• Action: SAO
• Caliber: 7.62x25mm Tokarev (or 9x19mm with conversion barrel)
• Click here to see this cartridge next to more common ones (9mm, .45ACP, .22LR)
• Capacity: 8-round magazines
• Sights: Front blade and rear notch
• Price: Expect $175-200
• Accessories: The following are usually included with the pistol
• Pigskin military-style belt holster
• 2 8-round magazines
• Slotted barrel cleaning rod
• Manual: Click here to download a .pdf file of the manual

I finally got one of these things. I've wanted one for several years and come close to buying them for around $200 but always backed out. This weekend I was making my regular rounds to the local gun shops and spotted this guy for $150. I hadn't seen one that cheap outside of a mail order service so I bought it. This pistol is in better condition that the ones I've seen recently at local gun shows. The slide-to-frame fit is tight and the bore was not corroded like so many others.

I just happened to be heading to the local range for a shooting session when I stumbled upon this gun. After my purchase I continued on my merry way, happy to have something new to shoot. Before yesterday I had never fired a CZ 52 or even seen one fired. I read a lot about them over the years and the bottle-necked Tokarev cartridge was reported to put on quite a show when fired from this pistol. I was not disappointed. When I reviewed my Browning Buckmark with Tactical Solutions Barrel I gave it top marks in the bang-for-the-buck category. It's got competition now. As far as the "bang" goes there's no comparison. The fireworks coming out of the muzzle on the CZ are entertaining; lots of flash and noise. While feeding the Buckmark its .22LR diet is not hard on the wallet, the initial investment hurt some (about $500 with the aftermarket barrel). At a meager $150 initial investment the CZ offered a lot of fun for the money. The little lady didn't even scold me too badly when I brought it home. If you buy surplus ammo in bulk it's not too expensive to feed the CZ either.

I doubt anyone can be found who will claim this to be a beautiful firearm. When I brought the pistol home my wife thought it looked like a futuristic space gun. I can't say I disagree. It definitely has a unique profile to say the least. Tool marks are readily visible on both interior and exterior surfaces. These were never meant to be a show piece and obviously built for the battlefield. External controls are minimal consisting of a hammer, trigger, 3-position safety switch (parallel to slide for safe, rotate down for fire, rotate toward the slide to decock hammer), take-down latch at the front of the trigger guard. The finish on the pistol is utilitarian. I really don't know what coating was used but mine is a flat grey color. There is no corrosion on the gun so I guess it serves it's purpose. 

There is no exteranl slide release. The slide should lock back on an empty magazine and is held by the bar on the outer left side of the gun above the trigger. To let the slide forward the magazine must be removed and the slide pulled back slightly. This will allow the slide catch to return to it's original position. I find this to be a real pain as the magazine is difficult to remove. It's held in place by a claw at the bottom rear of the grip, a common European design. I've owned several guns that use this design but they are all easier to use than the CZ 52. The magazine on these pistols would spring out of the grip slightly after moving the claw. An empty magazine in the CZ will not do this. To remove it you must hold the claw back and use a fingernail on the front lip of the magazine to pull it clear of the grip. Alternatively, you can pull the slide back slightly to relief pressure on the slide stop then use a thumbnail on the top of the exposed bar above the trigger to pull the slide stop down. While holding the bar down allow the slide to move forward. Either method is cumbersome.

I would say the fit of the pistol is really good, especially considering it's price point. All the parts mate nicely with very little play between moving pieces. One exception here are the grip panels. These are two thermoset plastic plates that set on each side of the grip. There are no screws to hold the plates to the frame. Instead a sping steel clip simply wraps around the backstrap and pinches the plates to the frames. The panels are allowed to slide back and forth quite a bit. I am really suprised by this given the engineering and construction put into the rest of the pistol.

Handling the pistol is a little strange. No nonferrous alloys or polymers here (except the grip panels); just a big chunk of machined steel pieces. It feels every bit as big in the hand as it looks. Its long steel slide and barrel make it front-heavy. I didn't find the ergonomics to be fantastic. The grip doesn't seem to be angle toward the shooter as in many of the pistols I use. That and the pistol's front-heavy design place my front site low when I point the gun. I have to focus on raising the front of the gun slightly to get the front blade in the rear notch. Though it is small the safety is fairly easy to find and disengage with the right thumb. As I said before, magazine removal is a pain.

