Tokarev 9mm Jam

[DonMountain]

About 25 years ago when I was "collecting" firearms, I bought a Model 213 Sportarms Tokarev in 9mm made by Norinco. I finally got it out of the plastic package two days ago and dismantled the top of the gun according to the old NRA Handgun book I have. And cleaned off all of the old lubricant and polished it up well and then lubed it with Remington gun oil. The gun is pretty hard to cycle the slide to load the first round, but it fired it ok. Thats when my trouble started. The second round was stripped from the magazine and got jammed crooked into the chamber end of the barrel and I can't move the slide now. Anybody have any experience with these firearms? And can tell me what to do with it? :(

[Outpost75]

Sorry for your bad luck. The Tokarev pistols are most reliable in their original 7.62x25 caliber.
The 9mm Chicom ones are not of the highest quality compared to Polish or Romanian originals.
My 1952 Polish Factory No.11 7.62 eats anything, FMJ, cast bullet handloads, JHPs and is scary accurate.

203880

[TCLouis]

Watch the muzzle your eyes and hands now, all the fiddling you do may do could provide for a discharge out of battery.

I assume you can/have already dropped the magazine.

How far open is the ejection port?

Can you see the cartridge.

Have you met you local gunsmith yet?

I know what I would do if it met my fiddle with it criteria and will not suggest it as a possibility for you to try.

BUT

With the above questions answered on the thread others may have enough information to provide some suggestions for you!

[DonMountain]

I just made a discovery that may shed some light on my gun's jamming problem. I had by mistake put two rounds of reloaded ammo in it instead of taking the two rounds from a store bought box of Winchester 115 grain Ball. The reloaded ammo was in these same Winchester cases, using CCI 500 small pistol primers, 4.6 Grains of W-231 powder, and Hornady No: 3555 115 Grain full jacketed bullets. The ejection was very short so maybe this powder load is way too small. My Hornady book shows a range of W-231 powder from 4.3 grains up to 5.5 grains. I haven't purchased a mold for casting lead projectiles yet for a 9mm, so thats why I was running an initial trial using these jacketed bullets that I have had for 25 years. And I finally did wiggle the slide forward and backward enough to get the jammed round out of the gun.

[Artful]

Glad to hear it. As I recall these work the same as 1911's in that as the round feeds it's supposed to come out of the magazine and the base is supposed to slide up the under the extractor. You might check for any burr's on the extractor.

[DonMountain]

Glad to hear it. As I recall these work the same as 1911's in that as the round feeds it's supposed to come out of the magazine and the base is supposed to slide up the under the extractor. You might check for any burr's on the extractor.

That is exactly where the round caught, trying to slide up under the extractor. I will try running several rounds from the clip up through the chamber and see if it smooths out and the "catch" improves. And I will also try shooting it with some factory ammo and see if there are any burr scratches on the brass. If the factory ammo shoots ok, I will tear down my experimental rounds and up the powder toward the middle or upper part of the allowable range to see if they cycle the gun better. I hope the jacketed bullets work ok with the W-231 powder since I have several pounds of it my brother got from a retired reloader when he bought all of his collection.

[Thin Man]

Don, most of the Tokarev pistols I have seen are hard to draw the slide to the rear to enter that first round from the magazine into the chamber. That condition is caused by the sharp and abrupt rear shoulder on the BOTTOM CENTER of the slide that first engages the hammer as the slide moves to the rear. One way to by-pass this resistance is to insert a loaded magazine into the pistol, thumb cock the hammer, then draw the slide to the rear. The slide should move easier without having to overcome this bottom edge.

Don't like the extra thumb-cocking step? Another solution is to radius that bottom square edge under the slide into a rounded profile (just don't over-do it!). I know several Tokarev owners who have done this and are very happy with it. I recommend this tactic for the commercial copies (I did so with my commercial 9mm), but prefer to keep original TT-33 pistol in "as issued" status (again, yes, my original TT-33 is still "all original"). Good luck with your project.

[DonMountain]

Don, most of the Tokarev pistols I have seen are hard to draw the slide to the rear to enter that first round from the magazine into the chamber. That condition is caused by the sharp and abrupt rear shoulder on the BOTTOM CENTER of the slide that first engages the hammer as the slide moves to the rear. One way to by-pass this resistance is to insert a loaded magazine into the pistol, thumb cock the hammer, then draw the slide to the rear. The slide should move easier without having to overcome this bottom edge.

I wonder if a dab of one of those super greases would help this problem? I will try out your suggestion of cocking the hammer before inserting a loaded magazine and pulling the slide. Thank you.

