TargetTalk

Has anyone ever owned or seen a TOZ 49 or 36 revolver in the USA? I remember reading some information some years ago that the Russian gun at the time that was legal to import was the TOZ 35. I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case anymore. I have never seen either of these revolvers for sale here in the US but I may just not have looked hard enough.

Thanks,

DLB

About 30 years ago one of my shooting buddies imported a ToZ revolver from Australia. It was probably the only one in Canada, but he was very curious since he had seen them in international competition. The ammo was a severe pain to make and he eventually tired of it and went back to his Walther. He sold it into eastern Canada, but it never turned up at a national match during the twenty five years I ran equipment check. I shot it once for five rounds and decided I preferred my K38.

Cheers. Dr Jim

I had heard there was some talk in the misty past about a TOZ 49 type revolver in .32. I doubt they were ever concerned with sales in ther west. I have a few Model 14's and a nice single action Model 15 with a 6" Barrel and a Bomar rib. If I was a person of any such talents designing a really nice rear sight for the model 14 would be wonderful. the LPA would fit the more modern of mine but. It would be great to have something as nice as a Pardini SP sight.

DLB

TOZ 36s and 49s are often seen on ranges here in Australia and in for sale ads. A number of the 49s have been modified to take .32SWL wadcutter ammunition. For that mod, and to retain the gas seal, it is necessary to sleeve the cylinder chambers to take the 32s and to shorten the cylinder and move the barrel back. It is quite an undertaking. Mine is has been modified in that way and I believe the person who did it said they would never do another one! Others have been modified to shoot the 32 H&R Magnum round which only requires the cylinder sleeving.

They are both nice pistols to shoot: very accurate and interesting pieces.

Bob

At some point in the early 1970's, and Englishman (who was a target shooter) moved to Canada and brought his TOZ-36 with him. The barrel had been shortened because somewhere in the UK, it was decided that a 6" barrel with a gas-sealed chamber (almost 2" long) was longer than UIT regulations permitted. I had that pistol for about a year, but never did get around to loading for it. The recessed bullet caused the casing lip to break after a couple of re-loadings unless the case was re-annealed. It was a very well made revolver, but not really worth the effort to reload if it used the long Nagant revolver cases. The TOZ-49 used a shortened "sport" cartridge. That worked well, but the brass was never available in North America. Russian and ex-Eastern block shooters were still using it at CISM centre-fire matches in 2010, and probably still use them today. The gas seal feature of the Nagant action gave it the precision of a semi-auto with the reliability of a revolver. A small number were made in .32 (TOZ-96 was the designation).