Anyone tried a CZ-82, 9x18?

[TheTman]

Just wondering if anyone has one of these and what their impression of the gun is, I see a bunch for sale at $219, and considered picking one up at that price. They say it has the polyganal rifling in the barrel, so I imagine it shoots good, and CZ pistols seem to have a solid reputation (their 75 series in 9x19 particularly). I figured at that price I could get the pistol and quite a bit of ammo for it for under $300. I know that caliber is not the greatest, but figured it'd do ok for plinking and general knocking around. The folks that are selling the ones I'm interested in say this is the nicest batch they've seen so far: http://www.classicfirearms.co/

[ripley16]

I've had several of them as well as the newer CZ83. It's a fun gun but I never took to it in the 9mm mak form. These are all used guns and a portion are very used and worn out so you need to be careful and function test the trigger/ hammer operation.

The first I bought, from SOG, was a piece of crap and they replaced it with a slightly better POC. I later bought another from a gun shop that was in better shape. Having hands on if you buy is a good idea.

I got hammer bite from them in 9mm mak, but not in the .32acp model I had. The .32 caliber suffered from very dibilitating rimlock. CZ later fixed that problem with a mag redesign.

The polygonal barrels appear smoothbore and only have the slightest hint of rifling. The two I kept were pretty accurate. The sights are OK.

The gun has good ergonomics. The trigger is quite good. It has no decock function. It can be used cocked and locked or as a DA, with the hammer down.

The sears wear out. The slide lock springs are subject to falling out and the ambidexterous mag release is a heavy wear point. The gun is pretty complicated, with a lot of parts and some are hard to re-install. There are good tutorals on the internet though.

It holds 12+1 round and ammo is usually plentiful. It's a good example of commie military design. Look for mags with a thick base plate.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i186/ripley16/Gone/CZ82Makarov002-1.jpg

[1radman]

+1 on what Ripley16 said...especially the ergonomics and trigger. DA mode is quite nice actually.
My son has a CZ83. Same gun but in 380. 12+1. He got it at a gun show for <$200 in good mechanical condition but poor cosmetics. It's a real easy shooter especially for ladies and youths. He's as accurate with it as our full size Glocks, Walthers, CZs and S&Ws. May be cause of the fixed barrel...No tilt or rotation of the barrel. Sounds like a good buy if you can pick out a good one.

[TheTman]

Thanks for the info Ripley and 1radman. I've never had a hammer bite with my small hands, so doubt if that would be a problem. While I was looking at the Classic Firearms site I noticed they also are selling Tokarevs for about the same price, some Polish and some Romanian in 7.62 x 25 which has much better ballistics than the 9x18, 1500 FPS vs 1000, Close to 500 FPE vs. 200-300. Not much of an ammo selection though, I only found one brand of HP so far, in Wolf brand, which I really dislike cause it doesn't go bang all the time. I'll have to look and see if I can find a die for my Lee single stage press. I might end up getting one of each just for the hell of it while they are inexpensive, they both come with an extra Mag, 12 rds for the CZ, and 8 for the Tokarev, and a holster. I sure like the looks of the CZ a lot better than the Tokarevs, the latter just looks weird to me.

[jlottmc]

I have a CZ52 and I keep it loaded with the wolf hollow points. Good gun that one. Those wolf gold are just fine too.