LORD - here we go again.
VZ58S' are NOT NEWLY MADE. They are made entirely out of SURPLUS parts on a Receiver that was never assembled into a rifle by CZ Hermex, but WAS banged around the factory in storage for 40 years before being converted to a semi-only receiver with the sear slots welded up and assembled with used military grade parts. They NEVER look new. the finish is ALWAYS scratched. The muzzles have honest wear and CANNOT be recrowned because they are CHROMED.
A cracked handguard, however, is NOT typical. I would return any rifle I got that way. Also, you will likely find rusted metal shavings in the receiver left over from the conversion. If you detail strip and clean the rifle, generally you will find the internals are in great shap. The rust is only the metal shavings which flash-rusted due to the hear of welding and grinding when it was converted to semi.
NOW,
The VZ858 is also made of surplus parts, but has a new manufacture non-cromed barrel. They are not cleaned up, but they ARE bead blasted and re-painted by CZ. The big problems here are that the barrel is NOT as durable as a military chromed barrel and the paint used is NOT as durable as the original military paint. Half the guns I see at the range (858's) show signs of bubbling paint on the barrel and paint flaked off the gun where the bleed holes are on the gas block.
The 858's are prettier out of the box, but are sometimes known for feed problems where the bolt won't lock back or recock the gun (converted differently than the 58S' are). Also, the paint doesn;t stay pretty long on these.
Conclusion?
IMHO you're better off with a CZ Hermex made gun. I've had both and the only one I kept was my restricted VZ58S. The 858 worked and fed like crap and the paint kept bubbbling and flaking off. It was NOT military grade epozy paint like the originals have. My VZ58S has scratched and chipped used surplus parts, but runs like a champ and the finish doesn't get any worse because I don;t beat it up in the field like the Czech military did before they surplused the parts on my gun. Also the crome bore cleans up in about 30 seconds while the 858 was a B!TCH to clean.
I have not had an 858L yet, but I understand they are just VZ58S' with a (longer) light machine gun variant barrel fitted and adapted to work.
Too many guys ar buying these thinking they are new. this is the WRONG perception to have. They are MILITARY SURPLUS RIFLES. They are NOT new and you should not expect them to be. In fact, I prefer that they are surplus. It's the only commie surplus rifle in this class that we can still own!
