TOZ 34 smoothbore shotgun

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How to distinguish a truly successful gun from ordinary, albeit good, models? Yes, very simple. The main difference is the test of time. The duration of production of such a gun can be counted in decades, the number of copies sold can be hundreds of thousands. This is exactly the history of the model that our review is devoted to. So, TOZ - 34, the legendary “vertical” of the Tula plant.

History of creation. What's special about TOZ 34

So what's good about this gun? It's simple. TOZ-34 has unrivaled shot accuracy compared to its competitors. It was she who made the 34 iconic. Moreover, this accuracy is available not only to hunters with extensive experience, but also to beginners. A man bought this gun, went hunting for the first time in his life and came with game.

For this, the thirty-four was forgiven for not having the best build quality, obvious design flaws and other disadvantages. After all, the most important thing in hunting is the prey. And she either exists or she doesn’t. And with this, TOZ-34 was completely fine.

In addition, 34 made a real revolution in the USSR arms industry. This was the first model with a vertical arrangement of trunks, and even having such a low weight. The weight of the thirty-four was from 3.15 to 3.3 kilograms, depending on the density of the wood of the butt and forearm.

The low landing of the barrels in the receiver, the hammerless design, and the original mounting of the barrels added interest to the model from hunters. The model quickly became fashionable and became a dream for amateur and commercial shooting enthusiasts.

For what cases is TOZ-34 suitable?

The TOZ-34 model is a universal gun that can be used for a wide variety of types of hunting, including:

• 1. The light weight of the structure allows you to take it with you TOZ-34 on a “running” hunt.
• 2. Thanks to its good and sharp action, it can be successfully used for hunting “on the fly.”
• 3. And the accurate second shot made this gun popular among athletes.

Many hunters use this weapon to successfully hunt large ungulates.

The TOZ-34 has an unconventional narrowing of the trunks: the upper one is 1.1–1.2 mm, the lower one is 0.9 mm. These parameters differ from those specified in the chock-poluchok standard and allow the weapon to have higher accuracy than expected from it. Of course, hitting the target with a denser (than standard) sheaf is more difficult. Especially often, problems arise among experienced shooters who are accustomed to other standards and have fired hundreds of shots with standard constriction. Therefore, it is even easier for beginners to get used to the features of this weapon.

Shotgun TOZ-34R 12/70

Pros of the model

As noted earlier, the most important advantage of the TOZ-34 is considered to be its unsurpassed accuracy and precision, comparable to top-end shotguns from famous manufacturers. The reason for this is the successful design of the barrels. The upper barrel has a “choke” type drill, the lower one has a “poluchok” type.

The hammerless (with internally located triggers) design increases the rate of fire. From the chain of operations for loading a gun with the new cartridge, the cocking link is excluded, which significantly increases the efficiency of loading. The hammers are cocked automatically during the process of breaking the barrels.

34 is perfectly balanced. It is easy to use for shooters of any height. Good grip together with low weight allows you to raise the gun very quickly, which further increases the efficiency of the shot, which is so important when hunting game. The main thing is not to forget to remove the gun from the safety lock.

Partial assembly and disassembly is not very difficult. On guns before 1979, the barrels were tilted using a trigger, which caused a lot of complaints from users. In some cases, the trunks were impossible to bend, and in others they “fell off” themselves at the most inopportune moment. Later, the plant had to abandon this design and use a special flag.

Interesting to know: Nikolai Ivanovich Korovyakov, a talented Soviet engineer, is considered the inventor of the TOZ-34. Nikolai Ivanovich did not have a special technical education, and certainly not a professional gunsmith. Perhaps it was precisely ignorance of generally accepted clichés that allowed him to create a gun of such an original design. He was not afraid to experiment and intuitively found the right solutions.

Disadvantages of the model

The main drawback can confidently be called poor build quality - the scourge of Soviet and Russian industry. While the creator personally controlled the quality of workmanship, it was at an acceptable level. As soon as the inventor moved on to other projects, assembling the weapon became extremely difficult.

Another disadvantage of the model is the non-removable handguard. To separate it, you need a special tool, which is not always at hand when hunting. As a result, trunk maintenance becomes more difficult.

Experienced hunters note the imperfection of the barrel unlocking mechanism. Using the flag only partially solved the problem. The unit remained not very reliable mechanically, and situations where two separate parts of the gun remained in the hands of a hunter while loading in a hurry were not uncommon.

The model also has other, less significant disadvantages. These include a receiver polished to a mirror shine, which glares in the sun and reveals the dislocation of the shooter, inconvenient aiming, and others. In addition, TOZ does not forgive inaccuracies when loading cartridges with gunpowder and very quickly responds to this with a “chattering” of barrels.

