safeties, the earliest safety described is precisely the system used on the M57 -- a "simple mechanical safety, fitted on left-hand side of frame above the grip, that locks striker and slide." This is the safety used on the M67, the M57 redesigned for 9mm. This safety was later replaced by a frame-mounted safety locking the slide and firing pin, used on later M67s and some M70s (a version of the M67). This safety was replaced by a slide-mounted safety locking the slide and firing pin, used on the M88A but not the M88 (both based on the M57). The CZ99 comes with a frame-mounted safety or, optionally, a slide-mounted safety.

Again, the safety found on the M57 is the earliest safety design Krstic describes.

So, is the M57 safety an add-on for importation or is it a design integrated into the pistol? Well, it is clearly an add-on in that it was not part of the original design. On the other hand, the safety was part of the design of pistols based on the M57, and at some point was added to M57s.

Compare this to the safety included on the various Tokarev clones. For example, on my Romanian TTC the safety is not only crudely made but hinders routine disassembly and assembly, making it take much longer to field strip than my M57, mostly because the TTC (add-on) safety makes it very difficult to remove and reinstall the slide retaining pin, which should be a simple procedure. This safety is an afterthought, and could have used more thought. (I may end up removing and machining it to both clean up the crude workmanship and, more importantly, make it easier to field strip the pistol.)

Finally, I'm not sure I'd put too much weight on the Zastava website. In the civilian pistol section of the website -- the only section with pistols -- Zastava has M70s with and without safeties, and describes different safeties for different models of the CZ99. Clearly, Zastava is pretty flexible about installing safeties on civilian pistols.

Bill

Originally Posted by AimHigh

Gun-Shy: You said: " The first models had no safety, but later a safety was integrated into the M57 design (so it is not an add-on for importation, as with standard Tokarevs)." The Zastava web site only shows the right side of the M57 but it does show the left side of the M57 LUX. No safety is visable. I wouldn't think they would market a version with a safey and not emphasize it. They do show the safety on the M70 "Exclusive" though. No disrespect intended, but where did you get your info? Just curious. -AimHigh

[oscarmayer]

the safety on the m57 i picked up is for sure a factory installed safety. it is located the same place as one on a 1911, operates the same too. flip it up and the safety goes into a notch in the slide. i hope to have a picture posted as soon as i can. now right next to the m57 i bought was a t33 ? it also had a safety but it was a add on for importation didfferent location and function . these pistols from what i understand were not made to be marketed they were issue / duty guns for the military or police and when they were made if they were imported into the usa no rules appiled

[oscarmayer]

found a picture of a m57 with a factory safety it can be viewed at www.auctionarms.com item number 9087404. sorry i do not have away of taking a picture and posting it here yet.

[bill tt33]

have eney one order the m57 from a gun paper? how bad is it.

[Mitja]

All Zastava M57 are originaly without side safety. Serbian army recently sold 15.000 pcs of M57 army pistols to Austrian dealer. Pistols were then sold to US distributor, but had to be equiped with additional safety due to US regulations. The pistols were added side safety in austrian workshop, but the work was done by three serbian gunsmiths who came from Zastava Arms factory.
Civilian M57 pistols have serial numbers that starts with letter "C". There were some minor changes in history of production of M57 pistols. In the beggining grip pannels were marked FNRJ (Federative National Republic Jugoslavia), after year 1962 the mark changed to SFRJ (Socialistic Federative Republic Jugoslavia). First produced pistols (not mor than 1000 pcs) had smaller ejection potr on the slide. The M57 pistols are stil in Zastava production program.

[oscarmayer]

you would be wrong, there were m57 produced with factory installed safetys

[Mitja]

Here is how M57 looks in original as it is sold in Europe. All pistols sold to US market were additionaly equipped with side safety, I personaly withnesed the instalation.

[oscarmayer]

this was true of some of the m57's but the later ones long before they were imported were changed to incorporate a safety. and i'll dig out my letter from an engineer at the serbian plant in kregujevac scan it and post it here. i was surprised that this was the case as i was always told no safety were ever installed except to be imported

[Mitja]

Civilian M57 pistols have letter C infront of the serial No., these pistols can be ordered to the factory with additional safety installed. If you bought pistol sold from Yugo army arsenal, the pannels are marked SFRJ or FNRJ and the parts of the pistol (including magazine) are marked with 6 digit numbers. (slide 1-00.001, frame 2-00.101, trigger 2-00.004, ...), Service pistols were all without additional side safety.

[Mitja]

If someone is interested I still have some of the M57 pistols on stock.
From the old version with FNRJ panels i have the following serial No.: 002, 003 and 3847. No. 2 and 3 are colector items.

[oscarmayer]

we might be talking the same thing here , by installed for importation i was thinking of the cobbled together safety put on some of the tok's sent into the usa like the polish ones with that god awefull thing they threw together just above the mag release (exporter or importer installed.) the toks ( m57 ) had theirs installed at the factory for importation ( the yugo models with the crest)

[Mitja]

New Zastava M57 pistols are not equipped with side safety. The safety is installed on request by Zastava gunsmiths if the pistol is to be sent to US.
Here is the current M57 pistol picture: http://www.zastava-arms.rs/cms/index.php?id=40

[oscarmayer]

the bottom line is they are factory installed unlike the other tokarevs' imported into the us

[Mitja]

Collector firearms that have been additionaly equipped with certain furniture are not collector items any more. M57 with side safety is not considered as original. For sport shooters this is not important fact.