There basically two pistol designs - the Tokarev TT (Russian, Polish, Romanian, etc.) and the Czech CZ-52. The Czechs always seemed to do things different from their Comm Bloc comrades.
Which is better?
The Romanian TTC's are easiest to find right now.
The other "handguns" are converted sub-machineguns.
I actually bought it AFTER I'd bought the ammo. (Scored a good deal on 2,500+ rounds and decided to buy a pistol for it and use it for training.) The Tokarev was only like $180 out the door and I beat the crap out of it. Nice little gun. Thin, light and super tough. My only complaints were I didn't feel comfortable carrying it cocked and locked (no safety) and it was a single stack so the capacity was fairly low.
It's a perfect sidearm (as in, carry one as your secondary piece while you're carrying a rifle/shotgun) and it's priced to be an "extra" gun you can keep in the glove box, tackle box, out in the garage, etc. The 7.62x25 round is awesome. It'll cut right through most soft armor and sometimes even harder barriers. Lots of advantages to carrying a pistol chambered in that round.
The Tokarevs are more like a 1911 and they required no relearning for me to shoot. They're thin and easy to conceal though they are full sized. I found the CZs to be boxy though ergonomic, just like all CZs. They're more compact so may be easier to conceal though the grip is fatter. To me, the CZ seemed like a Hi Point date raped a PPK and this was their love child. That's not a knock, it's just highlighting the differences.
The CZ 52 is the best of the handguns chambered for this potent round, in my opinion at least. There is some after market support available to make the trigger much nicer, spare parts available, even a service to replace the factory sights with fiber optic if you don't want to tackle the job yourself. The downside is the prices have gotten silly on them of late.
Well, Red Army Standard produces new non-corrosive ammo for $0.33 a round or so which is not expensive for pistol ammo. $15.00 for a box of 50 new production cartridges with sealed primers & bullets seems pretty reasonable.