7 . 62×25mm Tokarev The 7 . 62×25mm Tokarev cartridge is a Russia n bottle - necked pistol cartridge widely used in former Soviet and Soviet satellite states , China and Pakistan among other countries . The cartridge has since been replaced in Russian service by overpressure versions of the 9×19mm Parabellum . History . Prior to the First World War , the 7 . 63×25mm Mauser caliber Mauser C - 96 pistol gained in popularity worldwide . In 1908 , the Czarist army placed the C - 96 on a list of approved sidearms that officers could purchase at their own expense in lieu of carrying the Nagant M1895 revolver . Between 1914 and 1917 , more Mauser pistols and ammunition were obtained as captured arms from German and Turkish forces . The Mauser and its cartridge were used on all fronts of the Russian Civil War and in the 1920s , during a period of relatively close cooperation between Soviet Russia and the Weimar Republic , the Red Army purchased batches of the smaller Bolo version as well as ammunition for use by its officers . Although a copy of the cartridge was being produced at the Podolsky Ammunition Factory , the Soviets eventually purchased a license and manufacturing equipment from DWM in Germany to produce the cartridge . In 1929 , the Soviet Artillery Committee made a proposal to develop a domestic pistol chambered for the Mauser cartridge . After considerable research and development , it was decided that the " Model 1930 7 . 62 mm Pistol Cartridge , " essentially the Mauser round with minor modifications , was to become the standard caliber for Soviet pistols and submachine guns . Early versions of the Vasily Degtyaryov - designed PPD - 40 submachine gun were marked " For Mauser Cartridge Caliber 7 . 62 mm " . Design . The cartridge is in principle an enhanced Russian version of the 7 . 63×25mm Mauser . The Russians produced a wide array of loadings for this cartridge for use in submachine guns . These include armor - piercing , tracer , and incendiary rounds . This cartridge has excellent penetration and can easily defeat lighter ballistic vests ( class I , IIA and II ) as well as some kevlar helmets , such as the American PASGT helmet . Although most firearms chambered in this caliber were declared obsolete and removed from military inventories , some Police and Special Forces units in Russia , Pakistan and ( mainly ) in China may still use it because of the large quantity of stored ammunition available . There is a common misconception that 7 . 62 Tokarev surplus ammunition in the United States uses copper - coated mild steel bullets , and that this increases the chance of dangerous ricochets when fired at hard targets and can damage bullet - traps often used on shooting ranges . While steel - core ammunition in 7 . 62×25 is available internationally , in the United States the importation of 7 . 62×25 cartridges loaded with copper - coated steel bullets is illegal ; federal law defines these as armor - piercing pistol ammunition . The so - called steel bullets sold in the United States are generally lead - core bullets with copper - washed steel jackets , and these do not present a significantly greater risk of ricochet than a standard copper - jacketed projectile . Reloadable cartridge cases can be produced by resizing and trimming 9mm Winchester Magnum brass , or alternately by reforming 5 . 56×45mm NATO . The cartridge case is inserted into the open - topped die , which produces a shoulder in the correct position , and one saws off the portion of the case projecting through the top . Afterward , one uses a reamer — which fits a tap handle — to ream out the new case neck to an acceptable thickness . This is necessary because a powerful rifle cartridge has just been cut back to where the brass is relatively thick — this must be thinned if excessive chamber pressures are to be avoided in the pistol . Alternately , reloaders in the USA can purchase proper , new cases from Starline Mfg . Use . 308 " or . 309 " bullets for reloading for the Tokarev TT - 33 and Czech CZ - 52 . Mauser C - 96 and C - 30 " Broomhandle " pistols typically have oversized bores , and . 311 " bullets may be needed to produce acceptable accuracy . Hornady makes an 85 - grain . 309 " " XTP " bullet that functions well in all these pistols . On the Starline website , at the 7 . 62×25mm section , information is given about using ammunition intended for the Mauser pistol in pistols chambered for the Tokarev round . In 2012 , 7 . 62×25 ammunition was available for importation , from Romania , Bulgaria and Russia . Performance . The pistol - fired bullet has various muzzle velocities around the range of 1300 to 1800 fps . A common velocity would be around with about of energy . Given the wide disparity in ammunition manufactured in many different nations , ammunition will be encountered that yields higher and lower velocity . Some newly manufactured ammunition intended for commercial use has a velocity of approximately . Wolf Gold FMJ tops out at with as does PPU ammunition . Some of this ammunition , such as the Wolf Gold and Sellier & Bellot , uses boxer primed , brass cases that are reloadable . Notable variants . The Soviet P - 41 was a 74 grain , steel - cored , incendiary variant produced for use in the PPSh - 41 and PPS - 43 during World War II . This ammunition would achieve a velocity of 1 , 600 feet per second when fired from these weapons . The Chinese 7 . 62mm Type P is a special subsonic , heavy , pointed ( spitzer ) loading of the cartridge , designed specifically for use in suppressed firearms . The Chinese - produced standard loading of the cartridge is designated as the Type 51 . Weapons and service use . The most notable use of this cartridge was in the Tokarev TT - 33 pistol , which was the Soviet Union ' s standard service pistol from the early 1930s until the mid - 1960s . It was also used in the Czech ČZ vz . 52 , which was the standard Czech service pistol from 1952 until 1982 . The cartridge was also used in several submachine guns , including the Soviet PPD - 40 , PPSh - 41 , and PPS - 43 , the Russian PP - 19 Bizon , the East German WG66 , the Czech Sa 24 and Sa 26 . One of the strangest weapons attempted for this cartridge was the LAD light machine gun ( 5 . 6 kg empty weight , 960 mm length ) , developed the Soviet designers V . F . Lyuty , N . M . Afanasyev and V . S . Daykin during 1942 - 1943 . Only two prototypes were built and it was not accepted for service . Outside COMECON countries it is not so common ; however after the Cold War , many weapons , especially pistols , were exported and the round is still in production . The cartridge was also used in the Russian OTs - 27 Berdysh and OTs - 39 submachine gun , the North Vietnamese K - 50M and VPA / Viet Minh modified MAS - 38 ( MAS Mle 1938 ) and MAT - 49 s , and the Yugoslav M49 and M56 , the latter gun being developed from the design of the German MP40 . Aftermarket conversion sleeves are also available that enable this round to be fired using the Mosin - Nagant family of rifles .