I'm intrigued by these guns. I realize it's a huge ugly hunk of steel and completely impractical, and I'm ok with that. I have no plans to carry one, or to use it for any practical purposes, but I'm interested by the roller-delayed action and the Czech heritage of the gun.

From what I understand, they were originally chambered in 7.65 Tokarev, but some were arsenal rebarrelled to 9mm. As a reloader I don't really mind weird cartridges, but most of the Tokarev ammo is steel cased and not reloadable...so I'd probably be looking for one in 9mm.

I've watched the youtube reviews, but would really like some feedback from the trusted folks here on sigforum. If you've owned or shot one of these, what was your experience? My main considerations are, "Does it operate reliably" and "Is it fun to shoot?"

I have owned several, still own one. They are certainly fun to shoot but have several known issues such as a fragile firing pin, tiny sights, strange ergonomics and a problematic safety system. They are a cool Cold War memento but not really a practical everyday shooter.

I have not owned one re-chambered to 9mm, so I can not comment on that.

Thanks for the feedback. What are the problems with the firing pin and the safety? Are parts available and can they be easily repaired by a layman with reasonable mechanical aptitude?

I'm ok with weird and impractical in this case, but broken guns that don't work are no fun, especially if they can't be fixed.

https://harringtonproducts.com/
Great replacement parts(upgraded) for your cz52~~

Yes, the firing pin is reported to be brittle. Also the Safety/decocker has been known to cause it to fire. A serious problem that. If you get one do the pencil test.Put a pencil eraser end down into the barrel and cock the gun . Now push the safety up to decock it. If the pencil moves forward you know the firing pin has moved and it would have fired if it had been loaded.

I have installed a Harrington firing pin and spring kit in my CZ 52 to correct these could be problems. I also got an aftermarket slide stop release for another upgrade. It doesn't have one otherwise.

But an unaltered CZ52 is still a great deal of fun. A riot to shoot. Very loud, huge fireball, bullet travels near the speed of light. One rebarreled to 9mm would be pointless to me. The 7.62x25 round is the appeal. Trigger pull can be hefty.

I remember some of that Euro surplus ammo going through 9 layers of 1/2" drywall. Somewhere in my stash is a spam can of 1200 rounds. Saving it for end times or maybe when I get really bored.

Ah, I see njgreeec beat me to the harrington.

Nice, thanks for the link. Definitely nice to know that somebody out there is making parts for these.

We own a CZ52 chambered in 7.65 Tokorev. It’s a good shooter, but hurls spent brass a good 30 feet straight to the right/rear. Never seen brass ejected so forcefully. Anyone standing to the right/rear is at risk.

It’s an interesting pistol.

We trudge on.

They are pretty cool pistols. I'm not sure what they are selling for now but when I got mine it was inexpensive and interesting enough to keep around:







I wouldn't recommend it much as a primary self defense pistol but if you can find one at a reasonable "collector" price with some ammo it can be a fun gun. NEVER dry fire it! Somebody made a run of firing pins for them a while back. They may or may not still be available. Wouldn't hurt to have a spare if you can find one.

I apologize for the stupid HUGE pictures. I'm using IMGBB.com. If someone can tell me how to resize them properly I would appreciate it and will resize them as soon as I figure out how.

Thanks.......DJ

I used to own one, got it cheap, sold it for $150 and made money. I saw one for $500 at an LGS, but they always overcharge. The firing pin is brittle, the trigger is heavy and gritty, the sights are tiny, the bolt hold open doesn’t work half the time, and the safety can malfunction. It is a heavy gun, the boom, fireball and recoil are significant.

Fun, if you don’t want it for anything else.

There is was no arsenal conversion of (CZ) Vzor 52 pattern pistols to 9mm Luger. Such 9mm have been converted with after market parts. The original patter, the CZ 482, lead to the Vz52 was designed in 9mm.

[Trivia] The CZ 482 was a late entry to the Swiss pistol trials of 1948 and outperformed the P210 in all aspects. The CZ patter was rejected due to political issues in Czechoslovakia.[/Trivia]

[Sarcasm] CZ got even with copying the P210 slide assembly, SIG closed cam path and the internal rails for its CZ 75 pattern pistol [/Sarcasm]

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
I apologize for the stupid HUGE pictures. I'm using IMGBB.com. If someone can tell me how to resize them properly I would appreciate it and will resize them as soon as I figure out how.

Thanks.......DJ

From a google search on how to resize images for ImgBB........

For anyone wanting to host pics in ImgBB (https://imgbb.com), here are some pointers.

Resizing

You need to resize your pics to the size that you want before you upload them. I'd recommend a maximum size of 640 × 480 for posting on the Forum. You're supposed to be able to resize pics as you upload them, but this doesn't seem to work.

I use Mіcrosoft Pіcture Mаnager for resizing (and rotating, cropping, etc). I gather that there are various other programs available that you can use.

Recent versions of Mіcrosoft Offіce don't include Picture Manager, but you can still get it:

How To Get Microsoft Picture Manager Back (http://www.askvg.com/how-to-install-and-get-microsoft-office-picture-manager-back-in-office-2013)

I've had mine for around 25 years now, Firing pin was the first part I had to replace. Dry firing will break the tip of the firing pin. Back when Makorov.com was in business a person could buy all kinds of parts for the Cz 52,I know because I bought a lot. My grips have been changed, I added the external slide stop\slide release, several firing pins, And an additional barrel in 9mm. I've always said that I couldn't sell it because of how much I put into it but, seeing what they have been asking for them lately at the gun shows, I may be able to break even or make a little if I ever decide to sell it.

You may want to check with your local range on this, I’ve heard some ranges won’t allow that Tokarev round as was supposedly considered a body armor defeating round by the Soviets and it’s hard on indoor range backstops.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
You may want to check with your local range on this, I’ve heard some ranges won’t allow that Tokarev round as was supposedly considered a body armor defeating round by the Soviets and it’s hard on indoor range backstops.

That's a good call. Not an issue for me, as I hate shooting inside, but while not explicitly prohibited by our gun club, I'd say that it falls within the spirit of the restrictions for our indoor range (non-magnum center fire pistol calibers and rimfire only). No problems on our outdoor bays, though, which is where I do 99% of my shooting.

There are some aftermarket magazines, I think from Korea, which are junk.
They have a glossy black finish while the originals look like being phosphated.

quote:

I realize it's a huge ugly hunk of steel...

Actually I always kinda liked how that 'hunk of steel' looks. But then I have a soft spot for CZ pistols.

I had one for several years and shot it some. It’s a lot of fun to shoot. I had a chance to sell it for about 4x what I paid for it so off it went. Sometimes I regret selling it a bit but I wouldn’t buy another one.

These pistols have a "decocker" that is known to fail (as in when you decock the gun it'll literally cause the gun to fire). So be sure to have that fully checked out and definitely do not rely on it as a safety.