CZ-52 Range Report & Surprises

cavetech

cavetech

Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
760
I went to the range this morning to fire my new CZ-52. It has a new looking black matt finish that seems to indicate it was refurbished. The pistol looks super. Bore has slight streaks along the lands but is otherwise bright.

I ran out a target and put one 7.62x25 round in the magazine and fired. Did this twice. Everything went fine. No explosion, no parts back in my face. Loaded 5 rounds in the magazine and on the second shot the magazine flew apart. I found the pieces and the spring to fix later. The second magazine that came with the pistol worked fine. I was firing mil-surp ammo.

After I got used to the pistol, and over my concern it would injure me, I realized it was pleasant to shoot. Recoil was moderate and in the 9MM range. Maybe, a bit less. I used a two handed grip, off hand. One 15 round group at 25’ had a maximum spread of 3”. My older eyes and unfamiliarity with the CZ-52 are to blame for not shooting tighter groups. The pistol can do better. I feel this pistol is surprisingly, pleasingly accurate. There were a number of miss-fires. When that happened I would just keep the pistol pointed down range for a few moments in case it was a hang fire and re-cock the hammer and then it would fire.

There were quirks involving the safety lever and trigger. The safety lever rubbed the inside of my thumb every shot. I might have a blister tomorrow. When the pistol fired, the safety rubbed my thumb and that moved the safety lever up ever so slightly. I learned that when the safety lever was pushed up a tiny bit it made the trigger pull for the next round almost so hard it was impossible to shoot. I would thumb the safety down after each shot and then had a pleasant, light trigger pull.

My conclusion is that I got a fairly decent pistol for my $139.99. It is not a refined weapon like a Sig P226 or Colt 1911. Despite the slight marks in the bore it is quite accurate so they are a non issue. The safety lever mechanism needs to be upgraded which will cure the hard trigger pull problem. The firing pin needs to be upgraded to stop the miss-fires.

It was a good morning.
 

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When disassembling, you'll notice that wedging something into the locking piece under the barrel to unlock the rollers takes a lot of the sweat out of the operation. The floorplate on the magazine is shaped nearly perfectly to do this and was often used for this task.

Don't. Use something else.

Over time the floorplate will bend. When it bends enough, recoil will knock it free and you'll experience exploding magazines, just as you did. That's probably what happened to your magazine. If you don't mind marring the finish on the magazine a bit, you can sometimes bend them back into shape with a pair of pliers. The way I figure the mag's a goner anyway, so what do you have to lose?

It should not be misfiring like that. Check the condition of your mainspring and (especially) the firing pin. It's a known weak point of this design. Double check that there's not any caked grease in the firing pin channel.

Milsurp 7.62 = corrosive. Don't let anyone tell you any differently. If it's not S&B or Prvi, it gets scrubbed with Windex or Simple Green.
 
Simple Green?

Clean,
Then a light oil, huh?

I'll have to try that.

Dave Rishar knows many things. Simple green safe on blue?

munk
 
Yep, Simple Green and hot water. Cuts grease, removes carbon fouling, and (obviously) dissolves primer residue. I haven't noticed any effect on bluing. It won't remove metallic fouling -- you're on your own for that. (I like Kroil myself.)

Make sure the water's real hot, though, like "Ow, dammit, this water is hot" hot. Verge of injury hot. You want it to evaporate as quickly as possible. Followup oil these days is Ballistol, as the water won't bead under it like it will with most other products.

My firearms spend enough time in the rain that I don't like putting water on them if I don't have to. Simple Green is only used for initially cleaning milsurps and dealing with corrosive ammunition. The rest of the time I dunk parts in Ed's Red, scrub them down, and blast everything off with brake or carb cleaner. (Whichever's cheapest when it's time to stock up.) Apply oil afterwards and you're done. Not counting the bore, I can get most firearms cleaned, lubricated, and reassembled in under five minutes.
 
Dave Rishar said:
When disassembling, you'll notice that wedging something into the locking piece under the barrel to unlock the rollers takes a lot of the sweat out of the operation. The floorplate on the magazine is shaped nearly perfectly to do this and was often used for this task.

