CZ-52

East of Here

East of Here

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Anybody familiar with the surplus Czech CZ-52 pistols? I missed them when they were readily available on the surplus market, and it seems like they had a good reputation amongst collectors. I have had my eye out for a deal on one for the last couple of years. Today, I found this particular example in a pawn shop for cheaper than I have seen one elsewhere, and I tried hard not to buy it, but they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

IMG_20180122_191348.jpg

It appears to be in good shape and has all matching numbers with some minor finish wear.

IMG_20180122_191307.jpg

From what I can tell, it was made in 1954 for the Czech military, has a Century import mark on the slide, but has no rebuild mark.

I have not had a chance to shoot this pistol yet. Anybody have any strong opinions or accumulated insider information on these? Anything I need to know or avoid on these? Good/Bad/Indifferent?
 
They're solid and decently accurate but IIRC have a tendency to occasionally break a spring somewhere, out of the blue.

Good guns.
 
Do not trust the decocker, ever.
The firing pin will break if dry fired.
I highly recommend replacing the pin, detent, and spring with a kit from Harrington Products.
Novak can put sights on it if you're as dumb as me and love wasting money upgrading obsolete pistols.
Marschal Grips makes beautiful grips if you want to get even more crazy and don't mind waiting months for the most beautiful handmade grips Eastern Europe has to offer.
 
What Premise said above. I have a couple and they're sort of crazy fun to shoot. Most milsurp ammo will be corrosive so clean well after shooting. Some of it is really hot (Romanian maybe) but the '52 eats it no problem. They're also sort of cool looking in a 50's Buck Rogers kind of way.

One day a friend and I went out with some old police body armor. We set it up on a target stand and dropped back about 10 yards or so. I hit it with a .45 ACP from a 1911 and the round mushroomed and fell on the ground. We went to the CZ and that sucker went through the front and out the back. 7.62x25 is nothing to trifle with.
 
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The crossed swords was Czechoslovakia's military acceptance proof mark. There were 9mm barrels made for them also. You should also be able to shoot its twin sister the 7.63mm Mauser but it was made for lower pressures in the C96 Broomhandle. Don't fire any 7.62 Tok in a C96 however. Lee used to make there dies marked the same. A good bullet was Hornady 85gr XTP .309 dia. Priv used to market their 7.63mm Mauser/7.62mm Tok as the same. Somewhere along the line I broke the bolt on my C96 in 92'
Figure-7-7.62x25-Tok-Conversion-Brad-Miller-157x300.jpg

Cartridge history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62×25mm_Tokarev

Pistol history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CZ_52

CD
 
Back in the Good-Old-Days(TM) 7.62x25 was stupid cheap and so were CZ-52s. Nowadays 7.62x25 isn't that cheap anymore, and the CZ-52 is about the same price as the Russian Tokarev T-33 pistol.

They're fun guns, they go bang, they don't usually explode. I wasn't even aware the CZ-52 had a decocker until the internet told me not to use it. What does a single action pistol need a decocker for?
 
I love mine and was able to score a case of ammo back in the mid 2000's. One thing to be aware of is you will feel some trigger slap when firing. One of the reasons I prefer shooting my Tokarev over the CZ-52.
 
Thanks for the info above. Visually, these pistols always sort of reminded me of what would pop out if a P-38 knocked up a PPK. I have a TT-33 and know that the Tokarev round is pretty hot. I have read some technical information on these via Google, but crap you find on Youtube or otherwise usually does not yield the most accurate information. The anecdotal, real world information you get from owners seems to be much more valuable than some semi-review from an internet fanboy.

I broke mine down today and cleaned the bore, which was very dirty. The bore is a slightly dark/pitted but it has decent rifling left. Considering this pistol has not been refurbished, I suspect that is normal. I expect that it will shoot decently. After I shoot it, I will clean it thoroughly and it may clean up even more after I have put a few down the pipe. I am in this one cheap enough that I may go ahead and get a replacement firing pin, spring kit and rollers, just in case I need them in the future.
 
To check the decocker put a pencil or rod in the barrel all the way in with the hammer cocked....tilt the barrel down slightly...use the decocker and look for any movement in the pencil. If the pencil moves forward AT ALL then presume the decocker is moving the firing pin and it is not to be trusted.

Otherwise they are great fun to shoot...and you will get looks from others...last time I had mine there was an instructor teaching in the next lane over at an indoor range...he kept poking his head around and finally asked me what I was shooting...because the brass was hitting the roof of the booth and bouncing over the wall into their space. The brass goes WHEREVER THE HELL IT WANTS...so good luck trying to find it after.

IF you look around Red Army Standard and PRVI have decently priced ammo...and there is some surplus on the market if you just want a can of it. I kinda soured on it when I kept getting rounds that wouldnt fire.....if the cost if about the same as new production made no sense.

Also the 9mm slide and barrel combo is fun as well...but the thread pattern is a unique pattern which basically nothing fits. It was done by the company so you had to buy one of their compensators...or have a smith make you one.
 
I use a pencil to check firing pin protrusion/spring tension when buying used guns. Cock pistol, hold vertical and load pencil. Pull trigger and watch pencil go up.

CD
 
I only had 10 rounds of PPU Tokarev ammo lying around, but I took the CZ52 to the range and grouped 7 rounds at about 10 yards. Overall, notwithstanding my own questionable skills, I think it shot pretty well considering the long trigger pull, etc.

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I have two of these. I got the first one, because at the time I could shoot an entire magazine of 7.62x25 ammo for the same price as a single .45acp round. For me it was cheap plinking. I grew pretty fond of the pistol.
I managed to score a 1,200 (ish) round tin of ammo for $100 right about the time they began to dry up. It is still sealed.
When I shoot it now I am still using up those 70 round boxes that came out of a previously opened tin.
A few years ago, I had the good fortune of buying another CZ-52 from a buddy, along with several hundred rounds of surplus ammo for a real bargain.

Yes the sights could use some upgrades, but for a mil-surp pistol, I like it. If you are using surplus ammo don't forget to clean it thoroughly after shooting it. Old surplus ammo is notorious for being corrosive.
 
AFAIK the rebuilt ones have a parkerized finish.

As others mentioned, http://harringtonproducts.com/ is a good place to a firing pin and springs for it. I would change the springs before shooting it.

Another thing to consider is getting a second barrel even if you do not shoot corrosive ammo. About the 9mm ones, the only ones I saw were way out of my price range.


Combat Diver said:
Somewhere along the line I broke the bolt on my C96 in 92'
Figure-7-7.62x25-Tok-Conversion-Brad-Miller-157x300.jpg
Click to expand...

Do you still have it? How broken is the bolt? Might be able to help you there
 
dalek said:
AFAIK the rebuilt ones have a parkerized finish.

As others mentioned, http://harringtonproducts.com/ is a good place to a firing pin and springs for it. I would change the springs before shooting it.

Another thing to consider is getting a second barrel even if you do not shoot corrosive ammo. About the 9mm ones, the only ones I saw were way out of my price range.




Do you still have it? How broken is the bolt? Might be able to help you there
Click to expand...


Not really, its down with a trusted friend around Houston.

CD
 
I had one years ago. Hot little round. I reloaded some for it as well. Found some sabots online with load data for firing 22 cal bullets from it. Very high velocity with those sabot rounds.
 
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