# Romanian TTC Makeover - by Tim Barry



## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

This Romanian TTC (Tokarev) was acquired from a PFF member in a trade deal. I've always wanted to play with the powerful 7.62x25 cartridge -- and this was an opportunity to do so.

This TTC was a Cold War relic, with a manufacture date of 1953. The basic pistol and internals were excellent -- but years of military use and/or storage left the finish in somewhat of a beater status...

Here is the before picture -- when i picked it up in the trade:










For this makeover project, I decided to take advantage of Tim Barry's local operation, as well as the excellent special he is currently running to Cerakote handguns for $80 with a lightning fast turn-around time! Here, you can see the Romanian TTC wearing "carbon black" Cerakote that Tim applied last night.




























Prior to taking the pistol to Tim, I had disassembled it and retained the bits and pieces that were not going to be coated. Then, I used a Dremel tool with felt polishing wheel on the LOWEST RPM setting and MAAS Metal Polishing Creme to remove the original finish and as many of the nicks and imperfections as I could without really beginning to take off significant metal. I gave the parts to be finished to Tim - and he completed the metal prep and performed his Cerakote "magic" in exemplary fashion.

We were both pleasantly surprised how well the parts of this old MilSurp pistol came out of the oven!

In addition to the Cerakote in "carbon black", I have ordered custom wrap-around grips in walnut with an oiled and stippled finish. Those are coming from Marschal Grips in England and will take most likely 2 months to arrive. You can view the excellent pistol grips for various makes andmodels at www.marschalgrips.com

Next, I have ordered a compensator/muzzle brake that replaces the barrel bushing from Gun Parts Warehouse. (http://www.gunpartswarehouse.com/tt33.htm).

Finally, I ordered two magazine bases with finger rest from BuyMilSurp.com (https://www.buymilsurp.com/magazine-base-metal-tt33-pistol-p-3350.html)

I will take and post additional pictures of the completely finished project -- that I believe you will agree gives this old rather odd looking pistol a different look and nice makeover. Stay tuned for that - but I thought you guys might like to see this interim step with the Cerakote applied, in the event you have some "beaters" of your own you might want to dress up!

In summary, I highly recommend Tim for any custom refinish work you may want or need -- and best of all, he's right here in town! He'll do things exactly like you want, and currently can offer extremely fast turnaround times for his work.

Thanks Tim! :thumbsup:


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## MrFish (Aug 21, 2009)

Nice! He does some great work. I might have to get down there sooner than I planned.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Very cool. 

How did you like the LC9?


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## maxfold (Apr 19, 2008)

*tt creokote*

Thanks scuba. i have one wanted to do pretty much the same . Outline the sights for my ageing eyes .want to see grips in walnut .bushing for compensator is good idea . thanks be waiting for pictures .maxfold


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

WOW! Looks like she went to a good home. Good job


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## TraderDan (Jul 25, 2009)

*aaronious????*



aaronious45 said:


> WOW! Looks like she went to a good home. Good job


 Yea , bet you wish you kept it now? I thought you loved that round and pistol? What happened? BTW I really like the Para you sold me


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## loadtoad1a7 (Oct 29, 2011)

do you have any contact info I would like to get an AR lower done


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## floorguy (Jul 22, 2011)

top notch job just as always.


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

loadtoad1a7 said:


> do you have any contact info I would like to get an AR lower done


You can contact Tim at:

Baywatch Arms & Accessories
PMB 362
40 West Nine Mile Road #2
Pensacola, Florida. 32534

(850) 377-2654

[email protected]
www.baywatcharms.com


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## loadtoad1a7 (Oct 29, 2011)

*thanks*

Thanks for the in info will be contacting him


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

TraderDan said:


> Yea , bet you wish you kept it now? I thought you loved that round and pistol? What happened? BTW I really like the Para you sold me


I still like tokarevs and the x25, it was just time for a change up...I don't let my guns sit long unless I have a real attachment to them, I'm glad you like it, it's a great gun


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## kaferhaus (Oct 8, 2009)

The re-finish looks great! 

But as they say, "you can put lipstick on a pig, but, it's still a pig"...LOL

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think the Russians ever came up with a semi attractive pistol until the Makarov came along. That 7.62x25 round is a screamer though!

Nice job Tim


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

I ran across this cool little hollowpoint making tool for the 7.62x25 Tokarev ammunition in the lastest Sportsman's Guide Shooter's Catalog:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=930062

I just had to try one out!


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

My compensator showed up in today's mail. Simple to install -- it merely replaces the barrel bushing.










I expect the magazine base/finger extensions to arrive next -- and then finally, the custom walnut grips with oiled stippled finish should arrive in a couple of months.

Already looks better! I hope to get to a range this week to try out this "flame thrower"...


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## TraderDan (Jul 25, 2009)

*comp*

Starting to shape up nicely, I bought a comp like that one on ebay, for my 1911 however I couldn't really tell any differance in recoil , jump or noise level, firing two 1911's side by side ,but it kinda hard to tell suttle differances without meters sometime.


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

The magazine bases with finger rest showed up a while back and the first set of custom wooden grips showed up in the mail from Hungary today. I've got another set of wrap-around style in stippled oiled walnut coming -- but these still provide a classic "Commie" look to the pistol.










This pretty much finishes the make-over, turning an old MilSurp "beater" into a fine looking pistol suitable for use as a CCW if desired.


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

Plenty of tok loads here...some are for the cz52 only-- http://shop.reedsammo.com/category.sc?categoryId=14


Looks awesome by the way


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

Yeah, I put in an order for their 90gr Hornady XTP loads running at 1650 fps. They're slow in shipping though...haven't arrived yet.


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## aaronious45 (Dec 15, 2011)

They are slow...pretty good company if you aren't in a hurry...I order 35rem from them. Decent prices+ shipping


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## kaferhaus (Oct 8, 2009)

TraderDan said:


> Starting to shape up nicely, I bought a comp like that one on ebay, for my 1911 however I couldn't really tell any differance in recoil , jump or noise level, firing two 1911's side by side ,but it kinda hard to tell suttle differances without meters sometime.


For a comp on a 45 to be effective, you have to be running very stout loads.... comps need lots of gas pressure to work at all. Otherwise, they're just pretty to look at.

Back in my IPSIC days, I used a 38 Super (most everyone did back then) and you had to really be burning to make "major" with a super so there was copious gas pressure.... brakes worked fantastically. Tuned correctly there was virtually no muzzle rise and recoil was about nil. Its easy to shoot both fast and accurately when the pistol is just rocking back and forth in your hands vs jumping and twisting.


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## MULLET HUNTER (Oct 3, 2007)

On our issued glocks we have the stream light TLR, it greatly reduces muzzle climb on our 22's


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

MULLET HUNTER said:


> On our issued glocks we have the stream light TLR, it greatly reduces muzzle climb on our 22's


I heard that it has also resulted in a couple of malfunctions -- including one in a gunfight...is this correct? 

Either way, testing and training a pistol with the flashlight installed is a must. I still prefer the non-mounted flashlight personally.


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

aaronious45 said:


> They are slow...pretty good company if you aren't in a hurry...I order 35rem from them. Decent prices+ shipping


All the 7.62x25 was "back ordered" - even though their website store didn't indicate that little fact. I told them to cancel the order. I'll just use smoking hot FMJ milsurp loads for now...


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