| Fedor Vasilyevich Tokarev | |
| Birth Date: | 14 June 1871 |
| Birth Place: | Yegorlykskaya, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire |
| Death Place: | Moscow, Russian SFSR |
| Nationality: | Russian |
Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev (Russian: Фёдор Васи́льевич То́карев; [1] – 6 March 1968) was a Russian weapons designer and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1937 to 1950.
Outside the former Soviet Union he is best known as the designer of the Maxim–Tokarev light machine gun, the Tokarev TT-30 and TT-33 self-loading pistol, and the Tokarev SVT-38 and SVT-40 self-loading rifle, both of which were produced in large numbers during fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II. For his contributions to Soviet arms design Tokarev received the Hero of Socialist Labor award and the USSR State Prize.[2]
He also designed the prototype of the FT-1 / ФТ-1 panoramic camera (FT stands for: Fotoapparat Tokareva / Фотоаппарат Токарева).[3]
At age of 14 he began work in his father's shop.[4]
In 1908 - 1910 he made his version of a conversion of the bolt-action Model 1891 Mosin–Nagant rifle to semi-automatic fire, which merited official testing.[2]
In June 1930 his self-loading pistol (TT) was adopted as standard service pistol for Red Army
Tokarev's son Nikolai (1899–1972) also became a prominent firearms designer. He worked for several decades in Tula and designed several machine guns and anti-aircraft guns that were used by the Soviet Army in the 1930s–1940s.