My great grandfather has a funny memory of this little pistol. He was a guard of some train station in the middle of nowhere somewhere along the USSRs border in the 30s, one day a scruffy looking kid walks up to the station and demands to be let on a train adding on "or else" (or rather the equivalent Russian phrase) to make it seem like he meant business. My grandfather responds "or what?" and to my grandfather's surprise the kid pulls out one of these, only to be met by laughter since not only is this thing tiny and honestly kind of cute but it was also unloaded. The kid was then hit a few times by a good old Soviet baton before being hauled off by some soldiers.

So you're saying he was a revolutionary designer?

I wonder how many people's last words were 'Wow, what a cute pistol!'

8:25 I love how he apologizes to the gun for forgetting to decock it

Ian, he is not french. :D It's KorOvin.

In Czechia, tons of .25acp pistols were marketed as a protection against dogs and other animals.

Its Koróvin. From корóва - cow

Beautifully engineered, love it when a part does more than one thing, like that multi function safety lever that in turn is secured by the main spring. Very well thought out.

One day I hope he opens with "hey guys thanks for tuning into another video on forgottenweapons, I'm Gun Jesus... And today"

I'm curious if Gun Jesus has ever broken a part on a RIA firearm while disassemblying it and ended up having to buy the firearm himself

Simple, reliable, effective - not surprising it was made in large numbers, especially in a period when people in the USSR basically couldn't get foreign arms.

This gun vaguely reminds me of some of those tiny Berettas, mainly because of the way the trigger guard sticks out, and the exposed barrel.

.32's are having something of a comeback in revolvers. I'm a little surprised that Ruger or someone hasn't come out with a LCP style .25 acp. It's a caliber that just needs a little kick in the ballistic pants to make it a good carry round for very small, lightweight pistols. It feeds better than .22 and is centerfire reliable.

I've always liked this little pistol. It's just comfy looking.

I have been fascinated with this pistol for years, so glad you did a video on it. I hope to own one of these neat little guys one day.

NKVD and NKGB officers were permitted to carry a service-grade sidearm, visible (that comes with uniform) - more often the weapon of their choise was Nagant revolver (for a simple reason that you could carry it all day long loaded without weakening mag spring) or Tokarev... They were even allowed to carry foreign-made handguns, like Mauser, Browning, Luger or Walther - again, full-sized... Very few of them were occasionally in the need of a pocket pistol... The key to this riddle is what you said in the beginning - TK was the first ever Soviet-made handgun... It came when Soviets have only started gathering what's left from Tsar's weapon industry and bringing it to the new age... They needed sort of an entry exam - so, just like S&W in their own time, they've started with the small caliber... Such small guns like TK are made for concealed carry - for people who don't need to announce they're armed... In Soviet Union, though, civilians were not permitted to carry handguns - even if they were drafted to any sort of military service... Most of TKs ended up in hands of flight sergeants and civilian pilots delivering cargo to the frontline... Officially, they were not allowed to carry a gun - but, if you're flying near a frontline, you'd better to have a gun... Officials are not bothered for as long as your gun stays in your pocket... Call it a tradition - for many years after the war, TK was familiar to airline crew captains, up until Makarov PM have arrived... And, yes, lots of compact-sized less-powered handguns were unofficially carried by female personnel during the war...

I am Russian. No one, I say again, for the people at the back, no one is as objective about Russian firearms as Ian is, in the West. Ian needs to get some sort of Russian medal. I would give him a medal for:"The love of Motherland!". No jokes. Russian culture owes Ian. Long live Gun Jesus!!!

A cool little gun, quite rare in the USSA. I have only seen a couple or so for sale in many years of gun collecting.

A little more historical detail: in 1905 Russia went through an almost-revolution, the Revolution of 1905. Czar Nicholas II managed to end this period of national unrest with reform and a constitution, which he hated. He backpedaled on his reforms and then got into WW1, and then whoops, the Revolution of 1917 happened and his government was totally toppled. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, the Okhrana (aka the Czarist secret police) always focused super heavily on Universities, which makes sense, as this is where a lot of dissent against the Czarist regime was most vocal. As far as I can tell, the Kharkov Technical Institute is still around as Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, a big Ukrainian university. If Korovin was kicked out in 1905, there's a good chance that his Revolutionary Political Activity could have been agitating in favor of a liberal capitalist democracy with civil rights, or even as moderate as agitating in favor of a constitutional monarchy. The Okhrana didn't really obey due process that diligently. It's also possible that he was a Marxist or Anarcho-Socialist. There were Anarcho-Socialist terrorists around in 1905, but the Okhrana probably would have executed him if he was caught in that gig. If you have free time, I really strongly recommend Mike Duncan's podcast Revolutions.

good old times when people were not so bulletproof and 25ACP was good enough for self defence.... nowadays a 9mm is a bare minimum, anything else will probably just bounce off.... :D

Wow, fascinating video Ian, cool gun!

