CIA VZ2008 30+1 7.62mmX39mm 16.25" - Blue/Black, 16.25" Barrel, Synthetic, Folding Stock

Solid firearm, but certainly not for 6.5k.

Very very good for the money. I like it better than any ak I have owned. It does thrown brass like crazy but I like that. Found a $75 rail at centerfire fit easily. The fit and finish is good a little better than usual century guns.

I ordered this gun and Bud's shipping was fast as usual. When I picked it up I inspected it and was perfectly content with my new gun. The Good: The finish on the gun is great. It is nice and thick. I see no machining marks and everything is smooth and really well done. I could not be happier with the overall quality of the firearm. I function checked everything and everything worked. I've heard of people complaining about the hard trigger pull, and even though it may be a little hard I have no issue with it. It goes click. That's what matters. I've also heard of the trigger not resetting on a very few number of guns. Mine doesn't have this issue, so again I'm happy. The sights seem to be setup up dead-on, but I haven't taken it to the range yet, so I will find out soon. The Bad: There are some small scuff marks on the receiver, bolt carrier, and barrel, but they appear to have been done post-paint possibly by a tool being drop or something else entirely. In reality it is no big deal to me because they are so minor they won't affect the function of the rifle. I function checked all the magazines and have no issues with any of them, except for one. The first few rounds from the one magazine keep nosediving into the barrel, and if I smack the bolt handle hard they go in. Since only one out of the 5 magazines has this issue I don't think this is the guns fault. A different magazine also was damaged. One of the feed lips has a divet on it. I thought this would cause issues, but the magazine functions perfectly. Notes: The first thing is that the surplus sling that came with the gun was trash, but that really isn't a big deal. I wasn't planning on using it anyways. The leather pouch for the magazines and bayonet are in good shape and I'm happy with them. I also want to point out that the threads on my barrel are 14x1 RH. I have heard of people getting LH threads so definitely check what kind you have before you buy a muzzle brake. The last note I have is that inside my bag of oil and cleaning stuff I got a punch to drive out the pin for the lower handguard which is awesome. Overall I am very pleased with the firearm. This is my third purchase from Bud and I will continue to buy from them in the future. This gun is a great, if not amazing, deal.

The Good: Went to pick up at FFL and when he lifted the box cover, I was greatly surprised to have the complete cleaning kit, 1 mag with gun, 4 extra mags in pigskin pouch (pouch was moldy but I like that authenticity touch and the pigskin still has that OLD leather smell), a virtually perfect bayonet with the smooth surface leather scabbard circa 1969 (the numbers on the bayonet were EARLY production and it's a 9.5 out of 10 bayonet; the scabbard showed signs of a bored soldier with bayonet pokes on the tip, "Civil Zima 2004 69" " was inked on the inside belt hoop (believe it's 04/20/69"). There was even oil in the canister tool too. The magazines were ALL in excellent condition. 2 of them had wear from the pigskin pouch cover, (as evident on the skin), but the other 3 had no such wear. But even with the small wearing on the bottom corners of the 2 mags, they still look new elsewhere. All 5 look great, and 3 of 5 have really stiff springs, whereas the other 2 seem a little more broken in. Also received a near perfect rifle sling, with minimal wear and very light leather with green strap. As far as the extras go, I hit pay dirt. So right off the bat there was easily $120 worth of historical extras I didn't think I was going to be getting. The Good, Bad, and Ugly The gun itself looked OK for the most part. No real scratches or visible defects with exception being the front sight hoop. It has a noticeable "bump", as if it were struck on something. But this appears to be pre-paint damage as there is no scuffing of the surface, so minus 1 star from Century for ignoring a visible defect. The rear sight is sorta cheap. After oiling the button, I was able to adjust elevation easily, BUT the side to side tolerances aren't great, meaning it's possible it might be a little askew if hastily adjusted, leading to accuracy inconsistencies. The bolt cycles, but hangs slightly midway if cycled slowly (no ammo being cycled). Dunno if that's normal or not, but it's there. It might need oiled on the rails or inspected further for surface roughness. None of the "buttons" were oiled. So, I had to oil the folding stock, upper hand guard, rear cover, and bayonet "buttons" to make everything either work or move as they were near frozen, but NO rust thankfully. After the top hand guard was removed and the block and rear cover were out, I pulled the gas piston and removed it's spring. Then reinserted the piston without the spring and manually worked it while rotating the piston. I discovered that it was "catching" in one position rather badly. So, if it were a clock, it'd always catch in the 10 o'clock spot. Took a gunsmith stone to it and worked the outer surface coating off (not chrome, so I doubt it's surplus) by putting the spring end into a hand drill and uniformly spinning the outer surface off the piston ends as I was thinking the rod was bent. It still "hung" in the same spot, but after working back and forth, it scuffed the polished surface from the stone and I could clearly see high spots (both piston landings) and a TINY imperfection indent in the second, thinner landing. The final ring guide surface that's seated near the spring, was also rubbing and causing friction. I was able to essentially "lathe" a few thousandths off everything to correct this, but this serious defect shouldn't be in a production gun. I'll eventually get a chrome plated "real" VZ58 counterpart for $30, but for now it at least works and I shouldn't have to worry about failed casing ejections or worse broken piston rod. So that's definitely a star removal. I also leveled the mating surface of the piston top to make sure it seated correctly. I suggest a gunsmith inspection and fix as opposed to DIY. Or just save the hassle and get a chechpoint part (assuming they'll fit). All 5 of the magazines wobble a bit, but with NO wear on the mags I'm not suspecting mag faults. Seems the receiver was machined a bit on the "loose" side for some reason. Either live with it or shim. If manually working the bolt slowly, gotta watch you don't scrape fingers against rear sight as the nub is rather short. Looks like a competent welder could move the nub to the opposite side or lengthen slightly. Overall though, I like the gun, and figure I paid in the high $300 range for a very light, 30 round 7.62x39 rifle (with folding stock no less and non-welded muzzle break) with a $120 worth of extras that'll make a good plinking rifle for a fraction of the "real" thing, that I can customize and still have less in it than outright price of an import. It's set up for a lefty, which makes dropping the mag or selecting safety lever left-handed easy. It's also a cheap platform that readily accepts aftermarket rails, grips, lights, sights, ACOG, etc. Aftermarket sights are probably a good idea for best accuracy. ** I strongly suggest inspecting this gun thoroughly BEFORE going to the range with it. Any peculiarities (like the badly cast piston in mine) need to be squared away before shooting. There was virtually NO oil on anything, so find out what needs oiled too. Another oddity was there was NO literature with the gun. No warnings, no advice, no handling instructions, NOTHING. Other than what's stamped on the receiver, that's the only thing "written" anywhere. So please, buy with some caution and don't be the "I opened the box and went straight to the range with it without oiling or inspecting guy".

