I picked up a surplus Czech Cz52 pistol chambered for the 7.62x25 cartridge. This was an impulse purchase, because the gun was new and cheap. I already reload for .32 ACP, S&W Long and H&R Magnum. The same bullets and powders will work. Why not?
The 7.62x25 Russian cartridge is dimensionally similar to the old .30 Mauser round, but is hotter, about 40,000 vs. 30,000 psi. Both rounds fire the same .308-.309 diameter 85-87 gr., FMJ bullet, but Soviet “burp gun ammo” is too hot for a M96 broomhandle. Current Sellier & Bellot chronographs about 1700 fps in the Cz52, whereas the .30 Mauser round gets about 1300 from a M96 broomhandle, and results in occasional “smokestack” jams when fired in the Cz52 pistol.
Hatcher's Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers (1935) described the .30 (7.63) Mauser round as developing 1250-1300 fps with various brands of US ammunition and up to 1400 with German military loads. Penetration was eleven 7/8” pine boards, versus 4-1/2 boards for the .32 Smith & Wesson Long, 5 boards for the .32-20 Winchester, .32 ACP,.38 Special and .45 Colt M1909 revolver. The .45 ACP and .44-40 each did 8 boards. The .38/.44 High Velocity, 9mm Luger, and .38 Colt Auto each did nine boards. Only the .38 Super Auto and .357 Magnum were able to match the Mauser's eleven boards.
As luck would have it, by the time I received my Cz52 pistol, the seemingly plentiful and endless supply of cheap Combloc surplus corrosive ammo which I had planned to hoard had dried up. People tell me that the quality of much Combloc surplus ammmo, is poor, that I really didn't miss outon anything worthwhile, and that new commercial ammo is much better. So, I bought 500 rounds each of new manufacture PPU (Yugo Privi Partisan) and Sellier & Bellot (Czech) FMJ ammo with reloadable boxer primed cases.
Firing PPU ball ammo outdoors at 25 yards the gun shot to point of aim. An average of ten 8-shot groups averaged 3.5 inches, with the largest group 4.6” and the smallest 2.9” This level of accuracy compares to many typical military handguns firing service ammunition. At 100 yards in three trials I averaged 6 hits out of 8 shots on an Army E Silhouette firing from a two-handed sitting position. Both original mags worked fine, as did also two Triple-K spares which I bought at the same time from Cheaper Than Dirt.
PPU ammo chronographed 1414 fps with a standard deviation over a 16 round sample of 32 fps. I am told by the retailer that the PPU ammo is loaded down “so that it will not blow up a sound M96 Mauser if used unintentionally ”€œ though still NOT recommended.” Czech S-B ammo gave accuracy and point of impact similar to the PPU, but shot flatter, giving 1699 f.p.s. with a standard deviation of only 7 fps over a 16-round sample. Impressive stuff to buy for your “Zombie Hoard."
I then started to experiment with reloading the 7.62x25, and now had empty boxer rimed brass and hoped to accumulate more. Most of the S-B brass is still in low earth orbit over Ohio, but a useful amount of the PPU stuff was eventually found up to 20 feet away from the firing position. New cases are available from Starline, and are of good quality, so I bought 500. These are nice.
Years ago I loaded successfully for the M96 Broomhandle, using RCBS dies and the Lyman #313249 bullet intended for the .32 S&W Long, with 5 grains of Bullseye, as recommended by Lyman. I bought new Lee Dies for the 7.62x25, Federal 200 (small rifle and magnum pistol) primers and some Hornady .30 caliber 100-gr. half-jackets. Fired cases resized with little effort. Case mouths were flared easily and the Hornady half-jackets loaded without difficulty. Overall cartridge length was 1.378. A Lee factory crimp die was used and rotor #9 in the RCBS Little Dandy Measure.
I load 5 grains of Bullseye as a standard charge in many calibers: as a +P .38 Special with 110-grain JHP, as a plinker in the .357 Magnum with any bullet, and as full-charge, lead-bullet loads for the .44 Special, and .45 ACP as as a cast bullet small game load in almost any rifle cartridge from the 7.62x39 and .30-30 to .30-‘06.
With my “standard charge” of 5 grains of Bullseye in the 7.62x25 with the Hornady Half-jacket, velocity was 1240 f.p.s., with a standard deviation of 12 fps over a 16-round sample, with point of impact and grouping comparable to ball ammo, averaging 3.8” for five consecutive 8-shot groups at 25 yards with the largest group 4.5” and the smallest 3.2"
Firing into water filled milk jugs the Hornady half jackets appeared to have expanded little, if at all, as none were recovered, perforating and exiting my entire stack of milk jugs, 48 inches of water in all, the same as ball ammo. Brief trials with 88-grain flatnosed NEI #82 cast bullets same as I use in the .32 Auto, gave 1330 f.p.s. with 5 grains of Bullseye and three of five bullets were stopped in 48 inches of water, with the others exiting. This equates to about 30 inches of gelatin penetration, impressive by any standard.
While Sierra and Hornady make .308-.309” diameter jacketed softpoint bullets suitable for the .30 Mauser and 7.6t2x25, I was reluctant to pay 20 cents a pop just to experiment. Instead I took an extra Lyman #3118 double-cavity, flatnosed .32-20 mold and sent it off to Erik Ohlen at www.hollowpointmold.com for modification. The 88-grain NEI #82 gang mold I use in the .32 ACP and .32 S&W Long resembles a shortened Ideal #3118, which weighs 115 grains in its original .32-20 configuration.
I explained to Erik what I wanted to do, and he came up with a highly successful 82-gr. double-cavity hollowpoint which feeds well, mushrooming nicely from soft 8-10 BVHN at .32 ACP velocity when cast in 8-10 BHN alloy, and providing a “fragmenting varmint bomb” with harder 13-15 BHN alloy when fired from the 7.62x25.
He did this by machining the mold blocks to remove the original base band and bottom lube groove. He then cut a new front driving band .11 wide and .311 diameter ahead of the remaining lube groove to restore some needed bearing surface, shortening the nose somewhat. The HP cavity resembles the form of the Speer 65 gr. Gold Dot for the .32 ACP and using his inset bar conversion, production is as good or better than when casting with the original unmodified double-cavity mold. Bullet shape resembles flatnosed hardball and it feeds in all my pistols like a pony trotting.
Casting the new 82-grain #3118 HP from wheelweights + 2% tin alloy, driving it at 1330 f.p.s. using 5 grains of Bullseye in the 7.62x25, functioning is sluggish, but reliable, dropping empty brass at your feet. Water jug tests were impressive, blowing the first gallon jug to smithereens in a manner similar to 110-grain .357 Magnum loads. The front third of the bullet fragments violently, showering the second and third jugs with multiple secondary projectiles about the size of No.6 birdshot. The base of the bullet flattens to 8mm diameter, weighs 65 grains, like a .32 ACP slug, penetrating into, but stopping in the fourth jug, denting its far side, not exiting. The resulting 30 inches of water penetration for the fragmented stub equates to 18+ inches of water. Adequate penetration for a defense load.
I would have no issues keeping the CZ52 around as a spare defensive pistol. Not fancy, BUT IT WORKS. Now if I cast these out of junk silver, what would they weigh and would they work on vampires?
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia