Opinions on my CZ 24 pistol

[new_pistol_guy]

It has been a while since I last posted and my priorities changed a little in life, so I am not quite the gun "nut" I used to be but I wanted to ask everyone's opinion on a gun I bought last year.  When I bought it the gun shop sells guy told me that they had fired it and it was in great shape.  When I looked at it, I thought they did one heck of a cleaning job because it looked like it had not been fired.  Anyway, long story short, I found out the the gun I have was sold as surplus from the CZ factory and apparently the barrel was not bored to the finished caliber size, which is a .380.  I like the gun and I do not see to many around where I live so I would hate to ruin it, but I can not fire it.  It would be nice to fire it but I am torn on having someone possible screw up boring it out.  What do you all think I should do?

[skucera]

Is the barrel stamped with the .380 caliber name (which may be "9mm Kurz" in German, but I have no idea what it may be in Czech)?  Or is it stamped "7.65 mm" which would be .32 ACP?  I assume that you looked down the bore with a bore light before you bought it, and you saw rifling, or you wouldn't have bought it.  Perhaps it is simply in a smaller caliber than you thought when you bought it.

(A few years ago a list member commented that one of his relatives thought his CZ 52 was 9 mm, so he loaded the mag with 9 mm and fired a round.  It fired, but strangely.  It's only then that the hapless relative learned that the gun was chambered for 7.62 x 25 Tokarev.  Luckily, the guy who fired that 9 mm round didn't hurt himself, and amazingly he didn't damage the pistol either, even though 9 mm rounds chamber just fine in a 7.62 barrel.)

A CZ 24 in .32 is reputed to be a sweet shooter.  My wife really liked her .32, even though she's stepped up to 9 x 18 Makarov since.  I liked her .32 also.

Scott

[POTI]

If it is smoothbore its a .32 and a rare pistol

[Otto N Sure]

The CZ 24's and the CZ 27's look a lot a like.  Can you post a picture?  Especially of any markings on the slide.  Here's a pic of my CZ 24



I have no idea how it became chrome plated, but this is a CZ 24 made in 1927.

Otto

[badge38]

 Not too bad for an 87 year old ! 

[czechollector]

The slide on a 24 is rounded while the slide on a 27 is flat sided.

[new_pistol_guy]

My pistol does have rifling.  I had looked at the barrel when I bought it.  It almost looked new.  It is the original barrel, it has the same serial numbers as the other pistol parts.  I tried a .32 cartridge and it disappeared in the barrel, it was too small.  I tried a .380 cartridge and the breach does not close correctly, it seems two big.  I'm pretty sure this gun is a .380 because a .380 bullet fits, there is just no accomadations for casing which is why the breach does not close correctly.  There is no markings indicating the caliber.  Is there a European caliber in between a .32 and .380 that I missed trying?

Nice pistol Otto.  I do have pictures.  I will try to post.   
 

[new_pistol_guy]

Here is my CZ 24

[skucera]

I tried a .32 cartridge and it disappeared in the barrel, it was too small.  I tried a .380 cartridge and the breach does not close correctly, it seems two big.  I'm pretty sure this gun is a .380 because a .380 bullet fits, there is just no accommodation for casing which is why the breach does not close correctly.

It sounds like you might want to get your chamber measured by a gunsmith.  If the bullet fits into the rifling, but the .380 case is too long to fully chamber, then I don't know which cartridge your pistol is chambered for.  You can look at the case dimensions published on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.380_ACP and compare them to your cartridge.  Sometimes, rarely, commercial ammo is manufactured out of spec.  I had a box of .45 ACP with cartridge lengths about 1 mm too long once (I returned them to the store).  Since you tried seating the bullet, did you try seating an empty case?

Scott

[czechollector]

Are you sure you don't have a 9X19 cartridge??