As I see it this pistol has two major shortfalls; the sights and the grip. Unfortunately they both affected accuracy for me. The sights are the most minimalistic I've ever seen on a handgun except pocket pistols with no sights or sites milled into a groove on the top of the slide (see the Colt Model N 1908 Vest Pocket). The front site is TINY. It measures about 1/16" wide. The front sights on my primary self defense guns (Sig P239 and Beretta 85) both measure twice that at 1/8". And the barrels of these pistols are shorter the the CZ's so the front sight is closer. Good luck acquiring the CZ front site quickly against anything but the brightest target. Once I did focus on it I really had to put some effort into keeping focused on it. My eyes only have 28 years on them and I imagine it would only get more difficult with age. I had enormous difficulty keeping a consistent sight picture from shot to shot, even with a bench rest.

The grip on the pistol is it's second fault. The front and back straps on the frame offer a lot of metal surface area but it's got no texture; just smooth and slightly rounded. The grips panels are really smooth with horizontal grooves. These grooves offer no additional purchase on the gun. As heavy as this gun is the round still produces a lot of recoil. A good grip with some texturing would have gone a long way to producing a more precise pistol. It moved around a lot in my hand while firing. I've read that the Hogue Hand-All slip-on grip fits this gun well. I use one on my Beretta 85 and will purchase one for the CZ as well.

Given the engineering put into this pistol I'm really suprised that the sites and grip were not better. These areas will make or break any handgun. I would really love to find someone to install better sites on my pistol, maybe Novaks. Hopefully the Hand-All will fix the grip issue. With the Hogue installed and some practice I am confident this will make a pretty accurate pistol.

The CZ 52 has fetures common on modern guns by such companies as Sig Sauer, Glock, Beretta and many others. The decocker function is common on DA/SA pistols but not on SAO guns that I know of. There is a firing pin block to physically immobilize the firing pin until the trigger is pulled. I don't believe this was a common feature when this pistol was adopted (1952) though I could be wrong. Most modern 1911 pistols have one but I don't think that began until the 1980's.

My final verdict is the CZ 52 will make a great addition to any collection. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better constructed pistol for such a small investment. It's a unique piece of firearm history. If you are at all interested in one just buy it and I doubt you will be disappointed.

You can find lots of information about the CZ 52 online. That's why I didn't really go into its history. You can start here.

If anyone knows where I can have basic, quality work (new sites, refinished) done on this pistol please let me know.

CZ 52 with usually included accessories

Slide locked back. That's a 7.62x25mm round on the pistol.

All the items included fit in the holster.

The safety selector is set to fire the weapon in this photo.

The front sight is a mere 1/16", about half that of most defensive handgun sites today.

The rear sight.

This is the best sight picture photo I could get. That tiny white dot is the front sight. It only showed up this well due to the camera flash. There is a lot of room for that front sight to move side to side within the rear notch when the pistol is held at arm length. Not great for accuracy.

Disassembly is similar to a Glock at first. I know the photo shows a magazine in the pistol but remove it first. Pull the slide back slightly with the right hand while pulling the take down lever downward with the left hand. While holding the take down lever downward release the slide and it should travel forward past it's normal point when the gun is assembled. Then lift the slide/barrel assembly from the frame.

Parts contained in the frame.

Inside the slide/barrel assembly.

This is where disassembly can get tricky. Engage the slot in the cam with a big, flat piece of metal. The floorplate of a magazine works well but this will mess up the magazine over time. A screwdriver should also work in lieu of the magazine but see the photos below for a better method. Hold the slide/barrel assembly in the left hand and the magazine/screwdriver in the right. You're going to hold the slide tightly and pull it to the left while using the mag/driver to pull the barrel to the right. The cam should travel to the right allowing the 2 rollers to disengage the slide. Once this happens to barrel should move freely of the slide. This is going to compress the recoil spring so be careful!

What I do is continue pulling until just a little bit of the breech end of the barrel is showing in the ejection port. Then I push on the barrel with my left ring or pinky finger through the port. The barrel should be far enough forward at this point to allow it to tilt out of the bottom of the slide. Lift the breech end of the barrel far enough to clear the breech face of the slide then slowly and carefully allow the recoil spring to decompress. If the mag/driver slips off the cam it will send the barrel flying. If possible grab the barrel with your right hand. This pistol shoots a powerful round and needs a strong spring to handle the recoil.