Don't. Use something else.

Over time the floorplate will bend. When it bends enough, recoil will knock it free and you'll experience exploding magazines, just as you did. That's probably what happened to your magazine. If you don't mind marring the finish on the magazine a bit, you can sometimes bend them back into shape with a pair of pliers. The way I figure the mag's a goner anyway, so what do you have to lose?

It should not be misfiring like that. Check the condition of your mainspring and (especially) the firing pin. It's a known weak point of this design. Double check that there's not any caked grease in the firing pin channel.

Milsurp 7.62 = corrosive. Don't let anyone tell you any differently. If it's not S&B or Prvi, it gets scrubbed with Windex or Simple Green.
Click to expand...

I have taken all the advise I've gotton on corrosive ammo. I took windex to the range and swabbed out the bore with it right after fireing. Then some oil. Straight home to field strip and clean.

I admit I didn't strip it down to the fireing pin. Should I really dissassemble it that far? If so I'd better go figure out how to do that. I'll check surplusrifles and see if they have a tutorial on that detailed proceedure. They had one when I did my 24/77.

I might find grease in the mainspring, but I kinda doubt it because the pistol was pretty clean when I got it. I should check it. I feel I should order a good firing pin and probably the trigger upgrade from Markarov.

I examined the failed magazine and it looks good. There is one dimple on one side of the CZ-52 mags that locks the magazine floor plate to the magazine. I believe this dimple was not engaged when I got it or dould be dimpled better.

This has turned into a good project. I'm looking forward to the upgrades. I've never done that before. Of course there was a time when I hadn't made a knife or stitched a sheath either.

This stuff is really keeping me out of watering holes too much. At this rate I might sprout a halo soon!
 
The great thing about hobbies, like shooting, or hiking with kids or friends, is you are doing and being, rather than sitting in a watering hole spending money, dreaming and being.



munk
 
Steve Poll said:
This stuff is really keeping me out of watering holes too much. At this rate I might sprout a halo soon!
Click to expand...
Works well for me. Beer money is far better spent on milsurps and cheap commie ammo in heavy green tins.

Firing pin upgrade from makarov.com: :thumbup: on just the pin.

:thumbdn: on the "improved trigger" kit I got. It was poorly machined IIRC and they charged me a restocking fee when I sent it back. It also needs some irreversible gunsmithing/drilling on your pistol they don't tell you about. YMMV. The hardened steel pin they sell is a must-have, though. Get some JHP's while there.

They do sell the takedown tool. I laughed about the warning on "having a barrel fly across the room." Of course when it happened it was in the garage and the barrel came down on concrete 12 feet away. Take care there.

Hm, "Ed's Red" cleaning solution. Google finds it.

Need to make some but Gunk Engine Cleaner is working, cheap and in aerosol...


Mike
 
Ahhh good old Ed's Red...Good stuff!!!:D


Simple greens works wonders on firearms...My Yugo got a regular dose of it...it also works well on stubborn leather that doesnt want to take dye...cut 50/50 though..lol


Steve,
I gotta get me one of those CZ's...Would make a decent budget truck gun..hmm I am very poor and on a strict budget...Sounds like my kind of gun!!:p

Ad Astra...
makarov.com has been easy for me to deal with...Never have had to send anything back to them, so the restocking fee is a surprise...I need to get me another Makarov to carry around with me, until I get off this bologna budget of mine that is..
 
OK, one firing pin upgrade is getting ordered tomorrow.

I'll not get the trigger kit.

Yes on the JHP's.

I want to know what IIRC is?

How the heck do I solve the issue with the safety lever being so hard to move and causing hard trigger pull if I don't thumb it down after every shot?

I'm interested in the Tokorev now. What's it like? Same ammo, right?
 
IIRC means If I Recall Correctly
NO Not the same ammo...Tok's wont take the umph of a CZ-52...err I think that is right..Dave will be here inna minute to clarify


Hmm I made a holster for a Tok once...Dude argued with me about the cost...IIRC (lol!) I won the argument...


BTW..