However, with all its shortcomings, the resource is 12 thousand shots according to the manufacturer’s warranty. In practice, this figure is much higher and averages 20-30 thousand. There are specimens that have fired about 100,000 rounds and are in acceptable condition.

Interesting to know: experienced hunters advise buying products manufactured between 1970 and 1990 on the secondary market. The quality at this time was quite good, as were the materials from which the parts were made. The lowest quality was in the period from 1990 to 2000. There are no quality issues with the weapons that the Tula plant currently produces - you can safely buy them in weapons stores.

Hunting in Tatarstan

The table above shows the data of the basic model of the TOZ-34 12-gauge shotgun in an ordinary version.
INLINE DOUBLE-BARREL SHOTGUN WITH A VERTICAL BARREL TOZ-34

The internal hammer double-barreled shotgun - "Bokflint" (with a vertical barrel arrangement) TOZ-34 was first noticed by the world community in 1965 at the Leipzig Fair, where this Soviet-made weapon was honored with a Gold Medal. The TOZ-34 hunting rifle is the work of Tula gunsmiths; the basic ideas of this model were developed by designer N.I. Korovyakov, as well as Tula designers Paramonov, Ochnev and Ferapontov took a noticeable part in the creation of the gun.

Initially, since 1964, these guns were made exclusively in one-piece versions at TsKIB, but later production was transferred to the Tula Arms Plant (TOZ), and since 1969, these double-barreled guns began to be produced serially, in large quantities and, of course, at a completely different level quality, an order of magnitude lower than TsKIBovsky.

The gun was produced in 12, 20 and 28 calibers, in different versions, from ordinary to souvenir. In addition to the listed calibers, several batches with 32-caliber barrels were produced, but at the moment such guns are rare. Recently, the line of calibers of this weapon has been supplemented with the 16th caliber. The chambers on barrels of all calibers are 70 mm long.

Souvenir version of the TOZ-34 shotgun in a special case with two pairs of barrels and accessories for weapon care

Barrels of all calibers were installed on blocks of the same dimensions, designed for the base 12-caliber model, as is done on most serial ordinary guns, which personally seems to me a somewhat unaesthetic solution, especially 28-caliber barrels on a 12-gauge block, not to mention 32 barrels caliber, plus a block that is too powerful (unreasonably powerful for small calibers) - this also means extra weight for the gun. But here the question is the manufacturability of production and unification, which makes ordinary guns affordable to any hunter.

The gun block is relatively low, which was achieved by using the original design of the hinge on which the barrels move when opened, which consists of two semi-ring-shaped protrusions on the left and right sides of the barrel coupling, which fit into grooves of the same shape located on the inner surfaces of the side walls of the barrel boxes. In this way, the barrels interact with the block, providing a hinge connection that does not require increasing the height of the block to accommodate a separate hinge, because the half-rings described above are located on the sides of the gun elements, and do not require a separate part or special assembly required for the hinge. The locking on the TOZ-34 is single, the barrel coupling hook fits into the wide locking frame of the block. Such a simple mechanism ensures a high degree of reliability and survivability of the gun.

The photo shows the protrusions of the barrel coupling in the shape of half rings and the corresponding grooves on the gun block, indicated by arrows

Close-up of those semi-ring-shaped protrusions on the barrel coupling

The design of the gun is quite original, but, especially on early models, this originality resulted in significant inconvenience for the owner in handling this weapon. The barrels of the TOZ-34 are detachable, the chambers and bores of the barrels are chrome-plated, the forend is integral, consists of two halves and is attached to the barrels with screws through the holes in the interbarrel strip. Removing barrels on early models of guns was fraught with a lot of difficulties, especially during the first time of owning the weapon, while the owner was not yet sufficiently accustomed to this inconvenient moment. But later models began to be equipped with a flag on the right side of the block, when turned, the barrels without problems come out of the clutch with the block after opening the locking key with a shift to the right, as when opening a gun. Models with a flag first received the letter “M” in their name, that is, TOZ-34M. But subsequently the letter “M” disappeared from the name and later returned again, but with a different meaning, which will be described below.

Shotgun TOZ-34 in a piece version. On the right side of the block there is a flag that allows the barrels to be removed.

The gun has cocking indicators located on the upper outer part of the block, which allow you to determine by touch or visually whether the hammers are cocked or not.

The sighting bar of the gun was made either ventilated or ordinary solid, depending on the design. The material for the manufacture of the TOZ-34 butt and forearm could be birch, beech and walnut. The neck of the butt of the gun on most models is pistol, in more rare cases it is straight. The butts were made either with a protrusion under the cheek or smooth, without a “cheek”.

