[VZ52]

Czechoslovakia was formed after WW1. By 1947-48 Czechoslovakia wanting to get away from bolt-action rifles and upgrade to a semiautomatic rifle for its Army, the Czechs decided not to accept the Soviet SKS and were being a little rebellious by introducing their own design for their infantry. They had their own accomplished small arms manufactures who have turned out some unique designs since the 1920’s. New designs were tested. The CZ502 won out with the best results designed by Jan Kratochvil. In 1952 it was adopted as the VZ52 in 7.62x45 which is a mid-range cartridge influenced by the German 7.92x33 Kurz cartridge used in the Sturmgewehr 44. This falls right between the 2 popular soviet cartridges 7.62x39 and 7.62x54r. The VZ52 and along with the VZ52 LMG (Light Machine Gun) added at the squad level are the only 2 guns made to shoot the 7.62x45 cartridge. Under pressure by the Soviets, Czechoslovakia did conform and adopt the Soviet 7.62x39 cartridge in 1957 switching production of the VZ52 to the same design designated VZ52/57 in 7.62x39. The VZ52/57 did add chrome lining to the barrel and pinned the barrel to the receiver. Also they baked black enamel paint on the receiver cover and metal on the hand guard instead of the VZ52’s grey phosphate finish. Another minor footnote is that the VZ52/57 was issued with a nylon/leather tipped sling instead of the fabric canvas/leather tipped sling. The magazine on the VZ52/57 has a flat floor plate and can only feed the 7.62x39 but the VZ52 mags can feed the 7.62x39 (with some occasional miss-feeds due to the shorter cartridge) as well as the 7.62x45. Both magazines will fit in the 2 rifles. Numrich Gun Parts sells a chamber conversion that glues into the breech of the VZ52 to accept the 7.62x39 for those who may many to shoot the more readily available less expensive round. Great care should be given to over-clean the chamber before usually using Loctite to glue chamber conversion in. I have heard a lot of reports of the conversion ring coming out with a cartridge. Spent cartridges should be inspected to make sure they did not eject with the ring and rapid fire should be avoided to help prevent ring dislocation.
Production of the VZ52 (some guns are marked M52 after the early model 52 designation) was an estimate of around 700,000+ rifles of which production started at Povazske Strjarne (AYM) and is stated they had some production problems. The first year of production, they only produced 5,000 VZ52’s. I believe that AYM production was probably around 150,000+ rifles. Production was started up at Ceska Zbrojovka Uhersky Brod (SHE) (today’s CZ still making fine guns today) to make up the shortfall of AYM production. Povazske Strjarne did not mark their receivers AYM until Ceska Zbrojovka (SHE) started producing the same gun. I have AYM’s dating up to 1956.
Since the majority of rifles are marked (SHE) some people referred to them as She’s but in actuality the troops that used them affectionately called them “Mary”. Well, that’s a she, isn’t it!

 

[VZ52]

A forum post “Where did all the VZ52’s end up” from 2016 has a reply in it from Smokepole50

“No a good friend of mine who passed away a couple years ago had his FFL and he bought probably 100 VZ-52's from Century. Basically what Century had left over after they sold off all the complete rifles. They were mostly all complete barreled actions without stocks, hand guards or bayonets. Some had barrels that were in fair shape so several were turned into X39 rifles and placed in Plastic M14 stocks. Unfortunately, his shop and its contents have been turned into a sort of shrine buy his daughter and wife so the rifles along with others and all kinds of Mauser barrels and stocks are just setting there locked up and rusting. It is a shame, I am sure he would not have wanted that stuff to set there and collect dust. There are probably 40-50 complete VZ-52 barreled actions still left but the barrels on most are pitted on the inside from corrosive ammo.”

Somehow I have stumbled upon someone this last year that just bought the contents of the Gunsmiths shop from the Widow. I purchased 30 out of the 40 barreled receivers (the last 10 had sewer pipes for barrels) and got all of the VZ52 parts.

My luck did not stop there this year. I was also able to acquire a batch of 13 VZ52’s that were imported by SamCo in 2016 and also stumbled upon a supply of 23 handguards which I quickly snatched up.

 

[Jan CZ]

You have really nice and impressive collection now, congratulations!

