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MG 27 Experimental Machinegun

Heinrich Vollmer (1885-1961) was one of the most prominent figures of the German design school and his established weapons include the German MP 38 and 40 submachine gun, as well as the MG 34 machine gun. In the 1920s, he owned the Vollmer Werke Maschinenfabrik in Bibberach am Riss, where he developed automatic infantry weapons, especially submachine guns. It was here that the prototype of the air-cooled machine gun, later known as the MG 27, was developed in the early 1920s.

The function of the weapon was based on the principle of a locked breech with a short recoil of the barrel. The breech was locked by a pivoting bolt, which was guided in helical grooves in the bolt carrier. A drum magazine with a capacity of 30 rounds was used to feed the weapon. Apart from the letters and the numeral V.G. 4a stamped on the top of the bolt housing cover, the specimen bears no company description. The marking is probably an abbreviation of the words Versuchs Gewehr 4a, i.e. experimental rifle. To date, only two examples of this weapon have survived in collections. One of them was acquired by the museum in 1994 by transfer from Prototypy, a. s.

Calibre: 7,92 mm Mauser

Overall length 1550 mm

Barrel length 717 mm

Intentional length 797 mm

Magazine capacity 30 rounds

Weight of weapon with empty magazine 11.48 kg

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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ZK 423 light machine gun

The shortened 7.92 x 33 mm cartridge developed by the German company Polte in Magdeburg opened the way to a new concept of infantry weapons and created the basis for a number of other cartridges in the category of medium ballistic performance. However, Polte was not the first to come up with a similar concept. As early as the mid-1920s, cartridges whose performance lay between pistol and rifle cartridges were being developed in Switzerland. With the German MKb 42 (W) and MKb 42 (H) carbines, the way was opened for the further development of weapons of medium ballistic performance that allowed an individual to conduct effective automatic fire at ranges up to 600 meters.

On the initiative of the Waffen Akademie SS, the design bureau of Zbrojovka Brno, under the direction of Josef Koucký, developed a small automatic weapon designated ZK 423-II, chambered for 7.92 x 33 mm cartridges. Like the German types, it was called Maschinenkarabiner (= machine carbine), but in reality it was a small type of light machine gun, fed from the left side by a 50-round belt. It operated on the principle of a locked breech with the barrel taking the gas pressure from the barrel and the breech locked by a rotating bolt head. Like many machine guns, the gun fired from an open bolt, so that the bolt remained locked in the rear position before firing. A latch on the left side of the receiver was used to quickly change the barrel, but the barrel did not have a transport handle to prevent contact with a hot surface during removal. The theoretical cadence of the machine gun was 650 rounds per minute. The weapon's concept was quite unusual in its time, in conjunction with the "medium" cartridge, a solution not yet applied.

The Waffen Akademie SS apparently ordered six prototypes from the armoury in late 1942, which were completed in September 1943, but functional tests necessitated a series of reconstructive modifications that extended into December 1943. It is more than likely that in the following period interest from the contracting authority waned due to other, more pressing tasks. The samples produced did reach the factory at the end of the war, but they did not survive it. In the whirlwind of revolutionary events, they disappeared from the factory, and even a search for their fate yielded no information.

As the MNO was interested in testing the weapon of this concept, the armoury issued an internal order in the second half of the year for the production of three units according to the surviving production documentation. In contrast to the original weapon, the new machine gun had a breech-loading drum magazine into which a coiled 50-round cartridge belt was inserted. The MNO also envisaged using the weapon to test the newly developed 7.62 mm 'medium' cartridge, but this did not happen later. The samples produced thus met a fate similar to that of many other weapons: the factory demonstrated them to various military missions and alternatively offered them abroad with the understanding that it was willing to prepare their serial production in case of serious interest. However, this never happened.

The museum acquired the model in 1994 by transferring it from Prototypy Brno, a. s.

Technical data:

Calibre: 7,92 x 33 mm

Total length: 950 mm

Barrel length: 400 mm

Intentional length: 411 mm

Weight: 4750 g

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MG 35/36 Knorr-Bremse light machine gun

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Swedish engineer Ivar Joseph Stäck (1887-1957), a captain in the Norwegian Artillery Regiment in the Reserves and in civilian life an employee of the Stockholm Patent Office, in collaboration with the artillery captain Torsten Lindfors, designed a model of a light, air-cooled machine gun with a rapidly detachable barrel, designated LH 33. The rather bizarre-looking weapon was later successfully introduced into the Swedish arsenal under the designation Kulsprutegevär m/40 and was produced by Industri AB Svenska Automatvapen (SAV) for the Home Guard in 1940-1943. The history of the improved version of the original Swedish design, which bore the designation LH 35 and later LH 36, is considerably more obscure to this day.

In 1933, Hans Lauf, the then director of the Magdeburg Werzeugmaschinenfabrik AG (tool factory), established a collaboration with Ivar Stäck that resulted in an improved machine gun design with a simplified bolt mechanism. Lauf's design was filed for patent protection in Sweden in November 1933, and patent applications by Ivar Stäck and Axel Lindorfs date from the same period.

In 1935, the Magdeburg plant was bought by the Junkers Flugzeug-und Motor Werke AG aircraft factory and Hans Lauf became the director of Knorr-Bremse AG in Berlin-Lichtenberg, which was primarily involved in the development and production of air brakes for trains. Wendelin Przykalla, a Polish-born engineer, was also involved in the development of the light machine gun at Knorr and perfected the design of the expansion sleeve, for which he was granted a patent in August 1939.

The further history of the machine gun, supposedly introduced into the German arsenal under the designation MG 35/36, is burdened with many uncertainties, and the lack of facts opens up room for conjecture and speculation. Only indirect sources of information indicate that the Austrian armaments factory in Steyr (Waffenfabrik Steyr) received an order in 1939 for the production of 500 MG 35/36 machine guns, which were to be allocated to SS-Totenkopfverbände units for military trials. The SS's interest in the Lauf weapon is mainly explained by the fact that the Ordnance Office's order for MG 34 light machine guns favoured the Reichswehr, i.e. Wehrmacht, units.

From the surviving correspondence of the chief of staff of the Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, researchers have obtained information that the arms factory in Styr completed the ordered batch of machine guns in January 1940, but their further fate is very unclear. What is equally astonishing, however, is the fact that of the 500 pieces produced, only about ten have survived to this day. Their four-digit serial numbers exceed the span of the 500-piece batch, and none of the known surviving machine guns bears the acceptance mark of the Ordnance Office, only a civilian test mark, albeit in the shape of the Reich eagle, introduced in April 1940.

The Knorr-Bremse operated on the principle of a locked breech with gas pressure extraction on the piston. The breech was locked by a hinged bolt, connected at the rear by a pivoting hinge (link) to the bolt carrier, which was connected to the piston in one piece. The cylinder striker fitted in the rear into a groove in the body of the bolt carrier, so that in the closing and locking phase of the bolt it moved with the carrier, and at the end of its movement the primer of the cartridge was initiated. The recoil spring, guided in the stock, was supported by a guide rod on the bolt carrier, the energy of the bolt mechanism was absorbed by a rubber buffer, placed in a housing above the recoil spring. To facilitate disassembly of the weapon, a pivoting bolt was located on the right side of the stock, allowing the guide of the recoil spring to be locked in a state where the spring was fully compressed in the stock.

