Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I am Ian McCollum, and today
courtesy of Legacy Collectibles, we are taking a look
at a very cool North Korean Type 68 pistol.
This is a North Korean copy of the Tokarev.
The Tokarev was, of course, originally designed in the Soviet Union,
... adopted as the TT-30, and then updated to the TT-33.
The Soviet Union would provide access to the technical data package for the Tokarev
to a wide variety of other countries within its influence.
And so you'll find copies of the Tokarev made by just about everybody in the Eastern Bloc,
North Korea being no exception.
However, North Korea started making the Tokarev a bit later than everybody else.
So first off, there were a number of pistols that North Korea used.
We have the Type 64, 1964, which was basically a straight copy of the FN Browning 1900.
Which is in its own an interesting story, and hopefully
someday I'll get my hands on one of those and I can show it to you guys.
They also then had the Type 70, which is sort of a .32 ACP copy of the Makarov, or the Walther PP.
I do have a video on that one if you are interested in it.
Now, both of those were pistols that were generally considered
... they were a side arm for an officer. They weren't really considered a combat arm.
This was more the sort of, "You are an officer,
you get a side arm because it's sort of a status symbol of your office and rank."
When it came to the pistol as a combat arm, similar to how, say, how the United States issued the 1911,
or the Soviet Union issued the Tokarev,
that, in North Korea, was a role filled by the Type 68 here.
So this was really a combat pistol, and when the Type 70 was adopted it didn't replace this.
... Well, we'll get to what replaced this later on.
Right now, let's take a closer look at this, because
... it's got a number of variations away from the typical copy of the Tokarev.
Here is our Type 68 by itself.
But let's start by putting it side by side with a Soviet TT-33 Tokarev, so that we can see a few of the differences.
I will point out first off, the back strap is shaped a little differently,
the 68 actually has a bit of a more modern sort of protective back strap.
It still feels kind of awkward in the hand, very squarish sort of grip. But that's an improvement.
The barrel on the Type 68 is about 3/8 of an inch shorter than a standard TT-33,
so this is about 105mm, that's about 4 1/8 inches long.
One of the most substantial mechanical differences is the magazine release.
So a standard Tokarev has a button magazine release, right there.
Where the Type 68 instead has a heel magazine release.
And then externally we have a bit of a difference in the presentation of the hammer,
and the shape of the back of the slide.
Looking at the markings on the Type 68 we have almost nothing to see.
The only thing we have visible on the outside is this serial number on the left side of the slide.
It is 8 digits long: I suspect the first two digits are a factory code, or something like that.
However they are definitely not a date. I have also seen pictures of one of these that had a 41 [as] the first two digits.
And these definitely weren't being made in the 1940s.
Now as best I can tell, this is an example of the pistol that was made specifically for
export to countries friendly to North Korea.
There is also a military pattern which has some additional markings.
It has a date, both in Latin characters and also in ... Korean characters here.
Interestingly, those are dated 1966. Whether this is actually
a 1966 pattern of pistol that has somehow acquired the designation "Type 68" in the West,
or if there's another explanation, ... if they marked it "66" for some reason but still call it the Type 68,
I'm not sure about that. This is certainly a pistol that is rare enough, and there is little enough known about it,
that it's possible that the date designation has been just messed up in Western common knowledge.
So, on the military ones you will see 1966, a couple of Korean characters, a star in a circle,
much like the emblem here in the grip, which is a typical North Korean
arsenal or government property symbol, you'll see it on their other firearms.
And then those military ones have a serial number just like this,
although the one that I saw has a 6 digit serial number.
So, I don't have enough data points to really tell you anything specific about what all of this implies.
But, those are the two different types of markings you will see on these pistols.
We do also have a few little inspection numbers,
or something along those lines, here on the trigger guard.
And also a serial number on the trigger,
and then another marking on the opposite side of the trigger guard.
I cannot tell you what that specifically indicates.
Like the standard Tokarev, the Type 68 is chambered for the 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge.
It has an 8 round magazine.
And this is actually almost identical to a standard Tokarev magazine.
We can see a difference in the shape of the floor plate here.
This one has a lanyard loop, some Tokarev magazines do as well, so that's not really a consideration.
However, the substantial difference is that a proper Tokarev magazine has a cut here
to interact with its magazine release button,
where the Type 68 magazine doesn't have that cut because it doesn't need one
because the magazine release simply latches over the bottom of the floor plate.
As a result of this you can take any other standard Tokarev magazine, and it will fit.
This one has had a piece of twine added to it as sort of a mag pull, but
these magazines will fit in a Type 68, they will lock it open just like a standard magazine,
they'll fit and function just fine. However, you can't effectively use a Type 68 magazine
in a regular Tokarev, simply because there is nothing to hold it in the gun.
In theory you could like push it in and hold it with your finger, and it'll work.
But without the cutout for the magazine release, it won't stay in the gun reliably.
Note that this has the same style of really tall sights that you get on a standard Tokarev.
