In a nutshell, the argument is this:

When your on duty, you wear a uniform, wear a kevlar vest, carry at least 2 reloads (if not more in your patrol vehicle), have a multitude of radios for direct access to dispatch and back up/EMS, may (or may not) have access to some kind of long arm like a shotgun or rifle, and have your gun in a semi-ready state via open carry.

Off duty, you may have to worry about getting wife unit/kids to safety, your not wearing a kevlar vest, your only communication is a cell phone to 911 (which might not even be your jurisdiction’s 911), back up is on-duty officers who don’t know your a cop at first glance, you have to go through concealment garments to get access to your weapon (a pistol), and you may only have a single reload and no spare ammo/magazines near by.

If you know your going to be in a shooting, which situation would you rather be in, top or bottom? I know I would want to be on duty. However, one can’t be on duty 24/7/365.

So then, why limit yourself when your off duty with something that is smaller and shoots a caliber smaller and/or much smaller than your duty pistol, when your even more vunerable?

Post your thoughts!

I went to the SAXET gunshow in Austin at the Travis County Expo Center a while back, and picked up a Yugoslavian Tokarev (the one pictured above). I had been looking for one for a while, but had been unable to find the right one. Most of the ones I’d find locally were missing accessories (i.e. holster or cleaning rod) or only came with one mag ( a deal breaker at the time). However, I finally found the perfect one. It came with the holster, 2 magazines, and cleaning rod. The finish was a little worn (as to be expected on com-bloc pistols), but the bore and chamber were in excellent shape. I picked it up for the dealer’s list price of $250 plus tax.

 Pictured here with accessories:

I had read a lot about them on the internet, and they seemed to get better reviews than the Romanian or Polish Tokarevs. Once I had the pistol in hand, I tried to look up what information I could find on it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much. Even going through gunmark books and websites, I really wasn’t able to determine what most of the stampings mean. I’ll post what I’ve read on the internet and in books, but there really isn’t much.

Yugoslavian M57 vs  ‘Standard’ Tokarev

There are several differences (some would even say improvements) between the Yugo M57 (Yugoslavian designation for their Tokarev) and the more ‘standard’ Tokarev designs. The ‘standard’ Tokarev designs would be like the Soviets, Romanian, Chinese, and Polish designs. There are slight variations between the ‘standard’ designs, but not as major as the ones are with the Yugo M57 pistol.

Yugo M57:

1. 9 round magazine
2. Factory added safety that blocks the sear (added for import)
3. Firing pin removable through rear (1911 style)
4. Captured recoil spring assembly

Standard Tokarev:

1. 8 round magazine
2. Import company added safety that blocks trigger*
3. Firing pin removable through rear after removing roll pin
4. 1911 style recoil spring

(*I believe the Polish Tokarev’s safety is factory added, but it still only blocks the trigger)

With the ‘standard’ Tokarevs, all the magazines are compatible. You can easily use any country in any country and you should have no problems. With the Yugo M57, the ‘standard’ Tok mags won’t fit, since the grip frame was lengthened to accommodate the 9 round magazine. When I was shopping for a Yugo Tokarev, a pistol only coming with one magazine was a deal breaker because there weren’t any spare mags, unless you happened to find an individual selling their Tokarev and listed their magazines separate. However, that has recently changed, as an importer has started to import brand new M57 magazines (link will be in the link section at the end).

No pictures of the various improvements, but I will highlight them in the dis-assembly section.

Which…

Dis-assembly

I’ll walk you through the standard field strip for the Yugo M57 pistol, then walk you through a detail strip of the pistol. Make sure to read all the way through the dis-assembly process and study the pictures before you attempt it. Remember that the Yugo M57 pistol has a magazine safety, so if your pistol is assembled and you need to lower the hammer, make sure to insert an UNLOADED magazine.

WARNING: MAKE SURE YOUR PISTOL IS UNLOADED BEFORE YOU BEGIN! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU LOSE PARTS OR DAMAGE YOUR PISTOL!

Note on nomenclature: Left and right on the pistol is determined by looking from the rear of the pistol forward as if you were holding it in your hand ready to fire. Another way to look at it, right side of the pistol has the ejection port, the left side doesn’t. If I say ”to the rear”, it means towards the hammer. If I say “to the front”, it means towards the muzzle. I don’t know all the official names for the various parts on this pistol, but will try to do my best to guess what it is actually called.

