Well I saw a VZ52 at a gun show last week and I met the guy who wanted to sell it today and came home with it. I checked the gun over before buying but because we were outside and there was a storm coming in I rushed.

The rifle appeared to function fine and other than the story about this being a "war bring back, great shooter" etc etc bs there didn't seem to be too much that some TLC couldn't fix.

The one thing i stupidly didn't check was the bore...oh dear lord am I a dumbass! Anyway I get the thing home and it's good looking inside. It's old but everything functions correctly and none of the parts look overly worn is mistreated.

I take a peak inside the barrel and it looks dark so i run a bore snake through it and about a metric shit ton of rust and crap comes out of it.

Long story short the bore looks worse than some BFPU khyber enfields i've seen in my time, pitted, barely any rifling and just plain awful. I never planned to have this as a shooter being as it's a 7.62x45 but still I have to say i'm disappointed in myself for not checking.

the upper handguard also looks like the paint is pretty much blistering off but I could have lived with or fixed that.

Usually when I get an old rifle I delight in cleaning them up and leaving a nice patina but i'm afraid to say this one might be beyond my skills.

Anyway the reason i'm posting and the moral of the story is "don't assume....check"

Hell, I would clean it up and make it look fantastic and hang it on the wall. As many guns shows I have been to I have never seen one. Great find, sorry the barrel sucks.

I've given it a good scrubbing. I'll work on the upper handguard and get the wood looking better too. I actually have considered restocking it which I might do. I know i'm pouting for some reason i'm just really pissed at myself lol

At least it goes well with my VZ58, all I need now is a CZ Bren 805 and i'll have the complete set

I've given this some thought. I've got it cleaned up and I can get a new stock for $175 (while keeping the old one just in case i ever want to sell). However a gunsmith to do a rebarrel and finding a barrel blank has been problematic. If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be a huge help.

Try shooting it. It might be awful but it might not. I have a turk mauser with a horrendous bore but it actually shoots pretty decent. Also there is an old technique that I have only ever read about which involves lead lapping the bore. Some guys have used that technique to make badly pitted bores shootable. Hopefully someone here will  know more about it than I do.

 

 
I looked into doing it when a local shop had 4 of them for around $150 ea.  IIRC it wasn't advised.

Never buy parts or guns from ebay, amazon, and definitely not gun shows.

Never buy mystery things, or stuff without a proud name attached. Sorry, I just like someone's reputable name to it, so that I'm not the only one with skin in the game for something to work well.

OP, it's too bad you got f'ed. That sucks.

I didn't even know they made those in 54R chambering.

I shoot mine. I fireform my own brass but just found out brass is available

You could get the barrel sleeved or replaced even to x39

if you want to sell it let me know...

They sure are a cool rifle.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=158118

if you want to at least try to shoot it once

Well that's how I usually live which is why I was so annoyed at myself.

I'm not going to sell the rifle it's still cool and it's something I've wanted for a while and yeah it's a Czech proprietary cartridge which is cool so I don't really want to rechamber/barrel it either.

What I can't figure out is why the rest of the rifle appears to be in "ok" condition...really the bolt etc looks good but the bore is so nasty it's beyond belief. My only guess is that the rifle was fired some and then the bolt was cleaned but the bore never was. Does anyone know if 7.62x45 was corrosive?

I actually love fixing things so this is kind of a personal challenge. I could refinish and fix the stock but I don't want to ruin a "historical" piece so I think i'll pick up a replacement. I've got everything else looking decent now so it's just the bore and i'll be happy.

Yep that's whats confusing. Other than looking dirty, which is now gone, there is no sign of damage or corrosion there. At first I thought the stuff coming out of the barrel was old cosmoline because the rest of the metal looked in good shape but it's rust and other detritus. I'll try to take some pics this weekend.

like I said my only guess is the rifle was cleaned after firing other than the bore, which strikes me as odd.

There ya go!

I would give lapping a try - I was given an 03 Springfield by my FIL that he and his son had shot a bunch of Argentinian ammo through and not cleaned for almost a year and when they finally cleaned the rust/ detrius out the barrel, it wouldn't group 10 shots on a pie plate at 25 yards. I took it home, cleaned out the barrel with Bon-Ami cleaning power and a good tight bronze brush and then made a tight lapping plug and lapped the barrel with extra fine valve lapping compound. I stopped lapping when the lands were bright, but the grooves were still dark - turns out that rifle was back to shooting 5 shot 3" groups at 100 yds after that and a bit better with longer bearing surface 220 grain handloads. Have taken several deer with it since then.

Did the same thing to a friends 8mm Mauser that he'd picked up and was a total messed barrel and got it to shoot pretty much the same.

It''s worth a try if nothing else...........

Bird

IMHO.  Part it out and sell on Gunbroker and Ebay.  Depending on how much you paid you might make money

Nah I have no intention of selling it or parting it out. Based on what I see online I could easily make my money back parting it out but I'm determined to get this thing back to at least "good" in terms of quality.

Interesting rifles, I've owned a few over the yrs.

I kept a nice one that runs well, very low recoil since they are pretty heavy.  I have a good supply of ammo, bought yrs ago and still find it cheap box or two at a time here and there at gunshows and shops etc.

The parts that aren't common and in the highest demand are stocks and bbls. everyone is looking for stocks to replace the cracked up sanded too death & bedliner'd  Century Arms stocks.

Sarco / Liberty tree have parts and accessories.

Yeah I checked out sarco and numrich. The stock is the easy part for me. I'd like to get a new barrel but at this point I think I'd have to get one custom made and then send it to a good shop for fitting.

If you gave a barrel made I would get it in 7.62x39, ammo is a lot cheaper.  It would be neat to have one in 5.45x39.  I think the port pressure is similar.  Very unique.  Good luck on whatever you decide.

I read another caliber choice to convert to is 6.5 Grendel.  That would work with the longer magazine.

Can anyone recommend someone to do the work?

Here is one with a nice bore.  I would buy it and use whatever parts on both to make a functioning gun.  

Part out and sell the rest. IMHO the best way to go.

Gunbroker VZ52

I have one I bought years ago. It was a complete POS when I got it. Stock broken in two, stock cracked. Parts missing, etc. I paid about $28.95 for it. Fixed the stock, painted it with some stuff called "road guard" that was used to prevent rock damage to SUVs . Then I gave it (the stock) 3 coats of Automotive Enamel with a flattner  in it to make it a satin finish. The gun itself got coated with Brownells Baking lacquer. Then checked the headspace, then off to shoot with some crappy old ammo that I got somewhere. Pulled the trigger, click. I worked the action pulled the trigger again and click-boom. Good primer strikes, lousy ammo. I put it up until I found some good ammo. I have never tried to shoot it again. I keep it because it was a pile of junk that I managed to bring back to life. If memory serves me it had a halfway decent barrel on it. Just FYI.

Thanks,
Mark

Since you're handloading anyway, OP, perhaps convert it to 8x45mm?