Czechoslovakian CZ-82 Pistol

Czechoslovakian CZ(vz) 82 Semi Auto handgun.

The CZ-82 pistol was Czechoslovakia's answer to the soviet request that the army convert to the new 9mm Makarov cartridge. The pistol design is very solid and simple to maintain as the entire weapon breaks down, without tools, into only 3 main parts; Frame with attached barrel, main spring, and slide.
The magazine holds 12, 9mm Makarov (9mm*18) cartridges. This round is slightly larger, though less powerful, than the more popular 9mm luger (9mm*19) round. The simple blow back operation of the CZ-82 makes felt recoil higher than one would expect as little exists to absorb the recoil other than the main spring and heavy slide.

The barrel is unique in that it does not have the typical rifling grooves normally expected in a firearm. The CZ-82 uses polygonal rifling; a sort of off-center cut barrel, that spins the bullet and creating the gyroscopic forces that keep the bullet stable in flight. When recovered, the bullet will have none of the striations normally seen cut into the metal. The polygonal rifled barrel produces less friction (helping the recoil) and thus less wear than a typical barrel. Accuracy does not seem to be any less, however.

The example in my collection was manufactured in 1979. Recoil was more than expected when first fired and I replaced the original main spring with a stronger , 20 pound replacement spring. This reduced the felt recoil to a more comfortable level. The pistol is very ergonomic and comfortable in the hand. It features an ambidextrous safety that is easily reached with your thumb. The magazines are difficult to load with all 12 rounds and features sharp edges at the base that press into your hand when loading (ouch!). Surplus ammunition is not common but new production ammunition is not very expensive.