Unlike other designs of the time, the Knorr-Bremse had a gas tube located above the barrel. The hinge of the folding, height-adjustable bipod was screwed completely loosely onto the gas tube. The relatively subtle barrel with a conical flame arrestor was held in the breech housing by an interrupted threaded nut, secured against rotation by a spring-loaded latch on the right side. A curved transport handle was used for carrying the machine gun and easy removal of the hot barrel. The expansion sleeve, located close to the muzzle, also served as a fly carrier.

The ejection window on the right side of the breech housing was covered by a rotatable metal cap, but the movement of the breech did not affect its position, so the shooter must not forget to turn the cap backwards before firing. The horizontally positioned magazine well also had a cap, which closed the space only when the magazine was removed. Although the 25-round clip corresponded in appearance and design to the magazine for the MG 13 machine gun, it was not interchangeable with it, although the available literature indicates this.

The design of the split tension grip with a horizontally positioned crank on the right side was not a progressive feature, if only because it was secured in the forward position by a difficult to compress safety. On the left side of the trigger guard, above the bow, there was a firing mode switch, combined with a safety, with positions marked with the letters S (Sicher), E (Einzellfeuer) and D (Dauerfeuer).

The specimen with number 3557 was acquired by the museum in 1947 by transfer from the Terezín Armoury.

Calibre: 7,92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 1285 mm

Barrel length: 588 mm (including flame arrestor: 653 mm)

Intentional length: 632 mm

Magazine capacity: 25 rounds

Weight of weapon without magazine: 10 336 g

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Czechoslovak aircraft machine gun vz. 30

The name of the Czech Ordnance Factory in Strakonice is mainly associated with the production of self-loading pistols, rather in the shadow of interest to this day remain air machine guns, which can be attributed primarily to the specific nature of the on-board armament, but also to the relatively low needs of the Czechoslovak interwar air force. Work on aviation armament had been carried out by the armoury since the early 1920s and its peak was the vz. 30 aviation machine gun in the form of a highly versatile weapon, usable in the full range of the needs of the air force of the time.

In 1924, the armory adapted samples of Lewis and Vickers machine guns from the original .303 British caliber to the established 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge. Although the factory produced accessories for both machine guns in the following years, it was not until 1928 that they were adapted to the new ammunition, when the MNO introduced both types into the armament of the Czechoslovak Air Force under the designation vz. 28 (Vickers) and vz. L/28 (Lewis).

Although these were weapons of two different systems, in terms of use they suited the needs of the time. Originally a heavy, water-cooled machine gun, the Vickers machine gun suited the role of an on-board weapon firmly attached to the airframe in terms of belt feeding, while the Lewis machine gun's disc magazine allowed easier handling on the air observer's machine gun ring. As of 1928, the MNO had 586 Model 28 machine guns and 731 Model 28/L machine guns.

The key idea of a single aviation machine gun with an exchangeable feeding device was born in Strakonice in 1927, when the Czech Armoury designers adapted the feeding mechanism of the disc magazine for the Vickers system machine gun. Its connection to the gun housing by two bolts allowed easy conversion to belt feeding. The design of the Vickers machine gun allowed for a higher cadence, which was closely related to the synchronised firing of the propeller circuit using a synchroniser.

The versatility of the design was also enhanced by the patent-protected belt-feeder design, which allowed the direction of belt feed to be changed to the left or right side by simply moving the arms in the feeder to the other side and turning the feed throat. No Maxim or Vickers machine gun at the time had a similar solution.

The loading device of the machine gun had undergone a number of improvements, the most important of which was the possibility of unloading the machine gun by means of the loading lever after a pause in firing without the shooter having to manipulate the cartridge belt or remove the magazine. The list of all modifications and improvements of the weapon would be very extensive, as the Czech Armoury designers were continuously improving the machine gun until 1938. Among the technical officials who were involved in the development of the air armament, let us mention especially ing. Sikyta, František Brejcha, Václav Zíbar, ing. Jaroslav Malina, Karel Ženíšek, Adolf Sýkora, Jaroslav Koska, ing. Šula, Rudolf Lacina and František Myška.

The first MNO order for 629 complete Model 30 aerial machine guns, including 63 sets of spare parts and other equipment, was received by the factory in May 1932 and its fulfilment kept it busy until April 1934. Before the armoury was able to fulfil it, the MNO Aviation Department ordered another 126 units including accessories in 1933 and at the end of March 1934 the factory received an order for 137 machine guns and 16 sets of spare parts. The military-political map of Europe was gradually taking on a completely different character; the threat from Germany after Adolf Hitler came to power proved to be a real threat. The protection of strategically important factories and the search for ways to relocate their production to the interior had occupied the MNO since 1934. In the case of the Czech Armaments Factory, whose factory in Strakonice was located relatively close to the border, the MNO sought the possibility of building a new plant in the area of Uherské Hradiště. The original intention of the MNO was to transfer all armaments production to Moravia and leave the other peacetime production programmes in Strakonice. However, this met with resistance from the management of the armaments factory, who were aware that the liquidation of the armaments production would lead to a substantial reduction of jobs in the Strakonice factory.

The MNO placed another order for 490 vz. 30 aerial machine guns with spare parts and made the building of a branch plant and the relocation of production a condition. The April 1935 order was also complicated by a change in the outlook of the military administration, which had been ordering universal machine guns from ČZ, i.e. complete kits enabling the weapon to be assembled into a pilot or observer configuration. On the basis of the permission of the head of the Artillery and Armaments Department of the Ministry of Defence of 1 December 1934, the armoury ordered all the material for the production of universal machine guns, but at the beginning of 1935 the Ministry of Defence changed the requirement to deliver only pilot versions, so that the armoury had to cancel the ordered material, but nevertheless it delivered 170 universal machine guns to the military administration, which were already in progress at that time, and it also obtained an extension of the delivery deadline until mid-December 1935. The same year, in May 1935, the Ministry of Defence issued a decree on the introduction of the vz. 30 aviation machine gun into the armament of the air force.

The Ordnance Factory received another large order in 1936, when the MNO ordered 356 vz. 30 machine guns including spare parts in February, followed by an order for 850 units in the pilot and 500 in the observer version in July. The machine guns from the second, so-called large MNO order were already being produced by the branch plant in Uherský Brod. In addition to complete weapons, the armoury filled smaller orders for shoulder rests, for tubular cartridge discharges, for pilot and observer sights, for inserts for training amplifiers and for disk magazine and cartridge belt fillers.

The work on the air armament culminated in 1938, when the MNO ordered first 610 pilot and 100 observation machine guns in April, then another 1,420 Model 30 machine guns with three million cartridge cells. In addition, the armoury produced 160 sets of machine-gun couplers for B-71 aircraft, 20 vz. 38 machine-gun couplers for A 304 aircraft, 19 sets of vz. 37/38 machine-gun couplers for MB 200 aircraft and 300 Samek vz. 32 synchronisation warheads.