I got this tool on eBay for $9 including shipping and it was worth every penny. I can now disassemble/reassemble this pistol quickly and easily without cussing up a storm. It appears to be a barrel cleaning rod with the slotted end cut off to allow it to fit in the large hole in the cam. Once inserted into the cam it provides a large, secure handle with which to pull the barrel towards the front of the slide. You can make one yourself with any sturdy material that will fit nicely in that cam hole. I carry this in holster where the original barrel cleaning rod went. I always use Hoppe's Bore Snakes anyway. The firing pin can also be removed with this tool. Just hold the slide vertically with the rear toward the ground. Use the tool to push the firing pin block (see photo above of  inside the slide/barrel assembly) and shake the slide until the pin falls out. The tool looks bigger in this photo than it really is; camera perspective.

This photo shows the tool in a better perspective.

The field-stripped pistol.

This was shot at 30 feet with a Weaver-style stance. The first 2 shots were in the "X" ring and went downhill from there.

This was shot at 50 feet from a seated position while resting the pistol on a bench. As before the first 2 were in the "X" ring then started going all over. The seven holes circled were the last ones I fired. I was able to get a pretty precise group by that point. I only fired 40 rounds between the two targets as that's all I could get my hands on yesterday. I'm confindent that with some practice and a Hogue Hand-All grip I can do much better. I will try to get better sites installed as well.

This is how I understand the CZ 52 to work through examining it. It has a really unique mechanism for a handgun and I found it interesting. If I am incorrect on any of the following information please correct me.

As with all guns that shoot a high-powered round (anything larger than about a .380ACP) the breech must not open until the slug has exited the muzzle of the barrel for safety of the user. To accomplish this the CZ 52 uses a design unique to handguns though I understand it is used in some rifles. When the pistol is discharged the barrel and slide travel back as one unit for a short distance. The rollers hold the two parts together. The cam is held in place against the frame and in turn holds the rollers outward. See next photo.

Once the barrel and slide travel back far enough the cam no longer engages the rollers. The rollers are then allowed to move inward in their slots on the barrel. The barrel and slide are now disengaged. The barrel travels rearward about 1/4" until it detaches from the slide. It bumps against the frame in front of the feed ramp while the slide continues to travel back. Once the slide has reached the its rear-most point the recoil spring returns the slide forward re-engaging the whole system.

This shows the relative position of major parts with the slide forward, pistol ready to fire. Of cousre the recoil spring actually goes around the barrel and would be compressed by the slide. The barrel looks like it is tilting slightly upward but is parallel to the frame when the pistol is assembled. It just moved a little when I took the photo.

A zoom-in of the photo above. You can see the cam is fixed to the frame when the pistol is assembled and does not move as the slide/barrel recoils upon firing. The right contact point is a fixed piece of the frame. The left contact point is the take-down mechanism. When you pull the take-down levers downward the block lowers allowing the cam/barrel/slide assembly to move slightly forward then be lifted off the frame.

A view from the top so you can see the rollers stick out into the slide (if it were on the pistol) when the slide is forward, ready to fire.

Relative postion of major parts when the slide is fully rearward, ready to come forward and chamber a new round. Once again, the recoil spring would actually be around the barrel, compressed by the slide if the pistol were assembled.

A zoom-in of the photo above. The barrel and slide moved backward while the cam has stayed in place. The rollers are now recessed into their slots under the chamber of the barrel.

A view from the top with the slide to the rear. You can see the rollers are no longer sticking out to engage the slide (if it were on the pistol).

While the barrel on a CZ 52 is not fixed to the frame is does move less than barrels on other handguns firing powerful rounds (9mm, 40 S&W, 45ACP, etc) if those guns use a tilting barrel recoil system. The CZ 52 barrel moves about 1/4" straight back and forth. Tilting barrels move a similar distance back and forth but also move up and down. It seems to me that a gun would be more accurate using a system in which the barrel moves less. Therefore, I expected really great accuracy from the CZ 52. In practice it did not prove true. The fixed barrel could have been negated by the poor sites and ergonomics. Or this pistol may be well served by a new barrel. These guns are old and most are probably well used. I shoot my Sig Sauers, Glocks and similar tilting barrel pistols much better than this thing. My H&K P7 with a true fixed barrel is a tack driver though. I got a Hogue slip-on grip for the pistol and it feels a lot better. I have not shot it yet with this addition so I'll have to see if helps accuracy later.