I don't know why exactly, but I really liked the mechanical explanations for this pistol.

My grеat-grandfather was awarded with a this pistol in 1934

That lil gun has a lot of elegant solutions in its design. Great explanation of its parts and function Ian.

The Korovin's safety with its 180 degree arc from Fire to Safe is very reminiscent of the Nambu series of pistols.

I would like to know more about these simple weapons Korovin worked on during the war, if you come across one definitely do a video on it.

What magazine was actually in there, and is it actually compatible or does it just fit in the space?

I'd carry this design today it looks so fun

Seems like a very nice and effective design

Really long awaited video! Good job!

The open top slide, the striker, some aspects of the barrel, all remind me of the 1914 and 1932 Mauser pistols. Even back then, Russian research was at least partly copying other countries.

It's amazing how so many guns go missing in less then 100 years

The pistol most people know via Heroes & Generals.

Reminds me alot of my Mauser 1914/35 pocket pistol in terms of the mechanics and some of the looks!

Would love to know more about 6.3mm tula ammo.

And lo, Gun Jesus looked at the Korovin and said, "I probably should have decocked it first."

Don’t know how I just stumbled onto this but thank you for the video!

This looks like a vastly-simplified Mauser 1914 pistol. The firing pin looks almost identical. Sear arrangement and disassembly are much more efficient.

Broken mainspring on a .25? No problem; just use one out of a ball point pen.😁

I'm reminded of one of those funky Chinese mystery pistols that Ian made an ensemble video of back in the day

There's this game called heroes and generals. It's free to play and actually plays very nice. The korovin is the starting pistol for the Soviet army

I really like .25/6,35mm pocket pistols. I've never seen this one before. It is interesting and cool.

7:40 Ah, the first lathe project for every aspiring machinist rears its head.

Didn't know bout that little one. Thank you for the video! Greetengs from Motherland ❤️

Pretty sharp design, there.

The .30 caliber Tokarev, and Mauser are the same dimensions, and will chamber in the same guns, but Tokarev is loaded to higher pressure. So, do not load, and fire Tokarev ammo in a Broomhandle Mauser (I guess unless you handload it to Mauser spec, which might be tricky with the lacquered steel cases of Crazy Ivan's Surplus) It's not good for the gun, which may be a valuable collectable. (Because of Star Wars, the Broomhandle Mauser is a popular collectible.)

I own very few guns... Love when Ian goes into one I have...

"Stalin's joke" was apparently the nickname of this gun. The reason is, since the gun was available only to high ranking officials (and the police), owners, who were all Party members at the time of Stalin's purges used to say they were allowed to own this gun only to shoot themselves and avoid gulag, should they be suddenly considered traitors and arrested.

Nice looking little pistol!

Wow, I would love to find one. Cool pistol.

Interesting little pistol...made use of the same keeper system for the grip panels as the TT30 and TT33. I'm curious if the safety was a part of the original design or if it was added for importation. It looks a lot like the ones used on some of the TT33 pistols we see imported today. Also, any idea how many were imported or when?

Not to be rude, but you look like you need some rest, Ian.

In Soviet Russia we get baby gun in cereal

6:39 Sorry, but I think it's nothing but a myth brought up in 1999 Monetchikov's biography of Korovin. Original documents (including 1934 drawings set from Ul'yanovsk №3 Factory) state that 6.35 mm cartridge 57-N-112 had shorter-than-spec case (15.24 mm), and its 3.25 g bullet developed around 220-230 m/s (typically 228 m/s) velocity.

Thank you so much!!!

That little guy is adorable, my wife wants one now.

Ian, Soviets never sold handguns to civilians. The possession of firearms was banned shortly after the Bolshevik coup in 1917. However, large number of handguns were issued as awards or personal weapons for higher Party members, officials and 'reliable' (and useful) intellectuals and artists.

#513537 was brought home by my dad at the end of WW II. I will never know the truth about how he obtained it. Toward the end of his cognitive life, he told my son that "somebody died for me to have it.' What ever took place, happened in Belgium.