The MNO did not manage to take over the last 1,420 vz. 30 machine guns ordered. By 15 March 1939, when the German occupation army occupied the rest of the republic, only 973 units had been taken over. In total, the armoury delivered 4,738 vz. 30 machine guns to our air force in 1932-1938, according to the orders mentioned above, but the MNO records as of the date of occupation showed 4,825 pieces (2,205 pilot and 1,660 observation machine guns in Bohemia and Moravia, 550 pilot and 410 observation machine guns vz. 30 remained in Slovakia).

The production of aircraft armament, either on the basis of army orders or for export, was still going on in Uherský Brod in 1941. In total, the Czech Ordnance Factory produced 6,484 vz. 30 machine guns at both plants, of which 784 were exported in various versions to Greece, Estonia and Persia (from 1935 Iran).

In its time, the air machine gun was a technically perfect, versatile weapon, which corresponded to the needs of the Czechoslovak Air Force at that time. However, the rapid development of aviation technology in the late 1930s was no longer enough.

The museum acquired the 1940 model in the observer version with belt feed and shoulder rest vz. 34 in 1953 by transfer from the 21st Airfield Battalion in Hradec Králové.

Calibre: 7,92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 1027 mm

Barrel length: 665 mm

Weight of weapon: g

Theoretical cadence: 900 rounds/min.

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Czechoslovak aircraft machine gun vz. L/28

During the First World War, the English, American, Belgian and Russian armies used Lewis light machine guns designed by Dr. Samuel Neal McClean (1857-1930) and Major Isaac Newton Lewis (1858-1931), with a characteristic duralumin star-shaped barrel cooler, housed in a steel casing, and a disc gravity magazine for 47 rounds. The special feature of the machine gun, which operated on the principle of a locked bolt with gas pressure extraction on the piston, was the atypical recoil mechanism, consisting of a spiral spring housed in a toothed rotating drum, the teeth of which operated the bolt carrier by a rack and pinion gear.

In addition to their ground use, Lewis machine guns proved very useful in arming aerial observers during the war. Here, however, the need for cooling the barrel by means of a large radiator cooler was eliminated, so that it was replaced by a wooden fore-arm protecting the gas tube under the barrel.

Lewis and Vickers machine guns formed the basis of the Czechoslovak Air Force armament in the 1920s. While the originally water-cooled Vickers heavy machine gun, due to its belt fed design, was suitable as a deck gun, rigidly attached to the airframe, the Lewis machine gun's disc magazine allowed for easier handling on the gunner's observer's circle.

The nature of the future Czechoslovak air armament was mainly influenced by the contingent of weapons imported by the Czechoslovak legions from Russia to their homeland during 1920. As far as machine guns were concerned, it was a varied composition, consisting of 390 Russian Maxim M. 1910 machine guns, 323 American Colt-Browning pattern 1895/1914 machine guns, 126 Japanese Hotchkiss machine guns, 130 French F.M. 1915 (Chauchat) light machine guns, but above all 533 pieces of English Lewis machine guns, which later formed the backbone of the Czechoslovak air force.

In 1921-1922, disputes arose over the imported material between the MNO Ordnance Department and the liquidation office of the foreign troops, which demanded to take them over against payment. The Ordnance Department considered them partly as war booty and partly as weapons purchased by the Czechoslovak state abroad and refused to pay for them again. In 1922, the MNO closed the dispute by buying only 687 Lewis machine guns, 54 English Vickers machine guns (in the version for the air force) and 53 Austrian and German infantry machine guns from the Financial Administration of the Russian Legions (FSRL), i.e. de facto from the Bank of the Czechoslovak Legions. The Lewis machine guns reached Tsarist Russia during the war under a contract from the Russian Purchasing Commission established in 1916, through which the Tsarist government ordered 10,000 of them from the English firm Birmingham Small Arms (B.S.A.) in January 1917, mostly in .303 British (7.7 x 56 R) calibre.

The South Bohemian, later Czech Armoury in Strakonice became in the interwar period the exclusive supplier of air armament for the MNO, in the 1930s it supplied the Czechoslovak Air Force with the universal machine guns vz. 30, used in many variations (pilot, pilot synchronized, double observer or in the modification for the protection of airfields). The beginnings of work on aviation armament can be traced back to 1921, when the armoury was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence to adapt 100 Lewis infantry machine guns to the aviation version. The adaptation consisted of removing the protective steel casing with a star-shaped duralumin radiator and replacing it with duralumin sleeves with a wooden forearm consisting of two parts fitted with longitudinal cut-outs.

In mid-November 1922, the armory received an order for the modification of another 300 machine guns, followed in December 1923 by an order for the adaptation of 245 pieces. At the beginning of 1924 the factory started work on the reconstruction of the modified guns for the introduced 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge (vz. 23). However, the adaptations, which began in February 1924, were carried out by the armoury entirely at its own expense, and the armoury was alerted by the Air Force to the fact that the successful completion of the work would in no way oblige the MNO to commission the adaptation of all the machine guns. At the beginning of May the samples were successfully tested and in the first half of the month the Ordnance Factory handed them over to the MNO for examination by selected regiments.

Although in the following years the factory produced a number of accessories for Lewis and Vickers machine guns, their adaptation to the introduced cartridge took place only in 1928, when both types were introduced into the armament of the Czechoslovak Air Force under the designation vz. 28 (Vickers) and vz. L/28 (Lewis). The first batch of 150 Vickers and 200 Lewis machine guns including equipment was sent to Aviation Regiment 3 on 15 April 1928, the second batch of these machine guns destined for Aviation Regiment 2 was sent by the factory on 15 August 1928. The third batch of machine guns with equipment was received by Aviation Regiment 1 on 15 October 1928 and the fourth batch including spare parts was destined for the Main Air Depot (HLS) and was to be sent by 15 December. By the end of 1928 the Czech Ordnance Factory had adapted 711 Lewis (vz. L/28) machine guns, 44 of which were modified for air defence. From 1928 onwards, the MNO records no longer show Vickers and Lewis machine guns in the original 7.7 mm calibre, but only the adapted Model 28 (586 guns in total) and Model 28/L (731 guns). Their numbers gradually decreased over the years, for example by being sold abroad, so that by 1 January 1939 only 161 Model 28 machine guns and 468 Model 28/L machine guns were in the MNO's records.

The museum acquired the model for airfield protection with folding bipod and serial number 648 in 1959 by transfer from the 6th Artillery Base Olomouc.

Calibre: 7,92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 1027 mm

Barrel length: 665 mm

Intentional length: 805 mm

Magazine capacity: 47 or 94 rounds

Weight of weapon with empty 47-round magazine: 10,200 g

Theoretical cadence: 550 rounds/min.

