GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip

[Jim Frame]

The Tokarev is an automatic pistol almost as ubiquitous as the AK-47.  It was developed in the 30s, a copy of the .45 caliber colt pistol used by the US Army since 1911.  It was used by the Red Army in World War II, later replaced by the Makarov in the late 40s or early 50s.  No sling involved, but Pynchon gets these minor details wrong from time to time (like in Lot 49, referring to Tsar Nikolai during the US Civil War period, when it was actually Tsar Alexander II).  


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
To: Pynchon Mailing List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 1:02 am
Subject: GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip

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?
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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