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Infantry Small Arms / The Warfighter

Ceska Zbrojovka vz. 82 (CZ82)

Semi-Automatic Military Pistol [ 1983 ]

The CZ82 appeared in the latter stages of the Cold War period and was a very conventional Eastern Bloc 9mm pistol.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/18/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

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The former Czechoslovakia (today existing through the Czech Republic and Slovakia) had a long and storied history of locally designing, developing, and producing firearms for local forces, its national military services, and many global operators. In the 1980s, Ceska Zbrojovka (CZ) introduced its "CZ82", a 9mm-chambered semi-automatic pistol which was adopted the Czech Army. The weapon was used to succeed the aging line of Soviet Tokarev vz.52 pistols in same role, though these guns were chambered for the old 7.62x25mm pistol cartridge. Design of the CZ82 is attributed to Augustin Necas.

By and large, the CZ82 was a conventional 9mm pistol: the slide took up the length of the frame, the ejection port was set to the right side of the frame, the grip handle was checker-patterned, and the slim trigger was protected by an equally slim trigger guard. The hammer was exposed at the rear of the frame and a tang hung over the operator's primary shooting hand to support the aim. Iron sights were fitted front and rear over the slide in the usual way. The internal action amounted to the tried-and-true blowback system of operation whilst the trigger was of Double-Action (DA) function. Both the safety lever and magazine release were made ambidextrous to benefit all shooters. Overall length became 172mm with a chrome-plated, extended-life, polygonal-rifled barrel assembly measuring 97mm long. Weight was a handy 0.8 kilograms.

The base model of the CZ82 was chambered around the 9x18mm Makarov pistol cartridge which was favored by the East - the cartridge being a direct counter to the 9x19mm Parabellum largely favored by Western powers of the Cold War period (1947-1991). In time, there arose two other chamberings supporting the .32 ACP and the .380 ACP cartridge families. These varied in their ammunition counts with the .32 ACP form carrying 15 rounds and the .380 ACP form typically carrying 12-rounds. The basic 9mm CZ82 was able to fit a full complement of 12-rounds in its magazine.

Performance included a muzzle velocity of 1,000 feet-per-second with a range out to 55 yards.

Beyond the Czech Republic, which continues use of this pistol line with reservist units, the gun went on to see varying levels of procurement with the nations of Indonesia (special local units), Israel (police), Georgia, Kazakhstan (internal security), North Korea, Slovakia, and Vietnam (Army and security forces).

The civilian market form of the CZ82 became the CZ83.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

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