VZ52 Restoration Project

[dre271]

I pulled out an old 1955 VZ52 to start a restoration project (remove the bubba poly coat) today. The prior owner had restored the rifle before (reblue, even used a couple of wood screws). Very interesting design with a trigger mechanism that closely resembles the American M1 Garand.

Here are my starting pictures.

 

[Sev89]

I really need to add one to my safe one of these days.

 

[7's]

I really need to add one to my safe one of these days.

You can now! check the classifieds

 

[mawkie]

Nice job! I always cringe when I see that truck bed liner spray. How's the bore? The only ammo I've ever seen available for the VZ52 was corrosive.
Because of the ammo issue I wouldn't mind having a VZ52/57 in 7.62 x 39 but they were always expensive and I'm sure haven't gotten any cheaper over the years.

 

[Sev89]

You can now! check the classifieds

Out of my price range sadly, otherwise I would've snapped it up

 

[dre271]

Progress...

Here is the latest on my VZ52. I did some research and Century had imported these rifles several years ago. They were in such bad shape that Century decided to paint the stocks with a black/rubber type paint (picture below of another example from Century). They were attempting to cover up all the damage… The prior owner of this rifle was kind of enough to remove this black paint, repair a stock crack and apply copious amounts of poly (now removed). I recall paying $150 for the rifle and 600 rnds of corrosive ammo many years ago. Bore is not too bad, and the rifle shots pretty well. The #s on the stock do not match the rifle sadly. I can only imagine if Century decided to paint all of the beat-up Chinese Type56 SKSs they received recently and how that would have worked out!

While searching the intra-web, I came across a related article about a reporter in Syria, highlighting the historic firearms that the rebels are coming across. I am sure that everyone remembers the cache of WW2 German Assault rifles several months ago that the rebels posted on youtube. This reporter came across a VZ52 and decided to write the article below.

http://cjchivers.com/post/40603725219/syrian-rebel-gun-locker-the-vz-52-on-two

Anyhow, the stock is cleaned and I plan on applying 3-4 coats of BLO over the next couple of weeks.

Cheers