I got snake bit again!!!...I got in a rescue RTB last week...checked it out and it was fine although dehydrated...Got him fixed up and sent off to his new owner..Looked at my daughter's snake "George" and he HAD MITES!!!! had to clean ALL of the snake cages AND the snakes with sevin Dust (can ya tell at which point I got bit?)

Snakes DO NOT like Sevin Dust!!!!!<~~~trust me!
 
George, I take it that you're a snake breeder. If so, what snakes do you usually raise? I wouldn't mind getting me a pet snake someday.

Bob
 
Hmm, looks like this old pistol is not dead yet. One thing, I expect that there will be lot of ammo of Russian (or former USSR) origin, when you use it, clean the pistol ASAP, the military primes they use are corrosive. But it's cheap and works well, I did use their 7,62x39 and when you clean immediately after every shooting there is no problem.

Anyway, it might interest you that the original manufacturer - CZ Strakonice - is back in bussiness. I have their CZ75 based ST9 pistol (9x19), serial number 0006 :-)

Their web is here

http://www.czstrakonice.cz/?lng=en

Have a happy shooting.
 
I just take the barrel off and run water thru it.

That misfire thing drove me crazy with the Yugo and Romanian ammo. The Polish works like a charm in both of mine.

Did you say 25feet or yards?
 
Leatherface said:
IIRC means If I Recall Correctly
NO Not the same ammo...Tok's wont take the umph of a CZ-52...err I think that is right..Dave will be here inna minute to clarify
Click to expand...

Well, not in a minute. My schedule is odd these days. (And by "odd," I mean that I work the graveyard shift and sometimes catch mandatory overtime for the day shift.)

He whom shall not be named (well, okay, Clark Magnuson) is something like the Cliff Stamp of the internet firearms community. His research (which has destroyed more than a few firearms) confirms a theory that he and I both share: that the CZ-52 is actually weaker than the TT-33. While the CZ's locking system may indeed be stronger its chamber walls are considerably thinner and premature unlocking is not the usual mode of failure.

In English, the action is stronger but the barrel is weaker and the barrel blows before the action does.

Many sources still list the CZ as being stronger, probably because of the unusual locking system. That's fine. They provide an opinion. Clark provides measurements, calculations, and destroyed weapons that support them. I'll go with the more solid evidence.
 
I've shot every sort of ammo in my Tokarev that I've shot in my CZ52 and I can't see any sign that it can't handle it.The slide on the Tokarev seems heavier or something and it seems like the recoil of the Tokarev is a bit less.

HOWEVER I personally would love to see some sort of modern firearm like a CZ75 or something chambered in 7.62X25. The Tok and CZ52 are super cool, but as far as you can "reach out" with the X25 it would be cool to have a modern firearm with a lighter trigger and greater accuracy to take advantage of the range.:thumbup:
 
hollowdweller said:
I just take the barrel off and run water thru it.

That misfire thing drove me crazy with the Yugo and Romanian ammo. The Polish works like a charm in both of mine.

Did you say 25feet or yards?
Click to expand...

Just 25 feet.
 
I called Markarov.com today to order their fireing pin upgrade plus others.

They talked me out of it. That is an honest company. They said the mis-fires are due to the ammo I was using - Romanian. That I didn't need their firing pin.

They didn't have any suggestion for the saftey lever issue. Does anybody have an idea about that one?
 
Steve Poll said:
I called Markarov.com today to order their fireing pin upgrade plus others.

They talked me out of it. That is an honest company. They said the mis-fires are due to the ammo I was using - Romanian. That I didn't need their firing pin.

They didn't have any suggestion for the saftey lever issue. Does anybody have an idea about that one?
Click to expand...

I don't know, take it apart and see if you can see anything. They aren't hard to break down. I had to learn cause the trigger spring broke on mine and I had to replace it. Could be you could just need to take it out and buff it a little.

The reason to replace the firing pin with the Harrington one isn't to prevent misfires IMO it is to cut the trigger pull about in half. I have a tendency to shoot about 2' low with the stock firing pin:eek:

By the way Mak.com's FNM ammo is the best shooting stuff I have used.
 
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