The VZ 52/57- treasure or trash?

S

SomebodyTookMyName

CGN Regular
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Here's a thought that crossed my mind while perusing my gun room- how do you feel about the VZ 52 and 52/57?

I have a near-mint 52/57 I purchased off an old timer a few years back, and I've shot it occasionally with great luck! It's got a typical Cold-War era feel to it, and it was definitely a bit behind its time even in '52 compared to its contemporaries, but yet I still like it. The annular gas piston is a rare design yet it functions well, the stamped op-rod is certainly rare still yet once again functions fine. Sure, mags and stripper clips are hard to find, but that wonky side-folding bayonet makes up for it in cool-factor right?? If not, sure the freakin' front-tilting bolt has got to seal the deal! Such a combination of weird design features wrapped into a handy little gun that doesn't do anything an SKS can't... :rolleyes:

Surely some of you fine opinionated folks would love to chime in :)
 
Had one for a while, It was fun. Puts the SKS to shame. ( Not hard ! lol )

Sent it down the road once I doubled my money on it.

Its a great collector piece !.

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Quite heavy

Much better build quality than SKS

Strange gas system means that I don't use corrosive ammo

Fun to shoot
 
The VZ 52/57 is AWESOME. You can’t seriously compare mass produced Russian or Chinese sks’s to this Czech work of art. I got one in 1991 at Lebaron’s for cheap. It was mint. Tiger striped. Oh it was ###y. Needing money I sold it years later but bought one again. Never selling this one unless I find my old one on the EE.
 
55recce said:
Strange gas system means that I don't use corrosive ammo
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Yeah, I'll second that! I've never gotten adventurous enough to try taking the gas system on mine apart, so I decided to play it safe and just shoot the non-corrosive stuff.

With that being said, the first two rounds I fired from it smacked an 8" gong at 300 yards, so it's safe to say not only is it more accurate than ay SKS I've shot, but also substantially better zeroed from factory!
 
SomebodyTookMyName said:
Yeah, I'll second that! I've never gotten adventurous enough to try taking the gas system on mine apart, so I decided to play it safe and just shoot the non-corrosive stuff.
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You have to clean the gas system often (even with non-corrosive ammo).

It's a sleeve wrapped around the barrel. lot's of Vz52/57s have external barrel corrosion because of that. (and use of standard combloc corrosive ammo too).

short stroke piston rifles like Vz58 or SKS can go without gas system maintenance for thousands of rounds (non-corrosive).
 
I think I was 18 or 19 when I bought one at Things Military in Calgary for around $230 including 3 magazines (SKSs at the time of purchase were around $150), many moons ago.
The batches that were brought in were basically brand new rifles that were sitting in cosmoline.
I put a case or two through it and sold it on like a dummy.
I remember lamenting that the mags were limited to 10 rounds, and thinking a 20 rounder would make them about the perfect bush gun. lol.

The pricing of them now, is like many better milsurps, outrageous due to high demand and no one wants to sell the ones they have.
The slightly more extra heft over SKSs (and probably the gas system too) make them a dream to shoot as I recall.
 
beltfed said:
I think I was 18 or 19 when I bought one at Things Military in Calgary for around $230 including 3 magazines (SKSs at the time of purchase were around $150), many moons ago.
The batches that were brought in were basically brand new rifles that were sitting in cosmoline.
I put a case or two through it and sold it on like a dummy.
I remember lamenting that the mags were limited to 10 rounds, and thinking a 20 rounder would make them about the perfect bush gun. lol.

The pricing of them now, is like many better milsurps, outrageous due to high demand and no one wants to sell the ones they have.
The slightly more extra heft over SKSs (and probably the gas system too) make them a dream to shoot as I recall.
Click to expand...

Yes, mine is definitely a softer shooting rifle than any SKS I've shot, and a damn sight more accurate too.

Anyone have an idea of what they're going for these days? I don't recall seeing any on CGN in the last year to be honest.
 
It's too heavy. Had one, sold it. Neat from a design point of view (say, à la Forgotten Weapons), but other than that, I didn't enjoy taking it to the range.
 
I've had both the 52 in 7.62x45 and the 52/57 in 7.62x39. If you want to shoot one the 52/57 version is the way to go for ammo availability and the chrome bore. However, I think the original 7.62x45 calibre that the rifle was designed for was a better cartridge and it's unfortunate that it was a short-lived dead end.

Mechanically I think it is a really interesting design and really well thought out in many respects, taking ideas from a few other different rifle systems (Garand trigger mech, Walther gas system, etc). Although the gas system is hard to keep clean and may not be ideal for a military rifle I think it improves accuracy in the way the operating forces are distributed. Both of mine grouped better than any SKS I've shot. The method for disassembly is really slick too. On the metal side of things, those Czechs really know how to build rifles. Unfortunately whoever thought up that stock configuration ruined the package. Blocky, front heavy and not handy at all.
Whenever I think back to that rifle, I imagine an alternative history timeline of what could have been. It would have been really interesting to see the breech block/carrier/cover and gas system of that rifle put into a more modern configuration with a tubular front end and pistol grip with larger, modern standard capacity magazines in the original calibre.
 
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