I got my VZ2008 from J&G on Thursday. After shipping and transfer I was in just under $550, a bit more than they were going for a year or so ago ,but at the same price as a Romy WASR; so call it inflation. Got home and had a look; first impression was just what I had excepted from what I had read. I wasn't blown away in awe and I wasn't dissapointed, I was satisfied. The reciever is much better than I had been lead to belive, no tool marks or chatter, very smooth and clean. I've been a machinist for 15 years so signs of poor machining are much more noticable to me. I would say I got a "good" one made by someone who takes pride in thier job. The front sight was straight, bolt worked smoothly, trigger worked as it should, but I did add a shim to the pin to "tighten" it up as it had some side to side play on the pin, no biggie just me being picky. Moving on to the barrel, hit it with a bore light and a punch to the gut; from the gas port up had the lightest powder like flash rust. Horror at first , I thought it's going back. Then I settled down and ran some CLP and a few brush stokes and patches and presto the bore was clean and shiny, no frosting or pits, good to go. I will say the whole rifle was bone dry , not a drop of oil anywhere, so I can see rust forming while in storage. Seems like oiling a rifle before storage is a no brainer but okay. Checked headspace ,good to go. Worked the bolt and trigger a few dozen times and everthing reset and worked smoothly. Greased the rails and oiled it up and off the the range. Just started to rain when I got there, fired 10 shots at a target 25m away, sights were dead on elevation and windage, wow! that never happens. Fired 40 rds before the rain got to hard, ZERO malfunctions. Went back Friday (no rain) and me and my daughter fired 90 rds. again ZERO malfunctions, 100% reliabilty. Fired slowly aimed shots and rapid 10 rds bursts from the hip, no problems. Things I noticted, the muzzle flash seemed bigger or more noticable than with my AK's, recoil felt smoother and more fluid than with my AK's, the rifle balanced and pointed better than my AK's, I don't like the mag release , but maybe I'm just use to the AK. While fied stripping I noticed the bolt carrier doesn't have the "tab" welded on it, yet it runs fine so far, only time will tell if I need to weld one on. The 4-pack of mags I got were very stiff and hard to load so I took them apart and cleaned them and oil them , big difference. Overall I'm very happy I didn't get a lemon. I plan on Dura coating the metal and got a sling, muzzle nut and bayo on the way. Great rifle, well built and worth the money, glad I took the chance and got one, couldn't be happier.
*Please don't let this turn into a "should have got a Czechpoint" or CIA is a shoddy piece of crap. These comments kept me on the fence for a long time. For me if I didn't buy the VZ2008 I wouldn't have got a CP VZ58, it was just to much money. I'm sure the CP is much nicer finshed and chrome lined bore and all, but alot of people drive nicer cars than me too, and I'm okay with that.
*Please don't let this turn into a "should have got a Czechpoint" or CIA is a shoddy piece of crap. These comments kept me on the fence for a long time. For me if I didn't buy the VZ2008 I wouldn't have got a CP VZ58, it was just to much money. I'm sure the CP is much nicer finshed and chrome lined bore and all, but alot of people drive nicer cars than me too, and I'm okay with that.