A decade after the communist revolution in Russia, in summer 1928, the Red Army made a decision to develop a 7,62 mm cartridge to be the standard ammunition for the pistols and the submachine guns.

In 1930 F.V.Tokarev started to develop a pistol which was a slightly modified John M. Browning`s designed Colt M/1911, resulting in a gun with only a few parts different than the Colt m/1911.
Notable is it's "package" type rear and hammer assembly, which is removed as a unit. This type of construction is not unique and has been used in a number of pistols. The Russian designation for the pistol is "7.62-mm pistolet obr.1930"

The first TT ( Tula-Tokarev ) pistols captured by the Finnish Army were taken during the early days of Winter War in December 1939. As the Soviet 7.62 x 25 mm cartridge was not a standard Finnish ammunition type, captured Tokarev pistols were transferred to rear area troops.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOVIET TT-30, TT-33 MILITARY PISTOLS

The M/95 Revolver was produced in both single-action and double-action version and is somewhat unusual in that the cylinder moves forward before the hammer falls, and the forward end of the chamber aligned for fire telescope the barrel.

The cartridge, which outwardly resembles a blank cartridge, has its bullet seated below the cartridge case mouth. The purpose of these design feature is to prevent gas leakage at the joint between the cylinder and barrel.

Although the Nagant Revolver was an old weapon, it was still in widespread use in the Red Army during Winter War.

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF M/95 NAGANT REVOLVER

The Mosin-Nagant rifle was adopted in 1891, by the Imperial Russian Army.
The action was developed by S.I.Mosin of the Russian army and the magazine was developed by Nagant, a Belgian.
All Soviet bolt-action military rifles are Mosin-Nagant weapons, and all are basically similar to the original Mosin-Nagant. The weapon was a reasonably effective infantry weapon.

M 1891/30 was the first model made from the M 1891. It had many various improvements. The sights used the metric system of measurement, which was adopted in Russia during that period. This model was used in large numbers in the Soviet Army, but was replaced by the carbine M 1944. The Sniper-rifle M 1891/30 was basically the M 1891/30 adapted with a telescope.

The carbine M 1907 was the first true carbine adopted by the Russians. With a leaf sight and slingslots and a hexagonal receiver it had characteristics of both the original and the later versions of the M 1891.

The carbine M 1938 replaced the M 1910. It had a tangent type read sights, hooded front sight, and a rounded receiver. It couldn't take a bayonet and It's similar in may respects to the M 1891/30.

The main rifles of the Red Army in Winter War, was the M1891/30 and M1907

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOSIN-NAGANT M1891 RIFLE

In 1936 Sergei Simonov developed an automatic rifle which was adopted by the Red Army under the designation AVS-36. The production was started in Ishevsk weapon factory in 1937. The production was canceled after the development of the semiautomatic rifle Tokarev. During 1937-1938 of over 34.000 Simonov`s were manufactured .

During the Winter War, the Red Army used a limited quantity of Simonov automatic rifles. Some were captured but the total number was too small to warrant their use in an organized manner by the Finnish Army. The captured automatic were generally held by the Finnish front-line troops until they became unserviceable or worn out.

The AVS-36 was a sophisticated system and needed constant cleaning. They were generally unreliable in combat conditions, but the Finnish front-line troops preferred to use them due to the shortage of automatic weapons.

CHARACTERISTICS OF M/36 SIMONOV AUTOMATIC RIFLE

Although the Red Army had adopted the Simonov automatic rifle, in 1936, they were not satisfied about it. The Army wanted a rifle which was easy to manufacture, simple in construction and would work in hard conditions. It should also be semiautomatic.

In 1938 F.V.Tokarjev designed a semiautomatic rifle, which was adopted by the Red Army after some small improvements, in 1939.

The Red Army already had this new SVT-38 semiautomatic rifle in service during the Winter War although mass production had only started in 1939.

Over 3 000 weapons were captured by the Finns in Winter War ( and thousands more in "Continuation War" 1941-44 ) , and after the weapon proved to be good in field conditions, the captured Tokarev rifles were taken into regular service by the Finnish Army.

CHARACTERISTICS OF M/38 TOKARJEV SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE