TargetTalk

I have several TOZ 35's. These are the older versions, and not the M version. Many of these have a cyrillic letter before the serial number. Does anyone have the code so I may date the manufacture of these pistols. All seem to have the T mark indicating manufacture in Tula.

Thanks in Advance, Mike Marzitelli

Sorry, no info for your question, but I handled a TOZ today with an inlaid section of wood in the foregrip with the hammer and sickle and CCCP in it. Is this common?
Corey Millis

Of the dozen or so I have handled, the forend's are fairly plain with the earlier one's having a compound curve toward the front. The one's I have handled have come from East Germany, Poland, and the Cech Republic so the CCCP logo would probably not be present. Interestingly, of the bunch, one has a round hole milled into the side of the receiver rather than the four cornered hole.

The fore ends and the grips have lent themselves to much personalizing as can be seen from the various pistols. Country flags, decals from various matches in which the pistol was entered, and even shooter's initials are fairly common. The furniture has lent itself to woodworking artistry so inlays with country identification would not surprise me.

I suspect many of the used toz free pistols that have come to surface are from military shooting teams which were sold with all arsenal stock when the countries left the Warsaw Pact and joined the EU witha corresponding weapons change. The various military arsenals and bases had shooting teams and we are inheriting these. That doesn't conflict with what you observed. Much of this is my surmise. mjm

I hope more people address this issue!