CZ-52 Pistol

I'll agree with you on the 52 being fun, but you really like the trigger? I've shot several and every single one has had some serious trigger slap. Some more then others, but I haven't seen one that didn't have it. If yours doesn't then that's great. If it does and you still like it, then you obviously have a numb finger!

I would love a modernized cz52, maybe even the same great trigger and top end, but with a longer double stack grip and better sights. My dad had an original, and we shot up a case of ammo through it. It was wonderful to shoot and lots of power, really fun to shoot at rifle targets with. Great long range handgun!

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

giggitygiggity said:

... Anyways, I figured that in a day and age when most of the forum are filled with the latest and greatest, it might be interesting to hear whether you share the same sentiments as me about this Cold War era gem. ...

Click to expand...

I am glad to hear that you are smitten with your Cz-52. I like that feeling.

~15 years ago shortly after being issued my first 03FFL I was window-shopping at internet milsurp retailers.

I remember that at the bottom of SOG's homepage for a long time were paired pics of groups of Cz-52s and Polish TT-33 Variants.

At that time, the Cz-52s looked exotic and the TTs a bit frumpy.

Cz-52 = Pretty
TT-33 = Not so much

Of the two (the most available C&R pistols available at that time) I chose to buy a Cz-52 from Century.

While it is a good, accurate shooter, I was disappointed to find it to be heavy, blocky and somewhat uncomfortable.

A short time later I decided to get one of the TTs ... and discovered just how wrong I had been.

They are surprisingly small & flat (read: concealable), the grip was almost perfect for my ungloved hand and very easy and accurate to shoot.

I pretty quickly realized that they were looking much better to me. In fact, now:

TT-33 = Pretty
Cz-52 = Not so much

I still have 3 Cz-52s, I bought the additional 2 as investments. The last time that I fired any of them was on Saturday afternoon, 12Oct02 when I was testing a replacement 9x19 barrel in one.

BTW, I have 3 TT-33s (original Russian w/o add-on Safeties) and 8 TT-33 Variants ... and a sweet custom leather Ross crossdraw holster for use while driving or under a coat.

Do not EVER dry fire that gun!! Really easy to break the firing pin. I found that out the hard way with the one I had.

As for that trigger, I once had an HK-91 with a butter smooth five pound trigger pull. Straight from Heckler und Koch! Sometimes it happens

Do not EVER dry fire that gun!! Really easy to break the firing pin. I found that out the hard way with the one I had.

Click to expand...

These folks sell replacements, I haven't tried them
http://harringtonproducts.com/

Love my Romy TTC. Do prefer my Bulgy Maks though.

I agree and absolutely love my 52, it's one of those pistols I'll never sell! Mine is very tight, accuracy is awesome, the trigger is not bad at all and reliability has been perfect so far @ 700 plus round count.

I've let half a dozen or more people shoot it and everyone thinks it's riot and seems to love it...I honesty think some of the bad rap the CZ52 gets is from road hard and put away wet pistols with crappy re-arsenal jobs. If you get a nice original that hasn't been hacked on they're sweet!

The Hogue Handall also works wonders on the slightly awkward grip dimensions of the 52s...Enjoy!

I have 500 rds of Swedish MG Ammo. It is HV FMJ. The ugly orphan CZ 52 handles it no problem. The CZ 52 has a trigger slap problem with HV ammo.

They are a great pistol but the question comes up of what the cartridge is good for.
1) shooting thru armor
2) shooting thru car doors
3) clearing space at the range as people move away from you.

Pitty the 9mm conversion kits are not still available.
After market grips are available, as are rollers and firing pins, although that brings up the question if one has to spend $100 to upgrade a $200 pistol is it really worth it.

The roller action is something to really prize as it is not cost effective for anybody to do this.

Do you have a source on good spare magazines?

However, after shooting it recently, it has become one of my favorite pistols.

Click to expand...

Impossible. Haven't you heard, everybody hates this gun!

-I've got long first-digits on my fingers, so the long, skinny grip is close to just right (some rounded off corners would be appreciated, but that's all).
-Recoil is very mild considering what you're sending down range, and it of course shoots like a laser beam.
-One of the classiest pistols developed since WWII that isn't a 92FS or P210 in my opinion; strong, straight Art Deco lines on the slide reminiscent of a diesel locomotive of that era.
-When I took apart my gun to polish & blue everything, I also cleaned up the trigger some so it did not have nearly as much positive sear engagement; the result is a respectable if not exemplary trigger that I have no complaints with
-The disconnector design is a recipe for trigger-slap; this is what most shooters complain about, but it doesn't manifest on every gun out there (and can be corrected with some careful filing & polishing)
-Metallurgy on these guns sucks; no use dancing around it. Firing pins, rollers, barrels, safeties, and even the slide are soft or brittle or both in ways that severely limit their lifespan.
-Hot rod or questionable ammo is a dumb idea, as is sticking with the factory rollers & firing pin if you intend to shoot in volume. Every owner should drill a hole in the decocker marking and press in a pin there so it is permanently deactivated.
-Takedown is very bad by modern standards since it requires tools (and muscle) but at least is fairly simple.
-Factory sights are awful, but not uncommonly so
-No slide release is a mind-bender for some folks

Mods on the pictured pistol;
-All parts cleaned, polished, & rust-blued (fun, if tedious project)
-New ebony grips (I can do better nowadays, I should really checker & refinish these simple flat panels)
-New rollers, new spring-returned firing pin (that eliminates the need for the crappy firing pin block scheme that destroys the trigger quality)
-Extended slide release latch so it can be manually activated
-16lb Wolff spring really sped up the cycle time & makes recoil a single impulse
-Extended mag floorplate so my pinky has a place to rest comfortably
-New front and rear sight (front sight is a staked tang put through that diamond-hard & brittle slide metal) that are taller/larger in all places
-Deactivated decocker since mine was throwing pencils across the room
-9mm barrel as an alternate caliber option

Not a bad end considering it started as a worn out two-tone re-arsenal turd with the emphasis on 'arse', that had been pin-stamped to hell and back by Century Imports. As hard as the slide is, I can't even imagine how horrible that stamping would look on a normal gun (or how many slides they shattered in the process )

TCB

Cool guns. A shame the shells aren't as cheap as they used to be.

giggitygiggity said:

GBEexpat, are the TT-33 pistols better than the Romanian TTCs and Yugo M57s?

Click to expand...

Don't know about "better," but the Yugos get an extra round. Mine is a TTC, I considered and probably should've gotten a Yugo. Magazine availability may be worse for Yugos though I can't check right now.

Dog Soldier said:

I have 500 rds of Swedish MG Ammo. It is HV FMJ. The ugly orphan CZ 52 handles it no problem. The CZ 52 has a trigger slap problem with HV ammo.

Click to expand...

I seem to recall that CZ intentionally designed them to handle MG ammo, but it may not be a good idea in other countries' x25 pistols?

I second the Harrington hardened pins. I also threw on a stretch-on grip.

giggitygiggity said:

GBEexpat, are the TT-33 pistols better than the Romanian TTCs and Yugo M57s? Don't get me wrong, I think the for the $180 that I spent on the Romy and Yugo that they are excellent shooters and collectible, but the triggers are stout and their accuracy is average. I also have a Polish TTC that I have yet to shoot as well. I know the Soviet and Chinese Tokarev variants are more rare so I am curious as to their accuracy, etc. I do like the all steel feel of the Combloc pistols be it the Tokarev or Makarov variants. Just unapologetically beefy and tough.

Click to expand...

All of my TTs are what I consider to be reasonably accurate (my presbyopia has advanced to a point where that is the best that I can gauge such things ) and the trigger-action on them is better than most since I detail-strip the trigger packs for close-inspection and repair/improvement.

I do recall that one of my 57s arrived with the_worst trigger-action that I have ever felt. In addition to the ubiquitous grit in the trigger pack and bearing surfaces that screamed for some TLC, it looked to me like rather than replace the heavily worn sear spring the "armourer" had just flipped it 'round. Perhaps he had no spares? I replaced the sear, removed the grit, polished the bearing surfaces and the 57 trigger-action is now acceptably smooth.

For fit-n-finish, my Poles are the best followed closely by my 57s.

My Romys look a bit rougher ... but the add-on trigger-block safeties actuate (both On & Off) a bit easier than those on the Poles, so I usually carry one of those when I carry a TT.

My two wartime Russians ('44 & '45) are probably the least accurate of my group. They show a lot more use, are a bit looser and both bores are a bit frosted.

My 1952 Russian looks as good as my Polish TTs. All of my Russians are from Izhevsk.

====================

Funny thing ...

I retrieved my "carry" Romy and one of my Cz-52s from the south gunsafe in order to weigh them (sans mag: 27.3oz & 30.8oz, resp.) ... and found myself looking closely at the Cz for the first time in over a decade ...

... and thinking that it doesn't look or feel anywhere near as heavy & blocky as I recall. I think that it may be time for me to give them another try, so ...

... thanks for the Thread, gg.

I seem to recall that CZ intentionally designed them to handle MG ammo, but it may not be a good idea in other countries' x25 pistols?

Click to expand...

Tok was an SMG round from the start, pistols (all of them) were later designed to shoot the ammo. CZ52 is weaker than its contemporaries due to metallurgical issues, but is still proven good enough for normal ammo.

barnbwt said:

Tok was an SMG round from the start, pistols (all of them) were later designed to shoot the ammo. ...

Click to expand...

First I have heard of that.

I was under the impression (from when I initially researched the TTs and their ammo) that the Russian 7.62x25 Tokarev round was adopted at about the same time as the TT-30 Tokarev pistol.

I have a Romanian TTC and it has been an excellent pistol.

Their is not (and never was) any such thing as 7.62X25 subgun ammo. Ask JohnnyC.

The Russians loaded their 7.62X25 to around 1400 FPS during WWII. A couple hundred more out of a PPSH41. The Germans loaded their 7.63 Mauser ammo to 1575 out of a C-96s 5 1/2" barrel. Same bullet weight.

I know I really liked mine with the 9x19 barrel in it.

Never got around to getting a correct 7.62x25 barrle for it when 2008 hit, and I had to let it go. Which naturally was when all the local LGS started carrying 7.62x25 ammo, too. Such is life.

I was under the impression (from when I initially researched the TTs and their ammo) that the Russian 7.62x25 Tokarev round was adopted at about the same time as the TT-30 Tokarev pistol.

Click to expand...

The Tok round was a consequence of the ubiquitous Mausers that found favor during the Revolution. I think the pistol was developed a few years before the first Tok SMG, but I suspect the two were mostly simultaneous (it's just that a good SMG high capacity ammo feeding system took longer to perfect, than a recoil action stolen from Browning and simple single-stack mags holding half a dozen rounds). The PPD40 came out in the mid-thirties, but I have no idea how long its inefficient Soviet development cycle lasted. Even still, the Mausers had been commonly used as a crude form of SMG with the stocked, detachable magazine versions made for select fire. Granted, these were terrible SMGs, but the concept of a Tokarev SMG was as obvious as a more practical service pistol in the caliber.

That, and the fact that Mauser/Tokarev had been among the most powerful non-rifle cartridges in service up to that point, so it was a natural fit for the 'in-between' gun being sought as an SMG.

TCB

The Russians loaded their 7.62X25 to around 1400 FPS during WWII. A couple hundred more out of a PPSH41. The Germans loaded their 7.63 Mauser ammo to 1575 out of a C-96s 5 1/2" barrel. Same bullet weight.

Click to expand...

I can attest the Mauser ammo is significantly hotter than Tokarev, and is downright painful out of a C96. It really was a stupidly-powerful round compared to the 32acp and other contemporaries. Imagine that back during the "wonder-nine" years of late last century, that large, unwieldy AR pistols in 223 became the popular defensive sidearm option, and you have an idea of the quantum leap that the gun market made before settling into the Luger & ultimately 1911 designs. I suspect the Soviets dialed back the juice a scosh simply so the PPSH had some semblance of controllability, along with the pistol (a Shpagin running ammo that hot would likely be pushing MAC-10 cyclic speeds, a notion too horrifying to even contemplate )