TT-33 (Type-54)

Weapon Information

The Chinese Type 54 pistol is a direct copy of the Soviet TT-33 Tokarev, produced following the 1950 Sino-Soviet mutual aid treaty, which provided China with the technical packages needed to manufacture Soviet-pattern small arms. Distinguished primarily by its Chinese-character slide markings, it rapidly became the standard PLA sidearm and was widely exported to communist-aligned forces throughout the Cold War, seeing extensive use during the Vietnam War and beyond.

The Type 54 features a 4.5-inch barrel and is built entirely of blued carbon steel. It is a short-recoil operated, single-action semi-automatic employing a tilting-barrel locking system derived from Browning’s M1911 design. A notable inherited feature is the self-contained, removable hammer assembly, which lifts out of the frame as a unit for simplified field maintenance. It feeds from an 8-round single-stack magazine and fires the high-velocity 7.62×25mm cartridge.

 Key features include: 8-round single-stack box magazine, Fixed front blade and drift-adjustable rear notch sights, All-blued carbon steel construction, & Ribbed Bakelite grip panels with central star motif and left-side lanyard loop

The Type 54 remains in limited service with PLA militia and reserve forces decades after being nominally replaced by the QSZ-92, and Vietnam continues to produce a domestic variant. Its longevity is a product of the Tokarev design’s inherent simplicity and reliability, cementing it as one of the longest-serving military sidearms of the 20th century.

Weapon Specifications: 

• Caliber: 7.62×25mm Tokarev 
• Firing Modes: semi-auto
• Effective Range: 50 meters
• Years in Service: 1954 – present
• Country of Origin: People’s Republic of China