vz. 52 rifle
vz. 52 and vz. 52/57 | |
---|---|
iron sights graduated from 100 to 900 m |
The vz. 52 rifle is a
Design details
The barrel is press-fit and pinned into the receiver. The manual safety switch is placed inside of the trigger guard and is manipulated by the shooter's index finger. The trigger mechanism closely resembles that used in the American M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle. The cocking handle is integrated into the bolt carrier and is located on the right side of the rifle.
The rifle is equipped with open-type
The vz. 52 feeds from a detachable box magazine with a 10-round cartridge capacity but could also be rapidly recharged from stripper clips with the bolt retracted. For this purpose, a stripper clip guide is milled into the front face of the bolt carrier, aligning with the magazine when the bolt is locked in the open position. This is the primary method of reloading the rifle as infantrymen were only issued 2 magazines per rifle. It ejects cartridge cases vigorously forward and to the left.
Conversion
After pressure from the
Decommissioning
All of the vz. 52 series were quickly replaced in Czechoslovak service by the vz. 58, but the earlier rifles found their way to Soviet allies during the Cold War, and have seen service in Grenada, Somalia, Cuba and Afghanistan and many of those were passed on to guerrillas.[8] At least 12,000 of Cuba's vz. 52s were emptied from that country's reserve stocks and donated to Angola as military aid during the Cuban intervention in Angola.[10]
The Czech Castle guard uses chrome-finished, deactivated vz. 52 rifles with darkened wood stocks as ceremonial weapons.
Users
- Angola: 12,000 delivered in 1975[10]
- Biafra: 820 delivered in 1967[11]
- Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda[12]
- Cuba[9][13][14] Used during the Escambray rebellion, Bay of Pigs invasion. Also used by Milicias de Tropas Territoriales. It proved to be unpopular in MTT service due to both the vz. 52 and 52/57 being in MTT use causing confusion with the magazines and ammunition. Some 52/57s were used during the US Invasion of Grenada.
- Czechoslovakia
- Egypt[9]
- Ethiopia[15]
- Indonesia: service with the KorMar.[2]
- Israel[16]
- Grenada (During the New Jewel Movement regime)[5]
- Guinea-Bissau: vz. 52/57.[17]
- Namibia Used by People's Liberation Army of Namibia[18]
- Nicaragua[9] Some later given as aid to the Salvadoran FMLN.
- Nigeria[17]
- Syria[19]
- Tanzania[20]
- Vietnam: very limited use[21]
- Yemen[17]
- Laos
- Zimbabwe: used by ZIPRA and ZANLA[22]
See also
References
- ISBN 9781846033230.
- ^ ISBN 1-84013-476-3.
- ^ "Their Blood Waters Our Freedom". Youtube.com. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ISBN 9780850458008.
- ^ ISBN 9780850455830.
- ^ "Captured Weapons".
- ^ "The Syrian Rebels Are Using WHAT? – VZ-52". 6 August 2016. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84013-910-5.
- ^ a b c d Walter, John: Rifles of the World (3rd ed.), page 229. Krause Publications, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 978-0415647106.
- ISBN 978-1472816092.
- ^ Small Arms Survey (2015). "Waning Cohesion: The Rise and Fall of the FDLR–FOCA" (PDF). Small Arms Survey 2015: weapons and the world (PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 201. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2015.
- ^ "CZECHOSLOVAK CONSIDERATION OF CUBAN ARMS REQUESTS" (Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) (in Czech). Wilson Center Digital Archive. January 1961. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
Among his [Fidel Castro] other requests, it is necessary to mention the previous request to be supplied with 50 million 7.92[x57mm] bullets and 400,000 magazines for vz.52 self-loading rifles.
- ^ MINFAR ( Ministry of Armed Forces) (1981). Manual basico del Miliciano de Tropas Territoriales (in Spanish). Habana: Editorial Orbe.
The tenth chapter, listing infantry weapons, refers to the Mauser vz. 24, Vz.52, AK-47 and AKM rifles in the inventory of the Territorial Troops Militia
- ^ Jardim, Frank (2022-08-01). "Royal Tiger Imports Ethiopian Arms". GUNS Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ^ "VZ 52 RIFLE". Small Arms Review. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023 – via Youtube.com.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7106-2869-5.
- ^ "Their Blood Waters Our Freedom". Namimbian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 January 2020. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2020 – via Youtube.com.
- ISBN 9781472813305.
- ^ "Google Sites".
- ISBN 9781846033711.
- ISBN 9780850457285.
Bibliography
- Čermák, Jiří (1999). 40 let konstruktérem zbraní 1946-1986 (Od samopalu ČZ 247 ke zbraňovému kompletu LADA). Brno: Ardent. ISBN 80-238-3397-9.
- Popelínský, Lubomír (1999). Československé automatické zbraně a jejich tvůrci. Praha: Naše vojsko. ISBN 80-206-0567-3.
- Šáda, Miroslav (2004). Československé ruční palné zbraně a kulomety. Praha: Naše vojsko. ISBN 80-206-0745-5.
- Walter, John (2006). Rifles of the World (3rd ed.). Iola, WI: Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-89689-241-5.