Just bought a Czechpoint VZ 58 " 762 Military"

[TJNewton]

CNC Warrior also makes (or at least made) US gas pistons for the Vz58, but have not been in stock for several months and the company does not seem to have any plans to put them back into production. This would seem to be a relatively simple part to manufacture, but apparently, they had problems working in Century VZs, so have been withdrawn (gd Century monkey drunks!).

That's unfortunate that CNC Warrior stopped making the gas pistons.  I can see why if they've had a lot of returns from VZ2008 owners.  Just not worth the headache.  The problems with the pistons not working with VZ2008's isn't a big one.  The size of the piston hole varies from VZ2008 to VZ2008, most likely because of variances in the thickness of the finish.  All of my VZ2008's had differently sized piston holes, making even surplus pistons stick.  Real easy fix to open it up with a round file.  As with anything, go slowly, although I don't think it's too much of a finesse situation as the piston operation seems to have a lot of leeway.

[OldGringo]

If they've had returns from owners of manky monkey-guns maybe they've got some spares lying around

Wait - no, they've probably been ground with a Dremel or something else in a futile attempt to get them to fit the one-of-a-kind spec that each VZ2008 represents.

CNC Warrior also makes (or at least made) US gas pistons for the Vz58, but have not been in stock for several months and the company does not seem to have any plans to put them back into production. This would seem to be a relatively simple part to manufacture, but apparently, they had problems working in Century VZs, so have been withdrawn (gd Century monkey drunks!).

That's unfortunate that CNC Warrior stopped making the gas pistons.  I can see why if they've had a lot of returns from VZ2008 owners.  Just not worth the headache.  The problems with the pistons not working with VZ2008's isn't a big one.  The size of the piston hole varies from VZ2008 to VZ2008, most likely because of variances in the thickness of the finish.  All of my VZ2008's had differently sized piston holes, making even surplus pistons stick.  Real easy fix to open it up with a round file.  As with anything, go slowly, although I don't think it's too much of a finesse situation as the piston operation seems to have a lot of leeway.

[OldGringo]

..aaand they're gone. All sold out at Czechpoint again. 

Boy that was quick. I think that was something like 72 hours max.

Glad I "pulled the trigger" when I did.

[MeatAxe]

I thought all gun parts and accessories came with the following caveat: "requires fitting by competent gunsmith when used in conjunction with Century Arms International products..."

If they've had returns from owners of manky monkey-guns maybe they've got some spares lying around

Wait - no, they've probably been ground with a Dremel or something else in a futile attempt to get them to fit the one-of-a-kind spec that each VZ2008 represents.

CNC Warrior also makes (or at least made) US gas pistons for the Vz58, but have not been in stock for several months and the company does not seem to have any plans to put them back into production. This would seem to be a relatively simple part to manufacture, but apparently, they had problems working in Century VZs, so have been withdrawn (gd Century monkey drunks!).

That's unfortunate that CNC Warrior stopped making the gas pistons.  I can see why if they've had a lot of returns from VZ2008 owners.  Just not worth the headache.  The problems with the pistons not working with VZ2008's isn't a big one.  The size of the piston hole varies from VZ2008 to VZ2008, most likely because of variances in the thickness of the finish.  All of my VZ2008's had differently sized piston holes, making even surplus pistons stick.  Real easy fix to open it up with a round file.  As with anything, go slowly, although I don't think it's too much of a finesse situation as the piston operation seems to have a lot of leeway.

[TJNewton]

I thought all gun parts and accessories came with the following caveat: "requires fitting by competent gunsmith when used in conjunction with Century Arms International products..."

True, but I've had that experience with nearly every firearm manufacturer.  Ruger, Beretta, Kahr, S&W, etc, etc, etc.

After over 10,000 trouble-free rounds with my VZ2008's, I'll gladly spend 10 minutes of my time with a round file and accept that $2200 savings over Czechpoint.

That said, those deals expired around 2015 and if I were to buy three VZ58-style rifles today, I'd probably spend the extra money and go with Czechpoint.

[MeatAxe]

I thought all gun parts and accessories came with the following caveat: "requires fitting by competent gunsmith when used in conjunction with Century Arms International products..."

True, but I've had that experience with nearly every firearm manufacturer.  Ruger, Beretta, Kahr, S&W, etc, etc, etc.

After over 10,000 trouble-free rounds with my VZ2008's, I'll gladly spend 10 minutes of my time with a round file and accept that $2200 savings over Czechpoint.

That said, those deals expired around 2015 and if I were to buy three VZ58-style rifles today, I'd probably spend the extra money and go with Czechpoint.

Well, you can certainly ad SIG USA to that list, but from what I've seen and experienced, qc problems with Century products are closer to the rule than the exception, so you probably got lucky with your Vz.

I hope you didn't push your luck and buy one of their C39 AKs! They seem to have only about a 3500 round life before they reach grenade status!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&p=military+arms+channel+C39+failure#id=1&vid=c22f59f9e0d81e7bc077788b69eda604&action=click


At one time, MAC was pretty high on the CAI C39, until he duplicated Rob Ski's sad results that were documented last year.

[TJNewton]

I thought all gun parts and accessories came with the following caveat: "requires fitting by competent gunsmith when used in conjunction with Century Arms International products..."

True, but I've had that experience with nearly every firearm manufacturer.  Ruger, Beretta, Kahr, S&W, etc, etc, etc.

After over 10,000 trouble-free rounds with my VZ2008's, I'll gladly spend 10 minutes of my time with a round file and accept that $2200 savings over Czechpoint.

That said, those deals expired around 2015 and if I were to buy three VZ58-style rifles today, I'd probably spend the extra money and go with Czechpoint.