 

[daveccarlson]

Warsaw PACT not "pack." The Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955. From 1945 to 1948 Czechoslovakia capitalized on its arms industry to produce a lot of interesting and innovative designs at factories that had churned out weapons for Nazi Germany during the German occupation in WWII. The initial intermediate-range cartridge developed while Czechoslovak forces used the 7.92x57mm and 7.92x33 kurzpatrone, was 7.5x45mm. Later, the 7.62x45mm was produced, and weapons to employ it were developed.

Czechoslovakia supplied weapons and aircraft to the nascent Israeli state's Haganah/proto-IDF.
By 1948 the Czechoslovakian communist party took over the nation in a coup d'etat, and the nation became part of the Soviet-aligned "Eastern Bloc."
Czech sub-machine guns in 9x19mm and carbines and LMGs in 7.62x45mm were out of step with Soviet norms of 7.62x25mm and 7.62x39mm and 7.62x54Rmm, so when the Warsaw Pact was formed, the Czechoslovak "Peoples Army" had to switch. The surplus arms in non-Soviet calibers were shipped as military aid in a gravy deal to the Cuban Revolutionary state's FAR and MNR.

Czechoslovaks are about the last people anyone should want to fight against, but it is an unfortunate fact that as an independent nation Czechoslovakia has never successfully defended its national sovereignty. The Germans hived off the Sudetenland, Poland made territorial claims against the state, and after being sold out by the Western Powers, Germany occupied the place and created a proxy state in Slovakia. In 1968, the fellow members of the Warsaw Pact aided the USSR in quashing the "Prague Spring" and removing Alexander Dubcek. The Soviets losses were negligible as opposed to, say, Hungary in 1956.

Czechoslovakian weapons fired shots in anger in the many "hot wars" within the Cold War: Cuba, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East. Numbers of VZ52s are coming in with the IO-importers cache from the Horn of Africa, since the VZ52 was apparently used in the Ethiopian Civil War, the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, the Ogaden War, and by the Peoples Republic of Yemen.

 

[Jan CZ]

Very well written Dave, thank you! Surprisingly deep look into our Czechoslovak history, I appreciate it!

Warsaw PACT not "pack." The Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955. From 1945 to 1948 Czechoslovakia capitalized on its arms industry to produce a lot of interesting and innovative designs at factories that had churned out weapons for Nazi Germany during the German occupation in WWII. The initial intermediate-range cartridge developed while Czechoslovak forces used the 7.92x57mm and 7.92x33 kurzpatrone, was 7.5x45mm. Later, the 7.62x45mm was produced, and weapons to employ it were developed.

Czechoslovakia supplied weapons and aircraft to the nascent Israeli state's Haganah/proto-IDF.
By 1948 the Czechoslovakian communist party took over the nation in a coup d'etat, and the nation became part of the Soviet-aligned "Eastern Bloc."
Czech sub-machine guns in 9x19mm and carbines and LMGs in 7.62x45mm were out of step with Soviet norms of 7.62x25mm and 7.62x39mm and 7.62x54Rmm, so when the Warsaw Pact was formed, the Czechoslovak "Peoples Army" had to switch. The surplus arms in non-Soviet calibers were shipped as military aid in a gravy deal to the Cuban Revolutionary state's FAR and MNR.

Czechoslovaks are about the last people anyone should want to fight against, but it is an unfortunate fact that as an independent nation Czechoslovakia has never successfully defended its national sovereignty. The Germans hived off the Sudetenland, Poland made territorial claims against the state, and after being sold out by the Western Powers, Germany occupied the place and created a proxy state in Slovakia. In 1968, the fellow members of the Warsaw Pact aided the USSR in quashing the "Prague Spring" and removing Alexander Dubcek. The Soviets losses were negligible as opposed to, say, Hungary in 1956.

Czechoslovakian weapons fired shots in anger in the many "hot wars" within the Cold War: Cuba, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East. Numbers of VZ52s are coming in with the IO-importers cache from the Horn of Africa, since the VZ52 was apparently used in the Ethiopian Civil War, the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, the Ogaden War, and by the Peoples Republic of Yemen.

 

[daveccarlson]

Here is a prototype version of the VZ52-- "Modelo 52" in a Czech Republic museum we'd all sure like to visit!
http://www.vhu.cz/exhibit/prototyp-samonabijeci-pusky-cz-521/

A source I have states that that impressive collection of VZ52s Mr. VZ52 posted for us to gaze at that are still in the original 7.62x45mm caliber would have fired a 130gr. bullet at 2,450fps/ 745 m/s.

