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Salut,

2 weeks ago, I was organising a Dynamic/tactical WE pistol class for some fellow club shooters coming from the UK. Awesome time !! Small class, loadsa time to drill etc... Staying on for a little 10 days break in Prague, this WE I was feeling like some more relax "informal/me time" shooting, so off I went on my new mobile (lastest best R-108 Czechoslovakian technology ) to arrange a little get-together with couple of expats mates.



Sun shinning, semi deserted range, a perfekt opportunity to get all my Czech domiciliated little arsenal out of the safe and shoot every single one, instead of the usual nit-picking. To be fair, due to the short range, I would have normally left the SVD in the safe but my US friend absolutely wanted to have a go with it and tick it out of his list

So, here they are - I know for some AI owners here, it is not much, nothing really fancy or technoligically advanced, rare or expensive (except the SVD) but I am soooo happy with what I have put together




- Dragunov (7,62x54 / Russian)
- Vz 26 (7,62x25)
- Vz 52/57 (7,62x39)
- AK 74 (5.45x39 / Bulgarian)




- M92 (7,62x39 / Serbian)
- Vz 61 (32 ACP)
- Vz 82 (9x18 Mak)
- Makarov (9x18 Mak / Russian)
- Vz 52 (7,62x25)
- Vz 58 (7,62x39)
- Cz75 D Compact Police (9 para)
- Cz 75 P01 Omega (9 para)

Sadly, a full frame Cz75 Pre B is missing from the pics as I am still awaiting for the papers to take it out to the range.

Not only the shooting was highly enjoyable but, hopefully, it created a good opportunity. A local guy, amused that a foreigner appreciates his country's guns heritage, offered to sell me his Vz 50 (32 acp) used by the Czechoslovak police/interior ministry agencies at a decent price. Cross fingers the condition will be as good as he claims
If the deal goes ahead , I will still be on the look out for couple of more pieces :
A Cz 75 BD police,
a steel Cz 75 D Compact, which is gonna be hard, very hard to find, and
a Vz 54 that realistically I doubt I will ever be able to afford





Ok ... that is it ... In the mean time, next week-end back to my fascinating UK compliant 22lr LBP until the next impatiently awaited ryanair flight

Happy Days

Very nice Tovarisch

I've heard good things about the Vz 52/57, how does it compare to a SKS?, as they look quite similiar.Do they operate in the same way?.

Privet Tovarich,
Without going into details, both serve the same function, are chambered in the same caliber and are indeed very similar. (The original rifle was the Vz52 chambered in 7,62x45 which has now totally dried out) . Under "friendly" Soviet pressure the CSSR was advised to adopt Warsaw Pact calibers, and it was subsequently rechambered in 7,62x39 and thus renamed 52/57.
Some claim the Vz is more accurate but I have not felt a huge difference. The Vz52/57 is a tad more heavier, it feels very balanced and is very very comfortable to shoot making it a stable plateform for rapide fire.
The Vz was intended, like the SKS, to be reloaded with strippers clips fitting in a milled clip guide/rail. However, the main difference, is that the Vz has detachable mags, 2 were issued with each rifle. Those mags are quite rare but I managed to get 5 spare.
The only down-side it that it is a rather tricky rifle to clean. It is also, even in the CR, a rarer and more expensive rifle. For a primary shooter, I hate to say, I'd would probably go for a SKS

Oh that VZ61Skorpion! is it a fully auto version? I think I have done something in my pants.

pluginal wrote:Oh that VZ61Skorpion! is it a fully auto version? I think I have done something in my pants.

Same here, and with the AK-74

Sadly not, they are all Semi-Auto Pluginal
But, having shot their full-spec brothers, out of all of them, if I had to have one in Full-Auto, it would defo be the Vz 61 ! Something about being showered from a rain of hot brass

froggy wrote:Sadly not, they are all Semi-Auto Pluginal
But, having shot their full-spec brothers, out of all of them, if I had to have one in Full-Auto, it would defo be the Vz 61 ! Something about being showered from a rain of hot brass

Yeah, I can imagine. Closest I got to that was shooting a Luger and getting a hood full of brass.

All very nice froggy....health to enjoy them!