Quick M57 History
The Yugoslavian M57 traces its origins back to the 1930s and the Russian firearms designer Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev. More accurately, it traces back to the work of John Moses Browning. Browning’s brilliance in designs like the 1903 and 1911 inspired Tokarev, who borrowed heavily from Browning to create the first Tokarev pistol, the TT-30.
Tokarev simplified Browning’s work and developed a new, fast, bottlenecked 7.62x25mm cartridge for his gun. Yet, his prototype TT-30 still had a front barrel bushing, barrel locking lugs, and a similar short-recoil tilting-barrel system that give it that “Browning” feel.
Tokarev’s design was adopted by the Soviet military as the TT-33. The M57 was largely a Yugoslavian clone. However, Yugoslavia realized it could improve upon the TT-33 and modified the design in a few significant ways. More on that in the specs section below.
Related: Tokarev Pistol – Browning’s Legacy in a Russian Gun
Somewhere around 270,000 military M57s were produced out of the Zastava plant in Yugoslavia. This one bears a serial number with the “J” prefix, making it a 1972 gun and putting it in the middle of the total production, which ended in 1982 for military M57s.
The term Tokarev is thrown around quite a bit and creates some confusion. In reality, the 7.62x25mm Tokarev round was actually used in a handful of other firearms, such as the Czech CZ 52 and the PPS-43 submachine gun that was introduced during World War II and produced in the millions.
One of the more interesting characteristics of the bottlenecked 7.62x25mm round is that it is small but very fast, making it almost a sort of precursor to the modern 5.7 NATO. Combining the PPS-43 and the TT-33/M57 almost feels like a geriatric version of FN’s Five-Seven pistol and P90 submachine gun PDW combo chambered for 5.7 NATO…almost.
Specs & Features
On the one hand, the Soviet military was quite innovative with many of its firearms, from the SVT-40 semi-auto rifle to the AK-47. But when it came to the Tokarev pistol, it embraced the idea that “simple is as simple does.”
The TT-33 and M57 basically stripped away as many complexities and parts as possible from Browning’s designs. Yugoslavia’s arms designers also saw areas to improve upon the original.
They extended the M57’s grip to accommodate nine rounds compared to the TT-33’s eight. This improved the grip space over the somewhat short TT-33 pistol grip.
Unlike the original TT-33, the M57 added a magazine safety, making it impossible to fire the gun without a magazine inserted. The slide also featured more aggressive serrations while doing away with the TT-33s retaining pin on the slide to hold the firing pin in place.
Other improvements included a dovetailed front sight, anti-glare cuts along the top of the slide, and a significantly enlarged and grooved magazine release. The last upgrade is one of my favorite features, making it easy to drop the magazine without adjusting my grip. Despite the increase in the size, I haven’t noticed any issues with bumping the release.
Everything was simplified for production. There was no safety originally, although a Glock-like trigger safety was added so this gun could be imported into the states. The takedown pin/slide stop is merely held in place by a spring clip, and even the grips lack any attaching screws.
Each grip panel only has an internal lever lock. It’s quite clever. The guts of the gun are also simplified to only four main parts: slide, barrel, bushing, and captured/articulating recoil spring – i.e. the guide rod is two segments that are connected and flex inside the spring.
If it looks like the rear sight is elevated, that’s because it stands slightly taller than the front sight blade. I must assume this was to achieve a point of aim and impact that was a bit further out. The flat trajectory of the 7.62x25mm with velocities between 1,300 and 1,800 fps would help with shooting at longer ranges as well.
Here are some more general specs on the gun:
Length: 7.62 inches
Barrel Length: 4.55 inches
Sight Radius: 6.1 inches
Height: 5.35 inches
Width (Widest Point): 1.16 inches
Slide Width: 0.81 inches
Weight (Empty): 1.72 pounds
Capacity: 9 (+1 is possible, but the gun is not rated as drop safe when cocked)
Trigger Pull: 7 pounds
Soviet designers were known for simplifying things to maximize efficiency, but there are two very innovative features to the M57. The first and most obvious is the bottlenecked 7.62x25mm cartridge itself. In another genius stroke, the gun hosts a removable firing system.
This meant that the most complex part of the gun could be assembled outside of the frame and easily replaced/repaired if damaged. That alone gets a bit of a chef's kiss in my book. However, that retaining clip on the side for the slide stop/takedown lever is atrocious.
You can knock it loose, and it wears out over time. You’ll notice this gun has a moon-shaped scar by the slide stop. That’s because the clip was loose at some point and the lever simple swung around against the frame.
In fact, the clip was loose when the gun arrived at my FFL years ago. Again, the Soviets would have simply seen it as an easily produced and replaced part. Looks really didn’t matter.
