Overview of Soviet Military Handguns: Nagant, Tokarev, Makarov 

I have a double-action Nagant, and the 40,000-ton DA trigger pull makes Tsarist officers' concern that their men couldn't be trusted with the double-action version even more hilarious than it already would have been. It's hard work to make one of those things go off on _purpose,_ let alone by accident. :)

I had a doublestack mak just like that one years ago. Sweet little shooters.

The Tokerav is my favorite pistol

Daddy has one of nagaunt pistols yeah I probably butchered the name Im ok with that such a cool gun

Love all, can't have any.

Stechkin are missed in this collection ? A so close...

Where is STECHKIN ?

Interesting how the Soviets went from a short recoil autoloader to a simple blowback, when most other countries went the opposite direction.

I remember in the 90s, when the Nagant revolvers were imported to the US. They practically gave them away. But you couldn't find ammo anywhere.

7:30 Naturally, however, you absolutely shouldn't run 7.62 Tokarev in a Mauser broomhandle, thanks to the higher pressure. I've heard stories about Finnish troops that have destroyed some broomhandles by doing that, since the cartridge dimensions are practically identical.

Ah yes, the Soviet standard sidearm trinity: Nagant, Tokarev, and Makarov.

Mind, the problem with the TT not shooting well through tank pistol-ports had some legitimate grounding. The Red Army paid very close attention to the performance of their tanks in the Spanish Civil War and infantry swarming tanks was a huge problem. Several times, Republican tankers were compelled to shoot the enemy off their tanks with small arms. This being a time when most tanks were still using flags and hand-signals to communicate, asking friendly tanks or infantry to hose down the problem was much more complicated than it would be later.

I have a Smith and Wesson No. 3 in .44 Russian. Odd part is, my great uncle got it from a Japanese officer at Iwo Jima. Our guess is, it was a pickup all the way back in the early 1900s by someone and it kicked around Japan for 40 years or so.

I love Ian and forgotten weapons, but $50 for a mug is too much.

Two points: PM stands for Пистолет Макарова, transliterated as "Pistolet Makarova", - Makarov's Pistol (note that there is no "n" there). Also, it seems that the APS (Stechkin's Automatic Pistol) somehow escaped this overview.

That pistol in the middle may have had a lot of problems, but it sure is pretty.

Using Cyrillic letters to spell things in English must be super confusing for eastern Europeans. I can only imagine how long they try to decipher what nonsense is being offered to them before they realize it's just English.

Ian, please do a video on Russian pistols after Makarov. You already did PSM, but I'm sure there's more to say if it's put in context.

Some more Tokarev history: In it's day the usual carry mode for almost all armies was chamber empty, so lacking a safety was considered almost a non-issue. That also allowed more economical manufacture which mattered a lot in those world depression days, as well as making the use simpler and with fewer things to go wrong or break. When the USSR broke up, Russia became infested with criminal gangs whose sources of arms was limited to mostly what corrupt military personnel could supply. They chose the Tokarev for slimness or the Makarov for compact size as their needs might dictate. Though not by intent, the Tokarev was found to readily penetrate the early soft ballistic vests. This was before or at the beginning of the 'level' ratings, and they made special "Tokarev rated" vests for that. Apparently the Asian criminal elements of the time also had quite a few Tokarevs in use as the Hong Kong police force was the first to commonly use those special vests. Body armor is better these days and almost all of it will handle the Tokarev now but for regular FMJ bullets, the Tokarev cartridge still has some of the deepest penetration found in a pistol.

Please no more faux Cyrillic

7:00 Please don't think you can do the reverse and use a Russian 7.62 Tokarev round in a C 96 Mauser though. I had a friend who lost an eye firing 7.62 out of a C 96 Mauser and having the action blow back in his face.

Please Ian, don't write in "russian" like that in the thumbnail... For the sake of all of us who can read cyrillic 😂

Since I own these pistols (except for the last one) it was really interesting to review their history with Ian and morning coffee. Thanks Ian.

