CZ-52 Pistol

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chrisslamar

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Ok, so I’ve decided I’m going to get a CZ-52 pistol. Does anyone out there have anything I should look for when I’m buying one? I’m probably going to buy one off gunbroker.com so I’m probably only going to be able to see pictures. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks a lot guys (and gals)

OK i posted this in the wrong section and dont know how to remove it from here. SORRY : (
 
No problem, I'll move it for you.

One bit of advice, once you get your hands on your CZ:

1. Make sure the weapon is unloaded.

2. Check again.

3. Cock the weapon.

4. Point it in a safe direction.

5. Place a pencil in the barrel, eraser end in first, and slide it all the way down to the firing pin hole.

6. Hit the decocker.

If the pencil moves like something hit it, pass on the gun (or factor the cost of a minor repair into the price). It means that your decocker will act as a second trigger by allowing the firing pin to jump forward and strike the primer of any chambered round.

CZ-52s are prone to this failure. It is easy to fix, but is dangerous if not corrected.

Mike
 
They're pretty much built like tanks. Fun gun to shoot. Don't dry fire and you should be fine!

Trigger pull is typically fair to worse. If only a smooth trigger job was possible and do-able by the average owner Anything to be be done to just smooth things up without changing any angles, ! And it may be there are ways to smooth the trigger pull and I certainly want to know about them.

I have two, just shot them yesterday. But I always shoot them first as every other trigger I've got feels like heaven compared to the CZ 52.

The round is quite zippy--and a HP could be effective if pushed hard enough--and not watered down.

I don't think you'll go wrong with one (or two) of them.

Steve
 
Trigger pull is typically fair to worse. If only a smooth trigger job was possible and do-able by the average owner Anything to be be done to just smooth things up without changing any angles, ! And it may be there are ways to smooth the trigger pull and I certainly want to know about them.
Guy I know filled his trigger mechanism with Gunslick and dry-fired the thing several hundred times. He then cleaned the entire gun (with the grips removed) with Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber and compressed air. After replacing the firing pin (which snapped at dry fire #35) and lubing everything with CLP, the trigger was as smooth as silk... a little heavy for a single-action, but no grittiness at all. :) YMMV, and IANALGS (I am not a licenced gunsmith), but it worked for him.
 
a CZ-52 is one of the most impressive pistols i own ( i have 3 now) i load hornady hollowpoints and for a 90 grain bullet i really dont wanna stand in front of it. also i have one that i have rechambered for 9mm largo, thats an impressive pistol
 
Keeping that in mind, the .454 and the .44 Magnum would show comparable loss in velocity (and therefore energy) with a shorter barrel

They've gone up a little this last year; $150-$190 seems to be the current range for decent specimens. I'm gonna order a couple more before they skyrocket like the Mak's did.
 
If buying a CZ52 look for ping or dimple marks

The CZ-52 pistol came out of the factory with quality grade marks. On the top of the slide there is a thin rib, on that rib you will see small dimples. The dimples are from the factory and grade the quality of the gun. 1 to 2 dimples is your excellent and very good grade, any more and your quality goes down. Guns with NO dimples are Usually bad guns with the dimples ground or polished off. if you dont see the marks, dont buy it!
 
YES, they DO break

I purchased my CZ 52 in 2002....replaced recoil spring and trigger bar/disconnector, then found that FRAME was cracked in 2008. I am now going to have to replace the gun. Its fun to shoot and quite accurate but is NO TANK. It is as fragile as any weapon I have EVER owned and would simply give up on it if I didn't have sooooo much invested in ammunition.
 
YES, they DO break

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I purchased my CZ 52 in 2002....replaced recoil spring and trigger bar/disconnector, then found that FRAME was cracked in 2008. I am now going to have to replace the gun. Its fun to shoot and quite accurate but is NO TANK. It is as fragile as any weapon I have EVER owned and would simply give up on it if I didn't have sooooo much invested in ammunition[end quote]

Mach2 replies:

The cracks occurred before the recoil spring was replaced. Pistols that use high powered ammo must never be shot with old recoil springs because the slide violently cpllides with the frame once the spring weakens from age or use..
 
well, mine is very good.

lets not assume that the poor quality of some damns the entirety.

Example - I have a jennings .380 that after 2k rounds is little more than dirty.

Jennings are kind of an extreme, but there are a LOT of good CZ52s out there. I have shot a few, and have one to call my own.
The worst to happen to it was to lose an extractor, and that was my fault for not re-peening the pin whole on the top of the slide. Took akk of 3 minutes to find the parts and stick it back together.

so please stop the CZ bashing.

doc9788, I'd love to buy some of that ammo.
 
For me, they are a neat example of fairly unique engineering, and shoot pretty easily, with minimal recoil. Yes the grip is a bit weird compared to other guns, yes the firing pin will break easily, probably the gun is weak in some areas of metallurgy...still wouldn't stop me from investing in one for the price-

Firing pins and rollers; in fact lots of parts have been available on gunbroker, I haven't looked lately to see what the supply is like
 
Hmm

Somebody did some hardness testing on numerous Cz52 barrels (Clark perhaps?) and the findings were not good. The observations about the crappiness of the metal in the 52s are not limited to isolated examples.

probably the gun is weak in some areas of metallurgy...still wouldn't stop me from investing in one for the price-
Yeah like the barrel. Kinda an important part is it not?
 
I have three. Each is getting up to 2k. I use mostly military surplus (Romanian and some Bulgarian) ammo. I clean the gun well at the end of the shooting session. I had to put a stronger recoil spring in mine and none of them has failed to deliver after the spring. I swear that the trigger-a bear- is getting easier and smoother.

They are accurate as soon as one can get used to them. One shoots low, but the other two are right on.

I'm happy for three I have less in them than one sig. They are fun to shoot and cheap. for a $150-179 gun that is a treat.
 
The firing pins won't break if you cut a ring or two off the hammer spring. The hammer is way overpowered and just smacks the F-pin needlessly hard.
 
The CZ-52 is a highly potential handgun but it's nothing great out of the box. My long-lasting line is that you should put at least as much money in to the gun as you spend on the gun it's self.
I have been up in the CZ-52 community for years and am well known in it.
I have found that most CZ-52 owners who are happy with their gun take the trouble to replace the firing pin and grips at the very least. I suggest heading over to czforum.com and visiting the C&R section. The people will give you plenty of good suggestions, resources for CZ-52 parts (you're going to need them) and we also have a walkthrough on giving the gun a trigger job and one that I did on adapting the gun to use a western magazine release if you don't like the European style.
The CZ-52 is a cheap gun, but thinking that it's not worth putting allot of money in to it because of it's initial price can be a mistake.
Oh, the gun can also be made quite pretty by just refinishing it and swapping the grips.
 
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