7.62x25 ammo

Question
I have recently purchased second hand a 7.62x25 Chinese made pistol by Norinco ser. # 38001220 and am having a hard time finding the proper ammo for it.  Several rounds came with the pistol and I cannot read the info on them.  All ammo that I am able to find on the internet show the rounds to have a shoulder but the rounds that I have have no shoulder.  Can you tell me which is the proper round and where to buy them.

Thank you
Joe

Answer
OK.

You have the Chinese version of the old Soviet Bloc Tokarev pistol. There is commercial ammo available for it here :

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/product_info.php/cPath/167/products_id/11234

There were times when this ammo was hard to get and some people made their own using cut down .223 brass.AND some people used 7.63 Mauser ammo whish is different but evidently fit well enough to shoot... I would not recommend shooting any of those - you do not know what is in reloads and the Mauser is actually fairly  close, but is still the wrong ammo for your pistol.

Also, there was various types of surplus 7.62x25 ammo available some years ago, which I suspect is mostly gone...but there are several things to be aware of. Some surplus ammo in this caliber was designed for various submachine guns and is FAR TOO HOT for the Tokarev pistol and will damage it. This is why I gave you a listing for modern commercial ammo.

FWIW, the Tokarev is a sort of pastiche of the Colt 1911 and the Colt 1903 pistols with a few unique features added. They are reliable and usable pistols. I have a variant known as a TT chambered in 9mm Luger sitting right here on my computer table.

I think parts for the Tokarev are still available from Numrich - www.gunpartscorp.com - although there might not be much left.

Enjoy that pistol and have a great day.

mark