VZ58 liberty?

[nyenthusiast]

I’m thinking of adding a 7.62x39 rifle to my collection. Options for a compliant ak variant seem pretty limited, but these fixed magazine Czech rifles seem pretty solid and interesting to me. I wondered if anyone here had any experience with them? If you do have a compliant ak, I’d love to hear what you think of that as well.

 

[Edwardteach72]

I’m thinking of adding a 7.62x39 rifle to my collection. Options for a compliant ak variant seem pretty limited, but these fixed magazine Czech rifles seem pretty solid and interesting to me. I wondered if anyone here had any experience with them? If you do have a compliant ak, I’d love to hear what you think of that as well.

Didnt have a liberty But I did buy a vz58 back when they were cheap and had a gun shop turn it into a fixed mag. I loved that gun and wish I still had it.

 

[Edwardteach72]

Holy shit $1,000? I got mine back a few years ago for 399 and then 100 for the gunsmith work

 

[GOYABEAN]

Holy shit $1,000? I got mine back a few years ago for 399 and then 100 for the gunsmith work

yeah I found a centerfire catalog from 2011 my how times have changed brought a tear to my eye's

 

[HEX]

Holy shit $1,000? I got mine back a few years ago for 399 and then 100 for the gunsmith work

yeah I found a centerfire catalog from 2011 my how times have changed brought a tear to my eye's

Technically speaking, those weren't the same quality of gun ('liberty' neutered or not).. sorta. They have kind of an interesting history of sales in the US.
I never had one myself, but as I understand it initially they came to US import as very cheap parts sets, but there were no US made receivers for them. So those cheaper ones were kind of slap-dashed together by Century Arms (as they've always done in such cases). That's not to say that they were bad, because the quality of parts was actually good enough that even Century's somewhat spotty control was mostly overcome and they were known to be pretty reliable.. but still Century builds.

The more expensive ones of today that are built entirely by Czech Small Arms are on a different level of fit and finish and less so random stuff thrown together; or at least so I've been led to believe.

Anyway, while I've heard they are quite good quality guns , it's probably not the way I would go right now. This almost seems strange for me to say, because I've always been more of an AKM style guy than an AR guy, but the way the market is right now I'd probably go with an AR in 7.62x39 instead (probably even a piston upper). We seem to be at a point where AR style rifle parts are at a much lower price then in the past. Looks like these 'liberty' vz58s are going for ~1200 , and you could feasibly build a piston upper AR at the same price. I could go deeper into all the details of why the Vz58 style has some disadvantages, like optics options, parts price/availability, just for some examples, but in an effort to not drone on with a wall of text (in traditional HEX style), instead I'll just say that for what they cost I think there are better options. If the VZ58 was say.. below $750, it might be a different story.

 

[Edwardteach72]

Technically speaking, those weren't the same quality of gun ('liberty' neutered or not).. sorta. They have kind of an interesting history of sales in the US.
I never had one myself, but as I understand it initially they came to US import as very cheap parts sets, but there were no US made receivers for them. So those cheaper ones were kind of slap-dashed together by Century Arms (as they've always done in such cases). That's not to say that they were bad, because the quality of parts was actually good enough that even Century's somewhat spotty control was mostly overcome and they were known to be pretty reliable.. but still Century builds.

The more expensive ones of today that are built entirely by Czech Small Arms are on a different level of fit and finish and less so random stuff thrown together; or at least so I've been led to believe.

Anyway, while I've heard they are quite good quality guns , it's probably not the way I would go right now. This almost seems strange for me to say, because I've always been more of an AKM style guy than an AR guy, but the way the market is right now I'd probably go with an AR in 7.62x39 instead (probably even a piston upper). We seem to be at a point where AR style rifle parts are at a much lower price then in the past. Looks like these 'liberty' vz58s are going for ~1200 , and you could feasibly build a piston upper AR at the same price. I could go deeper into all the details of why the Vz58 style has some disadvantages, like optics options, parts price/availability, just for some examples, but in an effort to not drone on with a wall of text (in traditional HEX style), instead I'll just say that for what they cost I think there are better options. If the VZ58 was say.. below $750, it might be a different story.

Ph I know about the cheap centry parts kit builds that's what I had but they arent doing those any more.

And when they were comparable to entry level AKs they were a steal. The VZ58 design is what the AK should have been in the beginning (imho) but to compare a 58 to a piston or even a di AR.....

 

[AOD71]

Anyone know where a VZ 58 Rifle Liberty 7.62X39 is in stock for sale , or anyone selling one ??