The vz.50 pistol was a compact .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning) double action pocket pistol used by police forces. It was given a face lift and redesigned the vz.70, and there were plans at one point to further modernize it. The new design would have been the vz.80, but only a few prototypes were made – one of which we are looking at today from the CZ reference library. The would-be vz.80 has a barrel about 1cm shorter than the vz.50/70, and a revised mechanism for removing the slide. And other than a few cosmetic changes to parts like the safety, that’s it…
Prototype
RIA: Ethiopian ZH29 and Czech Experimental Z37
The ZH-29 was an influential early semiautomatic military rifle, although not one that saw any significant adoption. As best I can tell, only two countries purchased them in any quantity: China and Ethiopia. This ZH-29 […]
Semiauto Rifles
Czech vz. 52/57: The SKS We Have At Home
We don’t need the SKS, we have gun designers at home! In the early days of the Cold War, the Czechoslovak communist party was on very good terms with Josef Stalin, and were able to […]
Medium MGs
Japanese Type 97 Tank Machine Gun
While in Las Vegas last week, I stopped into Battlefield Vegas to check out some interesting machine guns (and join Tim from Military Arms Channel for a video). While there, the owner took the time […]
The vertically moving disassembly lock is to a degree like that of the vz 52 pistol. Although, because the vz 52 is recoil operated, slide and barrel come off as a single unit after a short forward (not backward) movement. The hard thing is to lift the vz 52 barrel out of the slide against the powerful recoil spring.
I am glad the (at the time unique) automatic firing pin safety introduced with the vz 50 was kept.
Serial Number 3250…. as in 32ACP-vz50.
Not too enigmatic. I don’t think a lot of thought went into it since it was a manually done serial number in the first place.
“(…)32ACP(…)”
Wait. Czechoslovakia in 1970s used metric system, CZ 50 has marking 7⁶⁵ as can been seen in 1st photo from top http://modernfirearms.net/en/handguns/handguns-en/czech-republic-semi-automatic-pistols/cz-50-cz-70-eng/ Why they would use U.S. designation of said cartridge for their internal use, rather than 7,65 mm?
improving the takedown button is a great start, now the real trick would be relocating the mag release.
Interesting! @escape road, Do you know why they ultimately didn’t move forward with its production?