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…
Light MGs
Bren MkI: The Best Light Machine Gun of World War Two
In the years after World War One, the British military wanted a new machine gun, and they wanted it to replace both the Lewis and the Vickers. Through the 1920s the British would tinker with […]
Anti-Tank Rifles
The Model SS41 – A Czech Bullpup Anti-Tank Rifle for the SS
The SS41 was a bullpup, bolt action antitank rifle manufactured in small numbers by CZ for the SS. contrary to common assumption, the SS were not a part of the standard German military arms procurement […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Czechoslovakia Recycles Mosins: The vz.54 Sniper
Czechoslovakia adopted a whole new slate of small arms in the 1950s, including the vz.52 pistol vz.52 rifle, and vz.52 light machine gun. They also adopted a new sniper rifle, developed by a Moravian designed […]
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?