How To Date A Vz-24

This article is about the bolt-action burglarize. For the semi-automatic pistol, run into Pistole vz. 24.

Bolt-action rifle

Vz. 24
Type	Bolt-action rifle
Place of origin	Czechoslovakia
Service history
Used by	Come across Users
Wars	Constitutionalist Revolution Chaco State of war Ecuadorian–Peruvian War Castilian Civil War Second Sino-Japanese State of war World War II Chinese Civil War Biafran War and others
Product history
Designed	1924
Manufacturer	Zbrojovka Brno
Produced	1924–1942
Specifications
Mass	4.2 kg (9.2 lb)
Length	1,100 mm (43.3 in)
Barrel length	590 mm (23.23 in)
Cartridge	seven.92×57mm Mauser, 7×57mm Mauser, 7.65×53mm Argentine
Activity	Commodities-activity
Feed system	5-round internal box magazine, two-row, integral box, with detachable floorplate
Sights	Iron sights

The vz. 24 rifle is a commodities-action carbine designed and produced in Czechoslovakia from 1924 to 1942. It was developed from the German Mauser Gewehr 98 line, and features a very similar bolt design. The rifle was designed in Czechoslovakia before long after Globe War I, to supersede the Vz. 98/22, also a Czech-designed derivative of the Gewehr 98. The vz. 24 featured a 590 mm (23.2 in) butt which was shorter and considered more handy than the 740 mm (29.ane in) Gewehr 98 butt. The vz. 24 was chambered in vii.92×57mm Mauser like its predecessors.

Throughout the late 1920s and into the 1930s, Czechoslovakia exported hundreds of thousands of vz. 24 rifles to various countries across the globe, with variants chambered in the original 7.92×57mm Mauser, 7×57mm Mauser, and 7.65×53mm Argentine. These included contracts for several South American countries, nearly of which were 7 mm or 7.65 mm guns. Around 40,000 rifles were sent to Spanish Republican forces during the Castilian Civil War. Nearly 200,000 rifles were purchased by China, seeing action in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which became part of Earth War II. Iran purchased vz. 24 rifles, forth with two other variants, through the late 1920s and 1930s, and subsequently produced their own copies in the tardily 1940s.

Germany acquired hundreds of thousands of the rifles in 1939 when they occupied Czechoslovakia and pressed them into service under the designation "Gewehr 24(t)"; during the occupation, production of the rifles continued until 1942, when the factories were converted to the German-designed Karabiner 98k. During this menstruation, several hundred thousand rifles were also congenital for the Romanian Ground forces. Vz. 24 rifles saw extensive service during World War II in multiple theaters, predominantly with the German and Romanian armies on the Eastern Front. Lithuanian vz. 24s, which had been captured during the German language invasion in 1941, were later seized past Soviet forces, who in turn used them to arm the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Development and service with the Czechoslovak Army [edit]

After World State of war I, the Austro-hungarian empire was dismantled; 1 of the new states to emerge from the ruins of the Habsburg Monarchy was Czechoslovakia. The new state received control of the Skoda manufacturing plant in Brno, which was renamed the Brno Arms Works in November 1918. The following yr, the factory began producing the first short rifles based on the German Gewehr 98 design, the Mauser Jelená. At least 150 of the rifles were chambered in 7mm Mauser, with at least as many also chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser.^{[1] [ii]} The original Gewehr 98 rifle featured a barrel that was 740 mm (29 in) long, which proved to be likewise long and cumbersome in the trench fighting of World War I.^[iii] Still, Brno developed the long vz. 98/22 in 1922 from the basic Gewehr 98 blueprint, with a 740 mm (29.13 in) long barrel, along with a vz. 98/22 Brusk Rifle variant, though it did not see meaning production.^{[1] [2]}

Starting in 1923, Brno decided to develop a rifle based on the German language Karabiner 98AZ, a shortened version of the Gewehr 98 with a 590 mm (23.23 in) barrel. This resulted in the vz. 23, a burglarize with a 550 mm (21.5 in) long barrel that was initially produced with parts cannibalized from other rifles. The design was further refined into the vz. 23A, which consisted of newly manufactured components. Further refinements produced the vz. 24, which entered production in 1924. That year, Brno Arms Works, which had been controlled by the Czechoslovak authorities, was privatized to encourage export sales.^{[iv] [ii]}

