Posted: 5/4/2009 12:26:40 AM EDT
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WHY ARENT THESE MORE POPULAR!!!!!!
I picked one up at the Fort worth show for 225 and 5 72rd boxes of ammo at 10 bucks a piece and its awesome. Unfortunately the older couple who had it at their table left the mag for it at home but I picked up one at a grip and clip table. ANyways it runs great and ammo is cheap and plentiful, (around here anyway), so why aren't they a more popular firearm? |
| I think the 52 is not more popular because when researching the gun you will find that it has a few flaws it needs to have fixed that give it a bad rep. However these "do it yourself" (require no real skills or coordination) improvements to make it more safe, relaible and optimize performance. It looks cool, it is super easy to take down and ammo is cheap. I got mine a month ago for $185+ fees. It is an unissued 53 and had the factory decocker (considered to be dangerous) removed at import by Century. I bought 1600 rounds of 50's Bulgarian that 2/3 had cracked case necks and had to send it back. I had heard of people blowing up barrels and it is no wonder if they were shooting that stuff. The other drawbacks are the firing pin and rollers in the roller cam are made of brittle steel and should be replaced because they break easily and can cause damage. My gun at least had horrible trigger slap and had some serious recoil due to the weak and inconsistent factory recoil spring. Sights are marginal at best. It was about what I expected from a 1950s production gun. However, in a matter of about two hours and $90 factory flaws can be fixed. I added a Wolff 18.5lb recoil spring, Harrington hardened rollers and Harrington #2 firing pin/ trigger enhancement. The firing pin/trigger enhancement will require you to pop out the extractor with a 1/8 punch and file down a small amount. Next I took my dremmel and carefully drilled out the factory front and rear sights and put in red hi-viz tube through the holes. Finally I put on a butler creek rubber slip on grip. I replaced my bad Bulgarian ammo with 80's Prvi and Romanian. I took it out and it shot like a totally different gun. The problems were gone. The recoil was less than my Springfield XD45 5" Tac plus it was like I couldn't miss with it. I am an average shot and I was killing the bullseye at 15-20 yds. I was shooting about a 5" group at 50yds. I would highly recommend making the changes to anyone with a 52. It is my new favorite gun for now. As far as the ammo goes the Bulgarian is junk, the Prvi has on average 7 restrikes per box of 72 and feels like a lighter load, and the Romanian has been the heaviest feeling load and only has an average of 2 restrikes per box of 72. |
| I didn't remove the sights. I took a pencil and marked dots on the sights as I sighted it in and made minor adjustments that way. When I had them where I wanted them I took my dremmel with a diamond engraving bit and carefully scored the surface for a place to get the drill bit started and then drilled the holes with a little dremmel drill bit. Then I cut the hi viz lite pipes the length I wanted and inserted through the holes. I placed a very tiny drop of clear crazy glue gel around the back to ensure a snug fit and very lightly touched the back with a butane lighter (clean) flame to clear and expand the tube where I cut it off with a fingernail clipper. http://www.hivizsights.com/Indivdiual-Replacement-HandgunDovetail-Sight-LitePipes-version-1––P76.aspx I used red .090". I will post some pics. They really glow bright even as short as the tubes are. |
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Y'know, I keep reading these comments about the sights on a 52 as being worthless.................hells fire, the things are BIGGER and provide MORE defination than ANY 1911 military issue sight I have ever seen..
C'mon, I have one, it shoots to the point of aim nearly to 100 yards, and while it sure ain't the most modern of designs it works and works well!!! Insofar as ammuntion, well, pick up stuff that's half a century old and stored under questionable conditions and you can only expect problems........don't care it it was a premium U.S. brand, it'd STILL have problems. I hand load for mine, occasionally I'll acquire a box of S&B (mostly for the brass), but I won't turn down decent lookin' Czech stuff......if it works. great, if not, pull the bullet and use it in a reload. I shoot both 100 gr. cast and HP commercial in mine. Blue dot is the powder of choice for me and right at 8 grains under either that hard cast 100 grainer or a 90 gr. Hornady hollow point does a superb job.............accuracy is all you could ask for and those Hornady's will utterly 'smoke' small game up to the size of a coon...........after all, it's kinda hard to dislike a gun that cost less than a buck thirty in as new condition that shoots as well as the things do. In terms of trigger pull................GET INTO THE MECHANISM and tune it yourself...............mine trips at about 3.5 pounds, I did the work myself and so can you!! |
| i think i like what you did with the sights. cant wait for the pics,may be a little tutorial on how to do this. i have a real hard time picking up my sights and cant see them in low light condions.maybe its a age thing dont see to good any more. a friend of mine has this dblstrike problem with some of his ammo he,1 or 2 per mag full. i bought 200 rnds from him no trouble have not had trouble with any ammo i have bought.we were looking our guns ,i notice right off that his hammer was real easy to cock,mine is hard. check the hammer spring it was on the weak side, new spring no more dblstrikes. might check you spring. dont remember wieght its should be, but it has to be 2 inchs long. thanks cant wait for the pics |
| The double strike problem seems to have passed. I shot about 275 rounds last night with the same ammo and not a single DS. I don't know maybe it is just getting broken in with 1000 rounds throught it. Have you tried the Wolf HP ammo? WOW. I loaded up one mag and set out a milk jug filled with sand. Bye bye milk jug. I saved the other seven rounds until I can get more milk jugs. Pic still to come... |
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I love my CZ-52. Love the single-action trigger, love the manual safety AND decocker (more pistols need that feature, in my opinion), and I especially love the caliber.
The only thing I don't like about it is the magazine release. If CZ made a 75B variant chambered for 7.62x25mm... 
ETA: Don't have a problem with the sights either. Mine is pretty darn accurate. |