I understand Centuries can be a hit or miss but I have heard you get better odds with the VZ58 and so I decided to pick one up. Buds was great and my VZ58 has performed flawlessly so far. 120 rounds of steel case(have not tries brass) and has ran perfect. Bolt hold open works and I have found the trigger at least on mine seems to be better then most people say. Could hit steel at 50 or 100 yards easily with the iron sights. The mags are a pain to find and the add ons are a tad pricey but it is the best 7.62x39 I have shot.

Despite Centuries hit or miss reputation, I decided to give them a shot on the build. When I went to pickup the riffle at my FFL, I noticed a small crack on the rear of the receiver cover, which as a bad start. I decided to accept the transfer anyway, knowing I could buy an original receiver cover is much better shape for about $20. Went home, tested it out...no trigger issues like the ones commonly reported. Things were looking OK. I proceeding with basic field strip, and took my time cleaning the firearm properly, noting tons of filth everywhere. Barrel took a long time to clean, countless patches were black. I noticed the recover cover was difficult to remove, (yes I pulled the trigger first to relax the springs) After about 2 hours of CLP work, firearm reassembled. Trigger functioned and all seemed well. Later that night trigger was failing on-and off. I found setting the by setting the safely on and off and cocking, The trigger worked again. I haven't fired it yet. Today I took it out to check it out. 2 days ago when I put it away the trigger was working. Today trigger fails no matter what I do. I also can't field strip since trigger doesn't work. I now strongly regret this recent purchase. Century is a local company for me, only 5 miles from where I live. I wanted to give them a chance. I would not again. I'm no gunsmith, but having an engineering background, I know how this firearm works. I would have been better off doing a quality build myself and having a gunsmith check my work. While Century is in my neighborhood if they were willing to help I understand the average turnaround is 6 weeks. I'm at the point where I may just use the thing for parts and built do a built I know will be reliable, rather than wait forever to get my new riffle back. Given the circumstances I can't recommend this product, I'm taking a loss on this one, but would risk a CIA build again. It seemed like a good deal, but not worth the frustration of a firearm that doesn't fire. I know others have reported good experiences. Add me to the list of CIA failures, and I hate having to say that about a local company I would have proudly supported.

What a cool rifle! Just received my VZ and she is flawless mag looks almost new sling is new w the Czech crossed swords and date stamp of 1972. Bayo looks great along with the cleaning kit. Fast shipping as always and I couldn't be any happier with my purchase...I will def be back as buds is great to deal with :-)

Great buy overall for the money. The rifle came with a sling, bayonet, an un-issued cleaning kit and one VZ58 magazine. I'd recommend cleaning/lubricating the rifle before use. Ive currently run 10 mags (300 rounds) without ANY kind of malfunction. Only thing needed was an AK sight tool to adjust the front post for elevation. Best 5 rnd group was 2.5 MOA @ 100 yards with Red Army Standard 7.62x39 Thats pretty good for an iron sighted battle rifle. Be aware that if you run back to back mags through it the foregrip will get HOT! You can also wrap the side folding stock with paracord to improve comfort and cheek weld. Overall a great rifle for a good price.

Excellent rifle! Lighter and more compact than an AK. The whole rifle feels nice and tight when firing. The mags load and insert easily, and the bolt hold open is a nice feature, and I plan on installing a bolt release lever. Fit and finish is excellent. This rifle makes my wasr 10 feel like $100 rifle. Everyone that sees the rifle asks about it. I paid with ACH payment and it drove me nuts waiting for the funds to clear, next time ill use a card. I am very happy with my purchase and plan to go through buds again. Now its time to find more mags and ammo.

Got it fast- as is the Bud's norm. Took it home, stripped and cleaned the gun. Easier than just about anything- two retained pins and done. Took this bad boy out to the range and could hit plate standing all day at 25 and 50 yards shooting fast. Ate cheap steal cased ammo the whole time. Get one. It'll do anything you could ask of a 7.62x39. Champ little rifle.