“Makarova” - invented by Makarov. “Makarovna” - daughter of Makar. 😂

"When we want to shoot our own guys, we'll do it on purpose, not by accident!" - some Soviet Officer, probably.

9:08 does anyone have a name or any details about this ultimately unsuccessful replacement pistol? I'd love to read more about it.

6:57 - The C96 Mauser is like, the iconic Russian Civil War pistol you'd see in movies.

I feel heard . I definitely mentioned how they use the same barrel blanks for as many guns as possible. It was a big deal for logistics and weapons design. If your handgun, smg, carbine,rifle, and small caliber machine guns all use the same barrel blanks , it saves time and money as well as theoretically giving all of your personal small arms more durable barrels because the barrel material must be usable in machine guns .

No offense ian, but whoever decided that a cleaning mat for 49.99$ with a meme on it as the only way to enter was a terrible decision. At 30$ id think about it, but not 50$ + S&H.

Early gang let's frickin go

“Adopt something that doesn’t shoot our own troops” laughs in KGB 😂

According to a german arms magazine, a large number of remaining S&W revolvers had been converted to flareguns for reason of the breakdown mechanism. Is this true?

The titlpic reads something like "5phviet napo9in phveyaviesh" It really hurt my eyes. Please stop using "pseudocyrillic" fonts.

I think that even if it wasn't Soviet era, the SR1MP pistol program is really cool. And should be covered here.

I hope Ian will do something similar with all the Walther PP/Makarov clones of the Warsaw Pact. I can't find any comprehensive video or series of videos comprising of them all. I find those little double action compact .32/.380/9mmMak clones quite fascinating!

Tokarev Rocks!! Especially the m57TT improvement of it. You did a review on it but not a shooting video. Maybe you should.

lol the thumbnail says "Sfviet NdpDgup EfVyoyaviyo"

What pistol was chosen to replace the TT pre-WW2 before being scrapped?

Maybe the famous Soviet “pistol wavers” of World War II were merely holding their Tokarev pistols aloft for security reasons. 😊

Hey, how about PK? I mean "pistolet korovina".

I wish I got a Nagant pistol back when they were $99 😢

Ian did forget the Podbyrin 9.2mm, the most powerful handgun ever made.

A video about the origins of the gas-seal system including the Pieper and García Reynoso revolver would be awesome.

_«An old TT is better than judo and karate»_ - Russian Wisdom

The double action of the nagant revolver is stupid heavy I don't know how you would accidentally be able to pull it 😂

I happened to stumble onto an 1895 Nagant that is indeed still single action only. Unfortunately, it is a mix-master of parts so really doesn't have much value. It has a sideplate the the Peter the Great mark (dated 1913), but doesn't have the serial number where it should be on the frame. There are also a few small parts in it marked with the Tula star, which I believe dates them to the later 1920s.

Obligatory reference to exceptional caliber of Soviet Yunyun.

The nagant revolver has the absolute heaviest, worst trigger I've ever pulled. I've joked that the scene in enemy at the gates where the Russian officer is shooting soldiers jumping from the boat during the river crossing with a nagant is the least accurate part of the movie since the officer is easily pulling the trigger with any sort of accuracy.

"Makarovna" would be a patronym of a female whose father's name is Makar. Drop the "n", it's "pistolet makarova"

Why isn't there an APS there ? Considered a PDW more than a PA (automatic pistol in french) ?

9:54 Despite this requirement Soviets would continue to shoot other Soviets with pistols, although under slightly different circumstances.

7:39 What was this replacement of the Tokarev during the early 1940s? Any name?

Bro really said SФIET HANDGUN ФVEЯEW in the thumbnail 💀

Ian, please, Pisolet Makarova, not MakarovNa :(

"So what do you need [to build socialism comrade] ?" "Guns. Lots of guns."

in Syria, Tokarev for soldiers and Makarov for officers

Russian firearms are often laughed at however in my eyes they are actually pretty good and inovative. That Nagant revolver was very innovative even to this day there is no revolvers that seals the gases like that. Also the Tokarev was ahead of its time especially with the modular components that we are only seeing in militarys now. THe Makarov was also ahead of its time being one of the first concealable semi autos like the Walthers.

Using Ф as a replacement of O is so painful to see on this preview

О боже!! Что за русские буквы ты выдумал для заставки Йен???🤣🍥🤣

What was the Tokarev was going to be replaced with, prior to the German invasion, that didn't have a reciprocating slide?

The Soviet system of adoption makes a lot of sense for the time as does the American one. America was already heavily industrialized so they had plants ready to receive a design and spit it out. The Soviets were still industrializing and building up factories so they basically planned a factory to make a gun and when the factory was done, the adopted gun was ready for mass production.

"double action revolvers are too dangerous to give em to our soldiers" sounds like Russian Empire thing.

A Romanian tokarev Tt-c was my first gun I bought and carried lol. Jacketed hollow Points of course.

But dang is the tokarev cartridge a stout one that even offers excellent ballistics by todays standards….

The 'Russian' letters are so cursed, not my Russian nor English side can make sense of them lol

Dear Ian, To me the most enjoyable parts of your videos are always the historical facts. Your profund knowledge, your love for details, your passionate and very likeable presentations are fascinating-and, my goodness, it’s all ad-lib! I lift my hat in greatest respect to you. Keep up the good work, mate!

PM was also a police standard pistol, i think that is one of the reason was to have less powerful pistol then TT.

I own a 1895 Nagant revolver. It is truly awful. How anyone thought this was a good idea boggles the mind. I'm pretty sure the trigger pull in DA is measured in tons and good luck trying to reload this thing in combat. After you empty the cylinder your best bet is to throw it at your opponent. I still have half of the one box of ammo I bought for it and probably always will.

Nagant revolver lends itself to being suppressed. Which makes its history more interesting

Mostly carry a pistol in combat not really used much....mostly true you would use it to fight your way back to the rifle you forgot to pick up!! If you need your pistol you let the enemy get too close!!

Каждая вещь была хороша в свой отрезок времени!🧐

No TK 1926 😢. Korovin is probablly really sad.

It could expended back into Russian Empire with S&W model 3 and Galland. In sovjet segment there are also Stechkin, PSM, PB. In sport segment there is also Korowin and e.g. toz-35.

Great video and thank you for not normalizing flagging like Scott did in his latest video.

Thank you very much for this interesting history lesson and the context of each new model

Russian guns are always fun. They unfortunately get marked up so much typically that it's cheaper usually to buy other combloc.

Nagant back in 90s and early 2000 was still being used by Russian security guards

Tried to enroll for this makarov but I think only restricted for US residents

The Stechkin APS is missing there

Do you have any information on the pistol design that was being considered to replace the TT in 1941?

Now I'm curious what they were planning to replace the TT with

I have a post war 1947 Soviet TT33 and I love it, mine is a non import pistol. The person I inherited it from brought it home in a duffel. Years ago there was a guy in Canada that made muzzle brakes for them, I have one on mine and I use it in out IDPA shoots sometimes just to keep in practice with it.

Great Video as always! As a German and European i always wondered why Soviet Weapons are not as common in the USA as they are all over Europe. I assume because we of course were right at the Border with the Soviet Union and of course after that all the former Soviet occupied Countries joined Europe and of course let's not forget the Yugoslav/Balkan and Kosovo War. Has there also been some sort of Import Ban in the USA from Countries that were under the Soviet Umbrella? It's crazy how common some Guns are here (including Soviet Versions) compared to the USA. Would appreciate if someone can chime in because if i google about why they are common here but more rare in the USA, thanks to the current Geopolitical Situation and Google Algorithm i only get Results about which European Countries send which Weapons to Ukraine.