The vz.24 became the primary rifle of the Czechoslovak Regular army before World War II. Information technology resembled the High german Karabiner 98k, which information technology predated by more than a decade. Different the K98k, the vz. 24 has a longer tiptop handguard, and it retains a directly bolt handle.^[v] Between 1924 and 1938, Czechoslovakia manufactured more 775,600 rifles, with the first rifles entering service in 1926. The final order was placed in July 1938, every bit tensions escalated with Nazi Germany over the Sudeten Germans. Following the High german occupation of Czechoslovakia, production continued for the Slovak Republic (a Nazi client state). The exact number of rifles manufactured between 1938 and 1939 is unknown, merely may exist less than 10,000, based on series numbers of surviving rifles.^[six]

Description [edit]

The vz. 24 was a bolt-action pattern based on the Mauser action, featuring a directly bolt handle. The rifle'south barrel, which was 590 millimeters (23.23 in) long, featured four-groove rifling with a right-hand twist. Overall, the rifle was 1,100 mm (43.3 in) long, and it weighed 4.2 kilograms (9.2 lb). The primary chambering was for 7.92×57mm Mauser, but export variants were also chambered for 7×57mm Mauser and seven.65×53mm Argentine. Ammunition was stored in a five-round, fixed, internal magazine that fit affluent with the bottom of the stock, which was fed with stripper clips. The rifles were fitted with tangent rear sights that were graduated in 50-meter (55 yd) increments, up to a maximum range of two,000 one thousand (2,187 yd).^[7] The front sight blade was fitted with a protector to prevent information technology from being damaged.^[viii]

The rifle's stock featured a semi-pistol grip and an upper manus guard that extended from the frontward receiver band to the frontward barrel ring. Sling swivels were placed on the bottom rear of the butt and the left side of the grip and on the rear barrel band. Grasping grooves were placed but forward of the recoil lug to aid in handling the rifle. A cleaning rod was stored in the stock under the barrel.^[five]

• 

  Receiver of a Romanian-contract vz. 24

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  Tangent rear sight

• 

  Front sight

Export and foreign combat employment [edit]

Many South American countries purchased the vz. 24 rifle in various calibers. Betwixt 1928 and 1938, the Bolivian Army purchased 101,000 vz. 24 rifles, which were chambered in 7.65×53mm Argentine. These rifles were used against Paraguay during the Chaco War in the 1930s,^[9] and many of them were captured past the Paraguayan Ground forces, which in turn used them confronting Bolivia.^[8] Colombia ordered 10,000 rifles between 1929 and 1937 and Venezuela purchased an unknown number of rifles in 1930; both countries' rifles were chambered in 7 mm.^[x] In 1932, Brazilian revolutionaries ordered 15,000 rifles, which were built with bent bolt handles.^[11] Peru ordered 5,000 rifles chambered in 7 mm in 1934, and Ecuador purchased 30,000 rifles in seven.92 mm in 1936. Guatemala and El salvador ordered four,000 and 300 7.92 mm rifles in 1937, respectively, and Nicaragua purchased 1,000 7 mm rifles that twelvemonth. Also in 1937, Uruguay ordered 6,000 rifles in 7 mm, of which two,000 were vz. 32/Modelo 1932 variants, which were essentially lightened vz. 24s.^[12]

Several European countries as well acquired the rifle, all in the 7.92 mm caliber. The Lithuanian Army acquired the vz. 24 in the 1930s, and many of these rifles were captured by German forces during Operation Barbarossa before falling into the hands of the Soviet Army later in the war. Some of these rifles were then sent to Vietnam to arm the Viet Cong, and some were captured a third time by American forces during the Vietnam State of war.^[thirteen] Yugoslavia purchased 40,000 rifles in 1926, all of which came from Czechoslovak Regular army stockpiles, and a further x,000+ between 1928 and 1930.^[six] These rifles saw action during World War II during the German invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, equally well every bit during the Partisans' insurgency against the German occupation.^[8] In 1935, Republic of latvia traded surplus No. 1 Mk. III Lee–Enfield rifles for xv,000 vz. 24s; Brno Arms Works in plow sold the Lee–Enfields to Iraq.^[14] During Earth State of war Ii, Latvian resistance fighters employed the vz. 24s that had been ordered past the Latvian Regular army against the German occupation forces.^[15]

