Feb 10 2006
Range Report: VZ58
The trip to the range yesterday was more recreational than practical. After all the running around and sorting ourselves out we actually had about 60 minutes of shooting before the cold and the clock forced us to pack up and head back into town.
That said I did have a chance to try the VZ58 and it made an impression.
The magazines used by the VZ58 are of the “rock and lock” variety sadly, but magazine insertion is made relatively easy by the tight magwell. Removal appears to have been intended to be done with the left hand only as the magazine release latch is located on the left side of the trigger guard and is practically unreachable with the right hand while the rifle is shouldered.
The sights are identical to those on the SKS and AK, with front sight adjustment possible using the same tools.
The rifle features a last shot hold open, and the bolt can be manually locked open while the magazine is removed by pushing a small button (located at the edge of the trigger guard) upward while the bolt is held open by the operator.
The selector switch on the right hand side of the receiver has three settings, “1″ which has the switch pointed rearward, the unmarked “safe” position which has the switch pointed downward, and “30″ which has if pointed forward. “30″ while a neat asthetic feature functions in a manner similar to the safety, and the rifle cannot be fire with the selector in this position.
Operation of the rifle is simple, as would be expected, the magazine is inserted and the charging handle is pulled to the rear and allowed to proceed forward under its own power. The selector switch is rotated upward and rearward from “Safe” to position “1″ at which time the rifle is ready to fire.
With just a little more kick than the SKS the rifle was a joy to shoot, and it appears to have come sighted in for 100 yards. Putting a total of 20 rounds through the rifle I spent the first ten figuring out the point of impact, and the next ten putting the rounds on target.
I don’t think the ten rounds on paper gives me an opportunity to assess the accuracy of the rifle properly, all ten rounds were on paper but we’ll have to go back out for a proper session of a few hundred rounds.
Altogether I am very pleased with this rifle. Very pleased indeed.
Beautiful! Absolutely Beautiful.
Will this be the new Anti-Zombie rifle?!?!
Hmmm, I’m looking at picking one up simply for the look cool factor.
I was initially concerned with the “restricted” status, as I make it a point to own non-restricted whenever possible.
The CZ858 (lengthened barrel version) appeared the best choice, but I figured what the hell (and an 858 wasn’t offered in trade for the FG).
I’m glad I got this rifle, it’s short, light and nimble. The kick is a little more than I expected (but the short barrel should have been a tip off).
I’m very pleased with the rifle, and can’t wait to drag it out again in the near future in it’s newly revamped furniture.
It seems 16″ AK varients without muzzle breaks seem to have a little more kick. I’ve heard numerous people proclaim that the AK74 has almost equal kick with a .22lr rifle, but my SLR-105, which is unthreaded, meaning no fancy AK74 style flash hider/compensator, just a plain jane 16″ exactly barrel, has a nice little kick to it.
kewl!
Speaking of Restricted…
Range arrangements being what they may for me, there’s a chance the only R-Rated guns I can regularly use are handguns. I might be looking at hocking the Norc AR and replacing it with something evil but G-Rated. Nothing’s for sure, but I’ll give you first dibs.
I truly enjoyed that day and I am looking forward to the next time.