Field Strip:

Remove the magazine from the pistol (if inserted), point the pistol in a safe direction, and check to make sure the chamber is empty.

Lay the pistol on it’s left side, so you can see slide stop retaining plate:

You’ll slide it to the rear of the pistol like so:

The slide stop may fall out. In the above picture, mine would’ve if it wasn’t laying on the carpet. If it doesn’t, flip the pistol onto it’s right side and slide it up and out and set it aside:

With the slide stop out, slide the slide all the way forward off the pistol:

The hammer assembly lifts up and out of the pistol. The hammer assembly is held on to the pistol by the slide. Pretty nifty if you ask me. Picture:

Take the slide and lay it on the top so you can see the bottom of the barrel and the recoil spring assembly. To take the recoil spring assembly out, use your finger to bend the guide rod up, then slide it out. This is one of the improvements on the Yugo Tokarevs. The ‘standard’ Tokarevs have a recoil spring set up like most 1911s, the spring and rod or plug is separate. Here is the sequence in pictures:

Take the barrel bushing, rotate it 180 degrees, then slide it off the front. Again, pictures in sequence:

Push the barrel link forward, then slide it out of the front, like a 1911:

Field strip is complete!

Detail strip:

The tools you’ll need are the slide stop, the cleaning rod, and a plastic ziploc bag (optional).

We’ll start by taking off the grip panels and thumb safety first. I’ll explain it, you’ll go “huh?”, then look at the pictures, and go “ohhhhhhh I get it!” The grip panels are held in place by a rotating “T” and a rotating “I”. The T holds in the left grip panel, and the I holds in the right grip panel. You have to remove the T before you can get at the I. There is a little notch in the bottom of the T, that is where you’ll use the tip of the cleaning rod to rotate it. The bottom of the T has to rotate to the rear of the pistol. Once you get it off, you’ll see the I for the other side. The thumb safety just slides up and out. If the T in the left grip panel is hard to move, grip the top of the grip panel hard to press against the thumb safety. This should make it easier to remove. Remember, you have to remove the left panel before the right one!

Here, I took off both grip panels then put the left one back on so you can see the orientation of the left grip panel, what I meant by T, and how the tip of the cleaning rod has to fit in the notch in the bottom of the T:

Now take the thumb safety off by lifting it up and out, then use the tip of the cleaning rod on one of the circles in the I to remove the right grip panel:

Here you can see where Zastava shaved the left grip panel for the thumb safety:

Next, we are going to remove the trigger and spring. Before we go ripping them out, let’s look at their relation:

Now, to remove them, it’s as simple as pressing on the spring near where the trigger makes contact, then slide the trigger down towards the bottom of the frame. The spring should then tilt forwards (towards the mag release). Slide the spring up and out of the frame. Removing the trigger:

Trigger and spring:

When I first got my Tokarev, the trigger was heavy and pretty soft. Once I figured out how to take it all the way apart, I found the culprit. Someone had used thick grease where the trigger makes contact with the spring. I used some bore cleaner to get the thick grease off and applied a little synthetic motor oil. Voila! It was smoother and very crisp. It was coated on here:

Now that we’ve got the frame completely apart, lets start on the slide.

One of the improvements to the Yugo Toks was the addition of a 1911 style firing pin removal. There is a ’plate’ that holds the firing pin in. You can see it here:

Like the removing the grip panels, I’ll talk you how to do it, then show you the pictures.

Read all the way through the dis-assembly and reassembly of getting the firing pin assembly out and back in before you even think about doing this! It’s a pain in the ass to get the firing pin assembly back in because of the spring pressure the firing pin is under. The only time I ever take the firing pin assembly out (other than for these pictures) is to clean it after I’ve shoot corrosive ammunition. It does get easier once you get the hang of it, I will tell you that.

