The first curio/relic I bought was a Vz-52 "She" Rifle. Vz stands for vzor, which means "model." Some sources list this as a CZ-52 rifle, which is quasi-correct, being that it is a Western interpretation of the gun's maker/country of origin. It's one of those non-truths that have come to be accepted as a truth, like waiting to go swimming after eating. By the way, a curio/relic weapon is typically a 50+ year old design or a odd design, as deemed by the BATFE.
This rifle has been a dream and a bane since the day I got it. It's accurate as hell, but a pain in the ass to reassemble. It's a heavy gun for the cartridge it fires, about 9 pounds and recoil is very light. The trigger is smooth as silk.
Some background history:
After World War Two, Czechoslovakia was stuck with a hodgepodge of small arms dating from the late 1890's to the recent war. Some stuff was great, like their machine guns and submachine guns, but their rifles were mostly Mauser 98 copies they were licensed to make and their pistols ranged from anemic to horrid (cz38..bleh). Since the country had a fairly remarkable history of weapons craft (Brno and CZ) they decided to build their own guns. The guns was supposed to have been reliable as all get out, but not too original, in design.
The VZ52 Rifle was a piecemeal conglomeration of the good parts of a variety of weapons put together into a barely mediocre weapon. They used an almost direct copy of the Garand trigger mechanism, the gas piston operating system of the German Mk42, with an odd tipping bolt lock with two front lugs. The barrel was 4-groove, 20.5 inches long that was threaded at the end to attach a grenade launcher, flash hider, and other accessories.
The weapon also had an integral bayonet that flipped closed to the right of the weapon into an indented area. This does not affect the grip and hasn't seemed to help or hinder my accuracy, extended or not. The weapon has a really nice safety that is on the right side of the trigger guard and can be flicked on with a pull of the trigger finger or flipped off by a quick bump with the back of your trigger finger. The sights are adjustable for distance, up to 900 yards. A nice feature on these sights is that the range markers are printed on the top and bottom of the sight, so flipped up or down you can easily tell what it is set for. Under the butt plate is a hollowed out area for a cleaning kit.
[IMG]http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg281/ericnon/P7010044.jpg[/IMG]
Add to this, the rifle used a unique round, 7.62x45 mm, also known as the Czech M52. This cartridge is based on the Soviet M43, 7.62x39mm. The weapon also has a detachable 10 round magazine that is fed through the receiver of the weapon either singly or with 5 round stripper clips.
Here is a comparison between the 7.62x54R, 7.62x45, and the 7.62x39,
[IMG]http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg281/ericnon/P7010039.jpg[/IMG]
The extra length of the cartridge really didn't serve much purpose, as the cartridge listed as 2440 ft/second with an (approx) 125 grain steel core fmj bullet. This is only marginally faster then the Soviet M43 cartridge.The ammo comes in 15 round boxes, either on stripper clips or not. The ammo comes in two surplus varieties, green box or brown box. The green box does not come on stripper clips and the only markings on the box are "7.62-Mod. 52." The cases are green lacquered steel. Let's just say, magnets really like everything about this round. The brown box stuff comes on the five round stripper clips and is marked on one side in a lot of Czech writing and on the other side with an importer sticker that says "7.62x45 Cz52 Rifle Ammunition." This ammo is brass cased, but still has steel core bullets. All this ammo is corrosive.
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[IMG]http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg281/ericnon/P7010047.jpg[/IMG]
The guns are marked on the left side, starting just under the rear sight with the stamp, "she." Hence the nickname, "She Rifles." Below this the month and year of manufacture, and below that is the serial number.There are several matching serial number stamps under various parts, including the underside of the handguard, the barrel under the handguard, and the magazine.
In the mid-1950's the Czechs, as part of the Warsaw Pact, were forced by the Soviets to standardize to the M43 (7.62x39mm) round for their rifles. In 1957, all Vz52 rifles were modified to this Soviet round, becoming the Vz52/57. This caused a bunch of issues with the magazines. Accuracy took a nose dive and feed/extraction issues became prevalent. These converted rifles are marked as 52/57 to avoid ammo confusion. This unreliability caused the weapon to be replaced starting in 1958 by the far superior Vz58 assault rifle.
Many of these rifles were sold to African countries. They ended up in a ton of places, including Cuba (Bay of Pigs), Granada, and also some South American countries. About 15 years ago, a bunch of them were imported into the U.S. These were probably the best ones available, good to very good condition. They were still fairly beat up. About 5 years ago, another batch came in. These were in fair to almost good condition. Most of these had cracked stocks and the importers covered the stocks in a blackish resin similar to Rhino Bedlining.
There is VERY little surplus ammo available in the U.S. There are a few companies that make commercial batches of this ammo. Thunderbird Cartridge Company in the Phoenix metro area will match just about anything, as well as Buffalo Bullet Company.
My gun is fun to shoot, but a bitch to clean. The tipping bolt head fits into a groove on the slide. The slide has a full rail on one side and a partial rail on the other, with a small cutout where the slide meets the receiver rail. Getting the two together properly has caused me fits. There was a year straight this gun was in it's box in parts because I was too frustrated to keep trying. In addition, I had a bunch of "stuck" cases after i had shot off a dozen rounds. After a cleaning with me, my drill, a cleaning rod, and a 30 caliber chamber cleaner (I do not recommend the drill..like I said, frustration) this problem ceased to be an issue.
[IMG]http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg281/ericnon/P7010048.jpg[/IMG]
I do not have pictures of me me shooting the weapon to post here, as it was 112 degrees yesterday and the indoor range I inhabit won't allow me to shoot steel core ammo. I can attest the gun is far more accurate then any AK47 and marginally better then an SKS. This is good enough for most military needs.
The weapon, with ammo, is heavier then the SKS by more then half a pound (quarter of a kilo for you others). The stock and handguards are thick, quite a bit more so then an SKS and the weapon does feel a bit barrel heavy, probably due to long length of the stock (up to 4 inches from the end of the barrel) and the integral bayonet. It comes to the shoulder reasonably well, and as I mentioned before, recoil is minimal.
[IMG]http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg281/ericnon/P7010042.jpg[/IMG]
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Accurate follow up shots are easily done. The trigger guard is large enough to use with gloves on, which makes sense considering the winters in Czechoslovakia.
Anywho, this is one of the few "unique" designs to come out of a Warsaw Pact country at a time when most of the Soviet Bloc was copying Tokarev pistols, SKS's, and Ak's.