interesting to note would have been the differences in nagant production from factory to factory and within time periods. i.e., earlier nagants had rounded front sites, and izhevsk factory had different wood (or finish at least, idk nothin about woodworking) for the grips (a lot lighter than the tula factory grips.) maybe by the time izhevsk was ramping production, like the mosins built there, that's all they could use; idk. mines 1938 with a refurbed chamber, pointed front sight and darker grips. i know you mentioned there were some upgrades, but the front sightpost is a pretty massive upgrade imo. and it's nice that you mention russians believed it to be accurate, it has a horrible reputation in the USA because the refurbed chambers create problems, most common being it almost always requires retiming for swift double action use. but accuracy supposedly was limited by these chambers. true non-refurbed nagants are insanely rare and genuine ones tend to be very sought after. but, my nagant (in full power, like nuclear loads 3x SAAMI specs (which is extremely underpowered, hence the EXTREMELY underpowered loads from europe) is the only sidearm ive shot to 100y extremely consistently. it's my fav gun and i genuinely carry it all the time (single action tho, since my cylinder has timing issues...) even though the sites require you to aim like 4" low even at like 10y LMAO. at 100y i think i was aiming 1.5 (if not 2) feet low with really hot loads; it eventually became my natural instinct to aim very low (esp since my tokarev similarly shoots a little high) and is a bad habit now that i mainly carry a glock 29 that's zeroed to 20y poa/poi. one problem w the nagant's casings is they are too thin, if you have a strong load (even just a bit stronger than surplus loads with fiocchi casings...) you'll stick the chamber forward sometimes which can require the use of a hammer or something to unstick it. but, you can comfortably get like 300-350ftlb w.o this with new casings; even 30-40% stronger than surplus! (i wish we could reform the surplus steel cases) also, my #1 issue w the gun is obv the extractor. no spring sucks, it can be a real pain to get cases out of the cylinder, i can still reload it in like 14seconds w a speedstrip but man it can be DIFFICULT to extract cases if you're shooting strong loads, slow burning powders like h110 (for the fireball, of course) make it doubly difficult in my experience... ANOTHER interesting thing to mention would have been, even if it doesn't matter for history, the fact some ppl redrilled the cylinders for 7.62x25. the nagant was so overbuilt, mine has taken so much abuse in terms of nuclear 7.62x39r loads. i love it to death, it's my favorite gun i own and the #1 gun i wouldn't sell.

And he’s wearing a CZ t-shirt, the best eastern bloc pistols!

Anyone know what gun Ian was referring to when he was talking about the tokarev's replacement just before operation barbarossa?

Stechkin is missing in this raw...

After watching this it makes me wonder if they took the Stretchkin APS and got rid of the full auto feature, the Soviets would have a pretty damn good replacement to the Makarov

Forgot about APS.

sfviet handgun fveyaview:(

How come TK Korovin never made the list? It was the first Soviet produced semi-automatic handgun. It wasn't adopted by the military, but it doesn't specifically stated in the video that it will cover only militarily adopted sidearms. And what about Stechkin/ APS?

funny thing: yesterday i was at the local police office (Romania) and one of the officers there had a Makarov at his belt

As someone who carried one for two years, the Tokarev's biggest problem is that it is glacially SLOW to draw and fire.

These collection videos are awesome man. Would be awesome to see more.

"let's get something we arent going to shopt pur own guys with" *NKVD laughter*

Neither the 7.62 Nagant, nor 7.62 Tokarev, have the same bullet diameter as the 7.62X54R Mosin-Nagant. 7.62 Nagant .308" 7.62 Tokarev .309" 7.62X54R .311" I load all 3, and they definitely use different diameter projectiles. 🤠

Incomplete collection: where are TK, APS and PSM? What kind of racism is this?

🇺🇸

The Nagant gas seal does an excellent job of keeping fouling out of the action. Would have been great with black powder; the cylinder wouldn't bind with fouling.

Thanks for the video I like this new format of retrospective in small arm of a certain category or country. Thus video look very like the interview you made with the Russian expert in handgun ammo, but, more condensed, more clear, we can read the complete script, it's nice. (although, maybe put this old video in description?) (as a not native English speaker, but with a good enough level, this is easier to get the info and setting in mind than an a hour long webcall/interview (both are valuable and the longer video with this sir have its pros))