I have some questions about the markings on a pair of CZ 52s.

The first one has these markings:
right side, as they appear in the photograph from left to right;  VOP 91 CZECH 7.62 TOK crossed swords 54 CAI ST ALB VT,
on the left side there is the serial number and the marking "rid".

Attached File


Attached File


The second one has these markings:
right side, as they appear in the photograph from left to right;  VOZ 82 91 CAI ST ALB VT CZECH 7.62 TOK,
on the left side there is only the serial number.

Attached File
 

From my research, it is my understanding the "rid" mark means military manufacture
and the crossed swords means military acceptance.  Commercial versions were
marked "Ceska Zbrojovka Strakonice or CZS".

So the first CZ is military lineage.

The second CZ isn't as clear to me.

If it is not military manufacture nor military accepted;
1)  it does not have the marks commonly associated with commercial manufacture,
2)  why does it have the arsenal rebuild stamps of "VOZ 82 91"?

VOZ/VOP are rebuild facilities with the two digit year code following. In your case one was refurbished in 1991, the other in 1982 and 1991.

Thank you for your reply.

From what I've read the "VOZ" is earlier rebuilds and the "VOP" are later rebuilds.

It's probably not clear in the pictures but the stamping of the "VOZ" and "82" are really impressed into the side plate.  I haven't pulled it yet to see if it is deformed on the inside due to this.

For further clarity, my question isn't what do the rebuild codes mean, the question is why is it not marked as a military arm yet have military rebuild codes?

What I'm confused about is the second CZ doesn't have;
1)  the "rid" marking indicating military manufacture
2)  the crossed swords marking indicating military acceptance
3)  any commercial markings
and yet it shows it had been arsenal rebuilt twice according to the year codes.

The little information I can find indicates all CZ 52s were either marked as military or commercial as mentioned in my OP.  The second CZ appears to be something different.  Was military marking not done for some reason?  Is it a commercial gun that somehow got arsenal rebuilt?

edit:  I would also mention that neither of these have the "Z" mark on the trigger guard indicating the inspection of the decocker.  I will need to look into this further.

That's a nice pair of CZs you got there! I have always loved those pistols for some reason. Maybe it reminds me of the "good old days" of military surplus from decades ago - I believe I paid $95 each for the first pair I bought. I also remember lugging tins of 7.62x25 ammo away from gun shows for somewhere around 7 cents per round. I still have plenty of surplus ammo and 3 CZ-52 pistols sitting in the safe. I'll have to check my markings and compare them to yours.

Well, it looks like you did your homework and probably found most of your information on this website:

https://www.ai4fr.com/main/page_militaria__collectibles_other_cz_52.html

Like you mentioned, your second pistol never received military acceptance. I am not aware of these pistols ever being released to the civilian/sporting market back when they were first made. They were a limited run for only a few years, and I don't think there was a huge private firearms ownership market back then. I would suspect that the pistol was used by a different government agency - police, security, border guard? There has to be some reason why it was never accepted for military use, but was still refurbished by the arsenal. That leads me to believe it stayed in the hands of the government throughout it's life although it wasn't used in the military.

Either way, you have a unique find with that second pistol! Some general advice for CZ-52 pistols - Get a spare firing pin or better yet, buy the upgraded Harrington Products firing pin. The original military firing pin was made with cast steel and will break after a dry firing or two. And, you can test your decocker by cocking the UNLOADED pistol, putting a pencil down the barrel (eraser end first) and pointing it towards the ceiling. After making CERTAIN the pistol is not loaded, click your safety up to decock the pistol and see if the pencil jumps up at all. If it does, your decocker is NOT working properly and should never be used on a loaded chamber. Either way, I never trust the decocker even though all my pistols pass the test.

Here’s mine with markings present. Had it for a long time now. Great design and crazy accurate. I agree with above post about extra firing pin. I think the original finish was a greenish park if I’m not mistaken

The original finish wasn't really a greenish park, just a normal light grey parkerization. I paid for "hand select" on one of mine I bought a long time ago. The thing was mint and looked like everything was original with minimal arsenal "refurbishing" work done to it. I'll try to take some pics and get them up in this thread if people are interested. At the very least, it would help OP compare arsenal marks to other CZ-52 pistols out there.

Dtechguy,

I hadn't found that link you provided, I'll read through that.  Most of my information was from Harrington Products and other limited sources.  That's a good way to test the decocker.  Like you, I don't plan on trusting the decocker either.  I had read somewhere that some of the early guns, 1952 production years, were not marked, but I had taken it to mean not marked with the year.  I can't find that source again though.  It could be as you say it was government just not military.  Yes, please do post pictures.

FastLoadGuy,

Nice looking gun.  Did it come with those grips or did you add them?  Both of mine are the bakelite ribbed looking versions.

Inherited two of these.  Haven't tried them yet.

Tried the pencil test for the decocker for the unmarked pistol.

Yeah, that didn't work so well.

Pencil nearly jumped out of the barrel and left a nice firing pin impression on the lead core.

I also edited the title of this topic so that it would be easier to find if anyone searches for information about CZ52 markings.