Dave Markowitz
Member
I took this week off and my brother had the day off, so we met up at Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club to put some lead downrange. We had mixed luck.
Josh brought his SAR-1, Winchester 1300 Defender 20 gauge, and his girlfriend's Browning Buck Mark Camper. I brought my CZ-52, Ruger New Model Blackhawk, and my carry gun du jour, my Makarov.
We had to start shooting at 50 yards since there were some rifle shooters on the range. (The firing line moves, not targets.) Josh started out with his SAR-1, which worked fine throughout the day. Since I didn't want to stand there waiting, I figured I'd at least function test the CZ-52, since this was the first time I had it out. The 7.62x25 round it fires is pretty flat shooting anyway. The CZ worked well for me for about four magazines full (8 rounds apiece), however, when Josh took a turn it started failing to go into battery. I'm pretty sure that it was magazine-related, since after he cleared the gun and gave it to me, the magzine's floorplate popped off. I was able to get it back on but it came off again under recoil. The same thing happened with the other mag I got with the gun, too. I eventually wound up losing one of the mag floorplates when it went "sproing" off into the air. <Insert string of vile profanities here.>
I managed to run 48 rounds of 1955 vintage Bulgarian 7.62x25 through the CZ-52. All went off without a hitch. I also got about 30 rounds or so of 1954 Yugo 7.62 through it. The very last round required a second hit before it went off. I had not failures to eject.
My overall impression of the CZ remains positive and I think it'll be a nice shooter once I get the magazine situation sorted out. I may get a Hogue Hand-All for the grip, but it wasn't unpleasant to shoot by any means. I did not notice much in the way of trigger slap.
After shooting his AK some, Josh moved to his Winchester Defender, formerly his house gun, and mine at one time. He loaded the mag with four slugs, and the first three times he tried to shoot he got light primer strikes, resulting in failures to fire. NOT good in a defense gun. He also managed to cause a misfeed which he was able to clear without too much difficulty. Once he got all that out of the way the gun worked ok, but he mentioned that he may not hold onto it much longer.
By this time the rifle shooters packed it in and we were able to move up to 50 feet. Time to bring out the hogleg.
I had 30 rounds of Sellier & Bellot 158 grain .357 JSPs and a box of American Eagle 158 grain JSPs for the Blackhawk. Both of these loads have worked well in my EMF/Rossi .357 Mag 1892 Winchester repro. I started with the S&B.
All rounds fired ok but when I went to eject the empties, extraction was sticky and I couldn't fully eject one of the cases. I pulled the cylinder and popped the case out with a cleaning rod, then tried again. Same thing, same chamber. I then tried the Amercian Eagle ammo, in case for some reason the gun just didn't like Czech ammo. Same thing. At that point I decided I didn't want to play with the Ruger any more. .38s worked fine in it when I took it out a couple Saturdays ago, but the higher pressure .357s give the piece indigestion. So now I'm looking at polishing the chambers.
While I was dealing with sticky .357s, Josh was shooting the Browning. It ran fine although he had one or two malfs with the Winchester SV ammo he was using. .22s are picky about what ammo they like, so it may be that this gun needs something else.
Finally, the Makarov. Finally, a gun that works like it's supposed to. I ran 160 rounds of Barnaul ball through the Mak and it Just Worked. Every time I take that gun to the range I am amazed at just what a wonderful gun it is. I now have over 600 rounds through it and the only malfunction was ONE failure of the slide to lock back on an empty mag. It has never failed to feed, fire, or eject. It is the only autoloading pistol I've ever owned that I trust implicitly.
I'm planning to go shooting again tomorrow, but I plan to bring different guns. Except maybe the Makarov.
Josh brought his SAR-1, Winchester 1300 Defender 20 gauge, and his girlfriend's Browning Buck Mark Camper. I brought my CZ-52, Ruger New Model Blackhawk, and my carry gun du jour, my Makarov.
We had to start shooting at 50 yards since there were some rifle shooters on the range. (The firing line moves, not targets.) Josh started out with his SAR-1, which worked fine throughout the day. Since I didn't want to stand there waiting, I figured I'd at least function test the CZ-52, since this was the first time I had it out. The 7.62x25 round it fires is pretty flat shooting anyway. The CZ worked well for me for about four magazines full (8 rounds apiece), however, when Josh took a turn it started failing to go into battery. I'm pretty sure that it was magazine-related, since after he cleared the gun and gave it to me, the magzine's floorplate popped off. I was able to get it back on but it came off again under recoil. The same thing happened with the other mag I got with the gun, too. I eventually wound up losing one of the mag floorplates when it went "sproing" off into the air. <Insert string of vile profanities here.>
I managed to run 48 rounds of 1955 vintage Bulgarian 7.62x25 through the CZ-52. All went off without a hitch. I also got about 30 rounds or so of 1954 Yugo 7.62 through it. The very last round required a second hit before it went off. I had not failures to eject.
My overall impression of the CZ remains positive and I think it'll be a nice shooter once I get the magazine situation sorted out. I may get a Hogue Hand-All for the grip, but it wasn't unpleasant to shoot by any means. I did not notice much in the way of trigger slap.
After shooting his AK some, Josh moved to his Winchester Defender, formerly his house gun, and mine at one time. He loaded the mag with four slugs, and the first three times he tried to shoot he got light primer strikes, resulting in failures to fire. NOT good in a defense gun. He also managed to cause a misfeed which he was able to clear without too much difficulty. Once he got all that out of the way the gun worked ok, but he mentioned that he may not hold onto it much longer.
By this time the rifle shooters packed it in and we were able to move up to 50 feet. Time to bring out the hogleg.
I had 30 rounds of Sellier & Bellot 158 grain .357 JSPs and a box of American Eagle 158 grain JSPs for the Blackhawk. Both of these loads have worked well in my EMF/Rossi .357 Mag 1892 Winchester repro. I started with the S&B.
All rounds fired ok but when I went to eject the empties, extraction was sticky and I couldn't fully eject one of the cases. I pulled the cylinder and popped the case out with a cleaning rod, then tried again. Same thing, same chamber. I then tried the Amercian Eagle ammo, in case for some reason the gun just didn't like Czech ammo. Same thing. At that point I decided I didn't want to play with the Ruger any more. .38s worked fine in it when I took it out a couple Saturdays ago, but the higher pressure .357s give the piece indigestion. So now I'm looking at polishing the chambers.
While I was dealing with sticky .357s, Josh was shooting the Browning. It ran fine although he had one or two malfs with the Winchester SV ammo he was using. .22s are picky about what ammo they like, so it may be that this gun needs something else.
Finally, the Makarov. Finally, a gun that works like it's supposed to. I ran 160 rounds of Barnaul ball through the Mak and it Just Worked. Every time I take that gun to the range I am amazed at just what a wonderful gun it is. I now have over 600 rounds through it and the only malfunction was ONE failure of the slide to lock back on an empty mag. It has never failed to feed, fire, or eject. It is the only autoloading pistol I've ever owned that I trust implicitly.
I'm planning to go shooting again tomorrow, but I plan to bring different guns. Except maybe the Makarov.
