[Ihatemacs]

Ran into a VZ-52 with 1500 rounds of 7.62x45 and some extra mags for sale. Interested in it but when I saw it I thought bubba worked his magic putting truck bed liner on the stock. There is a black coating on the stock of the rife, the metal looks excellent. It looks like it will flake off but I was not sure it was worth the work. I just read a post elsewhere asking someone if the stock of their VZ-52 was clear coated or black and this got me thinking. So, is there a chance that this is an original finish on this rifle?

 

[tsellati]

Ran into a VZ-52 with 1500 rounds of 7.62x45 and some extra mags for sale. Interested in it but when I saw it I thought bubba worked his magic putting truck bed liner on the stock. There is a black coating on the stock of the rife, the metal looks excellent. It looks like it will flake off but I was not sure it was worth the work. I just read a post elsewhere asking someone if the stock of their VZ-52 was clear coated or black and this got me thinking. So, is there a chance that this is an original finish on this rifle?

NO, this is not the original finish. Many of the vz.52 rifles that were imported into the country by a major importer suffered from cracked stocks of varying degrees of severity. Said importer decided to apply the black truck bed liner paint to cover up said cracks. Of course, some advertising wizard came up with the "brilliant" idea to sell these rifles as some cool "black-ops"-kind-of Czech military rifle.

Now, I may be embellishing the nefarious intent a bit, but this truck bed liner paint is likely covering cracks in the stock.

Tim

 

[Ihatemacs]

bummer. I liked the part about it coming with 1500 rounds and some extra mags. Oh well, will just have to keep looking.

 

[tsellati]

bummer. I liked the part about it coming with 1500 rounds and some extra mags. Oh well, will just have to keep looking.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the asking price for the package. It is not everyday that you come across so much 7.62x45 ammo. The stuff is not cheap and thus may be worth the whole package in which case you are getting the rifle for free or nearly so. As such, you may want to "play the hand" and you may luck out with a stock with only a very minor crack. IIRC some people have found the minor cracks to be tolerable from an aesthetic perspective and quite stable from a rifle functionality perspective.

Good luck.

Tim

 

[Cabinetman]

Most of the 'black ops" VZ52 rifles I've encountered have cleaned up fairly well. Any repairs would not be helped with the black crap, just covered. So, if you remove the black, you'll end up with a rifle with a lot of personality, a repaired stock...and lots of ammo.

Removing that truck bed liner that CAI stuck on there can be removed with two steps. First, get a good heat gun. Remove the action and just heat the material until it's soft and scrape it off as best you can without dinging the stock. I've used a dull scraper. Once the bulk of it is off, you can then apply a hardy stripper like KleanStrips Heavy Duty paint stripper. A few sprayed on applications will be required but should do the trick. Then, after cleaning the surface, you can shoot it with some new shellac (original finish on that rifle) and voila!, you've saved another rifle from demise. I'd recommend it.

You didn't say what the package cost was but for a black-spray job VZ52 having an "ok" or better bore, you're looking at probably 175-225 price range, depending on the barrel condition. The ammo, however, now sells for over $.30 a pop so you'd be looking at about $450 retail on that. Heck, pay the $450 for the ammo and have them throw in the rifle. That would be a great price. You could easily sell some of that ammo to defray the cost but, frankly, I'd just store it up and keep it for a while as it's increasing in price monthly.

Back a few years ago, I bought that ammo in bulk for about $.08 a round. Then, it dried up, came back for about four months, and dried up again. Since then it's disappeared from the market except from a few forward thinking collectors who sell small lots of it on the auction boards. There is no brass for this, either, and the only stuff I've come across is made from 220 Swift....and expensive and time consuming process.

So, retail, you're looking at about $650 for everything. Beat that price down and you've got an ok deal and will end up with an interesting rifle and plenty of ammo which will add value to it over the years should you decide to sell it.

Rome