jAK-47
Member
Took my first CZ-52 to the range and was pleasantly surprised by all aspects of the gun, especially the light recoil. I don't know squat about this gun and was intrigued by the 7.62X25 round. A "search" on some boards didn't turn up too much on the ballistics but I found this James Hall site about Kinetic Pulse (A study in bullet impact) at http://www.xmission.com/~fractil/math/KPFAQ.html
Here's what he said. It's a bit long but worth scanning if you're into the CZ. Most or all of you have probably seen this but just in case. I'd like comments or other sources of info on this "tank" of a gun!
QUESTION: What of the CZ 52 7.62X25mm Tokarev should I convert it to
a 9X19mm or another 9mm?
ANSWER: NO. I have reloaded and do reload for the Ceska Zbrojovka 1952 model
pistol or for short the CZ 52 in 7.62X25mm caliber. I find the conversion a
bother for no other good reason. It would be better to get a 9mm in a pistol
originally chambered for the ubiquitous 9mm. Personally I favor the 1911
45 acp but became fascinated with the CZ 52 due to the rugged and heavy duty
machining for this pistol. I had to find out why the mysterious surplus
gun was abandoned by the creators. It is now coming to America with all
the charm of a new immigrant. So I decided to see what all the history is
about on this strangely attractive work of Cech workmanship.
First observation is that upon firing it with various surplus ammo is an
adventure in high intensity 30 caliber magnum type of booming blast. Its
bark is certainly greater that its bite or -- is it? Thus began the following
experiments:
I wanted to compare the ballistics with what I am familiar namely the 45 acp.
So I rigged up a traditional penetration test of pine boards. I sawed up an
eight foot board of 3/4" thickness and mounted on a 2X4 with duct tape and
went to the shooting area. First I fired the factory Sellier & Bellot 85 grain
(which I like for a factory round or the Winchester metric 7.62X25mm
and it does not launch the ejected cases into the eye of any unlucky
bystanders at great velocity. I have noted that the ejection of the cases in
a well loaded cartrige from an automatic pistol can guage the mechanical
functioning of the pistol.) All Sellier & Bellot 85 grain case eject and land
about 20 feet behind and can be found in the same area more or less which aids
in case recovery as theses cases are boxer primed and I have reloaded them with
good success.
Anyway back to the first of the penetration tests. The factory ammo 85 grain
test shot ruined the test as it penetrated all 8 boards and the 2X4 behind it
and hit the dirt embankment with obvious retained velocity. Big surprise.
This round does penetrate wood. But the test medium did not move. Next I
fired the venerable 45 ACP COLT. It hit the test setup and knocked it flat.
As I had only stacked rocks around the base to prop it up. Again I had fail
the test setup. I propped up again and fired the 147 gr 30 cal load at the
board setup and it knocked the test setup at an angle but did not get flattened
like the 45 230 did. This bullet did not knock the board setup down but did
tip it back somewhat. I fired 2 of each of these at the target test boards
for reference. I wanted to take the boards apart and see the results as the
45 did not penetrate and the 147 gr 30 cal did not go through either.
Results:
First board test is a test Failure as to depth of penetration because of
two reasons:
1. The S&B smoke through and did not stop at all except in dirt .
2. The long 147 grain 30 caliber tumble in the wood and did not give a
clean penetration as the bullet tumbled.
First board test is a test Success as to finding out the 147 gr 30 cal tumbles
in wood. Tumbling is good in pistol bullets after impact. This bullet flew
true in target test and only tumbled at the impact of any medium.
Results Data:
The 85 Sellot & Bellot gr penetrates all the wood 8" hits dirt behind.
The 45 230 gr penetrates 8 pine boards or 6" of wood and dents the
2X4 also has a big .45" diameter hole.
The 30 caliber 147 gr penetrates 6 boards or 4.5 inches and shreds
the wood to the 7th board as the bullet tumbled.
The Second test was to fire the bullets into wet sand. I know the bullets
would not go far in sand. That is wet sand. Wet sand was chosen to check the
crater upon impact as wet sand tends to stay in the form as the bullet passes
the medium. (Dry sand just falls back.) Anyway the bullet poc will stay long
enough to measure it before the wet sand falls back.
The 85 Sellot & Bellot gr penetrates 8.5 inches of wet sand and
the diameter of the channel of bullet path is about 2.5 inches for
the 8.5 inches the bullet traveled most of the bullet was intact with
minimal weight loss . Bullet was shiny on one side indicating it
traveled some distance sideways.
The 45 230 gr was not tested in sand as the interest was in the
penetration properties of the 7.62X25mm Tokarev by now.
A 100 gr 30 bullet was tested that was made from a 32 cal XTP Horady
by resizing to .309 caliber with a die from Herters bought 20 years ago.
The 30 caliber 100 grain resized 32 cal penetrated 8.0 inches of sand
and the diameter of the channel of the bullet is about 2 inches. Oh
yes the hollow point bullet did mushroom as advertised, it did not
tumble. There was significant weight loss due to the mushrooming
against the sand.
The 30 caliber 147 grain cal penetrated 8.5 inches of sand and the
diameter of the channel of the bullet is about 1.3 inches. Not any
real weight loss as rifle bullets are tough . Bullet was shiny on one
side indicating it traveled the full distance on it's side.
The CZ 52 will not replace the 1911 as the best of the best but it has a
charm of its own. With proper loads it functions flawlessly. The pistol has
two triggers (some call this a decocker). I use the decocker to let down the
hammer the same way you let down the 1911 45 Colt hammer. Then this problem
goes away. The second problem is the magazine release button. There is
not one! But you can get the clip out with a latch near the lanyard.
