Czech vz52 - Yay or nay?

[cipherk98]

So I was at a gunshop today and saw this weird rifle on the back wall. Had the clerk pull it forward and check it out. It is a 1956 vz52 rifle, something I have some passing knowledge of but nothing in depth. While not a super clean example it appears to have an original stock. No import marks, at least not that are left, and it's not one of the CAI jobs that were poorly painted with bed liner and appear to have been reparked at some point.

The OTD price is $370. Unfortunately it is in the original x45mm the best I could tell, and while the barrel and front hand guard match, the bolt carrier does not (shop was kind enough to field strip it for me). I'm really hesitant to buy something I can't really shoot. The bolt carrier was a plum/purple color - I first thought that this was the original color after seeing some similar guns but some are saying these were originally parkerized?

So any thoughts? GunStockMarket says that is not a bad price But if I can't shoot it I'm inclined to pass unless it's something really special.

Edit: If it matters, the factory is "She" and there is a "007" marking before the crossed swords and date (56). Aside from it being intended for James Bond, any idea what the 007 means? I've not found much on that.

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[RCS]

I have fired both the VZ 52 in 7,62x45mm and the later conversion the VZ 52/57 in 7,62x39mm Soviet calibers. Nice shooting rifles, light recoil and easy to operate, accuracy is like the SKS. Most of the original 7,62x45mm is steel cased by I have seen and fired brass cases in this caliber all is corrosive. You can find 7,62x45mm around and not that expensive. I would rather have a VZ52 over the SKS

[Aragorn243]

cipherk98 passed on the rifle and was kind enough to refer it to me and I picked it up today. Had to pay a little more as the owner spent 2 hours cleaning it.
I think it looks worse than it is. Bore is excellent. I will probably clean the stock and the metal up. Already have the dents out of the handguard.

[Sentryduty]

Nice find, looks like it may only need a foresight protector to be complete, they pop up in Canada for sale very occasionally, I would like to have one some time but have never assigned a high enough priority to jump on one for sale.

[cipherk98]

I hope you enjoy it! I can't wait to see it cleaned and brightened up, already looks better than when I saw it.

[Aragorn243]

I probably won't have time to work on it till the weekend. I tapped the dents out of the handguard, came out better than expected, can't even see them anymore. It's nice under the handguard. Didn't take the stock off yet. I don't know if it has that awful shellac on it or fossilized cosmoline or a combination of both. It's also missing it's cleaning gear. Had hoped it was hidden inside but no.

[RCS]

Your VZ 52 looks nice and with a nice bore too, Years ago there were some with broken or missing stocks and I was told you could work over an M14 stock - but I have never seen a photo of this projectAttachment 74362Attachment 74363Attachment 74364

Photos show some 7,62x45mm with brass cases.

Before 7,62x39mm was available in any large volume, some venders has the 7,62x45mm sized down to 7,62x39mm, easy to spot by the 1954 and 1955 Czeck headstamps as there was more Czeck than Soviet around

[Aragorn243]

Made some time last night to clean it up. Only one coat of oil at this point. I usually put on about 4 or 5 to build it up again.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

One of the most "eclectic" rifles ever fielded by anybody.

Gas system from the MKb42, (complete with sheet-steel "piston rod"), trigger mech. like a miniature M1 rifle, magazine like a shrunken G-43 pattern.

Very cute front-locking, tilting block with very nifty and rugged extractor.

I had a couple of them in the original 7.62 x 45 cartridge, back in the "good old days".

A real conversation piece, and, if the bore is OK, they shoot quite well.

If you cannot find any of the original ammo that was advertised a few years back, and you have some patience and a sense of humour, the cases can be formed from 6.5 x 52 Carcano or 6.5 x 54 MS brass, the Serbian-made stuff is ideal); a bit of trimming and neck reaming is involved, but these rifles are "relatively" gentle on cases. Any bullet that works with 7.62 x 39 is suitable and you can use the x39 data for starting loads. At least one of the "majors" produces dies from time to time.

The "original" ammo is a mix of steel and brass cased (mostly steel), and seems to ALL be primed with the "European standard" .217" Berdan primer. RWS 5627, Kemira and others offer a similar primer from time to time.

Alternately, hang onto and study it until one of the later VZ-52/57 models in 7.62 x 39 turns up.

Or, go nuts and get one of each.

[Aragorn243]

Back when I was first interested in one of these, maybe 6 months, ammo was still available but that mostly seems to have dried up. Still some there but about $1.50 a round for surplus in small quantities. Haven't hit any shows yet. As I rarely shoot, not a huge deal but I would still like to have some anyway. Located both the front sight guard and a sling for it in the meantime. Several markings showed up when I removed the shellac. Several letters are stamped in the sling well and a non-matching serial number on the butt.