School me on the VZ-58

I just bought the chrome lined one from bullseye sports and it was just over $1000 taxes in.

Shot it today for the first time, the thing is phenomenal. I played with it a bit about 2 weeks ago in the store, and had no idea I HAD to have one. I'm probably making a run to kelly's to grab some magazines, as he seems to be the only place with them right now. 5 rounds go real quick through this...

I'm assuming the buttstock is on a commercial tube? Anyone know for sure if they take regular magpul aftermarket? I did find it was a little bit hard getting my eye down low enough on the iron sights (which were bang on right out of the box however).


**edit. $1016 taxes in. Not sure if he gave me a deal or not, I'm a fairly steady customer lol.
 
The tube is commercial. I recommend a Magpul CTR; looks good and solid.

It takes a bit of getting used to... I want to rest my cheek bone on the stock, but you have to rest it "beside" the stock and tilt your head a bit more. I'm an adaptable shooter so it doesn't bother at all.
 
BeaverMeat said:
The tube is commercial. I recommend a Magpul CTR; looks good and solid.

It takes a bit of getting used to... I want to rest my cheek bone on the stock, but you have to rest it "beside" the stock and tilt your head a bit more. I'm an adaptable shooter so it doesn't bother at all.
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Yeah that's sort of what I was doing, kind of wondering if a different buttstock would make it better or worse. I love the safety, if it's digging into your hand, it's "on safe". Doesn't fling casings quite as randomly as my sks either, so that was a nice bonus.
 
BeaverMeat said:
The tube is commercial. I recommend a Magpul CTR; looks good and solid.

It takes a bit of getting used to... I want to rest my cheek bone on the stock, but you have to rest it "beside" the stock and tilt your head a bit more. I'm an adaptable shooter so it doesn't bother at all.
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I don't think the tube is commercial. I was at P&D and I tried a commercial magpul CTR on the one they had behind the counter and it was too small. I assume the mil spec tube is the larger one? So I would have to assume they are a mil spec tube. I didn't go get the mil spec CTR off the shelf and try it but being the commercial didn't even fit the tube It must be mil-spec. Is it possible that not every one has the same kind of tube on it? The one P&D had was absolutely not commercial. I'm taking mine in there with me to test fit both of the CTR's when I pick one up.

Either way be careful before blind ordering a stock.

I've experimented a LOT this week with cheek weld. And you're correct about that. The best position is to get the stock fairly low on your shoulder then rest your cheekbone very lightly against the side, and pull it in super tight to your shoulder. If you get your cheek down right tight on top it will smack you in the face every time. I've seen people complain about getting smacked with basically every kind of stock there is so I doubt the original helps. But now that I know how to hold the gun it works beautifully with no cheek slap, and I find it easier to take up the sight picture as well.

I ordered one of these.
https://www.canadaammo.com/product/detail/multiheight-stock-adaptor-for-vz58-cz858/
Because they look kind of interesting. I like the idea of choose your own height. And the single point attach.

I was shooting at the range yesterday and ended up spending most of the time helping these two guys sight their new rifle in because their spotting scope was broken. Anyway the one guys son came up at the end of their shoot to meet them and I told them all to go ahead and try out the VZ. The fun the young guy had getting to try out a VZ was awesome. Watching someone fall in love with a gun at first sight is fun.
 
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Hmm, is there an easy way of figuring out which is which? I might see how it compares to the one on my AR which is for sure commercial.

The gun store guy said it was commercial, but he also hesitated, so likely he was assuming (because the rifle is designated for the consumer market) ?
 
I'm going to guess you can just measure with a calliper. The magpul stocks all include the dimensions either on the box or on a sheet inside if I remember right, in addition to being clearly marked mil spec or commercial. I'm 99% sure the one I tried at p&d was mil spec. I had a friend with me who has multiple ARs and is pretty knowledgeable about them. I didn't even know about there being two kinds of tubes until I learned that this weekend.

As usual youtube has the answer.

This video seemed helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UsGq9-2KQ

And it's confusing to me. Because it seems the mil spec tube is actually a smaller diameter, so my results don't make any sense of the commercial ctr not fitting on the tube. Maybe someone did a switcheroo and put a mil-spec in a commercial box. More investigation is needed. But between the video above and the actual diameter being available, 1.17 for commercial 1.14 for mil-spec, it should be easy enough to figure out.

I guess tubes are cheap though if you need to get a different one.
 
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I just swapped out the commercial buttstock on my AR-15 (it's a norinco, I'm -fairly- sure it's commercial spec), and the two were interchangeable, so I -think- this 58 has a commercial tube.

Was into bullseye sports today, he has at least 2 more of the 58's with the chrome lined barrel and the black hardware, he also just got in 5/30 magazines (~$33 each).
 
Somerset Bar said:
I just swapped out the commercial buttstock on my AR-15 (it's a norinco, I'm -fairly- sure it's commercial spec), and the two were interchangeable, so I -think- this 58 has a commercial tube.

Was into bullseye sports today, he has at least 2 more of the 58's with the chrome lined barrel and the black hardware, he also just got in 5/30 magazines (~$33 each).
Click to expand...

I looked at mine closely and it has all the earmarks of a commercial tube. The only thing I can guess is that the CTR I tried in the store on their rifle must have been a mil-spec mislabeled or box swapped with a commercial. The magpul stuff is in easy to open boxes so I'm sure lots of people play around with them on the shelf and take them out to look at them. I know I did.

If anything the commercial should slop around on the mil-spec tube If I understand right.

I'm kind of keen on trying one of those Ace ultralights on mine, but I can see no way to get one in Canada.
 
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am wondering... are the .223 versions chrome lined and also non chrome lined, just like the one in 7.62x39? Is there a difference? I am more of a 7.62 guy, but considering the high capacity of the compatible .223 mags, I would consider picking up a .223 as well.
 
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