I freely confess that in addition to Czech beer, I'm obsessed with the prototype ZB530 top-feed rifle, the CZ247 9mm SMG
http://www.vhu.cz/exhibit/cs-samopal-cz-247/

This here Bolivian version of the ZK393:
http://www.vhu.cz/exhibit/ceskoslovensky-vyvojovy-samopal-zk-383-p/

and much else besides! Excuse the thread drift.
There are very many past threads on the VZ52 self-loading rifles hereabouts, I seem to recall... Perhaps the search function might turn up a few of interest.

 

[Phosphorus32]

That's quite the collection you have VZ52. I'm fond of them too. I have one that likely came from Egypt with the serial number in Arabic over a rack number on the left butt stock. It looks like you have one with Arabic stock markings as well.

 

[Phosphorus32]

Another has trench art suggesting it was a Cuban donation to the Nicaraguan Sandanistas. The name I believe is for Father Gaspar, a martyr of the revolution in the Sandanista's point of view. The "2do", Spanish for second, also indicates its service in a Spanish speaking country. Of course, the Cubans gave/sold VZ52s to the Grenadans too. All this to say, that despite their relatively short service life with the Czechs, the VZ52 really got around to the socialist/communist aligned governments.

 

[daveccarlson]

Very, very interesting. 2o. or 2do. could be "Segundo" as you note. Thank you for the pictures and presentation. Past threads have had a number of Grenada-provenance VZ52s and VZ52/57s, I recall.

Gaspar Garcia Laviana is who I think you are referring to, when the FSLN was preparing to overthrow Somoza.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_García_Laviana
A high-level Cuban defector, Norberto Fuentes, has rather arrogantly asserted that the final offensive against Somoza in 1979 was directed from Havana (are Cubans the "Argentines of the Caribbean?" one wonders?), which may overstate the case. Then again, who knows? Certainly when an allied government formed, the Cuban state openly supplied weapons from its inventory. So the VZ52 went from CSSR to Cuba, from there to Grenada, and Nicaragua under the FSLN, and Angola under the MPLA/FAPLA, and very possibly the PR of Yemen... The current batches of Ethiopian imported VZ52s from the Horn of Africa may have come from Egypt/Syria "United Arab Republic," from Cuba, from the CSSR directly, or even possibly Israel to the Ethiopian Derg? There is the well worn photo from the late 1970s Ogaden War where Somali women are holding Egyptian Hakim 8x57mm rifles, Italian Carcanos, a Sturmgewehr in the foreground, U.S. M14s, Czechoslovak VZ52s, an Italian Beretta M1938 SMG and probably a few firearms that escape even the most eagle-eyed viewer. ... Things get pretty tangled and murky when it comes to arms transfers, no? These forums will likely have some of the IO imports for all of us to vicariously look at! Again, thanks for posting your interesting collections of these rifles. :cheers:

 

[Phosphorus32]

Very, very interesting. 2o. or 2do. could be "Segundo" as you note. Thank you for the pictures and presentation. Past threads have had a number of Grenada-provenance VZ52s and VZ52/57s, I recall.

Gaspar Garcia Laviana is who I think you are referring to, when the FSLN was preparing to overthrow Somoza.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_García_Laviana
A high-level Cuban defector, Norberto Fuentes, has rather arrogantly asserted that the final offensive against Somoza in 1979 was directed from Havana (are Cubans the "Argentines of the Caribbean?" one wonders?), which may overstate the case. Then again, who knows? Certainly when an allied government formed, the Cuban state openly supplied weapons from its inventory. So the VZ52 went from CSSR to Cuba, from there to Grenada, and Nicaragua under the FSLN, and Angola under the MPLA/FAPLA, and very possibly the PR of Yemen... The current batches of Ethiopian imported VZ52s from the Horn of Africa may have come from Egypt/Syria "United Arab Republic," from Cuba, from the CSSR directly, or even possibly Israel to the Ethiopian Derg? There is the well worn photo from the late 1970s Ogaden War where Somali women are holding Egyptian Hakim 8x57mm rifles, Italian Carcanos, a Sturmgewehr in the foreground, U.S. M14s, Czechoslovak VZ52s, an Italian Beretta M1938 SMG and probably a few firearms that escape even the most eagle-eyed viewer. ... Things get pretty tangled and murky when it comes to arms transfers, no? These forums will likely have some of the IO imports for all of us to vicariously look at! Again, thanks for posting your interesting collections of these rifles.

