CZ-52 Casters, In Here...

[Naga]

I plan on picking up a pair of the unissued CZ-52s from Czechpoint sometime soon. I had always heard that they are strong guns, but upon further research, I now see people saying that they are prone to kabooming. Is this the case? I was hoping to shoot commercial ammunition through it, as well as cast loads loaded to similar power levels as the military surplus ammunition.

While I'm at it, does anyone have any pet loads they want to share? I found a few here, but not much, and the Lee manual I have lists only a few AA loads that look rather hot (42000 CUP.)

Thanks.

[arjacobson]

i use lees 100gn bullet-hodgen h110(10.3) standard small pistol primer-sized to .309 and tumble lubed with 45/45/10. Works great in my tok m57. Very accurate.

[Freightman]

I use the LEE 93gr boolit as cast with LLA with WC820 that is like AA#9 with no problems. The man who was blowing them up was loading two and three times the max load and I do not think a person who pay attention to his loading will have a problem. I just use the AA#9 load that comes with the dies, start out with the minimum and work up if you want, I like the lighter loads throws the brass in the general vicinity of 30/40'hot loads throw them into orbit.

[Who's this Guy ?]

CZ52's usually have a tight chamber, so when reloading make sure the brass is resized properly. I would stay away from surplus ammo in this gun, it's too aggravating for me. There is too much variance in surplus ammo in both cartridge length etc. and sometimes power level varies do to inconsistant manufacture, most of it is also corrosive and have been stored for years under the "who the heck knows" conditions. If you insist on shooting surplus the spin test should be done in the barrel of the 52 while removed to see that it seats properly or you could have jams while shooting. Yes there was a guy testing 52's to see if they blow up and his results were they could if overloaded , he attributes it to chamber thickness and metallurgy in some of the barrels and said that in the 52 the metal will fail before the brass would. So this is one of the reasons I would not shoot surplus ammo do to the possibility of a bad loaded cartridge and with regards to ammo you make yourself I would not try to hotrod the cartridge in the 52 and stay within factory specs. I would only shoot new factory ammo like S&B or carefully spec. reloads in the 52 and you shouldn't have a problem.

[TheGrimReaper]

Got 2 CZ-52's. Yet to reload for them or cast. Will keep an eye on this for some hints.