The vz. 24 as well saw action in the Castilian Ceremonious War by the Catalan Republican troops. Nearly 40,000 vz. 24s were bought by the Soviet Union from Czechoslovakia to be sent to the Castilian Civil State of war. The vz. 24s were shipped from Murmansk on 1 March 1938, forth with other material (T-26 tanks and 76 mm French field artillery). The French freighter Gravelines, which carried all the material, managed to get the weapons to Bordeaux from where they were sent past land across the border to Catalonia. Despite arriving tardily in the war, the vz. 24 was used in Catalonia and the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula and saw activeness in the Boxing of the Ebro, where the vz. 24 showed skillful results despite the Francoist-Nationalist victory. Subsequently the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic, Generalissimo Francisco Franco kept the rifles that survived the battle until 1959, when they were sold to Interarms.^[8]

Starting in 1927, the Chinese Nationalist government began ordering rifles, and by 1937 had purchased 195,000 vz. 24s.^[12] They saw activeness during the 2d Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s and many of these rifles were captured past Japanese forces. They were then used to arm 5 infantry divisions stationed in China^[16] also equally the Collaborationist Chinese Army.^[17] After the state of war, Japan surrendered the rifles to China, which were then issued to Nationalist forces for utilize during the Chinese Civil War.^[18] China manufactured a re-create of the vz. 24 that featured a shorter barrel and a side folding bayonet.^[19] Some of these rifles were captured by the People'southward Liberation Army and used in Korea.^[20] Nihon also ordered forty,000 rifles for the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1938.^[12]

Afterward World War II, rifles from Czechoslovakia were sent to Iraq.^[21] In 1967, the secessionist state of Biafra ordered diverse weapons from Czechoslovakia, including 1,860 vz. 24 rifles.^[22]

German G24(t) [edit]

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the Germans took existing stocks of the vz.24 into service under the designation Gewehr 24(t) ('t' being the national origin designator tschechoslowakisch, the German discussion for "Czechoslovak"; such national origin designators were High german do for all strange weapons taken into service). The G24(t) rifles manufactured after the German occupation were completed to a modified pattern to adhere to German standards. This included changes to the butt stock, with slots cut to fit High german slings and the installation of the disc and hollow rod assembly that allowed soldiers to disassemble their bolts.^[23] Brno continued product of the rifle, which progressively gained some K98k features as stocks of pre-war components were used up.^{[24] [25]} The original flat barrel plate was replaced with the cupped barrel plate of the K98k type, and the walnut stocks were replaced with easier to produce laminate versions.^[23]

In 1942, the production line at the Považská Bystrica plant was converted entirely to edifice K98k rifles and the main plant in Brno was similarly converted the post-obit year.^{[24] [25]} Over the form of 1941 and 1942, a total between 255,000^[6] and 330,000 G24(t) rifles were built before production switched over to the K98ks. The G24(t) rifles did non receive the old Czechoslovak stampings, and instead only bore standard army proof marks and Waffenamt inspection codes.^[26]

Romanian vz. 24s [edit]

Romanaian-contract vz. 24 showing the serial number prefaced with the "XR" lawmaking

In the late 1920s and early on 1930s, the Romanian Army decided to adopt the vz. 24 burglarize equally its standard infantry rifle, though information technology had not acquired enough weapons to fully arm its troops by the fourth dimension the state entered World War II in 1941.^[27] The showtime orders for the vz. 24 rifles were placed in 1938 after the German language invasion. Romanian-contract vz. 24s have a two-alphabetic character prefix at the start of the serial number, the beginning letter being variable and the second "R" to designate Romania. Each initial letter denotes manufacturing blocks of 25,000 rifles. Romanian vz. 24s "AR", "BR", "CR" through "Twelvemonth" correspond different periods of manufacturing, though several blocks have not been reported, including "IR", "JR", "KR", "MR", "NR", "QR", "VR", and "ZR". Over the course of the contract, the Czechs manufactured between 400,000 and 750,000 Romanaian vz. 24s. The get-go two years of production included royal crests for the King of Romania, though rifles built from 1940 onward do not feature crests, and many of the surviving early rifles take had their crests ground off.^[14] By mid-1943, 445,640 rifles had been received by the Romanian Ground forces.^[28]

Romania was part of the Axis for much of World War II, from 1941 to 1944. Romanaian vz. 24s saw activeness in Ukraine, Bessarabia, and in particularly heavy fighting during the Battle of Stalingrad. It was non until 1944, after significant defeats at the hands of the Soviet Ruby-red Ground forces, that Romania joined the Allies.^[29]

Iranian Brno [edit]