The grip angle might seem extreme at around 14 degrees (1911s are 18 degrees), but it points well in my hands. The black Bakelite side panels are slippery by today’s standards but on par for many grips from the same period.
I think that’s enough specs, let’s get to shooting.
Accuracy & Reliability
This is an old gun that was never meant to be a high-volume shooter. Over the years, I have only put around 400 rounds through it, and much of that was newly manufactured PPU 7.62x25mm Tok.
I can’t recall any malfunctions when using the original magazine. I own a reproduction mag, and it occasionally fails to feed because it holds the cartridges at a low angle that jams them into the front of the magazine wall. But that’s not the gun’s fault.
Even though the sights are rather crude, though better than the original TT-33, I was able to keep nearly all my 18 shoots inside a 3-inch circle at 25 feet. The recoil is very manageable for a round moving at 1,400+ fps, and I think the near-vertical grip angle helps by allowing the gun to roll rather than push or snap in the hand.
All in all, I feel the gun shot great and felt good in the process for what it is. There’s nothing terribly fancy about it, but the platform can easily shoot better than I do on most days.
The trigger pull for this gun came in at 7 pounds. That should be taken with a grain of salt. First, it is a straight pull to the wall with just a bit of springy resistance. It does not lever like a Glock or a Browning Hi-Power. It slides directly back to the wall where it breaks fairly clean for a military trigger.
Military production triggers can vary quite a bit. Plus, since there was a trigger safety added to import this surplus M57, that trigger pull may vary even more from one gun to the next. Still, I think it’s fantastic that these came in with modified trigger safeties. You can buy an original, unmodified trigger and easily replace it in the gun to bring it back to its original form.
Ballistic Testing
Now for the really fun part. I decided to bust out some period 86-grain surplus Romanian ammo for this testing. I happen to have an addiction to military surplus, and that included period (late Cold War) body armor, helmets, and ammo. So, to judge the power and penetration potential of the 7.62x25mm, I decided to test it against armor it would have faced during its service life.
To be clear, I have tested this same body armor with 124-grain FMJ 9mm, 230-grain FMJ .45 ACP, 180-grain FMJ .40 S&W, and – yes – even some 5.7x28mm ammo. Spoiler alert: none fully penetrated the body armor (excluding the helmet). But the differences in the backface deformation were easily noticeable.
Related: Premier Body Armor's Phoenix T-Shirt (Ballistic Test)
Shooting at 15 feet, here’s what the period 86-grain FMJ 7.62x25mm did to the body armor panel:
At the same distance, here’s what the 124-grain FMJ 9mm and 230-grain FMJ .45 ACP did:
And just for fun, here is what the potent 180-grain FMJ .40 S&W achieved:
The .40 S&W created a devastating amount of backface deformation, but it wasn’t that dissimilar to the 7.62x25mm, which also penetrated further. There is no question the zippy 7.62x25mm moving up to 1,800 fps packs a lot of power.
Past testing had my Romania surplus 86-grain 7.62x25 moving closer to 1,460 fps, and it was still creating significant delamination and backface deformation. But testing my period 1980-1990s Kevlar helmet is where things got very interesting.
Here’s how the 86-grain FMJ 7.62x25mm and 124-grain FMJ 9mm compared:
So, can 7.62x25mm Tok penetrate period armor from the Cold War era? Sort of. It’s hardly a conclusive pass, but the possibility – depending on the armor – is certainly there. More to the point, it packs a lot of power that I would never want to experience from the receiving end.
Pros & Cons
Here’s my short list of pros and cons:
Pros:
- Cool history
- Innovative design
- Potent 7.62x25 round
- Accurate
- Nine-round magazines (over the original eight)
- Easy to control
- Improved slide serrations and sights
- Improved mag release
- Longer grip
- All metal construction, minus grips
- Fun to shoot
Cons:
- Low capacity for the weight compared to modern guns
- 7.62x25mm is less common and harder to find in stores
- Not ideal for carry with a chambered round
- Relatively crude sights
-
Crude takedown retaining clip
Final Thoughts
Over the years, this Tokarev has gained a few dings and scratches, but it keeps on ticking along. There are a lot of collectors who love these guns, and they are fortunately on the cheaper end for cost. That’s part of the reason this one made it into my collection.
On the other hand, they are outdated. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of support to keep them alive and running for many years to come. Ammo is easy enough to find if you search online, and plenty of surplus parts are floating around. There’s even a handful of holster makers pushing out holsters for the guns.
For my money, it was an easy choice to add an M57 to my personal collection. I can enjoy shooting it while knowing I’m holding true Cold War history in my hand at the same time.
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