[fivefang]

Don Mountain, underpowered ammo for the 9x19 pistol has been a problem ever since the first G.I.from ww1 brought one back home,I have the same pistol, it is extremely reliable & accurate , yes cocking the Hammer does make it a lot smoother to work the slide, shoot it , you will be pleasantly surprised, Fivfang

[DonMountain]

Ok, I took the Tokarev out and shot it with factory ammo, and it cycled correctly and locked the slide open after the last round was fired. So I tried my reloads and found that only one out of five single loaded rounds locked the slide back. The gun shot well with a reasonably small pattern with the factory ammo, and with the handloaded ammo. So now I need to up the powder charge until the cycling occurs correctly. And cocking the hammer before pulling the slide back made all the difference in the force required. I already took the originally loaded rounds out to the shop and "unloaded" them using one of those plastic hammer unloaders. Now I need to reload them, probably in 2 round trial powder amounts until they lock the slide back. Then try 5 of them loaded in the magazine.

[DonMountain]

I had started loading 115 grain jacketed bullets with 4.6 grains of W-231, which didn't cycle the slide most of the time. This time I loaded 5.2 grains of W-231 and fired 3 of them and everything went well, with the bullets hitting about the same place as the similar Winchester factory rounds did. The Hornady book shows a maximum charge of 5.5 grains for this bullet. So, now I need to load some more and do some practicing with the Tokarev. I am setting up this gun for my wife to use. And I need to learn how to shoot it well enough to fill her in on the easy way to operate it. I have another question about this pistol. Has anybody found a holster that fits a Tokarev properly and could recommend one?

[birch]

I dont know if your tokarev was dipped in cosmoline, but if it was, be sure to check the firing pin channel. Mine had a chunk of old and hard cosmoline in the channel, and it held the firing pin like an open bolt MAC. I put one through my bedroom floor. Please spare the "stupid" comments--that one was marked down as a learning experience.

[DonMountain]

I dont know if your tokarev was dipped in cosmoline, but if it was, be sure to check the firing pin channel. Mine had a chunk of old and hard cosmoline in the channel, and it held the firing pin like an open bolt MAC. I put one through my bedroom floor. Please spare the "stupid" comments--that one was marked down as a learning experience.

Thanks for the "heads up". I took the slide off and the firing pin is loose and retracts back into the head block after firing. I think my Tokarev may have been a commercial model and only had grease on the slide channels when I took it apart to clean it. And I oiled it pretty well with Remington Gun Oil also and it seems to be pretty free. It looked like it had never been fired when I opened it up just a few days ago, after sitting in my gun vault for 25 years. It also seems to be running pretty well now even with my reloads. I am starting to look for a bullet mold for it now, after I take the barrel out and drive a lead ball though it to check the size I need. Do most of you shoot gas checked bullets in the 9mm Luger?

[Dan Cash]

.... One way to by-pass this resistance is to insert a loaded magazine into the pistol, thumb cock the hammer, then draw the slide to the rear. The slide should move easier without having to overcome this bottom edge.

Don't like the extra thumb-cocking step? Another solution is to radius that bottom square edge under the slide into a rounded profile (just don't over-do it!). I know several Tokarev owners who have done this and are very happy with it. I recommend this tactic for the commercial copies (I did so with my commercial 9mm), but prefer to keep original TT-33 pistol in "as issued" status (again, yes, my original TT-33 is still "all original"). Good luck with your project.

I don't think I would be filing a radius on the bottom of the slide. That squarish corner where the slide hits the hammer is there for a purpose as the hammer helps retard the slide in initial recoil and retards unlocking. Some of the ammo which the Tokarev is intended to digest is very hot.

[DonMountain]

I don't think I would be filing a radius on the bottom of the slide. That squarish corner where the slide hits the hammer is there for a purpose as the hammer helps retard the slide in initial recoil and retards unlocking. Some of the ammo which the Tokarev is intended to digest is very hot.

I am not a machinest or a mechanical engineer, so am very reluctant to modify the basic design of a firearm that has a proven design for a very long time. I also think filing the hammer down might make the pistol non-functional. As it is though, the cocking of the hammer before pulling the slide back completely eliminates the problem, as pulling the slide back also cocks the hammer. Cocking the hammer first doesn't change the function of the pistol in any way. It just makes pulling the slide easy. And thats what my wife needs to operate the Tokarev.

[Texas by God]

Run about 200 rounds of steel case ammo through it in one day to break it in. No oil. That should run it in ok. If the mag doesn't have a spacer your reloads should be longer oal to fit the mag. I had a 7.62 with extra 9mm barrel and that was my solution.

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