History
Designed in the mid-1950s, the M57 was an unlicensed copy of the Soviet TT-33 Tokarev. [3] The Yugoslav People's Army had initially attempted to adopt the TT as its standard service pistol after World War II, and a number were delivered by the Soviet Union. [3] However, the Tito–Stalin split prompted the Soviet government to cease military aid to Yugoslavia before deliveries of the pistol were fully completed. [3] In 1952, Zastava was charged with developing its own variant of the TT to satisfy the army's needs. [4] Zastava's engineers were able to reverse engineer the weapon by 1954, creating a faithful copy of the original TT. [3] However, its factory was already at capacity manufacturing rifles and submachine guns, and it was unable to open a new production line to produce a new handgun. [4] The project was shelved until 1956, when army officials again expressed interest in the TT design. [3] Work on an improved TT derivative began in earnest in 1957, and the first prototypes appeared in 1960. [3] The Zastava pistol was formally designated M57 and accepted for service in 1961. [3] Although the army took delivery of various pre-production models that year, serial production was delayed until 1963. [3]
Zastava manufactured the M57 for the Yugoslavian state from 1963 until 1982, at which time at least 260,000 had been produced. [4] It was retired from military service in the former Yugoslavia during the late 1990s and early 2000s, being largely superseded by the Zastava CZ99. [3]
A machine pistol is a handgun that is capable of fully automatic fire, including stockless handgun-style submachine guns.
The Colt M1911 is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original model adopted in March 1911, and Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the improved M1911A1 model which entered service in 1926. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam War era.
The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.
The Beretta Model 1934 is an Italian compact, semi-automatic pistol which was issued as the service pistol of the Royal Italian Army beginning in 1934. As the standard sidearm of the Italian army it was issued to officers, NCOs and machine gun crews. It is chambered for the 9mm Corto, more commonly known as the .380 ACP.
The Makarov pistol or PM is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military and Militsiya side arm in 1951.
The CZ 75 is a semi-automatic pistol made by Czech firearm manufacturer ČZUB. First introduced in 1975, it is one of the original "wonder nines" and features a staggered-column magazine, all-steel construction, and a hammer forged barrel. It is widely distributed throughout the world and is the most common handgun in the Czech Republic.
The Vis or Vis 35 is a Polish 9×19mm caliber, single-action, semi-automatic pistol. Its design was inspired by the Colt 1911 pistol designed by American John Moses Browning.
The SIG Sauer P220 is a semi-automatic pistol designed in 1975 by the SIG Arms AG division of Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft, and produced by J. P. Sauer & Sohn, in Eckernförde. It is currently manufactured by both SIG Sauer companies: SIG Sauer GMBH, of Eckernförde, Germany; and SIG Sauer, Inc., of New Hampshire, United States.
The 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge is a Soviet rimless bottleneck pistol cartridge widely used in former Soviet states and in China, among other countries. The cartridge has since been replaced in most capacities by the 9×18mm Makarov in Russian service.
The TT-30, commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed during the late 1920s by Fedor Tokarev as a service pistol for the Soviet Armed Forces and was based on the earlier pistol designs of John Moses Browning, albeit with detail modifications to simplify production and maintenance. The Soviet Union ceased production of the TT in 1954, although derivatives of the pistol continued to be manufactured for many years in the People's Republic of China and nations aligned with the Soviet bloc.
The Beretta M1951 is a 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Pietro Beretta S.p.A. of Italy. The pistol was produced strictly for military use and was introduced into service with the Italian Armed Forces and other Italian security forces as the Modello 1951 (M1951), replacing the Modello 1934 pistol chambered for the 9×17mm Short cartridge.
The USP is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns.
The Škorpion vz. 61 is a Czechoslovak machine pistol developed in 1959 by Miroslav Rybář (1924–1970) and produced under the official designation Samopal vzor 61 by the Česká zbrojovka arms factory in Uherský Brod from 1963 to 1979. The standard version uses .32 ACP ammunition.
The Type 54 and its variants are Chinese copies of the Soviet type Tokarev TT-33.
The Zastava M70 is a 7.62×39mm assault rifle developed in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by Zastava Arms. The M70 was an unlicensed derivative of the Soviet AK-47. Due to political differences between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia at the time, namely the latter's refusal to join the Warsaw Pact, Zastava was unable to directly obtain the technical specifications for the AK and opted to reverse engineer the weapon type. Although the M70 was functionally identical to the AK, it had unique in-built features that better enabled it to fire rifle grenades. These included a thicker receiver, a new latch for the dust cover to ensure it would not be jarred loose by a grenade discharge, and a folding grenade sight bracket over the rifle's gas block, which also shut off the gas system when raised.
The Zastava M88 is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Zastava Arms, it is a compact redesign of the Zastava M57 pistol.
The 7.63×25mm Mauser round is a bottleneck, rimless, centerfire cartridge, originally developed for the Mauser C96 service pistol. This cartridge headspaces on the shoulder of the case. It later served as the basis for the 7.62mm Tokarev cartridge commonly used in Soviet and Eastern Bloc weapons.
The Zastava M70, formerly designated CZ M70 is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Zastava Arms as a sidearm for Yugoslav police and certain military officers. The pistol was loosely based on the Zastava M57, but is scaled down to accept the smaller and less powerful 7,65mm Browning or 9mm Kratak.
The Zastava CZ99 is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Zastava Arms. It was developed in 1989 to replace the M57 in the Yugoslav military and police. The CZ99 is primarily chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum with a 15-round magazine, although .40 Smith & Wesson variants also exist, with ten-round magazines.