Dave, yes, that's right, I was referring to Gaspar Garcia Laviana.

Cuba seems to think of themselves (at least in the past when they were still supported economically by the USSR) as one of the power brokers and exporters of their brand of communism within the Non-Aligned Countries (Movement). They definitely supported/meddled in the countries you named.

I too am looking forward to seeing some of those Ethiopian imports.

 

[VZ52]

I have an early VZ52 that is a AYM before they stamped AYM on them before SHE started to produced them. Second picture I have some oddities. The upper dust cover has it's finger groove marks real close together unlike all the others I have. The cover connector has holes in it which I have seen before but would like some more info. on. I have some bayonets that have a silver finish to them. The leather strap I received with a bunch of other VZ52 straps and would like to id if it went to another gun or is a variant for the VZ52.

 

[168762]

I had 2 of these fine little rifles, made my brass from .220 Swift cases. In regards to the chamber inset and loctite, HEAT is what is used to LOOSEN Loctite, so yeah, after heating her up of course the rings gonna come out. I'll let other people fool around with that kind of monkey business.
VWMAN.

 

[KVL]

Very, very interesting. 2o. or 2do. could be "Segundo" as you note. Thank you for the pictures and presentation. Past threads have had a number of Grenada-provenance VZ52s and VZ52/57s, I recall.

Gaspar Garcia Laviana is who I think you are referring to, when the FSLN was preparing to overthrow Somoza.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspar_García_Laviana
A high-level Cuban defector, Norberto Fuentes, has rather arrogantly asserted that the final offensive against Somoza in 1979 was directed from Havana (are Cubans the "Argentines of the Caribbean?" one wonders?), which may overstate the case. Then again, who knows? Certainly when an allied government formed, the Cuban state openly supplied weapons from its inventory. So the VZ52 went from CSSR to Cuba, from there to Grenada, and Nicaragua under the FSLN, and Angola under the MPLA/FAPLA, and very possibly the PR of Yemen... The current batches of Ethiopian imported VZ52s from the Horn of Africa may have come from Egypt/Syria "United Arab Republic," from Cuba, from the CSSR directly, or even possibly Israel to the Ethiopian Derg? There is the well worn photo from the late 1970s Ogaden War where Somali women are holding Egyptian Hakim 8x57mm rifles, Italian Carcanos, a Sturmgewehr in the foreground, U.S. M14s, Czechoslovak VZ52s, an Italian Beretta M1938 SMG and probably a few firearms that escape even the most eagle-eyed viewer. ... Things get pretty tangled and murky when it comes to arms transfers, no? These forums will likely have some of the IO imports for all of us to vicariously look at! Again, thanks for posting your interesting collections of these rifles. :cheers:

Don't forget guerrillas in Central America and probably elsewhere. After all, 2nd edition of Edward C Ezell's Small Arms Today states that not only Cuba sent these rifles to Nicaragua, but they in turn sent them to anti-government forces in Honduras (and likely elsewhere).

 

[okrana]

Don't forget guerrillas in Central America and probably elsewhere. After all, 2nd edition of Edward C Ezell's Small Arms Today states that not only Cuba sent these rifles to Nicaragua, but they in turn sent them to anti-government forces in Honduras (and likely elsewhere).

Not too sure about anti-government forces in Honduras, maybe Guatemala?
Honduras has pretty well escaped the turmoils of wars in C.A.
Okrana

 

[daveccarlson]

Not too sure about anti-government forces in Honduras, maybe Guatemala?
Honduras has pretty well escaped the turmoils of wars in C.A.
Okrana

Except the ongoing "mara" stuff. Back then, who knows? The FSLN militia in Nicaragua had these from Cuba, this much is certain. From there, they might have gone to the Contras in Honduras, or been handed over to one of the five constituent groups in the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas.

The most recent "Firearms News" formerly the "Shotgun News" has an article on the Nigerian Civil War/ Biafra War. The CPCzS supported Biafra's secession bid, and supplied VZ52s and also the odd CZ SMG that could have the receiver turned such that the magazine could feed from the bottom, like most SMGs, or it could be configured such that the magazine fed from the left side like the Sten or Steyr-Solothurn or similar SMGs.