The weight of TOZ-34, depending on the caliber and version, varies from 2.8 to 3.15 kg. The length of the gun barrels in the 12th caliber is 700-720 mm, in the 20th, 28th and 32nd calibers - 660-675 mm.

Drilling the barrels according to the classics, the lower one is a half-hole, the upper one is a choke, but often in reality it turns out differently, the muzzle constrictions are stronger, the lower barrels reach a narrowing of 1 mm, the upper ones - up to 1.15 mm. In other words, the drilling is unstable.

TOZ-34 can work with cartridges in paper (folder), metal (brass) and plastic cartridges. When firing cartridges in brass cartridges, the uniformity of the scree and accuracy are somewhat lower than when using paper and plastic cartridges.

According to the documents, the survivability of the gun is at least 12 thousand shots, in reality it turns out to be much more, the TOZ-34 is a very survivable gun. The TOZ-34 provides the ability to eliminate the backlash of the barrels, which is formed from the appearance of a gap between the end of the breech of the barrels and the “forehead” of the block. On this very “forehead” there is a removable plate with two screws, and if the gun has the above-mentioned gap, it is easily corrected by installing a spacer of thickness corresponding to the gap under the removable plate, from which the “forehead” of the block seems to move forward.

The internal triggers of the TOZ-34, the triggers and the entire firing mechanism as a whole are mounted on a single base. The design of the trigger mechanism allows for a smooth release of the triggers. All modifications of the TOZ-34 are equipped with extractors that push cartridges or spent cartridges out of the chambers by several millimeters when the barrels are opened.

Cocking of the hammers and pretension of the ejector springs (and in the TOZ-34E modification also pretension of the ejector springs) occurs during the opening of the barrels. The mainsprings that act on the triggers are horseshoe-shaped (V-shaped), the hammers and firing pins of the gun are made separately. The safety is not automatic, it locks the sear; there are also hammer interceptors for safer handling of a loaded gun.

TOZ-34 has excellent balance and adaptability, which often plays a key role in hunting.

There are modifications of the gun with an ejector that ejects spent cartridges from the chambers when the gun is opened. The modification with an ejector is called TOZ-34E, where the letter “E” indicates the presence of ejectors, which, if necessary, can be turned off and used to remove spent cartridges and cartridges from the chambers of the gun using a conventional extractor.

Models equipped with a rubber butt pad-shock absorber to soften recoil are called TOZ-34R, where “P” denotes the presence of a rubber butt pad.

There are also TOZ-34ER models equipped with both an ejector and a rubber butt pad.

Currently, models with the letter “M” in the name (for example, TOZ-34M, TOZ-34EM) have mounts for an optical sight bracket or any other additional sight.

TOZ-34 became the basis for the creation of a whole range of hunting and sporting double-barreled shotguns with vertically positioned barrels, but whatever the caliber and thickness of the barrel, the block remains the same as on the basic TOZ-34 12-gauge. Let's list some of them:

Sports shotguns, for example, such as TOZ-57K and TOZ-57T (with the letter “K” for round, and with the letter “T” for trench stand).

TOZ-55 "Zubr" - rifled double-barreled rifles and combination shotguns, which have several versions (with two rifled barrels of 9.3 mm caliber, with a lower rifled and upper smooth barrel of 12 gauge and models with two smooth barrels of 12 gauge)

TOZ-34-5.6/28 is a lightweight gun for commercial hunting with combined barrels. The lower barrel is rifled, chambered for a 5.6 mm caliber cartridge, also called .22 LR, and popularly nicknamed “small stuff”, and the upper barrel is smooth, 28 caliber

TOZ-34-5,6/20 - completely repeats the TOZ-34-5,6/28 model and differs from it in that the upper smooth barrel is 20 gauge.

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Modifications

Currently, TOZ-34 is produced in three calibers - 12, 20 and 28. Each caliber has various modifications, slightly different from each other. The letter “P” in the marking indicates the presence of a rubber butt plate, the letter “E” is placed on modifications that have an ejector system.

The letter “U” denotes ornamental guns, the letter “S” means souvenir guns, and “Sh” means piece guns. Souvenir models are hand-engraved, and the stock and fore-end are decorated with wood carvings. In addition, the model can be inlaid with precious stones.

Modifications 34-5.6/20 and 34-5.6/28 were produced in small batches - commercial modifications with an upper rifled barrel. Such weapons could be equipped with an optical sight.

Serial and piece models

As the name implies, serial models like:

• 1. TOZ-34;
• 2. TOZ-34e;
• 3. TOZ-34R;
• 4. EP, etc.,

were produced in large series. However, at the same time, the Tula plant produced small batches of one-piece models. Mass-produced products could not boast of high quality workmanship and fitting of components; they often required fine-tuning of the mechanisms.