Thirdly, the trigger is difficult to learn as it is very hard and does not
let off cleanly. I figure it is worth learning to uses this triger as it
would improve any shooting skills with other pistol with better triggers.
Forth, dry firing the pistol will break the standard firing pin.
Here's what he said. It's a bit long but worth scanning if you're into the CZ. Most or all of you have probably seen this but just in case. I'd like comments or other sources of info on this "tank" of a gun!
QUESTION: What of the CZ 52 7.62X25mm Tokarev should I convert it to
a 9X19mm or another 9mm?
ANSWER: NO. I have reloaded and do reload for the Ceska Zbrojovka 1952 model
pistol or for short the CZ 52 in 7.62X25mm caliber. I find the conversion a
bother for no other good reason. It would be better to get a 9mm in a pistol
originally chambered for the ubiquitous 9mm. Personally I favor the 1911
45 acp but became fascinated with the CZ 52 due to the rugged and heavy duty
machining for this pistol. I had to find out why the mysterious surplus
gun was abandoned by the creators. It is now coming to America with all
the charm of a new immigrant. So I decided to see what all the history is
about on this strangely attractive work of Cech workmanship.
First observation is that upon firing it with various surplus ammo is an
adventure in high intensity 30 caliber magnum type of booming blast. Its
bark is certainly greater that its bite or -- is it? Thus began the following
experiments:
I wanted to compare the ballistics with what I am familiar namely the 45 acp.
So I rigged up a traditional penetration test of pine boards. I sawed up an
eight foot board of 3/4" thickness and mounted on a 2X4 with duct tape and
went to the shooting area. First I fired the factory Sellier & Bellot 85 grain
(which I like for a factory round or the Winchester metric 7.62X25mm
and it does not launch the ejected cases into the eye of any unlucky
bystanders at great velocity. I have noted that the ejection of the cases in
a well loaded cartrige from an automatic pistol can guage the mechanical
functioning of the pistol.) All Sellier & Bellot 85 grain case eject and land
about 20 feet behind and can be found in the same area more or less which aids
in case recovery as theses cases are boxer primed and I have reloaded them with
good success.
Anyway back to the first of the penetration tests. The factory ammo 85 grain
test shot ruined the test as it penetrated all 8 boards and the 2X4 behind it
and hit the dirt embankment with obvious retained velocity. Big surprise.
This round does penetrate wood. But the test medium did not move. Next I
fired the venerable 45 ACP COLT. It hit the test setup and knocked it flat.
As I had only stacked rocks around the base to prop it up. Again I had fail
the test setup. I propped up again and fired the 147 gr 30 cal load at the
board setup and it knocked the test setup at an angle but did not get flattened
like the 45 230 did. This bullet did not knock the board setup down but did
tip it back somewhat. I fired 2 of each of these at the target test boards
for reference. I wanted to take the boards apart and see the results as the
45 did not penetrate and the 147 gr 30 cal did not go through either.
Results:
First board test is a test Failure as to depth of penetration because of
two reasons:
1. The S&B smoke through and did not stop at all except in dirt .
2. The long 147 grain 30 caliber tumble in the wood and did not give a
clean penetration as the bullet tumbled.
First board test is a test Success as to finding out the 147 gr 30 cal tumbles
in wood. Tumbling is good in pistol bullets after impact. This bullet flew
true in target test and only tumbled at the impact of any medium.
Results Data:
The 85 Sellot & Bellot gr penetrates all the wood 8" hits dirt behind.
The 45 230 gr penetrates 8 pine boards or 6" of wood and dents the
2X4 also has a big .45" diameter hole.
The 30 caliber 147 gr penetrates 6 boards or 4.5 inches and shreds
the wood to the 7th board as the bullet tumbled.
The Second test was to fire the bullets into wet sand. I know the bullets
would not go far in sand. That is wet sand. Wet sand was chosen to check the
crater upon impact as wet sand tends to stay in the form as the bullet passes
the medium. (Dry sand just falls back.) Anyway the bullet poc will stay long
enough to measure it before the wet sand falls back.
The 85 Sellot & Bellot gr penetrates 8.5 inches of wet sand and
the diameter of the channel of bullet path is about 2.5 inches for
the 8.5 inches the bullet traveled most of the bullet was intact with
minimal weight loss . Bullet was shiny on one side indicating it
traveled some distance sideways.
The 45 230 gr was not tested in sand as the interest was in the
penetration properties of the 7.62X25mm Tokarev by now.
A 100 gr 30 bullet was tested that was made from a 32 cal XTP Horady
by resizing to .309 caliber with a die from Herters bought 20 years ago.
The 30 caliber 100 grain resized 32 cal penetrated 8.0 inches of sand
and the diameter of the channel of the bullet is about 2 inches. Oh
yes the hollow point bullet did mushroom as advertised, it did not
tumble. There was significant weight loss due to the mushrooming
against the sand.
The 30 caliber 147 grain cal penetrated 8.5 inches of sand and the
diameter of the channel of the bullet is about 1.3 inches. Not any
real weight loss as rifle bullets are tough . Bullet was shiny on one
side indicating it traveled the full distance on it's side.
The CZ 52 will not replace the 1911 as the best of the best but it has a
charm of its own. With proper loads it functions flawlessly. The pistol has
two triggers (some call this a decocker). I use the decocker to let down the
hammer the same way you let down the 1911 45 Colt hammer. Then this problem
goes away. The second problem is the magazine release button. There is
not one! But you can get the clip out with a latch near the lanyard.
Thirdly, the trigger is difficult to learn as it is very hard and does not
let off cleanly. I figure it is worth learning to uses this triger as it
would improve any shooting skills with other pistol with better triggers.
Forth, dry firing the pistol will break the standard firing pin.