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Praga I-23 machine gun

The history of the creation of the famous light machine gun ZB 26, or Praga vz. 24, designed by Václav Holek (24 September 1886 - 13 December 1954) is connected with the search and testing of a suitable automatic weapon for the Czechoslovakia. This involved not only machine guns of foreign and domestic origin, but also self-loading rifles. The prototypes of the Praga I, Praga II B machine guns represented different principles from the design point of view than the ones on which the legendary machine gun was subsequently built. The function of the Praga I machine gun, based on the principle of a fixed breech plate and a barrel moving forward due to the pressure of the gases flowing from the barrel onto the movable sleeve, could not represent a reliable functional system from the perspective.

In the spring of 1923, Václav Holek redesigned the weapon into a form that had little in common with the previous stages of development: the machine gun with a locked breech by a folding bolt and the gas pressure from the barrel to the piston was still far from a mature design, but on 6 June 1923, the MNO ordered a total of 40 new machine guns with the Praga I-23 designation from Zbrojovka Praga for further testing, although at that time the factory had only one example. The great advantage of the new design was the interchangeable barrel, but the system of feeding cartridges in a belt, stored in a drum cartridge box, was a rather complicated solution.

In mid-March 1924, the MNO announced another round of machine gun competition in Milovice, where Zbrojovka Praga supplied two machine guns. By February 1924, the factory had fired more than 35,000 rounds from one of them, numbered 27, during trials. In view of the fact that the advantages of the Browning machine gun with a box magazine were becoming more and more apparent in the tests, Václav Holek redesigned his design using the same magazine principle, except that the magazine was inserted into the gun from above. The surprisingly reliable function of the new weapon effectively ended the history of the Praga I-23 machine gun.

The Praga I-23 machine gun with serial number 27 was acquired by the museum in 1966 by transfer from VÚ 5723 in Olomouc.

Calibre: 7.92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 1029 mm

Barrel length: 616 mm (incl. flame arrestor: 689 mm)

Intentional length: 668 mm

Weight (without cartridge belt box): 11.48 kg

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Czechoslovak experimental machine gun Praga II A with water cooling

During the first years of the republic's existence, the Czechoslovak armed forces acquired a rather varied collection of weapons, the composition and total quantity of which did not meet the ideas of a modern and, above all, within the limits of its capabilities, uniformly armed army. Among the heavy machine guns, the Austrian Schwarzlose M.7/12 (4,773 pieces) and the M.16 A machine guns originally modified for aviation purposes (600 pieces) were the most important. The water-cooled German MG 08 and MG 08/15 machine guns did not fit into the armament concept, so they were later sold abroad. The French air-cooled Hotchkiss Mle. 1914 heavy machine guns had already had their day, so it is not surprising that by the end of 1921 the Ministry of Defence approved the sale of all 960 units. Weapons of Austrian provenance outnumbered other types, in the given situation the army had to count on them, albeit with reservations, in the future. With the introduction of the German 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge, the Schwarzlose machine guns were adapted during the 1920s, but the MNO did not consider the issue of heavy machine guns to be resolved.

A pressing problem in connection with the adopted French training doctrine, emphasizing the assembly of mobile battle groups with a core consisting of just a light automatic weapon, not a heavy, mostly stationary machine gun, was the absence of a suitable light machine gun. Therefore, in the spring of 1923, the Artillery and Ordnance Department of the MNO began trials of light machine guns and automatic rifles, inviting not only foreign manufacturers but also providing opportunities for domestic designs. The actual commencement of the trials in Milovice did not take place until 15 March 1923, when the Danish Madsen machine gun, the French Darne, Vickers-Berthier and Hotchkiss machine guns, the Belgian Browning M1919 and the Czechoslovak Praga II A machine gun designed by Václav Holek of Zbrojovka Praga in Vršovice competed in the light machine gun competition. In the crossbows category, the Czech arms factory in Strakonice entered Netsch system weapons, the French company Vickers-Berthier entered an automatic rifle and Zbrojovka Praga came to Milovice with a Krnka crossbow.

At the end of February, a test commission started its activity in Milovice, which gradually took over and fired the imported weapons. Zbrojovka Praga brought to the competition four Praga II A machine guns with serial numbers 10, 13, 15 and 14, differing in barrel length. Two of them had a barrel length of 740 mm, the other two had a barrel length of 650 mm. Holka's machine gun operated on the principle of a locked breech with gas pressure extraction on the piston with belt feeding of cartridges. The slide system with a folding bolt was complemented by a sledge feeding device, which ensured that the cartridge was pulled out of the belt and, when the slide moved forward, was guided into the barrel chamber. The 30-round belt was coiled in a drum box suspended in the lower part of the gun case. The trigger and percussion mechanism, consisting of a hammer, allowed firing only in continuous mode. The piston, housed in a gas tube under the barrel shroud, passed at the rear into a sledge-feeder control column connected to the bolt carrier. A cylindrical tensioning handle protruded from the outside of the sculpture. The recoil spring, housed in a piston rod, was held in the rear by a strut securing the gas tube in parallel with the barrel shroud. The barrel was fitted with three channels at the front, through which the gases flowed into the expansion sleeve and acted on the piston face.

Although the test commission in Milovice was primarily tasked with evaluating the optimum type of light machine gun that would be the future Czechoslovak light machine gun. army would be armed with in the future, the commission met the request of the 16th Department (Infantry Department) and accepted the offer of Zbrojovka Praga to test a variant of the machine gun with water cooling. The question of a definitive model of the heavy machine gun was not satisfactorily and definitively solved at that time, so it was not a bad idea to test a home-made machine gun in a water-cooled version.

On 10 April 1923, the Praga Armoury delivered to Milovice one example with a backup barrel, modified from the original air-cooled machine gun II A with number 13. Due to time constraints, it used the standard Austrian M. 7/12 base and, due to the outer diameter of the radiator, resigned from the design of the sights; the gun was to be used only for functional tests.

During the following day, the test committee fired 3,168 rounds from the machine gun at a theoretical rate of fire of 375 rounds per minute. The defects in the extraction of the cartridges were attributed by the committee to the wear and tear of the weapon's mechanism, since, as the factory management stated, the armoury had used an older weapon with badly worn components to produce the specimen. As early as 17 April 1923, the chairman of the testing department, Colonel Mrákota, drew up a report summarizing the results of firing with the Praga heavy machine gun. Over the course of four days, the weapon fired 10,687 shots, during which ten different mechanism malfunctions occurred. On the one hand, Colonel Mrákota admitted that the Praga light machine gun could be adapted to a heavy machine gun relatively easily, but with proper sizing of components, especially the barrel. However, in the final verdict, the test department opposed water cooling of the weapon for the very reason that the combustion temperature of the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge is higher than that of the Austrian M.93 cartridges, which causes rapid evaporation of water and the formation of unmasking steam after only 250 shots. This problem was also encountered by Zbrojovka Ing. F. Janeček when reconstructing the Austrian machine guns to the introduced cartridge, eventually finding a solution in barrel extension and increased cooling volume.

Although the water-cooled Praga II A machine gun did not mark further development, it is an example of the ways in which the search for an optimal light automatic weapon for the Czechoslovakia was carried out. army took. A year later, the Praga Armoury prepared another type of heavy machine gun, but with an air-cooled barrel.

