7.62x45-anyone??

[arjacobson]

After selling my vz52 rifle in the early 90's I have finally run across another one that will be a cast bullet shooter. After I get all my case sizing issues sorted I will be looking for loads. Anyone ever hanload one of these? I am thinking about 7.62x39 loads for starters. Probably my all time favorite of 22gns of 4198 behind lees 155-2r.. any help will be MUCH appreciated

[uscra112]

Those would certainly be safe enough. Using some broad assumptions about boolit seating depth, the 7.62 x 45 case has about 15% - 18% more powder space than the 7.62 x 39.

Gotta be a labour of love, working up custom loads for one of those unattractive orphans....

(Full disclosure: I've got one too, and I keep it for the unique design features. Certainly not for it's looks! )

[arjacobson]

They are an ugly weapon..BUT very interesting and well made. My original one was bought as soon as they were made available. It was perfect..............but I sold it like an idiot. I have seen some over the years that looked like they got run over by a truck.. Looks like there are just two of us castbooliters who have a fondness for these ol czech beauties!

[fatelk]

I would try boolits in mine if I had dies, and brass, and a bore that wasn't a bit rough. Actually I would likely try cast even in a less-than-perfect bore. I know dies and brass can be had, but they're a bit too spendy for me.

They are an interesting design. They remind me of some kind of well-made combination of several other designs, including the M1. It seems odd to me that such a unique, quality rifle was really only used and abused by third-world armies.

[Gar]

I am using 24 grains of H335 behind a RCBS 7.62mm-130-SPL boolit. This load is avenging 1800 FPS and gives a group of < 2” at 100 yards. The brass is converted 220 Swift.
I’m shooting it out of a non-import VZ-52 I picked up in Grenada during a brief visit there in 1983.

Your mileage may vary :^)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The brass is converted 220 Swift.

I’m shooting it out of a non-import VZ-52 I picked up in Grenada during a brief visit there in 1983.

I was wondering where you'd get brass.

what was a VZ-52 doing in Grenada ? in '83 ?

Jon

[Gar]

Well, you can form them yourself, but it is labor intensive, or you can do what I did and buy them from Buffalo Arms. They run about a buck apiece if you buy 100 at a time.

As for VZ52’s in Grenada, as far as I can tell, the Cubans must have brought a bunch of VZ52’s from Czechoslovakia or maybe the Russians sent them a few after they took over Czechoslovakia. I found several being carried (or rather, dropped) by Cuba regulars.

[Dschuttig]

Out of curosity, have you tried reloading the mil surp cases? I've been trying to find some of the brass ones to see if I would need 7.62x39 berdan primers or the more powerful 7.62 nato? Just curious if anyone has tried it?

[Gar]

Out of curosity, have you tried reloading the mil surp cases? I've been trying to find some of the brass ones to see if I would need 7.62x39 berdan primers or the more powerful 7.62 nato? Just curious if anyone has tried it?

I haven't, again too labor intensive. I don't have any of the original mil surp cases left so I cannot mearsure the berdan primer size and none of my reference books list the primer size. I would "guess" the 7.62x45mm would use the same size berdan primers as the 7.62x39mm cartridge, but again, that's just a guess on my part.

[perotter]

As for VZ52’s in Grenada, as far as I can tell, the Cubans must have brought a bunch of VZ52’s from Czechoslovakia or maybe the Russians sent them a few after they took over Czechoslovakia. I found several being carried (or rather, dropped) by Cuba regulars.

In an old magazine that I had/have from the 1960s there was an article about the weapons of the Cuban military. The Czech sent them in the early to mid 60s much of the Czech equipment that was "obsolete". As the Czechs had adopted the 7.62x39 and 7.62x25, many of their 7.62x45s rifles and 9mm submachine guns were sent among other items. I assume that sugar was traded for them.

Of note in IMO, the same article showed Cubans with AKs. These AKs were stated to be AK-53's because they were the milled version & not the org AK-47 stamped version.

[arjacobson]

I am planning on using 6.5x54MS brass for the parent brass. Did you have to reform the extractor groove on the 220 swift? I was going to grind a tool for my lathe if any reworking of the groove needs finished. Buffalo arms does have them but I thought they were now $1.49 each?? I will have to check that out though.. Has anyone cut down a 303 british die for a sizer? I have read you machine off .911 from the bottom and they will FL size just fine.. Haven't tried it yet but that is next on the list....Going to be a cast shooter BTW!!

[arjacobson]

Also- I do have 175 rounds of the original ammo that came with the rifle. Same stuff I bought back in the early nineties it seems. Very corrosive but shoots great IF you clean the rifle up asap

[Gar]

I am planning on using 6.5x54MS brass for the parent brass. Did you have to reform the extractor groove on the 220 swift? I was going to grind a tool for my lathe if any reworking of the groove needs finished. Buffalo arms does have them but I thought they were now $1.49 each?? I will have to check that out though.. Has anyone cut down a 303 british die for a sizer? I have read you machine off .911 from the bottom and they will FL size just fine.. Haven't tried it yet but that is next on the list....Going to be a cast shooter BTW!!

The extractor groove needs to be re-cut as you need to turn the rim down to .441”. Then the shoulder needs to be setback, trimmed to length and fire formed.
Let us know how the 6.5x54 brass works out, reworking the 220 Swift takes too much time.
I haven't bought brass from Buffalo Arms in over two years so the price could very well have gone up.

[adrians]

i couldn't picture the vz52 so i googled it and ,,, i like it .
ugly no , unique yes.

[arjacobson]

I actually like them. Fairly heavy with excellent machining. This is my second one. I might start collecting these ol girls once i get the case forming thing down..

[18Z4X]

Here's a question about shooting cast boolits through a VZ-52, Hakim, or similar.

Years-years ago, before there was any info on shooting cast projectiles through a 7.62 x 39, I had some "sterile" US Government Boxer Brass, so I put some cast loads together for an AK. The loads functioned fine, but when I took the rifle down, I saw that I did something wrong. Because when I cleaned it, I was scraping lead off the end of the Gas Operating Rod.

Obviously, this was getting too hot (somewhere), or there was not a good seal, and the lead went through the Gas Port and precipitated on the end of the Rod.

This was an easy-enough fix on the cleaning bench, but what if that deposit was left inside of the gas tube of a VZ-52? And how would you know it, if you did?

[uscra112]

The VZ-52 doesn't have a gas tube. There is a piston that is concentric with the barrel. Piston pushes a sheetmetal (!) operating rod back against the breechblock carrier to unlock it, and residual pressure does the rest. A unique design, one that has some real merits. The cylinder that the piston slides in is adjustable, so you can set it to operate with whatever pressures your load is generating.

[18Z4X]

Thank you, uscra112 for refreshing my memory.

I haven't shot my VZ-52 for years, and I recall slathering military "corrosive bore cleaner" on it, because I was concerned about the primer residue. So obviously, I haven't taken it apart in quite a while.

I have some Boxer Brass coming from arjacobson, and hope to put it back into service, soon.

I remembered that it was "unconventional", and thought that it was the tube-type, like the Ljungman.