The 9×19mm model is featured with a magazine well block mounted in the rear of the magazine well to accept 9×19mm-type magazines without frame modification. Furthermore, the Model 213 features the thin slide grip grooves, as opposed to the original Russian wide-types. It features a safety catch, which was absent on Soviet-produced TT-33 handguns. Norinco, the People's Liberation Army's state weapons manufacturer in China, still manufactures a commercial variant of the Tokarev pistol chambered in the more common 9×19mm Parabellum round, known as the Tokarev Model 213, as well as in the original 7.62×25mm caliber. Type 54 pistols were smuggled into Japan in a significant quantity, often for use by the Yakuza. The Vietnamese used the Type 54 during the Vietnam War, with the designation súng ngắn K-54 (a Vietnamese translation from the Chinese 54式手枪 (type 54 hand gun), with K for Kiểu being type). Though the QSZ-92 (Type 92) has supplemented the Type 54 in the Army, the weapon is still in service in some of the Chinese armed forces (such as the People's Armed Police and some People's Liberation Army troops) today.

This type of pistol is commonly available in 7.62×25mm caliber, although some variants have been made in 9×19mm Parabellum. In 1954, after approximately 250,000 pistols were manufactured, the designation was changed to Type 54 and the pistol used exclusively indigenous components. The Type 51 was first adopted in 1951 and produced in Shenyang's Factory 66 using both Soviet and Chinese-made parts. The Type 54 is the improved version of the Type 51 (Chinese copy of the TT-33) produced after the Korean War. Type 54 pistols are also known colloquially as 'Black Star' pistols ( Traditional Chinese:黑星手槍, Simplified Chinese: 黑星手枪) due to the five-pointed star engraved on its all-black grip panel. The Type 54 ( simplified Chinese: 54式手枪 traditional Chinese: 54式手槍) and its variants ( Type 51, M20, TU-90 and Model 213 pistols) are Chinese copies of the Soviet type Tokarev TT-33. Short recoil actuated, locked breech, single action, semi-autoħ and 8 -round detachable box magazine, 14-round box magazine (213A/B)

Black star pistol