GR translation: unslinging his Tokarev and firing from the hip

[Jochen Stremmel]

Before supposing that Pynchon gets something wrong one should at least look
up the wikipedia – which P couldn't then – and see: "The *SVT-40* saw
widespread service during and after World War II
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II>." That weapon (or the model
before that) is what P refers to when he talks of Unslinging and Firing
from the hip a Tokarev.

2016-11-24 10:30 GMT+01:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:

> Thanks for responding, János, Jochen, and Jim.
>
> On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Jim Frame <jbframe at aol.com> wrote:
> > 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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