Re: CZ 52
Hi Hannah,
The CZ 52 is a nice pistol (I think I have five at the moment)
But, alas, most of what one reads about it is a combination of advertising hype and wishful thinking. The CZ 52 is not an especially strong pistol, and is in fact rather delicate. Almost all of the CZ 52â??s have been overhauled at least once (and some had to be overhauled a number of times) due to excessive wear during peacetime service. A part of this overhaul was staking the pins in place to prevent the pistol from literally falling apart.
The â??hot Czech M48 7,62x25â? ammunition appears to be entirely mythical - there is no Czech M48 7,62x25 ammunition. This whole issue seems to be due to confusion over the cartridge for which the CZ 52 was originally intended and the cartridge it was actually produced to use. Initially the Czechs designed the prototype CZ 52 to fire the 9 mm Luger (9x19) cartridge, and they termed this cartridge the â??M48â?. The Soviet intervened and required the Czech service pistol to be chambered for the Soviet 7.62x25 Tokarev cartridge.
The large muzzle flash is due to the way Soviet Block 7,62x25 ammunition is loaded. This ammunition is primarily intended to be used in sub-machineguns and has a relatively large charge of slow burning propellant. The five inch barrel of the CZ 52 is too short for all this propellant to burn in the barrel, and the large muzzle flash is due to propellant burning in the air after it has been ejected from the muzzle.
The CZ 52 is a nice pistol, and a hoot to shoot - but folks make it out to be something it is not :-(
Best regards,
Kyrie
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