On april 1st I want to see a forgotten weapons video on a nerf blaster

Reminds me of a hunchbacked Mauser 1914

The kind of small gun I love.

Last time I was this early that was a state of the art pistol.

Hi, Ian. I enjoyed learning about that little pistol. Give it a little styling polish while keeping the basic design, and you have a viable product today. Would it be a nice little 7-11 under the counter defense pistol? Or, for a biker or hiker, small is beautiful. Anyway, I appreciate the design very much. Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!

Neat little pistol. These sorts are all pretty close in build. I used to have a Sterling in .22LR. IT was a cute little .22LR in Stainless steel with black plastic grips. It had the heal mag release that was made of some cheap crapmetal, I dropped it one day and the release broke at the pin that held it in place I took it to a local machinist and he knocked me out one that was much better then the original in about five minutes, charged me a fin and I was verry happy with my little pocket pistol. The gun love CCI Stingers and would run through all of them that I Could feed her. She also liked CCI Mini Mags but standard velocity rounds were iffy. Eventually the sear wore down on it and it started doubling and tripling. I was at the range one day with a local preacher who ministered to the local Indian Reservation. He loved the doubling, and wanted the pistol very badly, I finally broke down and sold it to him. Hope he had good luck with it.

Call me strange, wouldn't there be some additional wear on the main slide guide rod? I appreciate it's simplicity and having the rod go all the way through like it's at least one less part to machine and make. Still, can't help but think that it's putting more wear on the piece in the long term. Maybe even help break it, eventually.

YES! Finally. Thanks, Ian.

Matryoshka style. Safety locks barrel, barrel locks slide, slide locks the slide lock, and striker, which locks it's spring. Sam Colt nervously smokes around the corner.

Him to 'fraid to get out. He's just a wittle guy! -To quote great comedic actor of my time.

Literally as I was browsing through all the crap on the recommended page the red dot on my subscription feed popped up.

Today he is not Gun Jesus Today he is Gun Rasputin

Thanks Ian.

Thank you , Ian .

Poor .25ACP, it gets a bad rap today. Even .32 ACP is far too looked down upon by a lot of people. I’ve got a Seecamp LWS in .32, I absolutely love it, slick little gun. They even make a .380 version in EXACTLY the same dimensions as the .32 version. I’m no expert but that seems remarkable. Ian, I’d be more than willing to lend mine over if you feel like doing a video on it.

I have wondered a number of times if plans for some of these Forgotten Weapons were available?

That’s a cool little pistol!

I do love the idea behind the 6.3 Tula "+P". If your gonna' pack a .25 auto you need all the extra P you can muster.

Daaaammmnnn.... that thing looks pretty nice!

Great video, interesting firearm.

Tremenda Tula

This was really interesting. Thanks

This thing looks pretty cool for a 25auto the barrel seems to be a little bit longer than most guns chambered for 25 I would love to see it being fired...

"When WWI broke out..." You mean, "When war were declared"?

Striker is reminiscent of the Ortgies striker.

Looks like Korovin copied quite some from the Beholla pistol and just improved the disassembly. But by that the trigger dropped a little, the bore axis got a little higher, the safety only acts on the trigger, not on the sear and he introduced additional parts for a hold-open. And why did he design the trigger with this weird operating angle like he did?

Ian you look tired, take some rest please!

Heroes and Generals gang, where y'all at?

Nice little gun would like to hear it go bang bang looks like a good shooter

Perfect for the traditional point-blank to the back of the head.

this is closer to a Mauser than it is a beretta (which the beretta model 1915 was a mauser 1910/1914 ripoff anyway)

Sidearm Pistol From NKVD.

Worth to note that at the end of WW2 Korovin designed several rifles for intermediate cartridge. All of them remained on experimental stage and ultimately lost to AK (AFAIK all the prototypes were scraped after Korovin's death), but an interesting page of weapon history. (And also some of mentioned riffles were bullpups)

The ol persuasion tool!

I'm guessing that replacement parts for these are not available. With the original manufacture magazines and a replacement spring, that would make a nice package.

What a neat little pistol

Very through exam of an interesting pistol.

Im from the Tula city, i love this♡ chanel:)

I'm always down for early Soviet firearms.

Last time I was this early, my landlord wasn't executed

Rubber mallet: one of a gunsmith's most useful tools. I got mine at Harbor Freight and just call it the Acme Big F----ing Mallet.

Its like a small makarov, this is adorable