The museum acquired the specimen with the number 13 in 1995 by transferring it from Prototypy a. s. Brno.

Calibre: 7.92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 1032 mm (with extended shoulder rest: 1200 mm)

Barrel length: 692 mm

(without sights)

Weight without magazine: 13 980 g

[weaponvault]

Czechoslovak experimental machine gun Jelen I

The beginnings of the Czechoslovak design school in the field of automatic weapons were marked by several experimental designs, the first one undoubtedly belonging to Rudolf Jelen (27 January 1876 - 10 March 1938). The attention of the ambitious designer was not only attracted by automatic weapons, he also left his mark by improving the repeating rifles that the military administration was testing at the time. Major Josef Ottomanský, then a lieutenant in the reserve, was brought to the Prague Zbrojovka Praga in Vršovice in October 1920 on the initiative of the organisational department of the MNO headquarters. The reason behind Jelen's recommendation to the then promising factory was the effort of the French manufacturer Regis Darne from St. Etienne to promote the production of his machine guns in the Vršovice armoury. Naturally, the MNO was interested in the development of domestic designs and therefore convinced the factory management to implement Rudolf Jelen's designs.

The first sample of the Jelen machine gun, produced at Zbrojovka Praga, had an air-cooled barrel and operated on the principle of a locked breech with a short recoil of the barrel. The barrel was housed in a 588 mm long steel casing with an outer diameter of 66.5 mm and a full-length rifled surface. Six locking teeth in the front of the bolt served to securely connect the barrel to the breech, but unlike other designs, the breech was unlocked and locked by a pivoting barrel. Belt feeding was provided by a five-arm rotary feed spool, the operation of which was linked to the axial movement of the bolt. The percussion mechanism consisted of a straight-action firing pin sprung by a recoil spring of the breech and the gun was designed to fire from a locked breech.

However, the intensive work on the weapon's design did not result in success, as later recalled by the then workshop manager of Zbrojovka Praga, Václav Holek, the creator of the famous ZB 26 light machine gun and many other weapons. During the tests, premature initiation of cartridge primers occurred and reliable weapon function could not be achieved. Rudolf Jelen was even injured during the test firing. However, even this did not deter the agile designer of the weapon, and he pushed through Holka's protests to the factory management to develop another model, but his career was not dazzling either.

Today, we no longer know under what contract with the factory the samples produced at Zbrojovka Praga remained Jelen's property, but it is undeniable that he offered both weapons to the then Military Museum in mid-1929 "in order to at least partially compensate me for the material damage caused, since I did not receive anything from the factory after exhausting my knowledge, since machine gun No. 3 was produced behind my back." It is not very clear what the designer expected from the armaments factory, since the weapons of his system ultimately proved unviable. However, the undisputed fact remains that the Jelen machine gun, although functionally problematic, can be considered the first ever automatic weapon constructed on the territory of Czechoslovakia.

The first experimental Jelen machine gun was acquired by the Military Museum in September 1929 from the designer Rudolf Jelen.

Calibre: 7.92 mm Mauser

Overall length: 855 mm

Barrel length: 668 mm

Weight of the weapon: 8310 g

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Czechoslovak experimental machine gun Praga I

After the establishment of the republic there was no factory in our territory, except for the Škoda Works in Pilsen, which had experience in the production of automatic weapons. The beginnings of the work on the development of machine guns are linked to the Prague Zbrojovka Praga in Vršovice, where the first two unsuccessful prototypes were made by the designer Lieutenant Rudolf Jelen (1876-1938). Work on them lasted from October 1920 to mid-April 1922, when they were stopped.

At that time, Václav Holek (1886-1954) and his brother Emanuel had already begun work on their own design of a heavy machine gun with a fixed breech plate and a forward-moving barrel. The mechanism was driven by a movable sleeve, the front surface of which was affected by combustion gases flowing from the muzzle of the barrel. Josef Netsch designed his crossbows and heavy machine guns on a similar principle at that time, and his weapons were manufactured for testing by the Czech Armoury in Strakonice.

An internal order for the production of three machine guns of the Holka system was issued by Zbrojovka Praga on 13 June 1922, but even this weapon with its complicated and production-intensive design did not become the basis for further development. The machine guns apparently underwent only internal factory tests; the MNO never took them over for official testing. The factory did have the Praga I machine gun design patented abroad, but the concept was soon abandoned and by the end of 1922 Václav Holek had already developed another type, later designated Praga II B.

Two of the three produced specimens have survived in the collections of the VHÚ. The specimen numbered 2 was acquired by the museum in the interwar period by transfer from the divisional armoury No. 3 in Terezín.

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Sa 81 KRÁSA Experimental Submachine Gun

In the spring of 1976, the Ministry of Defence commissioned the Research and Development Institute of General Engineering Plants (VVÚ ZVS) in Brno with a request to prepare a study on the application of the introduced cartridge vz. 43 (7.62 x 39 mm) for the construction of a submachine gun intended for commanders of combat units and specialists (gunners, tank commanders and paratroopers, etc.). In a relatively short period from the end of March to 31 May, a study was produced evaluating the realistic possibilities of using a relatively powerful cartridge for the construction of a short, light automatic weapon. The initial requirement did not foresee the construction of special ammunition, which would impose a production and economic burden in the event of the introduction of weapons into the arsenal. Preliminary tactical technical conditions specified a maximum length of the weapon without shoulder rest of 270 mm, a maximum weight with shoulder rest without magazine of 1,6 kg, a magazine capacity of 20-30 rounds, an effective firing range of 200 with a core dispersion of 20 cm when firing single shots and 75 cm when firing bursts.

The role of the main task solver fell to Jiří Čermák (15 February 1926 - 9 September 2006), a designer in the Czechoslovak Army. 58 assault rifle and a number of other Czechoslovak weapons. Due to the size of the cartridge, the limitation of the barrel length by the external specified dimensions, it was necessary to design the weapon, especially its breech mechanism, in a completely different way. In order to shorten the length of the breech housing as much as possible, Jiří Čermák chose an unconventional solution for the transport of cartridges from the magazine. The upper cartridge was not ejected forward, but was pulled backwards by means of flexible extractor arms while the breech was being extended. The ejected cartridge was guided by lateral guides in front of the chamber mouth and lifted upwards by the radial surface of the tensioned hammer. Only then, as the bolt moved forward, was it caught by the bolt face and transported into the chamber. The wedge bolt of relatively small dimensions (with an overall length of less than the length of the cartridge) was locked in the last phase of the bolt movement by resting on four locking surfaces. The function of the weapon was based on the principle of a locked bolt with gas pressure extraction on the piston due to the power of the cartridge. The hammer percussion mechanism allowed firing with the breech in the forward, locked position, which ensured a presumption of higher accuracy. Because of the short barrel and thus high muzzle pressure and muzzle blast, it was necessary to provide the muzzle with an effective flame arrestor to eliminate glare to the shooter when firing in difficult lighting conditions.

