CZ-52 Firing Pins

The Czech CZ-52 is well-designed and represents the relatively high quality of Czech metalworking and construction. The design and the powerful cartridge — achieving 1450-1900 f.p.s. with an 85-grain bullet — makes it accurate and effective at 100 yards and beyond. The guns themselves and surplus ammunition are readily available and inexpensive.

Unfortunately, the original design had two drawbacks related to the firing pin design.

First, the original military design calls for a very heavy military-style trigger pull. This lowers accuracy and makes the pistol less fun at the target range.

Second, the original CZ-52 pistol firing pins frequently break.

Here you see three firing pins made to the original CZ-52 design. The replacement one at top is still serviceable, but the other two have broken and missing noses.

The original pins were actually cast, an unusual (and not very reliable!) method for manufacturing firing pins.

CZ-52 original firing pins, two with broken and missing noses.

Original CZ-52 firing pins, two with broken and missing noses

CZ-52 original firing pins, two with broken and missing noses.

Original CZ-52 firing pins, two with broken and missing noses

On top of that, they were made of relatively weak steel.

Dry-firing quickly work-hardens the thin noses of the original CZ-52 firing pins, and the nose can break off after just a few rounds of dry firing.

As you can see here, the pin tends to break right above the rounded fillet at the flat shoulder.

CZ-52 original firing pins, two with broken tips.

Original CZ-52 firing pins, two with broken and missing noses

This is because that flat shoulder slams into the end of the roughly cylindrical firing pin cavity. The neck of the nose impacts the rim of the firing pin opening, as if to extrude the cast steel through the opening.

This quickly work-hardens the cast steel and makes it brittle, guaranteeing that the nose of the pin will break off after just a few rounds of dry-firing.

The original design could tolerate the compression of the nose when it impacts the primer while firing a live round, but dry-firing work-hardens and breaks the neck of the nose.

Harrington Products has come up with a series of products which will help your CZ-52 to achieve its full potential. We have re-engineered the firing pin design for the CZ-52, and we precision machine replacement pins from tool steel that we then harden. This virtually eliminates breakage.

Our design does not allow the nose of the firing pin to contact anything but the primer during firing. When dry-firing, the forward motion of the pin is stopped by a an added firing pin return spring. The firing pin nose is therefore immune to damage from dry-firing. We do recommend, however, that if you intend to dry fire the pistol for thousands of rounds that you remove the firing pin to prevent peening the rear of the pin.

Harrington Products firing pins for the CZ-52 and CZ-50/CZ-70.

Harrington Products firing pins. Top to bottom:
CZ-52-1 Original military design
CZ-52-2 Competition firing pin
CZ-52-3 Heavy competition firing pin
CZ-50/70-2 CZ-50/CZ-70 firing pin

Padded envelope for safely shipping small parts through the mail.

If you do need to return a part to us, please ship the part back to us in suitable packaging. Do not simply place the part in a standard envelope, as it will tear open and be lost in the USPS processing machines!

Use a padded mailing envelope or your part will be lost in the mail!

As an additional benefit, the design eliminates the heavy military trigger pull of the CZ-52 pistol. This "drop-in trigger job" results in a crisp trigger in the neighborhood of 3.5-4.0 pounds. If you would like to see what trigger pull results from our drop-in trigger enhancement of the CZ-52, simply remove the slide from your pistol and dry fire the lower receiver only. For the maximum benefit from our firing pin / trigger conversion, we recommend you also install a heavy Wolff recoil spring, 16.5 pound or heavier, available at gunsprings.com

All Harrington Products firing pins are machined from high impact tool steel and hardened to around 42 Rockwell. We are so confident in the quality of this product that we offer the following guarantee:

If the firing pin breaks, return it for a free replacement.

Click on any of the names or images below for further details on specific items, or add them to your shopping cart directly from this page.


CZ-52-1 Military-style firing pin with return spring.

CZ-52-1 Military Style Firing Pin with Return spring
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$30.00
In Stock

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Modified military-style firing pin machined to the original Česká Zbrojovka military design from quality steel and hardened, with firing pin return spring.

Installs just like the factory firing pin, click here for installation instructions. Eliminates firing pin tip breakage while preserving original military trigger pull weight.


CZ-52-2 Competition firing pin and trigger enhancement, with return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring.

CZ-52-2 Competition Firing Pin and Trigger Enhancement
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$45.00
In Stock

Click Add to Cart to shop on-line and then pay with credit card or via PayPal. Or call us at +1-765-589-9112 to order by phone with a credit card.

Firing pin, firing pin return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring. Drastically reduces trigger pull weight and eliminates firing pin tip breakage.

Installs in a stock CZ-52 slide in seconds, click here for installation instructions. No modification to factory trigger parts. This product will be the best for most users firing factory ammunition.

Installing the CZ-52-2 may require modifying the extractor on some pistols. The factory extractor may be modified with a flat or circular file, or see our replacement extractors.


CZ-52-3 Heavy Competition firing pin and trigger enhancement, with return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring.

CZ-52-3 Heavy Competition Firing Pin and Trigger Enhancement
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$45.00
In Stock

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Firing pin, firing pin return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring. Similar to the CZ-52-2 above, but with a much heavier firing pin return spring and corresponding design change in the pin itself.

Drastically reduces trigger pull weight and eliminates firing pin tip breakage.

Installs in a stock CZ-52 slide in seconds, click here for installation instructions. No modification to factory trigger parts.

Installing the CZ-52-3 may require modifying the extractor on some pistols. The factory extractor may be modified with a flat or circular file, or see our replacement extractors.

Some pistols with extremely heavy recoil springs over 16.5 pounds and firing strong hand loaded cartridges may benefit from a heavy firing pin recoil spring.


CZ-50/70-2 Competition firing pin and trigger enhancement, with return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring.

CZ-50/70-2 Competition Firing Pin and Trigger Enhancement
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$45.00
In Stock

Click Add to Cart to shop on-line and then pay with credit card or via PayPal. Or call us at +1-765-589-9112 to order by phone with a credit card.

Firing pin, firing pin return spring, firing pin detent, and firing pin detent spring for the CZ-50/70 pistol. Drastically reduces trigger pull weight and eliminates firing pin tip breakage.

Installs in a stock CZ-50/70 slide in seconds, click here for installation instructions. No modification to factory trigger parts.

Installing the CZ-50/70-2 may require modifying the extractor on some pistols. The factory extractor may be modified with a flat or circular file, or see our replacement extractors.