To remove the firing pin, you’ll take the slide stop, use the part that goes through the frame, barrel, and is held in by the slide stop plate and push on the firing pin itself. Make sure the slip stop part (that catches in the frame) is towards the top of the slide. Pushing all the way down on the firing pin, slide the plate towards the bottom of the slide. BE CAREFUL! The firing pin is under a lot of pressure, and if your not careful, the firing pin plate could easily slip out, and the firing pin, the firing pin cup, and cup spring could easily fly out and hit you in the eye or be lost forever. Personally, I like to use a plastic ziploc bag. I put the end of the slide, slide stop in the ziploc bag, and work it out that way. The few times it’s gotten away from me, the ziploc bag catches the parts.

Position the slide stop like so:

Using a ziploc bag to get the firing pin out (I have the slide stop position wrong, position it like the above picture):

Slide internals removed:

Left to right – firing pin spring with firing pin, firing pin cup spring, firing pin cup:

And that’s the detail strip.

Reassembly

Do it all in reverse!

Okay, it’s not quite that easy. Well, it is, once you get the firing pin assembly back in the slide.

Before you start, lets look at how the firing pin assembly needs to go back in the slide.

There this groove in the back of the slide:

On the firing pin plate, there is this little notch:

That little notch slides into that groove. Simple right? Well, you’ll have to deal with the compressed the firing pin spring assembly. I’ll show you a little trick. I always use a ziploc bag for this next bit, because I don’t to risk losing a part.

Slide the firing pin assembly into the channel like so:

Then, holding the plate like this:

Slide it on top of the firing pin assembly and compress it all the way down. This picture is from a bad angle, because the top of the firing pin plate needs to be contacting the slide:

Once you get it all the way compressed, use the slide stop to put pressure on the firing pin assembly by sliding it in the hole of the firing pin plate. The firing pin plate should then slide into the slide.

Don’t be discouraged if it takes you several tries to get it in. Once you get the hang of it, it gets easier and easier. As I said earlier, I always use a ziploc bag in case some thing gets away from me.

Stay tuned for part 2, covering the features of the Tokarev family, features specific to the Yugo M57, determining the rough date of your Yugo M57, and more! 

Jay,

I received a ticket for speeding, 70 in a 65 during the night-time speed limits several months ago. I forgot about it and now have a traffic warrant of arrest out for me. Shouldn’t the warrant be illegal now since the night-time speed is 70?

Thanks,

[name removed]

First, you must either be very bold or very stupid to email a cop the fact that you have a warrant. I could easily strip the email headers, find out where you live, and if it’s local, arrest you.

Anyway, simply put, the warrant is legal. You violated the law and a warrant was issued based on the laws during the time of the citation. The law may have changed, but the violation still stands because you were in violation of the law at that time.

An example of this would be like a burglary cold case. Lets say a burglar breaks into someone’s home in 1984. Flash forward to 2011, and the cops catch the guy that broke the law. The guy would be subject to the penal code of 1984, not 2011.

Another example would be the change the Texas legislature made to capital offenses. Murdering a child under the age of 10 is now a capital offense. If a person has already been convicted of murdering a child age 7 to 10 or the act of the murder of the child age 7 to 10 took place on or before August 31, 2011, it’s not a capital offense. If they’ve already been convicted, they aren’t to have another trial since it’s a capital offense now.

I hope that clears things up for you. Now get your warrant taken care of before you put a friend or family member in a tight spot!

“Stairway to Heaven” followed by ”Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You”, both by Led Zeppelin.

As I was listening to the joyous tones of Robert Plant singing and the slow melodic rhythms of Page’s guitar, I saw the moon in the clouds just above the horizon. It was partly obscured by low-level clouds, but I still saw it had a slight red haze to it. Not even the shriek of the RADAR as a speeder past my patrol car (76 in a 70) jerked me from the sights and sounds; I was lost in the steady beat of Bonham’s drums and the moon in the clouds.

Suddenly it hit me, they don’t make music like they used to. I don’t know what it is, but most of the new music out there doesn’t have that feel that older music does. I’m not sure if that feeling gets lost through computer production, but it’s not there.

Now excuse me while I crank up the turn table and put on my L.A. Woman album…

Multiple sources, including sources from ATF, DOJ and Congressional offices have said there is a white paper circulating within the Department of Justice, outlining the essential elimination of ATF. According to sources, the paper outlines the firing of at least 450 ATF agents in an effort to conduct damage control as Operation Fast and Furious gets uglier and as election day 2012 gets closer.