The weapon was designated Sa 80 KRÁSA (KRÁtký SAmopal) and the first working sample was produced at VVÚ ZVS in autumn 1980. In the following two years, work on the weapon continued as part of a set of research tasks under the collective designation SRÁZ, and a second prototype was produced, numbered 6955 and designated Sa 81. The effort to solve the weapon in the new Soviet, but then unavailable to our designers, 5.45 x 39 mm cartridge, led the development group under the leadership of Jiri Cermak to the prototype with the designation Sa 83. At the end of 1983, however, the development work was stopped due to the priority of the LADA small arms set. The design of the KRÁSA did not fit into the future concept of the weapon kit system, so it was abandoned.

The sample of the Sa 81 submachine gun was acquired by the Military Historical Institute in 1994 by transfer from Prototypy, a. s. Brno.

Calibre: 7,62 x 39 mm

Overall length with folded shoulder rest: 315 mm

Total length with shoulder rest folded out: 562 mm

Height: 189 mm

Width: 60 mm

Intentional length: 148

Barrel length with flame arrestor: 190 mm

Barrel length: 138 mm

Weight of weapon without magazine: 2100 g

Weight of weapon with empty magazine: 2260 g

Magazine capacity: 20 rounds

Theoretical cadence: 975 rounds/min.

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Czechoslovak machine gun Š-59

The prototype of the vz. 61 Škorpion submachine gun with the designation Š-59 was at the beginning of the development of this world-famous weapon. The designer Ing. Miroslav Rybář (1924-1970) developed the prototype at the Research and Development Institute of General Engineering Plants (VVÚ ZVS) in Brno on the basis of the requirements of the Ministry of the Interior. This required a small, compact automatic weapon for special purposes.

The 1959 prototype, number 3029, is the oldest surviving working example and was acquired for the collections of the Military Historical Institute by transfer from Prototypy Brno in 1994.

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ZK 503 Assault Rifle

During the Second World War, a new generation of infantry automatic weapons, equipped with a medium ballistic performance cartridge, was introduced, mainly represented by the German MKb 42 (H) and MP 43 assault rifles. Although the post-war development of Czechoslovak infantry weapons in the second half of the 1940s was primarily focused on the issue of the submachine gun as an individual weapon, on the threshold of the next decade the attention of the Military Technical Institute (VTU) shifted to the development of automatic weapons equipped with medium ammunition, which would replace the established 24/26 submachine guns and allow to cover with high fire density, higher accuracy and effect the range of 200-600 meters.

At the end of the war, only Zbrojovka Brno had experience with the development of an automatic weapon for medium ammunition, where in 1941-1943 the prototypes of the automatic carbine ZK 412 in 8 mm Rapid calibre and the small machine gun ZK 423 and ZK 423-II, equipped with the German 7.92 x 33 mm cartridge, were created in the design office of Josef Koucký (1904-1989). Although only samples remained at the time, there is no doubt that the work on medium-power weapons yielded many useful lessons.

The requirement for the development of a submachine gun for the 7.62 mm cartridge, referred to as a rifle cartridge, albeit a shortened Z-50 cartridge with a 45 mm barrel, was made by the Deputy Minister of Defence for Material Affairs at a meeting in mid-April 1951. The technical specifications drawn up not only prescribed an increase in power and greater accuracy over the established 24 and 26 submachine guns, but also required a maximum weight of the weapon of 4 kg. Because of the cartridge's performance, it was to be a locked breech design. The weapon was to have a theoretical rate of fire of 500 rounds/min. and an overall length of no more than 850 mm.

More detailed requirements for the development were received by Konstrukta, n.p., Prague and Česká zbrojovka, n.p., Strakonice. At a meeting on 29 March 1952, the VTÚ had a total of five proposals to consider, of which the project by Josef Koucký and his brother František was recommended for further development. Ing. Jeronym Kynčl submitted a design of a gun with a fixed barrel and delayed breech opening, which was returned for modification. However, the representatives of the VTÚ clearly rejected two designs by Jaroslav Holeček from the Czech Armoury in Strakonice, but recommended a design by Jiří Čermák with a piston mechanism in the form of a ring strung on the barrel. The discussion on another ČZ proposal, a project by J. Kratochvíl, a system with an accumulation arm, was postponed until a later date.

The newly submitted proposal by ing. Kynčl's new proposal was not accepted even two months later, in May 1952.

Thus, out of five proposals, two were given the green light for further development, one by Jiří Čermák from the Strakonice armoury and the other by Josef Koucký. While Jiří Čermák based his work on the design of a self-loading rifle vz. 52, Josef Koucký followed the design of his prototype of the post-war submachine gun ZK 467 in 9 mm Parabellum calibre, which differed from the majority of the designs by using the principle of a locked breech with a short recoil of the barrel.

In order to verify the functional principle when applied to a given cartridge and individual construction nodes, Josef Koucký designed the ZK 505 test apparatus in 1951. The development work on the weapon continued in 1952 due to the priority of other tasks, when the first version of the ZK 503 submachine gun was created in infantry version with a fixed stock, the paratrooper variant had a folding shoulder rest.

The weapon had a breech locked by a locking bolt, housed in the lower part of the barrel and connected by a swivel hinge through which a connecting pin passed at the bottom of the breech housing. The locking bolt had two symmetrical arms which fitted into internal recesses in the bolt, the front half of which ran over the rear of the barrel. Although the firing mechanism consisted of a rotary hammer, the gun fired from the open bolt, the bolt remaining caught on the trigger lever tooth when the firing was interrupted. The freely movable barrel was guided in a protective perforated jacket extending from the square breech housing and centred on the muzzle in the guide bush. The magazine, originally for 20 rounds with a double-row design, was located at the bottom of the bolt housing in front of the bow. The firing mode switch, combined with the safety, had a rotary wing located on the left side of the trigger guard within thumb reach of the shooter's hand. The development workshop (plant 07 Brno-Cejl) produced two samples of the ZK 503 submachine gun for the competition tests, one in infantry version with number 0001 and the other with folding shoulder rest with number 0002. Information from the internal tests, i.e. from the time until the weapons were submitted to the control tests in August 1953, is not available, but it undoubtedly became clear during the tests that the required accuracy could not be achieved with a weapon with such a large mass movement during the functional cycle with such a powerful cartridge, so Josef Koucký had to abandon the concept of a weapon firing from an open breech.

The reconstruction of the ZK 503 resulted in another prototype, designated ZK 503/1, which fired from a locked breech, which gave better conditions for achieving higher accuracy when firing single shots. Tests with the original concept delayed the development of the weapon, so the reconstructed prototype was submitted by Konstrukta Praha for testing only in August 1953.

Material acceptance and measurements for the state tests were carried out at Konstrukta Brno, which was formed by the split-off of Plant 07 (Brno-Cejl), ballistic tests were carried out at the remote shooting range in Vlašim, and functional reliability testing under difficult conditions was carried out by a committee at the shooting range in Prague-Zámce. However, even the reconstructed ZK 503/1 did not meet the requirements in terms of accuracy and weight during the tests in mid-1954. During these tests, the prototype ZK 503/1 proved to have poorer accuracy in short bursts compared to competing weapons ČZ 522 and the later prototype ZB 530 by designer Václav Holek. None of the three tested designs was considered mature enough by the military administration, so the state tests, prepared for 1955, were cancelled.

