GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip

[Mike Jing]

V503.34-38, P512.9-13   One of the chimps now bites a Soviet corporal
in the leg. The corporal screams, unslinging his Tokarev and firing
from the hip, by which time the chimp has leaped for a halyard. A
dozen more of the critters, many carrying vodka bottles, head en masse
for the gangplank. “Don’t let them get away,” Haftung hollers.

Weisenburger refers to the Tokarev as a pistol, probably the TT-30. Is
it common to keep a pistol in a sling in WWII? Or is this more likely
to be a rifle, perhaps the SVT-38 or SVT-40?
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