Bertfish
Throw bread on me
Nice small and concealed import mark
Yup, I just got mine and I've already emailed them about return or exchange. Trigger guard is dented and it is dragging. On top of that, it isn't what I would consider a 90% + select. I wouldn't have sent it back just because I judge it to be more like 80% and they say 90% plus, but the dented trigger guard causing the trigger to drag just isn't plain safe. I've bought many dozens of sight unseen surplus C&Rs over the years and this will be the first one to be returned. Guess it had to happen sometime.
Repairing the bent trigger guard is a pretty straightforward task (no pun intended) but I can see wanting an exchange.
Then again, sometimes a bird in the hand, and all that
After seeing the pic of all those pistols jumbled together in the box it's not really a surprise though.
Let me know what you hear from them. I'll probably call tomorrow.
Will do. I haven't heard back yet. I might be able to tweak the trigger guard enough it stops dragging. The magazine is awful. Hangs up something fierce. Not sure why without breaking out the micrometer and doing some measuring. The two mags I have for my other cz50 work great in it, but the mag from OWS that came with this cz50 hangs up in both of them. It looks like it was almost sanded it is so worn so you would think it would slide in and out nicely. I even took the grips off to make sure it wasn't that. Oh well....
OK...I received mine today and after disassembling, scrubbing down with a Mobil-1 soaked toothbrush and cleaning the bore like I just put 250 rounds through it, I am ready to describe what I received for my $285 for grade 1 select. The bore looks nice, the numbers are matching and the overall functionality seems acceptable- no cracked grips, no chipped floor-plate- but I would rate the blued finish as a 75% at best- not 90%. The P-64s I own that were rated as very good by other more well-known vendors have what I would consider a 90% finish and the one I received from OWS is not even close to that, having worn-through blueing and obvious lack of cleaned-off fingerprints on the slide, particularly on the serrated cocking portion. I will post pictures tomorrow after I get some sleep and although overall I am satisfied with my purchase of a shooter firearm, in all veracity, its finish is no better than the least attractive among my Romanian, Polish and Yugo Tokarevs and P-64s. Perhaps Radom has spoiled me on milsurp firearms as their blueing on my Polish Tokarev and P-64s is way better than CZ's. Then again, at least it is not as bad as those a$$-ugly CZ-82s with the chippy krylon paint jobs.
So I’m learning some things about this CZ50 that I got from OWS. Turns out the one I got is an upgraded 50. It has all of the CZ70 upgrades except for the CZ50 slide. This link has a nice description of the differences between the 50 and 70.
http://www.freeexistence.org/images/guns/index.html#Czechoslovakia
Thanks a bunch for the additional information. Mine is apparently an original CZ50 with none of the CZ70 upgrades and even the magazine is the original style with the downward curving floorplate. I feel better now about the slide showing some holster wear through the blueing as all the numbers do match and it looks like honest wear, not neglect or clumsy handling errors like dropping it on the sidewalk or something.
Let me know what you hear from them. I'll probably call tomorrow.
I didn't hear back from them via my email last Thurs evening so I called them today. They picked up right away. I explained that not only was the trigger dragging due to a bent trigger guard (bent in and sideways), it looked like someone tried to ream out the chamber (I found that when I did a field strip over the weekend trying to decide if I would just straighten out the guard and keep it). They promised to get me a shipping label tomorrow to return it and they would set one aside for me today to exchange it for. Seemed like very nice folks. Of course I approached it with a I know it is surplus and this stuff happens attitude. Will advise once I get my exchanged one.
For those wanting more info, James Brown (the author**, not the singer) wrote a book on Czech pistols that has about 25 pages on the vz.50/70.
Production info, detail pics of differences, etc etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Pistols-Czechoslovakia-James-Brown/dp/0764333542
(you can find it cheaper; it's got a lot of good stuff and is well worth it IMHO).
He was working on a book dedicated to the vz.50/70 but don't think it has been published yet.
** same guy that partnered with Harry Derby for the iconic "Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns..."