In 1929, Iran ordered 30,000 vz. 24 rifles chambered in vii.92 mm, all of which came from Czechoslovak Army stocks. A further order for 240,000 rifles was placed in 1930, though these were for the vz.98/29 variant with a longer barrel; another gild for 30,000 vz. 98/29 "musketon" rifles was placed at the same fourth dimension.^[12] Like several other countries' orders, the initial contract for the 30,000 vz. 24s came from Czechoslovak Army stocks, while the later orders for the vz. 98/29 variants were new production guns. The total order was non completed earlier Czechoslovakia was conquered by Germany. The "musketon" rifles were designated as the Model 30 carbine, and in the late 1940s, Czechoslovakia assisted the Iranians with setting up a factory to manufacture their ain license-built copies, the Model 49 carbine.^[30]

The rifles, which were referred to as "Brnos" or "Bernos", after their city of industry, proved to be prized past Islamic republic of iran's various tribal groups, which oftentimes rebelled against the government of the Shah. After Reza Shah was deposed in 1941 by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Islamic republic of iran, significant numbers of the rifles fell into the hands of tribal rebels, and they were used in tribal conflicts throughout the 1950s.^[31] During the Anglo-Soviet occupation, the Soviets seized and distributed ten,000 of the Brnos to Kurdish tribes in western Islamic republic of iran, which they also helped to train. The Kurdish force proved to be the basis of the Peshmerga.^[32]

Users [edit]

See besides [edit]

• vz. 33 rifle
• M24 series
• Listing of mutual World War 2 infantry weapons
• Weapons of Czechoslovakia interwar period

Footnotes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} Ball, pp. 111–112
2. ^ ^{a b c} Walter, p. 319
3. ^ Grant, p. 19
4. ^ Ball, pp. 113, 115–116
5. ^ ^{a b} Ball, pp. 115–116
6. ^ ^{a b c d east f g} Ball, p. 121
7. ^ Brawl, p. 118
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Ball, p. 116
9. ^ Ball, pp. 57, 59
10. ^ Ball, pp. 105, 123
11. ^ Brawl, pp. 68–69
12. ^ ^{a b c d eastward f g h i j chiliad l m northward o p} Ball, p. 123
13. ^ ^{a b} Ball, pp. 116, 118
14. ^ ^{a b c d eastward f grand h i} Brawl, p. 122
15. ^ Brawl, p. 246
16. ^ Brawl, pp. 81–82
17. ^ Jowett 2004, p. 71
18. ^ Ball, p. 93
19. ^ Ball, p. 99
20. ^ Smith, p. 295
21. ^ ^{a b} Ball, p. 242
22. ^ ^{a b} Jowett 2016, p. 22
23. ^ ^{a b} Ball, pp. 226–227
24. ^ ^{a b} Grant, p. 61
25. ^ ^{a b} Law, p. 179
26. ^ Walter, p. 315
27. ^ Ball, p. 305
28. ^ Axworthy, p. 29
29. ^ Zabecki, p. 638
30. ^ Ball, pp. 282–286
31. ^ Khosronejad, p. 212
32. ^ Koohi-Kamali, p. 111

References [edit]

• Axworthy, Marking (1995). 3rd Axis, Fourth Marry: Romanian War machine in the European War, 1941–1945. London: Arms and Armour.
• Ball, Robert West. D. (2011). Mauser War machine Rifles of the World. Iola: Gun Digest Books. ISBN9781440228926.
• Grant, Neil (2015). Mauser Military Rifles. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN9781472805966.
• Jowett, Philip S. (2016). Mod African Wars (5): The Nigerian-Biafran War 1967–seventy. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Press. ISBN978-1472816092.
• Jowett, Philip S. (2004). Rays of the Rise Sun: Armed forces of Nippon's Asian Allies 1931–45: Volume 1: China and Manchukuo. Helion & Visitor Express. ISBN9781906033781.
• Khosronejad, Pedram (2011). Art and Material Civilization of Iranian Shi'ism: Iconography and Religious Devotion in Shi'i Islam. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN9780857720658.
• Koohi-Kamali, Farideh (2003). The Political Development of the Kurds in Islamic republic of iran: Pastoral Nationalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN9780230535725.
• Law, Richard D. (1993). Backbone of the Wehrmacht: The German K98k Burglarize, 1934–1945. Cobourg: Collector Course Publications. ISBN0889351392.
• Smith, Joseph E. (1969). Small Arms of the Earth (11 ed.). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Stackpole Company.
• Walter, John (2006). Rifles of the Earth. Iola: Krause Publications. ISBN9780896892415.
• Zabecki, David T. (1999). Globe War Two in Europe: An Encyclopedia. Military History of the United States. Vol. six. Abdington-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN9780824070298.

External links [edit]

• Rifle model 24 (puška vz. 24) photogallery

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vz._24

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