the reason for the 762x25

[torpedoman]

 the Russians were not very good at making cloth but were good at making felt, their great coats were layers of felt when you get layers of felt wet it is very hard to penetrate therefore they needed the power and penetration of the 30 cal tarkarov and cz 52 was needed. that is how it was explained to me.

[Mikey]

Torpedoman - I have to disagree with whoever told you that.  The Russians didn't design a 30 cal pistol cartridge around the need to penetrate wet layers of felt.  They developed their 7.62x25mm Tokarev pistol and cartridge to standardize their sidearms for their military. 

The Russians liked the overall combat effectiveness of the 30 Mauser cartridge and many Russian military carried the Broomhnadle Mauser or most often, the Bolo Mauser (Bolo referring to Bolshevic with the shorter 4" bbl) in 30 Mauser.  The Russians wanted to standardize their military sidearms and after WWI did not want to depend on a foreign nation (Germany) for sidearms (Mausers), so they developed their own pistol, the TT33 (Type Tokarev) in 1933 to put their own moniker on a pistol and slightly redesigned the 30 Mauser cartridge and called it the 7.62x25mm Tokarev. 

Ballistics between the 30 Mauser and the 7.62x25mm Tokarev are almost identical.  The Mauser took a 88 gn slug at 1400'/sec from a 4" bbl.  The Tokarev round took a 85 gn slug at 1390'/sec from a slightly shorter barrel. 

Some mil-surp ammo is not appropriate for use in the Broomhandle or the Tokarev.  That ammo is the mil-surp Chinese and Austrian 7.62x25mm for submachine guns such as the ppsh41 and 43.  The Chechs also developed a hotter loading for the cz52 pistol which is built to handle higher pressured rounds than the standard pressure Tokarev ammo. 

I would suggest you visit Ron Reed's website - he is one of our sponsors and produces, I believe, 13 different loadings in the 7.62x25mm caliber.  His loadings also indicate whether they can/should be used in a cz52, a Tokarev or a Broomhandle.  He does not consider all the loadings interchangeable.  HTH.  Mikey.

[His lordship.]

The thing that still scares me about the Bolo and the 7.62 X 25 is my first experience with it.  I bought a beat up mismatched Bolo/1896 regular Mauser pistol that came from China in 1990.  Jambed alot, mediocre accuracy, the bore was pretty rough, the hammer was handmade in some Chinese blacksmith's shop, soft steel. 

I bought some surplus ammo that had cyrillic markings, most likely Yugo or Russian origin, it may have been made for the PPSH submachine gun.  I know that this is a powerful cartridge as I have had 2 other pistols that shot it, but I am darn lucky that I did not have the slide or other part of the this pistol come back into my face.  It also is a testimony to Mauser in having a gun of theirs experience really bad care, and still function.

[1911crazy]

There was a site that talked about the Bulgarian 7.62x25 ammo being too powerful for the handguns.  I been buying the Romanian 7,62x25 ammo.  Others have said about this round in a handgun being accurate to 100yds too.  I haven't shot it yet so i'm not sure.

Did the Russians copy the 30 mauser round and make there own 7,62x25 round?

I also think the 357SIG is a copy of these rounds too its just larger. (9mm)

[Surculus]

the Russians were not very good at making cloth but were good at making felt, their great coats were layers of felt when you get layers of felt wet it is very hard to penetrate therefore they needed the power and penetration of the 30 cal tarkarov and cz 52 was needed. that is how it was explained to me.

Nope. Soviets wanted to use a handgun that would have the same bore as their rifle-making machinery could produce for ease of production. They settled on the existing 7.63 Mauser round, gussied it up & called it by their own name [long history of this: that's why they call Gatlings "Gorloffs," etc.: most Western vendors learned to sell them licenses rather than the actual products [which they'd just copy & rip off... much like China today. ]

[mcwoodduck]

Wait.
There are two different rounds.  the 7.62 X25 and 30 mauser that is 7.63.
If you shoot the 7.62 in the broom handle you risk a catastrophic failure.  One of the guys at the range I belonged to did this (not on purpose one of the little tok rounds got mixed in and the over pressure forced the bolt through the bolt stop and he now have a bridge where the right side of upper teeth used to be.  Big lesson in fast way to ruin a neat old gun and get hurt in the process.

[Surculus]

Wait.
There are two different rounds.  the 7.62 X25 and 30 mauser that is 7.63.
If you shoot the 7.62 in the broom handle you risk a catastrophic failure.  One of the guys at the range I belonged to did this (not on purpose one of the little tok rounds got mixed in and the over pressure forced the bolt through the bolt stop and he now have a bridge where the right side of upper teeth used to be.  Big lesson in fast way to ruin a neat old gun and get hurt in the process.

Yes, sorry if my post was confusing: the 7.62x25Tokarev is a derivative of the 7.63 Mauser and runs at higher pressure that the old guns chambered for 7.63Mauser wouldn't be able to handle. Unfortunately, it's actual dimensions are close to identical, unlike revolver rounds like 32 H&R Mag or the .357 & .44 Remington Magnums that are slightly longer than the rounds they're derived from respectively [.32 S&W, .38 & .44 S&W Specials] to prevent them from being chambered in older guns that can't take the pressure of the new chambering.