H/t SayUncle

180 grn Gold Dot hollowpoint in .40 cal just bounced off his skull.

180 grn Winchester White Box FMJ in .40 cal x2 finally did the job.

Maybe the people who argue in favor of penetration are on to something…

Which means, expect a slew of posts over the next week. I’ve got 8 blags to be posted, which I’ll be doing manually from now on to avoid this problem again.

In the mean time, I leave you with a very simple question:

If all handgun rounds suck, does that mean semi-automatic SMGs suck as well? Or does the added length of the barrel add enough velocity to make them viable as a primary self defense weapon?

What I find interesting is since that happened, they are now being investigated by a House committee. But, what I also find interesting, is they downgraded LA’s investment pool, so the city of LA drops them.

I remember reading a post on ARFCOM in the thread discussing the news article about the US credit being downgraded, and the poster basically said, any rating agency that drops the U.S. from AAA is going to be investigated and fined until they raise the U.S. ratings.

I mean sure, like millions of commentors and analyists have said, S&P rated several companies AAA that later folded, went bankrupt, or needed millions/billions of government bail out money. The problem I have is, why weren’t they investigated then? Like in the Yahoo! article above, Treasurer Ongele said the real estate problems came about from ratings companies like S&P. So why is the City of LA just now cutting ties after they were downgraded, and not back then? It seems like as long as they were on the AAA train, it was okay to look past their problems. But now that they aren’t on that train anymore, it’s time to dump them.

This is sounding more and more like a farce every day.

I read in Texas you can legally have a handgun in your house (at least 18 years of age) and the vehicle is an extension of your dwelling, and you can have a weapon in your vehicle, as long as its out of sight. Not concealed on your person mind you, but in the glovebox or in the middle compartment, and you notify the officer when he pulls you over. I’m 19 and I don’t want to go to jail for having a gun in my car. Please let me know if I’m mistakin. OFFICER ONLY I don’t want biased opinions.

This was posted by Sean as a comment to my Traffic Stop Etiquette article.

First, I can understand your reasoning for “officer only”, however, I would ask you to make an exception for “KR”. He is a highly experienced firearms trainer and knows much about the firearm laws and laws regarding carrying a concealed weapon.

Anywho, I’ll need to take some time to research it. I know the jist of it, but I want to make sure I actually know it, plus it’ll allow me a chance to post reference material.

This surgeon, whom we will call Dr. K, said he started as an ER doc in the 70s in Houston, then became a surgeon and remained working in the Houston area in various ERs until the 90s, when he switched and worked for the hospital where I met him. He is into shooting and has his CHL.

Anyway, we got to talking about the effectiveness of handgun rounds. Basically, he said in a nutshell, handgun round sucks. He said the most lethal round in his experience has been buckshot or slugs from shotguns. He said the damage they do is just so enormous it’s hard to repair on the operating table. He said it’s been his experience that most rifle rounds don’t really cause enough damage, unless you are hit more than once with them. Most rifle rounds have a tendency of causing permanant damage through destroying tissue and muscle, in his opinion.

I asked him about the effectiveness of handgun rounds and what caliber he believes in. He laughed and said .45 ACP. He said that most officers and trainers teach the best way to stop a subject is a Central Nervous System (CNS) or to hit the heart/lungs (a.k.a. an A-Zone hit). He said that is a good tried and true method that works, no matter what you shoot. I asked him why he preferred .45 to 9mm or .40.

He simply said “It makes the biggest hole.” I asked him to clarify. Dr. K said the other way to stop a target is by causing the blood pressure to drop enough that blood isn’t delivered to vital organs. He said that without blood flow to the vital organs, it causes the target to fall to the ground. He said if you cause enough big holes the target will bleed to death, and it can happen rather quickly if you hit enough large arteries. He said medically, on the operating table, someone that is full of 9mm holes stands a greater chance of surviving than someone full of .45 holes, even with modern day JHP rounds. He said the larger bullets just simply cause so much damage. He also said because a larger bullet could potentionally take out major blood vessels, arteries, and nerve clusters where a smaller bullet may just take out one of the three.

I’m providing this information based off of what Dr. K said. I’m not saying it’s right, wrong, or indifferent, just saying what his experiences have been operating on people over the years.