Czech VZ-52 Rifle

The Czech VZ-52 rifle is a semi-automatic carbine in caliber 7.62x45.  It was designed at a time when Czechoslovakia was under the thumb of the Soviet Union, but was trying hard to maintain her independence wherever possible.  While the Soviets adopted the Simonov (SKS) in caliber 7.62x39, the Czechs came up with this combination to meet the same design criteria.

Many of these rifles that were imported into the US were in very bad condition, particularly the stocks.  The importer "improved" many of these by applying a thick polymer-type coating all over the stock and handguard (the product used was very similar to spray-on truck bed liners).  Fortunately, this rifle was not so treated.  However, there are many small dings and discolorations in the stock and there is a horizontal crack in the wrist.  I was able to solidly repair the crack with Guerilla Glue and to apply some fresh Boiled Linseed Oil to the stock after cleaning.

Handguard Restoration

Many of these rifles (including mine) were also missing their handguard.  The handguard is a sheet steel and wood covering for the gas piston and operating rod.  While the rifle will function without one, there is some danger to the firers hand from these moving parts and from the heat of firing.  Replacement handguards are in short supply, but I was fortunate enough to receive two from a fellow Gunboards member.  They were in a state of partial restoration and were in VERY bad shape.  The metal was parkerized and rusty while the wood was rotted, split down the middle and covered in an epoxy/firberglass resin in an attempt to hold it together (see the "before" picture). 

I took one of them and scraped and filed off all of the excess epoxy, leaving just a filled line down the center in the split and a couple of globs on the backside to hold the wood to the metal.  Noticing that the sheet metal is actually quite thick, I filed off all of the parkerising down to the bare metal.  I then smoothed the metal further using different grits of emery paper and finally buffed the steel.  I was not able to remove all of the rust pitting, however, though I am sure I could have if I had been willing to spend another couple of hours on the project.  When the metal was as clean and smooth as I wished, I used Blue Wonder gun bluing to finish the metal and applied BLO to the wood.  Up close, the pitting and uneveness of the bluing is very apparent, but it looks pretty good from a couple of feet.  Again, I could likely improve upon the results by spending more time sanding and buffing.  I will apply several more coats of the BLO to bring the wood coloration up to the same level as the main stock.  Take a moment to look at the "before", "during" and "after" restoration photos.

Before

During

After

Installed on rifle