Troy built up a custom vz-58 from one of the 100 Grand Power Slovakian receivers that were made and imported into the US.
Unissued parts kit went on the receiver that he had to mill to accept standard military magazines.
Because the barrels on the vz’s are shorter than 16", he machined a clone of the current Czech issue brake and permanently fixed it to the muzzle. He also spent some time mixing up an enamel finish which matched the original military finish.
I’ll post a range report when I get out to the range on Christmas Day.
Very nice! Are they standard AK mags? That’s interesting with the bolt “forming” the dust cover when closed. I don’t know a thing about these guns, but they look solid.
Someone needs to make a nylon version of that quad pouch with molle and slightly stack the mags for easier access.
Any diy’er’s here that can make one and sell it to Eagle?
Mark, the only thing the vz-58 has in common with an AK-47 is the caliber, the Czechs told the Russians to bugger off and that they’d make their own firearms thankyouverymuch.
They take completely different magazines. The operating system is a tilting lock, almost like a P-38 or Beretta M9 in conception, not so much like an SKS or a FAL. Short stroke gas piston operated.
Very, very light weight system, even lighter than a stamped receiver AKM.
They’re being used all over the world, the Czechs donated a bunch of them to the Afghan gov’t.
Someone is making a railed forend for them. The Czechs flirted with bringing out a new system when they joined NATO, but it just wasn’t cost effective, so they’re upgrading existing rifles.
Interesting, I think when we get together for a shoot, that needs to come with you. The field gear looks to be well thought out and functional. Do you know a source for that stuff? I appears that the mag dimensions, gear wise are the same?
I’m hitting the range on Tuesday and I’ll take some pics comparing an AK to the vz-58, field stripping, etc.
As far as gear, are you talking about the modern stuff in the pics of the pig hide mag carriers? The surplus stuff is available from Centerfire.
The modern stuff? I can poke around. The best bet is going to be coming out of Canada, through Marstar.
One other cool thing about the vz-58 is that the fixed and the side folding stocks are completely interchangeable, they’re the same receiver. I have a folding stock I’ll put on it, but the fixed is extremely comfortable.
I always thought those were ugly as sin (as in a bad toy replication of an AK) but the way he rebuilt and refinished that one is very nice indeed.
The bayonet looks GREAT on it!
You say it weighs a lot less- is it actually smaller? The mag looks crazy huge in this picture:
Is the rear sight like an AK where all the way back is to zero it? If so, I think I know the reason the guy who used to own this rifle left it on the battlefield for RA to pick up- looks like he forgot to slide the distance marker to a usable spot (unless they just don’t shoot like they are supposed to???)
The mags are extremely heavy gauge aluminum. Don’t think M16 magazine aluminum, the mag walls are at least 3 times thicker than M16 mags are. The magazines are longer from the front to the back of the magazine because the vz-58 locks the bolt open on an empty mag. The extra length in the back is for the portion of the follower that engages the bolt hold open.
The receiver is also milled forged steel, not a stamping, but the rifle as a whole is lighter than an AKM.
The rear sight is very similar to an AK sight. All the way back is the “battle sight” setting, which is about 300m. I immediately moved mine down to 100m and that’s where it’s staying.
I think foster farms made an oven mitt very popular with FAL owners during the kit boom.
Wolverine Supplies seems to sell a lot of VZ accessories and they have the Czech polymer handguards with the rails towards the front end. I got one of the actual Czech brakes from Wolverine too.
Oh, so fully rear is a battlesight position and not just for getting the battlesight zero eh? Cool…
I had a friend offer me an AK pistol grip like that- looked like a doggie chew toy. Now I know why. Chip impregnated resin. That’s exactly what it looked like to me when he showed it to me. i had never seen one up close. It was so old a lot of the resin was worn enough that strands of fiber (like burlap?) were poking out.
