English: This is a Norinco 213, a 9x19mm copy of the Soviet TT-33 Tokarev pistol. I snapped this picture at a gun show in Sioux Falls, South Dakota this February. I was considering picking one up, since the Tokarev has been on my wish list for a number of years. There were only two problems:

1: It was a 9mm Tokarev. I want a Tokarev in 7.62x25mm. 2: The gun was $275. While that is reasonable, I, sadly, only had $225 on me. I walked into the gun show with $250. (I was in the market for a good old Yugoslavian Mauser) I attempted to talk the seller down, but it's an awful lot to haggle.

So, I walked away empty-handed. But I wasn't really all that disappointed. Like I said, (much like a 9mm 1911) a Tokarev in 7.62 is really the only caliber you can go with for it. It's the caliber the gun was designed for and shooting anything else through the design just feels strange. That and 7.62 is a fun caliber to shoot, cheap and packs a punch! I later found out that I may have been lucky to skip out on a Chinese Tok, because they were constructed with cheap, softer metals (no real shock, knowing Chinese quality) so it has a short service life of 2,000 rounds (though I'm sure most are shot beyond that). I'm really waiting to come across a new production Zastava M57A Serbian Tokarev, or a Yugoslavian Tokarev, for a few reasons. One being that they have a higher capacity magazine and two being that they're still cheap and quality. Why pay $275 for a used crappy Chinese Tokarev in the caliber I didn't even want when I could just pay slightly more for a brand new Serbian Tokarev with a safety that actually works as opposed to just being tacked on at the rear to comply with import restrictions? (Although I do like the position of the safety on this gun). Eh, I probably didn't miss out.

Note that in the background, there is a folding knife of unknown make, a Ruger Single Six in an unknown caliber and an Imperial Schrade knife in a box. I do not know the identity of the box on the left.