Reviews

The WE TT-33 Tokarev GBB Pistol

Operator7

One of the less discussed Airsoft event segment is the re-enactment game, where a group of players who share the interest of a particular war period get together and shoot each other with guns and gear used for that war period. This is probably a simplistic way to put it, and perhaps is not fair to the growing popularity of these events where experienced regular Airsofters or simply war history enthusiasts get together to remember how war was waged say during Vietnam, World War 2 or even World War I.

The gun that CWI Airsoft sent me to review this time has a lot of history behind it (well, not the actual replica, but the real steel version it represents), and goes back to the 1930s when it was originally conceived by Fedor Tokarev as a service pistol for the Soviet Army.

The gun design was ultimately copied and produced by other countries such as Yugoslavia and China adopted in several other countries.

And believe it or not it is still in service in countries such North Korea and Pakistan.

BUILD QUALITY, ERGONOMICS AND DESIGN

With the tone set for this particular review, I have to say that this gun is a joy to look at.

WE Airsoft did a very nice job picking up the original TT-33 design and creating its Airsoft counterpart. The level of detail is astonishing, with the slide bearing some very nice markings (but still short of all the original markings), as well as the frame and the grips that show the mythical CCCP star, just like the real one as you will be able to check for yourself either at Wikipedia or at this very informative and useful website.

Everything from the small tab that holds down the frame/slide pin to the half cock notch, slide catch, slide, and trigger are all very similar to the real steel counterpart.

The only thing that gives it away is today's manufacturing precision and the straight lines that the aluminium body presents, since it has been carved by modern CNC machining.

As always thanks to WE, a very well-crafted gun with a sturdy and reliable construction that is made to last. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about the black paint used over the aluminium as it gets scratched very easily.

Another tell-tale sign that this not a real steel TT-33 is the very nicely polished outer barrel which looks really cool but most certainly isn’t in line with the original TT-33 Tokarev pistol.

Design-wise, the gun kind of reminds me of the 1911, at least the front bit, but overall it’s a sleek gun with a not-so-outdated design which, by updating only a few parts, would probably make it look like a modern gun. So even though we are talking about a gun that was developed in the 1930s it still looks quite recent.

One of those parts that needed updating is the grip since it's slightly short, even for someone like me that doesn’t have a very big hand.  The grips feel is not consistent with the dimensions of the gun.

This doesn’t however interfere with the operation of the gun but in terms of gripping the gun in the best and most comfortable way --- it falls short from what could be a perfect combination. If you go over to the Wikipedia page I mentioned and you’ll see that the Yugoslavian version of the TT-33 featured a longer grip exactly to mitigate this.

Thankfully the grips are wide enough to help hold the gun which is quite lightweight at only 685 grams, so it’s quite comfortable to hold.

FEATURES AND ACCESSORIES

Feature wise there is quite a lot to say about this pistol as it has some interesting and not so interesting bits and bobs.

Let’s start with the included safety. Here is another point about this gun that I found out only recently that is also not part of the original Tokarev that WE is trying to replicate, since at the time they wanted to make the gun as simple as possible to operate and build. Hence, the safety feature was removed from the design.

So why did WE include this? Perhaps because they are concerned about the safety of its customers. Have you ever noticed how many Glock replicas feature a safety mechanism on the serial number plate under the barrel? Most people know it's not a safety feature on any real steel Glock, but nevertheless WE and many other manufacturers still do it and they might have their reasons as we see many people treating airsoft guns as harmless toys in a careless way.

So in the Tokarev they added a very small tab just above the left grip. By pushing this tab down it will lock the trigger and you won’t be able to squeeze it. By pulling it up, the trigger will then work again.

The way WE designed the tab allows it to be pushed down by our thumb when gripping the gun without noticing, and thus not being able to fire when we need to fire. In practice, this didn’t happen very often to me but it’s something to be always aware of and perhaps to deactivate the safety system altogether.

The included iron sights are as nice and basic as the original one, but both can be replaced as they are detachable.

A nice touch is the threaded barrel which allows one to add suppressors to the pistol, something that will probably be a nice aesthetic addition but again probably not true to the real steel version.

Also just like its counterpart the WE TT-33 features a couple of lanyard loops: one at the bottom of the left grip and another one on the magazine itself. Here, I advise you to use primarily the loop on the grip as it’s better to lose the mag than the whole gun.

Magazine capacity-wise, WE have included a 15-round capacity magazine which provides 7 more rounds than the real steel version, so you’ll most definitely want to get at least another magazine if you intend to skirmish with this gun.

Field stripping of the gun is as the manufacturer states --- pretty much like the real steel which adds to the realism, but most important of all allows us to access the hop-up in order to adjust it as you can see on the following video:

POWER

As you can see from the video above this is a very nice gun to shoot since it has a strong kick, all thanks to the very well-built slide and sturdy slide.

The rest of the power goes to push most 0.20 BBs at around 300fps which provides an acceptable range of around 20-25 metres.

As for precision, we are talking about a very precise gun, even with .20 gram BBs I felt I was consistently hitting targets.

CONCLUSION

Retailing at around $89 (around £54.72) at CWI Airsoft, this an extremely affordable gun with very good construction, awesome aesthetics and a powerful kick.

Although it’s not perfect, it’s great for those who are looking for a very affordable and reliable gas blowback, for the casual skirmisher or a collector.
WE has also created a silver version of this gun that is slightly more expensive, priced at $103.53 (around £63.65) but also very nice looking.

Pros

  • Resemblance to the real steel TT-33
  • Quality of construction
  • Wonderful kick
  • Very reliable
  • Lightweight

Cons:

  • Short grip
  • Paint scratches easily
  • Safety feature

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