Wow, this is a huge thread! I guess that I should post some pics of mine!
The top is my friend's 858 and the bottom is my 58. My friend has gone for a more KISS/minimalist approach to his Vz but I have done some furniture swapping.
My IPSC 3-Gun stuff, ca. May '07. This is before I swapped furniture.
My brother shooting a 3-Gun rifle stage with my as-yet unaltered Vz58.
Another IPSC 3-Gun match last September. At this point, I had swapped out the handguards and pistol grip but not the buttstock.
Same IPSC match.
The above pics are from a Tactical Response carbine class that I took this summer. It was one of the most fun and educational weekends of my life! Amoung the lessons learned were some about my Vz.58: a) the magazine catch is too difficult to reach, b) a good cheekweld is uncomfortable with iron sights and an AR buttstock, and c) the front sight is too hard to see.
With the help of my friend Dean Fraser (
www.pistolsmith.ca) I have been further improving my Vz:
Dean Duracoated the barrel/receiver assembly to "WWII Green" and I spraypainted most of the other components OD green. The two greens don't exactly match up, but I'm planning on camoing it furhter when the weather improves so the two different greens are probably going to be an asset.
I probably could have relieved the trigger guard myself but since Dean was working on it anyway (Duracoat) I just got him to do it.
A couple more shots of the modded trigger guard.
I drilled the holes in the upper handguard for LCF. I doubt they'll make much difference in the cooling aspect.
The Picatinny rail was added to the lower handguard by Dean. I want to add a flashlight eventually and I think that a vertical foregrip will be the easiest way to control the light. The problem with the Vz is that if a VFG is too far back the mags can't be removed/inserted but if it's too far forward (like it is in this pic) then your hand will be positioned directly under the gas exhaust ports and will get burned when you fire. I believe that I might have a solution to this, but I won't say anything until I've tried it out.
My loadout for fending off wave attacks of mutant zombie bikers.
-Herk