I inherited these in 2017 and didn't recognize their make but my dad was partial to "bargain" Spanish guns like Llama, Star, etc so they went into the "For Sale" pile. But they seemed strangely familiar so I finally test-fired one.
Wow. What is this thing? It has the power of a 357 magnum. Turns out they're Yugoslavian copies of a Russian military adaptation (Tokarev TT-33) of a John Browning design from 1903. Boom! No wonder it seemed familiar.
Browning refined pistol design for thirty years and created two of the greatest designs in history, the Browning Hi-Power and Colt 1911. Compare his 1903 design to a 2015 German one, the Walther Q5 Match. The Q5 is more accurate, more ergonomic and probably more reliable.
But look at how big and clunky it is (right side). And it was replaced in 2021 by a bigger and clunkier model because manufacturing cost trumps elegance. Molded plastic is cheaper than machined steel but you need more of it.
In "Highlander", the hero starts with a Claymore but eventually trades up to a Katana. Here the Q5 is the Claymore and the Zastava is the Katana. A work of art.
Tokarev T33s are still standard issue in some places and maybe superior to the US Army equal (Colt 1911) until 1990 and possibly even now. The 90-year-old 7.62x25mm has held up surprisingly well. Compare it to the 5.7x28mm designed in 1992.
One of the first American automatics re-designed by the USSR and made in Yugoslavia. A recipe for disaster but somehow it worked out well.
Comments