CZ27 was a simple, if well-produced, 7.65mm (.32acp) blowback pistol designed in 1927. This particular example was produced after Germany occupied Czechoslovakia and was carried by a German officer. It was typical of the German army to press captured arms and arms production facilities into use to alleviate its chronic shortage of weapons.

Equally typical is the European use of small-caliber weapons as officer badge arms. 7.65mm is not an effective combat or self-defense round, yet it was retained by many armies until 1950s. Perhaps officers were expected to carry a submachine gun or a rifle as a primary weapon.

See Kurby Sanders' Czechoslovakian page for more information on either of these pistols.

CZ52 was an unusual design utilizing the same roller-delayed blowback action as the MG42, G3 and MP5. It chambers 7.62x25 cartridge used my Eastern Block submachine guns and pistols, though Czech loadings are usually hotter than the ammunition intended for Tokarev TT33. A simple and robust design, CZ53 suffers only from poor pointing and equally poor sights. Accuracy depends strongly on the specific pistol and on ammunition.

Unusually for such a large handgun, CZ52 carries well because of its slim, streamlined shape. With surplus ammunition (1500fps 86gr), it has considerable penetration against Level 2 soft body armor but it is otherwise impractical as a carry weapon.

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