CZ 52

What this entry covers

The entry is short: "Czechoslovakian, CZ52, pistol, cal. 7.62mm."¹ It names the country, the model and a calibre. It states no maker, no dates and no serial range, so the years shown on this page are our estimate of the production period¹. The "7.62mm" of the entry is the 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge the pistol was built for^2,3.

Other Czechoslovak pistols have separate lines: the CZ27 on the preceding page⁵, and the CZ38, the CZ50 and "Czechoslovakian, VZ82/CZ82, all cal.s, all serial numbers." on the same page as this entry¹.

Identifying it

In his examination of several pistols, Roberto Allara describes the serial number and a factory code on the left side of military pistols. He reports that pistols for the civilian market were marked with the full Česká Zbrojovka Strakonice name or "ČZS" instead². On the right side, above the trigger guard, he describes the Czechoslovak crossed-swords acceptance stamp together with the year of manufacture. The barrel breech, seen through the ejection port, carries the serial and a T in a circle, a military test mark².

Allara describes the original military finish as grey Parkerizing and arsenal-refurbished pistols of the 1970s as blued black. He also reports grey-green phosphated pistols, whose origin collectors dispute². The roller-locking parts below the barrel breech can be seen when the pistol is field-stripped³.

Common confusions

• The vz. 52 rifle. The Czechoslovak self-loading rifle of 1952 shares the designation⁴. It is covered by a separate line: "Czechoslovakian, Model 1952 and 1952/57, cal.’s 7.62 x 45mm and 7.62 x 39mm, semiautomatic rifles."¹
• The vz. 82. The 9mm vz. 82 pistol that replaced the CZ 52 in 1982³ is a different entry¹.
• Calibre. Early trials asked for a 9×19mm pistol before the design was reworked for 7.62×25mm^2,3. The entry names only "7.62mm"¹.

History

The Czechoslovak army tested new pistols between 1947 and 1951^2,3. Allara credits the original design to Jan and Jaroslav Kratochvíl. Jiří Čermák of the Uherský Brod plant reworked it for the Soviet cartridge, and it lost its double action in the process². Modern Firearms attributes the basic design to Jan Kratochvíl³.

Adopted in 1952 under the factory designation 513, the pistol was made at Strakonice, roughly 200,000 of them between 1952 and 1954². The vz. 82 superseded it in 1982, and from 1987 the bulk of the withdrawn pistols went onto the surplus market³. Both sources connect the roller lock with the MG 42: Modern Firearms says it was taken from that machine gun³, and Allara traces the system to the Polish designer E. Stecke, whose work the Germans used for the MG 42².

Further reading

• Roberto Allara's article², in Italian, covers markings, finishes and the locking system in detail, with photographs of a 1953 pistol.
• Modern Firearms³ summarises the trials, service dates and field-stripping.
• American Rifleman's history of the vz. 52 rifle⁴ helps keep the rifle and the pistol apart.