[STORMIN29]

Has anyone purchased one of these from a C&R dealer and what are the some of the good and bad points to this firearm? Looking for a cheap gun to tinker around with and take to the range once in awhile. Thanks.

[Turkish]

I got mine a few weeks ago, and so far I really have no gripes about the pistol itself. For some reason i can get it to shoot straight, extremly low, but others that have shot it don't have the same problem. It is VERY easy to take down, all you need is the magazine to take the barrel out. Ammo is a tiny bit expensive, $12/50 of S&B at my local gun store but is still pretty cheap.

If your looking for a cheap fun plinker, get it as it fills that role quite nicely. It's a blast to shoot, 8 round mags are easy to load, and I even found that one of my mags will load a 9th round and function fine.

[Nightcrawler]

Handled on in a gunshop yesterday.

This one didn't have a decocker, just a manual safety. Apparently some models have a decocker that can sometimes double as a second trigger, from what I've read.

BTW, all CZ-52s are single action only, right? If so, what's the point of the decocker anyway?

[Hkmp5sd]

The CZ-52 can be carried "cocked and locked" like the 1911. The decocker is actually on the manual safety. When on safe, you push the lever down to remove the safety. You push it up to decock the gun. Unlike the 1911, you can rack the slide on the CZ-52 with the safety engaged.

If the decocking notch is worn, it can allow the gun to fire when being decocked.

[Cthulhu]

The trait of the decocking lever becoming an extra trigger is quite common to this model, as most have significant wear in this area. This is especially true if the firing pin has been replaced with an aftermarket assembly, such as those offered on Makarov.com. The competition model firing pin allows the firing pin to move enough when decocked to ignite the primer, particularly on commercial ammo. If one wishs to carry CZ-52, I strongly suggest that the safety be modified to disable the decocking feature (by limiting its upward travel with a roll/solid pin?) or that gun be carried with an empty chamber. On all of the models I have examined, the decocker is too easily actuated when placing the weapon on safe to advocate C&L carry.

[Kurt S.]

It has been pointed out, and I will second the motion, that the old czech-o-matic is one heck of a fun plinker. However, it's probably only handgun you'll ever have that you need to be careful about what's in back and to the side of you when you fire it!

As far as tinkering goes, makarov.com used to have a lot of cool aftermarket goodies you can play with, and most of them were fairly inexpensive. I haven't visited in a while so I don't know what they have now. The pistol is very easy to work on.

I will tell you to be careful when you buy milsurp ammo. One negative thing I can say about the gun is that I believe its repuation for strength is a little overrated. Sometime when I get energetic I'll post the story of CZ-52 KB.

[Cortland]

I recently bought an "excellent condition" CZ-52 from AIM surplus which I fired for the first time this afternoon. It's nice enough to shoot, pleasingly accurate, reliable (from what little shooting I've done), and very easy recoil (although I was shooting pretty light loads). My only real complaint is that it ejects the brass really far away, which is a pain when you're trying to recover ALL your brass.

The pistol had been reblued and was in more-or-less excellent condition, other than grips which were a little scuffed, the magazines which had not been refinished, and the barrel which was fouled like you wouldn't believe. I put patch after patch of copper solvent through that barrel and they kept coming out dark blue (indicating copper fouling) and filthy. I still don't think I've got it completely cleaned.

If you reload you can buy lead 32 H&R mag bullets (.312") and swage them down to .308" or .309" with a Lee bullet size die. This makes for very economical shooting.