New Cz52 on the way

[czgusso]

My advice would be new wolf recoil and mag springs. Go out and shoot it for a while stock out of the box and enjoy. Your money will be better spent getting good quality ammo. The other item that you need is a nice set of grips. Big Big differance.

Well, I already bought most of the upgrades but I appreciate your opinion.  I do think I'll get the extended slide release too and I'm eyeing some grips from Marschal (I've had some nice ones for my Maks and CZ82 done by him).  The comp firing pin installation wasn't too bad, and the Wolff spring was effortless.  I'll attempt the rollers this week after I get a punch.   Thanks

[czgusso]

[/quote]
 Try cancelling the ammo order . I think that it is polish ammo and from the 1950s ... not good.  The extractor ... if you see that it is worn out ; if not, get only the extractor spring.  Also, replace  the slide stop release , along with the screw and nut on gunpartswarehouse.com  Some wood grips would fit nicely too. check the dealer warehouse.com  and be weary of "new , never used CZ-52s ...  in the worstr case, just replace those parts and the barrel and you would have a new gun.
[/quote]

The ammo came today.  The lone box I opened (after prying open the tin) looks good to the eye, like new ammo.  I guess the real test will be firing it.  I should know definitively about the ammo later in the week when I blast away for the first time.

[czgusso]

Here she is...looks pretty good for a clunky old gun. I was talking to the wife how she looks like a 50's "ray-gun".  You can't really see it well, but the holster looks like it was made yesterday -- it's soft and supple, but needs some stretching...

[lklawson]

Here she is...looks pretty good for a clunky old gun. I was talking to the wife how she looks like a 50's "ray-gun".

That's one of the things I like best about it.

I also like the "ray gun" look of the Astra 400.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[josey88]

Try cancelling the ammo order . I think that it is polish ammo and from the 1950s ... not good.  The extractor ... if you see that it is worn out ; if not, get only the extractor spring.  Also, replace  the slide stop release , along with the screw and nut on gunpartswarehouse.com  Some wood grips would fit nicely too. check the dealer warehouse.com  and be weary of "new , never used CZ-52s ...  in the worstr case, just replace those parts and the barrel and you would have a new gun.
[/quote]

The ammo came today.  The lone box I opened (after prying open the tin) looks good to the eye, like new ammo.  I guess the real test will be firing it.  I should know definitively about the ammo later in the week when I blast away for the first time.
[/quote]

The problem with the polish ammo from the 1950s is not that it will look bad , but that it is out of specs (oversize)  at the neck of the cartridge . When the rd is inserted at the chamber, it would not be seated fully(all the way in) and the slide would not close completely. The worst part is that the extractor would not be able to extract it , and the rd will be stuck inside the chamber. Dangerous thing  . Try a few rds manually at home . Here is how :  Remove the firing pin first and foremost , then insert the mag loaded with the 8 rds and rack the slide to load a rd and keep racking the slide to also extract  the rd . Do it with a couple of mags (16rds) or more if you are unsure . Keep in mind that out of every ammo box of 70 rds of that polish ammo , about 60% are out of specs; that means that all rds are not affected. If you encounter the ovesize rds, you can either trow away the whole batch of ammo or start racking the slide and trying until you separate all the bad ones and then keep the ones that are correct .

[czgusso]

Good info. I'll try this tomorrow.

[czgusso]

Well, I did as you said.  I only did about 24 rounds but all seem to function fine. I'm really paranoid now.  What's a reasonable number to test to ease my concerns?  I plan to fire it tomorrow. I guess I'll go very slowly with it.  Are all of these cases of ammo bad?  Are you certain that Sportsmanguide shipped the questionable Polish ammo to me?  I think the tin is in the garage, what will determine if it's Polish?  Thanks

After looking at the boxes, I'd say you're probably right about it being Polish.  The boxes say "7.62 mmnaboje pistoletowe" (then what looks like 70 sz something, it's a little blurry). On the back they're stamped 9744 and on the tape KT 140.  The headstamp says 54 (I'm assuming the year) and varying single digits in the 3'oclock position.

[josey88]

Well, in all cases, the surplus ammo is most of times a surprise , specially the ones as old as the 1950s  . Those have  very hard primers and has many misfires because of it.  In my experience , the ones that I had problems with were the polish from the 1950s and the romanian ammo from 1983 . Those gave me problems. Now, I have been shooting Prvi Partisan from the 1986 , and even from the 1960s , and so far , it is perfect. So, I decided that from now on I will only use Privi Partisan  surplus 7.62x25 .   Perhaps you got a good case of ammo , but be careful and go slow and check it well . 

[czgusso]

Will do!

[czgusso]

My advice would be new wolf recoil and mag springs. Go out and shoot it for a while stock out of the box and enjoy. Your money will be better spent getting good quality ammo. The other item that you need is a nice set of grips. Big Big differance.

I should have taken your advice.  I bought all of these upgrades because I'm an impulse buyer at times.  There wasn't a problem installing the upgrades even for a novice like myself except for the slide release.  It's not working right.  Sometimes it holds open on an empty mag, sometimes it doesn't. At least the old one always held open.  Can someone who purchased the e-z screw thingee (for installment of the release) enlighten me a bit?  It seems to only function when the nut is barely tightened.  Also...get ready for a dumb question...should the nylon portion of the nut be on the inside (not showing) or on the outside (showing)?  It seems to me that it should be inside but it only seems to want to thread with the nylon showing.  Hope that makes sense.    

 Update:  I have gotten it to function, but the nut is really loose.  I must be doing something wrong

[tenringking]

First, the plastic lock ring on the nut goes to the outside. The threads should go thru the nut and into the plastic to at least flush to end of nut. The nut should be tight on the threads while alowing the slide release leaver to move freely. Nothing should be loose.

[czgusso]

Well, I finally got a chance to shoot it today.  The surplus ammo fed and fired fine. The fluorescent orange paint helped quite a bit on the sights (as it did on the Mosin rifle I fired today as well).  The newly installed slide release functioned well until I realized that the nut and washer fell off the pivot pin. I had a fear this might happen as I didn't get the loctite yet.  I was shooting in ankle deep grass, so no chance on finding them.  Does anyone know the size of the nut and washer?  I did call the guy where I ordered it from ( left a message) to see if he might replace or at least tell me what to get locally.  I guess I could always use the pin from the original, but I'm afraid I'll screw that up.   All-in-all, I do like the way it shoots.  I'll probably order a pair of Marschal grips when my credit card cools down from excessive use.  I'm thinking the black stained checkered walnut with finger/thumb cuts (with CZ logo) might look nice on the '52.  

Updated:  Joe from BCA is going to send me the replacement parts. Also, the idiot that I am, I was assembling the peice wrong --Joe explained that the bushing needs to go against the release. I had it on the other side!!!  No wonder it wasn't tightening properly.

[czgusso]

Well, I finally straightened everything out. Joe from BCA sent me a new pivot pin kit free of charge and I installed it properly this time.  It tightens up no problem -- all is well.  I like the way this gun shoots. I guess I'll have to order some nice grips shortly.