Apparently, many of the weapons supplied to actual non-state guerrilla actors like the Guatemalan URNG and Salvadoran FMLN were older Cuban FALs from the early 1960s, and Vietnam War-era M16A1s from U.S. allies in Southeast Asia after the North Vietnamese won the war. It is thought that such Vietnam via Cuba arms went to Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and also Chile. One of the oddest cases I've come across is that in Uruguay, the MLN-Tupamaros urban guerrillas apparently got a handful of MP-40 WWII-era German-made SMGs from the Cubans, but little else. Meanwhile, the communist party in Uruguay had been supplied with tons of these M16A1s and much else besides. This stuff is notoriously hard to research of course. In addition, it seems that in the late 1970s, old stocks of U.S. weapons supplied to Haile Sellassie's Ethiopia were transhipped from the Derg regime to Cuba as well.

It is certainly interesting to see who got Czechoslovak weapons directly from then Czechoslovakia versus who got them by way of Cuba, no?

 

[SteveK]

If these are Century guns then they came out of Nicaragua. I handled most of the purchases from there and was told that they got them from Cuba. Most were in horrible condition. Stock breakage was the main problem since the side walls are very thin and subject to splitting. We glued up many and used a black spray paint ( bed liner) to cover the fix since replacements were not available.

SteveK

 

[daveccarlson]

If these are Century guns then they came out of Nicaragua. I handled most of the purchases from there and was told that they got them from Cuba. Most were in horrible condition. Stock breakage was the main problem since the side walls are very thin and subject to splitting. We glued up many and used a black spray paint ( bed liner) to cover the fix since replacements were not available.

SteveK

Thanks! Very interesting. I didn't think for a minute that all of them had been buried. Of course, the most current batch of these Czechoslovak rifles is coming out of Ethiopia. People probably remember the pictures of ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden during the Ethiopian-Somali Ogaden War in the late 1970s where Stg44, Beretta M38, Egyptian Hakim, M14, VZ52, and who-knows-what-else appear...

 

[KVL]

Except the ongoing "mara" stuff. Back then, who knows? The FSLN militia in Nicaragua had these from Cuba, this much is certain. From there, they might have gone to the Contras in Honduras, or been handed over to one of the five constituent groups in the Salvadoran FMLN guerrillas.

The most recent "Firearms News" formerly the "Shotgun News" has an article on the Nigerian Civil War/ Biafra War. The CPCzS supported Biafra's secession bid, and supplied VZ52s and also the odd CZ SMG that could have the receiver turned such that the magazine could feed from the bottom, like most SMGs, or it could be configured such that the magazine fed from the left side like the Sten or Steyr-Solothurn or similar SMGs.

Apparently, many of the weapons supplied to actual non-state guerrilla actors like the Guatemalan URNG and Salvadoran FMLN were older Cuban FALs from the early 1960s, and Vietnam War-era M16A1s from U.S. allies in Southeast Asia after the North Vietnamese won the war. It is thought that such Vietnam via Cuba arms went to Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and also Chile. One of the oddest cases I've come across is that in Uruguay, the MLN-Tupamaros urban guerrillas apparently got a handful of MP-40 WWII-era German-made SMGs from the Cubans, but little else. Meanwhile, the communist party in Uruguay had been supplied with tons of these M16A1s and much else besides. This stuff is notoriously hard to research of course. In addition, it seems that in the late 1970s, old stocks of U.S. weapons supplied to Haile Sellassie's Ethiopia were transhipped from the Derg regime to Cuba as well.

It is certainly interesting to see who got Czechoslovak weapons directly from then Czechoslovakia versus who got them by way of Cuba, no?

Where did Cuba get those MP-40 subguns from?

 

[KVL]

Not too sure about anti-government forces in Honduras, maybe Guatemala?
Honduras has pretty well escaped the turmoils of wars in C.A.
Okrana

There was a small scale insurgency in Honduras. Look up the PRTC-H-the Honduran branch of the Central American Workers Revolutionary Party and American guerrilla priest James Carney. There was also the Cinchoneros Popular Liberation Movement, the Revolutionary Popular Forces Lorenzo Zelaya or the Morazanist Patriotic Front.

 

[SteveK]

i have visited all the Central American countries except Panama and don't remember seeing VZ 52 carbines in any except Nicaragua. Granted I didn't see every warehouse in every country but I did see the main warehouses. The only country that doesn't sell arms in Central America is Costa Rica so I didn't see all their arms.

SteveK