52 was originally called the ZB 501,[3] and was designed by Václav Holek.

[4] It is gas-operated and uses a tilting bolt that locks into the roof of the receiver.

Its overall action is based on the Czech ZB-26 light machine gun.

[4] Its compact and light lever-type feeding system was based on the ZB-53 and was later copied in UK vz.

52 cartridge, but in the mid-1950s it was converted to the standard 7.62×39mm Warsaw Pact round by Jaroslav Myslík, and named the vz.