That's, at least in part, so that they stick up over the hammer, even when it's in the down position. So, that's novel.
Now, to disassemble this we're going to go through a pretty typical process.
We're going to push this pin out, that is the slide stop pin.
So I'm going to pull it back so that this notch lines up,
right there, and then ...
then ... we can ...
pull the slide stop pin out. This is another difference from the regular Tokarev.
Note that on the regular Tokarev they actually have a little plate here that locks this pin in place.
The North Korean version omits that. And this is pretty securely held in place on its own.
With that pin out, the whole slide assembly just comes off the front,
as you would expect from a Browning-style Tokarev pattern pistol.
We have a fire control group that is a modular sort of drop in complete system.
Again, that's pretty standard of the Tokarev.
There is no manual safety on the pistol, just like the regular pattern of Tokarev.
And then take out the recoil spring and its front plug, and the barrel.
And we have a substantial difference here.
Actually, we have two differences, but let's start with this one.
This is my Russian Tokarev barrel, note that it has a swinging link here, just like a 1911.
That's the way the Tokarev was originally designed.
When Browning and his protégé at FN, Dieudonné Saive,
when they developed the Browning Hi Power they simplified this system,
and replaced it with a solid cam on the barrel.
And the North Korean Type 68 actually has a Browning Hi Power style barrel pin to it.
Which is definitely an improvement over this system.
This has less wear, it's easier to make, fewer parts, all that sort of stuff.
You can see the little difference in length there.
And then the other substantial difference is in the front end of the slide.
So the regular Tokarev has, like the 1911, a removable barrel bushing,
and then you pull the barrel out the front of the slide.
On the Type 68 there is a barrel bushing here, but it's fixed in place,
and you actually pull the barrel out the back.
So the Type 68 barrel just lifts up here, and comes out the back.
And if we look inside there, it's a little dark, but it appears
that what they did was actually thread this barrel bushing.
And then thread it in, and peen it in place once installed.
So that's a substantial mechanical change.
Overall the Type 68 really is not quite a direct copy of the Tokarev.
I would say that the change in barrel bushing and the change in the barrel cam lug there
make this sort of a hybrid between the Hi Power and the Tokarev. Which is really kind of cool.
Just a couple of quick things also that I want to point out.
We have "31105" electro-pencilled on the barrel, as well as the full serial number
marked on the bottom of the barrel: 82031105.
Note that that is mismatched from the slide, which is 82031338.
We have a "108" marked on the fire control group.
The grips are not held on by screws, they are held on by this toggling lever.
You can see these two tabs will lock under the sides of the frame when it's pushed rearward.
So to take the grip off what you do is go in with your finger or a tool under right here,
push this all the way forward, or actually backward when it's on the gun.
That allows this grip to pop off.
If we look at this up close you'll see we also have a serial number under the grip,
which is also mismatched, it doesn't match the barrel or the slide.
Although it's clearly right in the same range.
And you can see I could now take the other grip panel off as well, but I'm going to leave that one on.
And since I mentioned that this doesn't have the little sheet metal tab
to hold the [slide stop pin] in place, ...
that is done on this gun, on the Type 68, by that little ball detent.
So that is going to sit right there, and the pin will lock it in place.
Ultimately the Type 68 was replaced by a copy of the CZ 75,
which was called the Baek-Du-San (I'm probably mispronouncing that quite terribly),
but that ultimately replaced this as a combat service pistol. 9x19 instead of 7.62 Tokarev.
... Apparently, allegedly, that pistol was adopted on the direct orders of [Kim Jong-il],
who was apparently quite the gun guy.
That kind of fits for how a country like North Korea would operate.
Fortunately for the guys who have to use them the CZ 75 is a really good gun.
So if they made an accurate and effective copy of it, it also should be a pretty decent pistol.
At any rate, Type 68s, along with all North Korean firearms, are really very scarce here in the United States.
This, of course, wasn't adopted until after the Korean War,
so we don't have any Korean War vet bring back souvenir examples of them.
This was in fact adopted late enough that we don't really have any Vietnam War bring backs,
they weren't getting into Vietnam.
These pistols did move around the world a bit, some of them have shown up in Central America.
Some of them have shown up in South Africa. They came to South Africa by way of Zimbabwe,
by way of North Korean military support to the rebels fighting against the Rhodesian government.
So, that's probably the most common source.
The actual origin of this particular one, how it came into the United States, is kind of anyone's guess.
This is, as best I can tell, the export pattern.
It almost certainly came into the US through something like a foreign service officer, or a
military, maybe special operations, soldier who was able to bring back stuff
without having to go through the typical customs process. That has happened.
I know of other pistols that have come into the country that way, and that's what makes the most sense for this.
So, again, a big thanks to Tom Whiteman at Legacy Collectibles for loaning me this pistol for the video.
Very cool, I have never actually got my hands on one of these before,
and I was really happy for the opportunity to bring it to you guys. Hopefully you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.
[ sub by sk cn2 ]