ČZ vz. 50

[armedhippie]

Well here's a sweet lil CZ 50 I picked up. Its a 7.65 browning aka .32 auto

 Serial numbers on the vz. 50 start at 650,001, starting from the discontinued serial number range of the vz. 27 pistol.
Pistols manufactured at the Strakonice factory end in the 740,000 range. Production stopped in some time in 1952 to start up CZ 52 production. Mine would have been toward the end of Strakonice's run.
Pistols manufactured at Uherský Brod have 5-digit serial numbers preceded by a letter.

CZ 50's were made untill 1970 when a few cosmetic changes were made and it was redesignated the Vz 70. Some 70's started out as 50's.

Forgot to get a side-by-side shot with my CZ 52 for size comparison. I'll get 1 when I can. You can definitely tell there family. It feels great in the hand. Holds 8 in the mag and true CZ 50 mags are few and far between but CZ 70 mags work fine. ( Thats what is pictured with mine)

Hope you like it and if you want to see pics of any part not pictured, just holler. 






 The "NB52" marking on the grip strap is a property marking used by Narodni Bezpečnosti (literally, National Security), the Czechoslovakian police corp. ( meaning it was accepted by them in 1952) NB was comprised of two branches.  Public Security was a uniformed force that performed routine police duties throughout the country.  In contrast, State Security was both an investigative agency, and an intelligence/counter intelligence agency. NB was an armed force, organized and trained as such, but equipped to perform police rather than military functions. NB 50, 51, 52 stamps have been noted.





A couple of the differences between the CZ vz. 50 and the CZ vz. 70 -
The slide on the 50 has a shorter serrated region on the slide comprised of 14 serrations, whereas the 70 has 16 serrations spread out more widely. Also the hammer on the 50 is solid, whereas the 70 has a hole to reduce weight.







With the cz-50 part of the import stamp being partialy stamped over and a big 70 on the other side leads me to believe that some1 didn't quite know to call it a CZ50 or a CZ70. It has no CZ 70 features at all but probably came in at the same time as CZ 70's. 

[montigre]

Very nice!!  I really like the CZ's guns and have a couple of contemporary handguns based on the 75 platform.--One can really see the bones of the 75 in your 50 pistola there.   

[Phosphorus32]

Sweet!  Looks very nice!    Those are nice little pistols and 7.65x17 is a fun round for all day shooting/plinking.  Nice write-up on the history and differences between this and the CZ70.  I'd noticed the "lightening hole" in the hammer but I didn't know about the number of serrations and spacing...good stuff 

Mine is SN 658251 with an NB50 mark

[armedhippie]

 From what I've been gathering that 1st run from Strakonice from 1950-52 were all that were marked with the NB stamp. Later 1's that weren't commercial should have the crossed swords.

From a distance, besides the checkered vs straight line grips on the CZ 70, it would be hard to tell the difference between the 2. The mag release on the 70 is checkered vs straight as well and the trigger has grooves vs the smooth trigger on the 50. There's a few more small differences and the base plate on an actual 50 mag has a slight difference in curve also.

[Direct Connection]

Thats a beautiful piece of history AH. Sounds like it was a popular sidearm for many uses for awhile.. Great read and Pics. The only question I have is on the front sight I see a spot of red paint or ? . Now is that factory or did you spot that there for the better to see my friend.?I took a dab of some white auto touch up to my P64 so I could see and it really makes a world of difference.. I mean I still cant hit a target but I can see down the bbl at least

[armedhippie]

 Well DC....Its not factory that's for sure, its a hot pink nail polish I do believe  I don't do it personally but I'm allways getting millsurps where some1 has put some sort of paint on the front sight. Usually the first thing I do is scrape it off and I started to on this 1 as well. But...I left a lil on there because while my eyesight is still good....it certainly isin't getting better with age and dang'it...it really helps that front sight show up.