Tokarev pistols: reliability, conversion to 9mm

Question
How good is the Tokarev pistol, re accuracy, reliablity?

How well do 9mm conversion kits work with this gun?

The arm is fairly cheap, and ammo is hard to find in the original format, so I'd like to know if it's worthwhile to buy one & convert to 9mm.

Thanks,

nbk

Answer
I am not very impressed with the Tokarevs, and have seen a number of problems develop when the caliber is converted.

Their best selling feature is that they are cheap.

If you want it for a novelty, then there is no inherent problem, but don't expect great accuracy or reliability.

However, I would caution against it if you might have to call on it for the purpose of self defense.

You would be much better served by one of the Steyr M9 pistols, one of the CZ's or Tauruses.  These pistols tent to be well-made, fairly reliable and accurate, and relatively inexpensive.  If you look around, you can problaby find one of them for what you'd pay for a Tokarev with a 9mm conversion, and the quality would be much better.