Combined products with an upper rifled barrel and a smooth lower one were produced in small batches and were of fairly high quality. But the most expensive and, accordingly, high-quality guns were piece guns. These included models like TOZ-34-55 “Bison”. This gun had a smooth barrel with 12 gauge and rifled for the PO4x34 cartridge.

In our weapons pawnshop you can purchase used smoothbore weapons, both Toz 34 and other brands.

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Transportation of weapons

Features of weapon storage

Device. Disassembly and assembly

The model has a simple original design. The trunks are removable. Trigger device with internal triggers. Placed on a separate base. The hammers are cocked automatically when the barrels are bent. The fuse is non-automatic.

Disassembly of TOZ 34 can be complete or incomplete. Partial disassembly is performed to transport the weapon to the hunting site. In order to disassemble the carabiner, you must:

• remove the gun from the safety catch;
• smoothly release the triggers;
• switch the flag all the way;
• turn the unlocking lever to the right and, shaking the muzzle, separate them from the receiver;
• turn the lever to its original position

When disassembling completely, you need to do it incompletely, then unscrew the screws of the forend and remove it, unscrew the screw of the trigger guard, and then turn it at an angle of 90 degrees. Then you can unscrew the screws of the receiver and remove it from the stock along with the trigger mechanism.

Further disassembly of the gun requires special equipment and is carried out only in special weapons workshops. Assembly is performed in the reverse order of disassembly.

Piece shotgun TOZ-34

In the post-war years, the arms industry began to rapidly develop in the country. Old, sometimes pre-revolutionary, hunting rifles were modernized, and new ones were designed. Since that time, a number of models have appeared on the market and have gained great popularity among hunters.

And this despite the fact that many of them did not have a very beautiful appearance and sometimes poorly fitted elements. But is this so important in our huge country with its harsh climatic conditions and often unfavorable weather events? The main characteristics in this case are reliability, simplicity of design and trouble-free operation in any situation. That is why such models as TOZ-BM, TOZ-63, TOZ-66, IZH-18, IZH-58, etc. have become popular and in demand.

But among them, only two models became truly legendary - TOZ-34 and IZH-27. This is primarily due to the fact that they, like no other guns, came closest to the parameters of a “universal” gun.

Legend - TOZ-34

Description and characteristics

TOZ-34 is a classic double-barreled shotgun with vertically positioned barrels. Produced from 1965 to the present time in the following calibers: 12, 20, 28 and 32.

They are produced in several designs: ordinary, ornamental, piece and souvenir.

The piece gun has a beautiful engraving

Exact parameters

Model – TOZ-34 Design – serially manufactured Caliber – 12 Chamber – 70 mm, chrome-plated Barrel length – 720 mm, chrome-plated Chokes – lower barrel – choke, upper – choke Stock – with pistol neck, walnut Weight – 3.2 kg

Design features

Shotgun stock with pistol neck and rubber shock absorber

The gun can be used with paper and plastic cartridges, has detachable barrels with a permanent forearm. The aiming bar is simple.

Regular sighting bar

TOZ-34 is equipped with a cocking indicator and a smooth release. The barrels and the box are connected and locked by means of ring hinges and a locking frame. The release lever is located at the top. The trigger mechanism is designed on a separate base. The hammers are cocked into firing position when the barrels are opened.

The safety and release lever are located on the top

The safety is not automatic; there are interceptors (trigger interceptors). Removing cartridges from the chamber is carried out using an extractor.

Extractor available

Advantages, disadvantages and performance

The gun is compact, has a relatively light weight, has good grip and balance. It is also characterized by high accuracy.

The disadvantages include the following points: great care is required during disassembly, otherwise the trigger mechanism, the non-removable fore-end, breaking mainsprings, cracks in the neck of the stock may be damaged; when firing at short range, the gun hits too closely.

Performances

This gun is available in various versions and designs, which are indicated by adding the corresponding letter to the gun model.

E – the gun is equipped with an ejector, P – the gun is equipped with a rubber butt plate, U – ornamental, S – souvenir, Ш – piece.

The TOZ-34 can rightfully be considered a universal gun; it is used in all types of hunting, both wild animals and game birds, in amateur and commercial hunting.

You can buy a used gun (guns manufactured before 1990 are especially valued) or a new one in a hunting store.

Analogs

The main competitor of the product of Tula gunsmiths is the Izhevsk IZH-27 gun. It has a more durable and reliable design, larger dimensions and weight. The combat quality of the Izhevsk gun is slightly lower than that of the TOZ. This is explained by a different drilling of the barrels and a different muzzle constriction.

Other competitors of the thirty-four are the MP 233, TOZ-120 and some imported guns. Recently, products from Chinese factories have appeared on the market, among which there are quite decent models.