"Refurbished" vz.52 Pistols

[Hurryin Hoosier]

Were some vz.52 pistols arsenal-refurbished more than once? Mine has "VOZ 86" on the right side of the frame just in front of the grip panel, and "VOZ 76" on the top of the slide near the muzzle. The serial numbers on the slide, frame and barrel all match. Any ideas?

[skucera]

Yes, many have been refurbished more than once.  Mine was.

Scott

[Hurryin Hoosier]

I'll be durned. That means that it's twice as good!   

[skucera]

Or it might mean that it was used hard, wore out, needed sprucing up, and then got used hard and wore out all over again.  I don't mind.  When I got my pistol in 1996 it was refurbished to excellent, functional condition.  The odd thing about mine is that it still had its gray phosphate finish instead of getting the black hot dip finish that so many VOZ CZ 52 pistols got.  It had holster wear too, but it had a shiny new barrel with gleaming chrome in its bore and a matching serial number stamped into it.

Scott

[Hurryin Hoosier]

I honestly don't think that mine had been fired since its 1986 "reincarnation". Pristine, inside and out.

Do you suppose that mine (just as an example) might have been refurbished the first time for further military use, and the second time in preparation for putting it on the commercial market?

[skucera]

My pistol has "VOZ 77 86 95" stamped on it, and that "95" was just a year before I bought my pistol.  I think the arsenal rebuilds occurred as needed, except perhaps for the last round before being auctioned off as surplus.  I don't know the actual history, so take this as speculation.  A fellow poster here, Miguel, reads Czech, so perhaps he has more insight into the actual history.

Scott

[TJvzor70]

I just checked mine, VOZ 84 is the only date other than the original manufacture date (54) on the frame.  Mine does not have a chrome-lined barrel, but the barrel looks new.  All numbers match. 

[rt66paul]

I have one of these, if it was "refurbished", it was because of some other reason than use. There are no wear marks at all. Maybe, the parkerization was not correct and they sent it back. The outfirt I bought it from has a few more - they are not cheap, but they are new.

[MP2 Guy]

There are markings on that panel that I cannot read but they do not appear to be the refurbish date markings or an importer's markings. The date on my example (S/N M11XXX) is 1953 and it has no import markings that I can discern.