VZ58 Library - Reviews, Reference, and More

[RSR]

A couple other forums have this type of thread going, but thought it'd be good to start one here.

Basically, articles, pictures, reviews, etc, that constitute written/encyclopedic knowledge of the VZ58.  A few videos apply if reference, but let's keep the cool factor in another thread as they'll swamp this otherwise. 

[RSR]

To start out the articles:

American Rifleman, August 1970 : Vz 58 Rifle Resembles Soviet AK-47 -- New Czech automatic rifle has several distinct features
by F.W.A. Hobart
https://www.scribd.com/doc/253368777/American-Rifleman-August-1970-Vz-58-Rifle-Resembles-Soviet-AK-47
(Bonus read: communism vs gun ownership)

TruthAboutGuns.com: Gun Review: Czech Vzor 58
By Joe Grine
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/04/joe-grine/gun-review-czech-vzor-58/

Small Arms Review: CZECH SAMOPAL VZOR 1958
By Frank Iannamico
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1173

Small Arms Review: VZ-58'S CZECH MATE SEMIAUTOMATIC VERSION OF THE FAMED ASSAULT RIFLE
By Warren Ferguson
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1709

Guns Magazine: No AK This. The Czech Sa vz.58.
by Holt Bodinson
Available for purchase here: http://gunsmagazine.com/2009-articles/
Or here: http://www.amazon.com/No-AK-this-SURPLUS-Magazine/dp/B001QIUE4M
Probably not worth buying as just two pages and 1/3rd is this disassembly box, available for free: http://gunsmagazine.com/web-blast-surplus-locker/

Tactical Life: Century?s VZ2008
BY MICHAEL HUMPHRIES
http://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/centurys-vt2008/

Manuals:
Century VZ58 Sporter Manual: http://www.centuryarms.com/manuals/Century%20VZ%202008%20Rifle%20Manual%202.pdf
Century VZ2008 Sporter Manual: http://www.centuryarms.com/manuals/VZ2008.manual.FINAL.pdf
CZ-USA VZ58 Manual: http://cz-usa.com/hammer/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/vz-58-military-manual.pdf
Czechpoint Manual: https://www.czechpoint-usa.com/downloader.php?file=1378833927_vz.58_military_762.pdf&fcesta=produkty&code=f0874c40489eae0ddd8ac70c41b3f0c2
CSA Sporter Manual: http://www.csa.co.cz/files/files/Sa_vz._58_Sporter_instructions_manual.pdf
CSA Bolt Action Manual: http://www.csa.co.cz/files/files/Sa_vz._58_Bolt_Action_Instructions_manual.pdf

[RSR]

I'll be looking through my mags for other print articles as well.  Slowly building out my soldier of fortune collection... Surely something there!?

[RSR]

Function animation video:


How it's built -- Czech Small Arms Factory Tour:


Field Strip:








Cleaning:




Complete Disassembly:

[RSR]

VZ58 benchloader:

[DanielBoone]

I vote that this thread should go up top to be pinned.

[CitizenPete]

Complete VZ.58 Disassemble
http://youtu.be/mf97wuxy3P8?list=PL2KqZLU24Dba-IzNHMrHqBqbPIIyyCmFZ

How VZ.58 Fire Control Group Works

[RSR]

Small Arms Review: THE VZOR 58 TACTICAL CONVERSION: CHECHOSLOVAKIA'S CLASSIC BATTLE RIFLE UPGRADED
By J.M. Ramos

http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1253

Guns & Ammo, Oct 2009: CZ's VZ 58 -- The Warsaw Pact import may look like an AK, but mechanically it's a workhorse of a different color.
by J. Guthrie
https://www.scribd.com/doc/256615565/Guns-Ammo-Oct-2009-CZ-s-VZ-58-by-J-Guthrie

[RSR]

"Mr Bond, Kindly Drop the Vz.58 at Enfield?

OK, maybe they didn?t get it from Bond, even if the Czech Vz. 58P and Vz. 58V  (which we believe stand for Pechotni [Infantry] and Vysadkovy [Paratroop] fixed- and folding-stock versions) did show up in a lot of Bond movies (Roger Moore slides down a banister blasting away with one in Octobleep).

http://weaponsman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Octobleep_090_Vz._58.jpg

Octobleep_(090)_Vz._58 But somehow British Intelligence got hold of a couple of Vz.58s and delivered them unto the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock by mid-1966. The Small Arms Branch Testing Section received, first, a folding-stock rifle (they didn?t know its proper nomenclature) and began to prepare a report for it; for reasons they don?t share with us, it ?was withdrawn and replaced with one with a fixed butt, before the Weapon Description Form had been completed?? but they continued and produced a descriptive report about the weapon by January of 1967."
More: http://weaponsman.com/?p=30762

Do note: the latest Bond movie, spectre, had many of the guards at the desert facility armed w/ VZ58s, compact-version if I recall correctly.

[RSR]

Small Arms Review, July 2001: The Czech VZ58 Assault Rifle
By Janne Pohjoisp??
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2610

I found this at the close of the article particularly interesting:

Class Three Supply (724-962-1890) has been importing Post 86 dealer sample restricted vz58s for law enforcement and Class 3 Dealers. Prices are reasonable- in the $400 range, and the quality of the guns I have seen has been excellent. Sarco (908-647-3800) has been selling parts kits, and bayonets have been relatively easy to find on the market, at about $40 each. The leather mag pouches that hold 4 magazines have been on the market recently as well, I bought a set at Knob Creek. There are 4 known transferable vz58s in the United States. There may be more, but I have never seen them. There were three full stock and one folder. One set was sold as full stock and folder, and these two were Vietnam bringbacks, registered in that time period. The finish on all of the transferables that I have seen was of the grey paint, and the stocks were all red bakelite style

[RSR]

GunsAmerica Digest, August 2018: The Czech vz. 58 – Improving Upon the Most Reliable Combat Rifle in the World
By Will Dabbs
https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/the-czech-vz-58/

I like the close:

Lightweight, rugged, and maneuverable, the Czech vz. 58 represents a tiny glimmer of individuality in the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. Comrade Kalashnikov’s ubiquitous rifle was an icon of Soviet dominance. However, the argument could be made that it was actually the second most efficient communist rifle of the 1950s.

[RSR]

The Firearms Blog reviewed in 2016.  Posted to a separate thread here w/ commentary: https://czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=83344.0

[RSR]

Rare Vz58 PPK KSK sporter -- made only 3 years before its maker went bankrupt in 2015. 

Made from Vz58s acquired from Zbrojovka Brno's bankruptcy.

PPK is same firm as Zbrojovka Holice. 

All per youtuber.  Interesting trigger mechanism and if you're prevented from having a pistol grip seems like a reasonable modification, though the safety looks less than ideal...

[RSR]

Vz58 bolt cycling slow motion -- 600 fps.

More bounce on piston than I realized and can see the bolt bounce too: