CZ 52

CZ 52

CZ 52 remained one of the most popular Western bloc sidearms for law enforcement and military alike for a very long time. These days occasionally you do find a few CZ-52 as surplus pistols in gun stores. The 7.62 x 25 Tokarev round does pack a punch and also contributes to an entertaining muzzle flash.

The CZ 52 utilizes a fairly uncommon short recoil operating system in which two vertical rollers are used to lock the barrel and slide together, via a cam block. This is similar to the system used in the German MG 42 machine gun, which itself hearkens back to a Polish patent of the 1930s. This arrangement results in an unusually strong lockup which, conventional wisdom holds, allowed the Czechs to load ammunition for it to higher pressure levels (and therefore, higher velocity and energy) than compatible ammunition manufactured in other Warsaw Pact countries. This oft recited "fact" is, however, debatable. The bottom of the CZ 52 chamber measures 0.058", whereas the supposedly weaker TT33 Tokarev pistol measures 0.125" at the bottom of the chamber.

TT pistol/TT33

TT pistol/TT33

This 7.62 X 25 Tokarev, Semi auto handgun, is very similar to John Browning's blowback operated FN Model 1903 automatic pistol, and internally it uses Browning's short recoil dropping-barrel system from the M1911. In other areas the TT-33 differs more from Browning's designs - It employs a much simpler hammer/sear assembly than the M1911, with an external hammer. This assembly is removable from the weapon as a modular unit and includes cartridge guides that provide reliable functioning. The Soviet engineers also added several other features such as locking lugs all around the barrel (not just on top), and made several alterations to make the mechanism easier to produce and maintain, notably a captive recoil spring secured to the guide rod which does not depend on the barrel bushing to hold it under tension. Production even machined the magazine feed lips into the receiver to prevent damage and misfeeds when a distorted magazine was loaded into the magazine well.