Well, you can certainly ad SIG USA to that list, but from what I've seen and experienced, qc problems with Century products are closer to the rule than the exception, so you probably got lucky with your Vz.

I hope you didn't push your luck and buy one of their C39 AKs! They seem to have only about a 3500 round life before they reach grenade status!

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&p=military+arms+channel+C39+failure#id=1&vid=c22f59f9e0d81e7bc077788b69eda604&action=click


At one time, MAC was pretty high on the CAI C39, until he duplicated Rob Ski's sad results that were documented last year.

I think you're right about problems being the rule with Century.  The VZ2008 is the only Century firearm I've ever bought.  It seems to hold a reputation for being an exception from Century's horrible history.  Apparently, it was largely contracted out and never got near any drunk monkeys.  Aside from reports of the Gremlin, which is universal on civilian VZ58's and easily cured by tabbing the carrier, there are very few negative reviews of the VZ2008.  Some rare problems have arisen, such as a walking safety pin, tired surplus springs, sticky folding stock, among a few others, but all those are very easily remedied.  I think that the success of the VZ2008 has much less to do with Century's competence, and much more to do with Czechoslovakian design and engineering.  Apparently, it's Fugazi-proof as the rifle will tolerate being assembled loosey-goosey from a mish-mash of old parts manufactured decades apart.  Slap it together and it still works.   Is the VZ2008 as nicely finished as other VZ58's?  I'm not sure, but I can see the quibbling about that as one of mine is kind of ugly (works perfectly) but the other two are beautiful.  Luck of draw.

The C39 and RAS47 are bizarre situations.  From the beginning, reviewers across the board commented on the excellent fit, finish, and function.  Then parts started mushrooming and headspace started drifting.  Why would Century spend all that effort and money, R&D and assembly labor being the lion's share of overhead, then cheap out on crappy metallurgy?  Palmetto State Armory, revered for their inexpensive yet high quality AR parts and rifles, is also having spotty success with their version of the AK47.  Why can't rich Americans in 2018, with their computers and CNC machines and 3D printers, make a rifle that has been successfully manufactured for decades by third-world countries that barely had roads or plumbing?

[Thin Man]

I think it's been pretty well hashed out that a VERY good number of us "got lucky" with our VZ2008s. My "luck" has held with 2 of them. They seem to be the one CAI product that has escaped the curse of the drunken monkey. I'm sure there have been some bad examples, but they don't deserve .01% of the vitriol they seem to get from non-owners.
Are the CSA rifles better? Ostensibly, yes. But for what they cost they bloody well better be higher quality, and there seems to be a certain cross section of the CSA rifles that also have their issues.
I think if the VZ2008s were half as bad as they're made out to be, we would see that spread far and wide on the various forums so prevalent on the internet these days. And let's face it, there seems to be a LOT more VZ2008s out there than CSA VZ-58s.
In my 40 plus years of shooting, and having spent most of my adult life in one aspect or another of the shooting industry, having had literally hundreds of firearms pass through my hands, the VZ2008 isn't even close to being at the bottom of the list, quality wise. Especially so with the Gen 3 rifles.
Does Century suck? Yeah. Do the VZ2008s suck? Hell no!
But what do I know?
Apologies to the OP for the thread drift.

[MeatAxe]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[OldGringo]

I got the rifle today. I've been looking it over and over and over and over and over and over... 

The machining is superb, and the action is as smooth if not smoother than my SP-01.

I opted for the left-side charging handle bolt carrier. It's newly machined, not surplus (I don't think they every made a left side BC standard issue military). I can also tell it's new by the fact that the CSA patented push-down semi auto tab is machined into the carrier, not welded.

The trigger is surprisingly decent; better than the few vz2008s that I've handled. It's obviously very "Glock-like" (a wee bit of creep before the break but after a noticeable wall). I don't have a trigger-gauge but it seems to be about 2.5 take-up and 3 for the break.The re-set is actually pretty nice; less than full travel. It's better OTB than the typical AR  standard spec trigger; although not as good as a quality after-market trigger.

The rifle comes tapped for side mounted rails (which I bought separately). As one would expect they fit like they were supposed to go together.

Front gas block is absolutely straight and not canted (hooray not a Century!!) and yes, the bayonet lug is there. The muzzle nut is right-hand thread and indexed with a spring and detent. I opted for the Slovakian muzzle break (made in US CNC Warrior roll-mark). I easily removed the muzzle nut (also US made). It fit on smoothly

I must say I'm very impressed with the build quality. Of course, this is not a cheap rifle; but it seems definitely  I got what I paid for.

All the gushing above is of course contingent on this thing shooting reasonably accurately and, most of all, reliably.

I won't be able to make it out to the range until next week. So when eventually I do I'll post updates.

[sboone]

The left side charging handle is welded on, not a big deal, CSA did a fine job of making them.  You are correct, they were never standard on military guns, for what reason I?m not sure because it does make a difference for the better charging the rifle.  You will have to make sure you get the right optics mount though, the low mount is good to go but the higher sitting mount will get hit when the bolt cycles. 

I?m not a fan of the amount of travel it takes for my trigger to reset but ultimately it?s a non issue for me too, just spoiled by the short reset of my Yugo M77, but it?s hard to beat how smooth that trigger pull is.

The Slovak brake does an awesome job of mitigating recoil, have it on a 58 compact pistol and it does a great job, very noticeable how effective when I shot with and without it.

You?ll want to get a cerakote eventually as the spray can paint will chip and wear fairly quick but I guess some would call that BFPU 

Ultimately it?s about the best 7.62x39 rifle you can ask for from given choices, particularly when comparing to Arsenal SAM7?s in the same price range