A year later, the development of a universal single-shot weapon, initially referred to as a submachine-gun (i.e. the weapon it was to replace), was commissioned, which was given the codename Broom, culminating in the completed development of the later vz. 58 submachine gun.

Although Josef Koucký and his brother were aware of the established conditions for the development of the weapon, they resigned from further work for the military administration after the planned state tests, for which they had prepared an improved model ZK 503/2 with an accelerator, were stopped. Undoubtedly, their decision was influenced by the not always fully clarified requirements of the military administration, including the often excessive demands of the representatives of the VTU on the design of the weapon.

The ZK 503 in the version with folding shoulder rest was acquired by the museum in 1995 by transfer from Prototypy, a. s., Brno.

Calibre: 7,62 x 45 mm

Overall length: 879 mm (with folded armrest: 645 mm)

Barrel length: 350 mm

Intentional length: 333 mm

Magazine capacity: 25 rounds

Weight with empty magazine: 4478 g

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ZK 503/2 assault rifle

The medium ballistic power cartridge, used on a larger scale during the Second World War in the German MKb 42 H, MP 43 and MP 44 assault rifles, represented one of the directions in the post-war development of infantry weapon design. In the second half of 1950, the Military Technical Institute (VTU) requested the design of a submachine gun for the 7.62 mm Z-50 (7.62 x 45 mm) cartridge, which replaced the 7.5 mm development cartridge.

The Czechoslovak design school traditionally had a very strong potential, and not only the Czech Armoury in Strakonice came up with weapon designs, but also Konstrukta Praha, which, under the leadership of Josef Koucký (March 1, 1904-July 25, 1989), developed the ZK 503 assault rifle project by the end of 1950. The technical terminology of the time considered this type of weapon to be essentially a submachine gun, more often referred to as a heavy submachine gun due to the power of the ammunition used.

Unlike the other weapons that gradually entered the competition (Strakonice's ČZ 522 or Václav Holek's ZB 530), the ZK 503 assault rifle operated on the principle of a locked breech with a short recoil of the barrel. In the rear part of the barrel there were two symmetrical locking bolts which moved in grooves on the sides of the barrel. Josef Koucký and his brother František tested the function of the system already in 1946 on an experimental submachine gun ZK 467 in 9 mm Parabellum calibre.

The original ZK 503 variant fired from an open bolt, unlike the subsequent ZK 503/1 and ZK 503/2 versions, just like the pistol cartridge submachine guns. Unsatisfactory results, mainly associated with poorer accuracy due to the movement of large masses when working on the shot, led to the solution of a gun with a hammer percussion mechanism. The prototype ZK 503/1 was submitted by Konstrukta Praha for testing only in August 1953. The results of the tests did not give the prerequisites to meet the specified conditions, so the development continued until June 1954, when the so-called state tests were started. During these trials, the ZK 503/1 prototype proved to have inferior accuracy in short bursts compared to competing weapons ČZ 522 and ZB 530.

At the end of the tests, there was no winner and the companies had to prepare the weapons for the next state tests on the basis of the findings. For the Koucký brothers' design team, this meant solving the problem of deteriorating accuracy in bursts. The cause lay in the high muzzle energy transferred to the holster, which caused the weapon to suffer from stability in the self-loading mode. The solution was found in the design of the accelerator, mounted in parallel under the movable barrel. The thumbs of the accelerator on one side transferred some of the muzzle energy to the slide, and the spring that pushed off the accelerator cam acted as a shock absorber for the muzzle energy.

Improvements thus resulted in the prototype ZK 503/2 in late 1954, but it did not enter further development. The postponed state trials in 1955 were not held, and instead the decision was made to immediately stop development work on submachine guns in 7.62 x 45 mm calibre and switch to the development of other weapons in the Soviet 7.62 x 39 mm calibre, about which the designers had almost no information at that time.

The museum acquired the two manufactured examples, stored in a transport box with accessories, in 1994 by transfer from Prototypy, a. s.

Calibre: 7,62 x 45 mm

Overall length: 854 mm

Barrel length: 349 mm

Intentional length: 477 mm

Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

Weight of weapon with empty magazine: 4,550 g

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Experimental submachine gun H/p In the first three years after the end of World War II, the development of submachine guns in our armories was marked by a number of prototypes and samples with many advanced design features. The hitherto known conceptual layout was overcome by the idea of Jaroslav Holeček (1923-1997) of the Czech Armoury in Strakonice, which made it possible to shorten the overall length of the weapon by spreading the mass of the breech around the barrel and to store the magazine in the pistol grip. The idea became a supporting element of the pilot prototypes developed at Česká zbrojovka and Zbrojovka Brno, and was ultimately reflected in the concept of the established vz. 48 submachine gun, later renamed the 23 (with wooden stock) and 25 (with folding shoulder rest). The functional sample marked H/p by Jaroslav Holeček represents the first weapon with this design in the Czech Republic.

It was acquired to the collections of the VHÚ Praha by transfer from Prototypy Brno in 1994.

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Czechoslovak development submachine gun ZK 476 - paratrooper version

The culmination of the post-war development of submachine guns in Zbrojovka Brno was Josef Koucký's submachine gun marked ZK 476, one of the most promising designs of the second half of the 1940s. The weapon underwent a rather complex development determined mainly by the requirements of the Czechoslovak military administration. Although its design used the concept of a magazine in the pistol grip and a breech running over two-thirds of the barrel length, some design elements proved problematic. The connection of the trigger and trigger lever to the barrel resulted in increased heating of the trigger reed, which caused problems during durability tests, which were subsequently solved by insulating the trigger with pertinax plates. The requirements of the Military Technical Institute (MTI) also varied during testing during the summer of 1948, so that the compact, rear-enclosed bolt housing did not allow the replacement of the fixed infantry-style stock with a folding shoulder rest for airborne troops. Although Josef Koucký's team was able to solve the problem, the requirement to quickly swap the sharp barrel for a training design was no longer possible with the existing design. Although the ZK 476 was the hot favourite, the competition was eventually won by the Czech arms factory Strakonice with the prototype ČZ 447, which was introduced into the arsenal in August 1948 under the designation of the vz. 48 submachine gun.

With the approval of the military administration, Zbrojovka Brno offered its weapons abroad and participated in a number of competitions. An exemplar with the number 0034 was prepared in April 1948 for the second round of the competition of submachine guns in Argentina, where it was never sent, as the Armoury stopped all activities in these countries in November 1948 by decision of the higher authorities.

The specimen for the Argentine trials has the surface of the breech case and other parts blackened, unlike most of the surviving specimens, and the more secure grip of the circular fore-arm is provided by ten circumferential notches. The grip slides are made of pertinax, and the two-position trigger allows single shots to be fired when the reed is partially depressed, and continuous firing when fully depressed. The palm safety blocking the bolt catch protrudes from the back of the grip, and unless the palm is depressed, the bolt remains locked in both positions.

The serial number 0034 is stamped on the right side of the bolt housing behind the ejection window. The bolt has serial number 34 on the right side so that it is visible in the ejection window when the bolt is in the forward position. On the left side of the bolt housing is the marking: ZK 476 Cal. 9 m/m ZBROJOVKA BRNO NÁRODNÍ PODNIK. On the right side of the breech housing is again stamped serial number 0034 and the inscription: MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

The sight including the base is black, dioptric and adjustable in the range of 100-300 m. The sight is adjustable in height.

The submachine gun is stored in a wooden case containing two five-magazine pouches and one free magazine, a magazine filler, a strap, a vaseline box, a brass oil can (the same as for ZB 26 machine guns). A wooden rod with a spare return spring is attached to the inner wall of the cartridge lid, together with a wiper with a screwed-on brush and another return spring. A small cassette with a steel peck, a spare shell ejector with pin, two spare muskets, a shell ejector, two wire brushes and a brass and steel punch are attached to the lid.

This example was handed over to the museum collections by the Jan Šverma Works (formerly Zbrojovka Brno), together with a number of other prototypes, in August 1953.

Calibre: 9 mm Parabellum

Overall length: 655 mm/ 462 mm

344 mm (1.5 in.)

Barrel length: 299 mm

Weight of weapon without magazine: 2820 g

Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

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ČZ 247 submachine gun

Although the Czechoslovakia. 38 submachine gun was introduced into the arsenal in June 1938, our soldiers never got their hands on it due to political events. Paradoxically, two other mass-produced submachine guns were not intended for the armament of our army either. The ZK 383 submachine gun was produced for the Royal Bulgarian Army during the war, and the post-war type ČZ 247, which was sidelined by the submachine gun competition, entered serial production, but on the basis of an Egyptian order.

The designers of the weapon were František Myška (1899-1983) and Jaroslav Holeček (1923-1997) from Česká zbrojovka, n. p., Strakonice. The weapon had not only an anti-recoil safety, which prevented unintentional firing due to the weapon shaking, but also the possibility of rotating the magazine well from vertical to horizontal position, even during firing. The advantage of this concept was that, if necessary, the magazine well could form a natural support for the weapon or could be rotated to the left, thereby increasing the shooter's cover in flat terrain. Serial production began at the then branch plant of the Czech Armaments Factory in Uherský Brod in May 1948 on the basis of an order from the Egyptian government for 7250 units, but for political reasons no export was realized. Nevertheless, by the end of 1949 the factory produced 10,815 pieces, which later became partly part of the armament of the People's Militia and partly went for export in the late 1960s.

An example with the serial number 593 was acquired by the Military History Institute in 1994 by transferring it from the Prototypa. a. s. in Brno.

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Submachine gun H/47 (ČZ 246)

In the post-war period, the Czech armoury in Strakonice not only built on the design basis, represented by the introduced, but never mass-produced, vz. 38 submachine gun, but also came up with a completely new concept, which was reflected in the introduced vz. 48 submachine gun. However, the path of development was not without its dead ends.

In the Czech Armoury in Strakonice, on the drawing board of the then lance corporal Jaroslav Holeček, a submachine gun was created, the design of which followed the idea of placing the centre of gravity of the magazine as close to the axis of the weapon as possible. Holeček was not the only one who had a similar idea in the post-war period. The construction of the ZB 47 submachine gun by Václav Holek and ing. František Holek from Zbrojovka Brno, or Josef Koucký's experimental submachine gun ZK 471.

Jaroslav Holeček (1923-1997) at the time of his basic attendance service submitted a proposal for the design of a submachine gun to the Ministry of National Defence, which by a coincidence secured his transfer to the Military Technical Institute (VTÚ) by order of General Ludvík Svoboda. In the infantry weapons department there, he developed three functionally different alternatives within a short period of time.

Representatives of the VTÚ chose a design with a segmented breech and arranged for Jaroslav Holeček to be placed in the design office of the Czech Armaments Factory in Strakonice. Here, too, an unusual prototype with a rotating segmented bolt and a magazine stored in the upper line of the stock was subsequently created, subsequently designated H/47.

Although the placement of the magazine in the upper stock line brought the centre of gravity of the magazine closer to the axis and centre of gravity of the weapon, a significant problem was the transport of cartridges stored approximately perpendicular to the axis of the chamber. This problem was solved by J. Holeček with a segmented revolving bolt with the function of a single-toothed horn, whose front surface was to pick up individual bullets from the double-row magazine after the bolt had slipped and transport them on a radial path to the barrel chamber. It is very probable that the designer was inspired by the ZB 1946 submachine gun, which he (unlike other technical officials of the armoury) could get acquainted with during his visits to VTÚ in Prague.

The first working sample of the H/47 submachine gun, later renamed ČZ 246, was ready at the end of 1946. The relatively long barrel was secured in the sheet metal, perforated breech housing by an external hexagon nut. The muzzle of the barrel was finished with two slanted cut-outs, acting as a compensator of the barrel stroke during firing. In the hinged trigger guard, a segmented bolt was located in the pistol grip area, attached to the return spring rod, housed in a special cylindrical housing in the front. The swivel slide was held in the front by a latch with double-sided knobs, which, when pressed forward, could be swung out, but only when the slide was cocked. The split tensioning handle was located on the right side of the bolt housing and the rear end of its pull rested on the bolt. The sample had no manual safety and its trigger mechanism allowed only for batch firing.

Functional tests showed that the weapon did not function at all. It did manage to fire about 50 rounds, but in such a way that each round was manually inserted into the chamber with the bolt cocked and fired. The fundamental flaw in the whole concept was that the pivoting bolt imposed less inertial resistance than the commonly used axial movement. As a result, the higher bolt travel energy meant that the impact stress on the stopping surface was disproportionate.

The Holecek machine gun concept was strongly supported from the beginning by the VTU, which saw it as a very promising project, changing the existing view of machine gun design. Despite the apparent failure of the first prototype, work was not stopped, but further reconstruction of the weapon was undertaken. The designer Jiří Čermák (1926 - 2006), the future creator of the vz. 58 submachine gun and many other weapons, helped J. Holeček with the redesign of the machine gun. He joined the Weapons Design Department in July 1946 and worked there with a break during his basic military service until October 1954, when he moved to Konstrukty Brno.

The reconstructed second example from 1947 differed considerably from the previous one. It had a barrel inseparably connected to the breech housing, which formed a single unit with the pistol grip beam. Behind the chamber, the breech block had a hinged cap, which served to facilitate access to the chamber in the event of the need to remove an erect cartridge or an unloaded cartridge case. However, the position of the cap did not allow the use of a wiper to clean the barrel away from the chamber. The reconstruction also eliminated the recoil pad under the barrel and replaced it with a guide rod with a relatively strong return spring, housed in the pistol grip. The designer placed the rotating tension handle on the right side of the bolt housing. The relatively subtle foregrip was held on the barrel by a bolt passing through a sleeve with a loop. The magazine placement was unchanged, with the bottom of the magazine having a shaped notch and protruding into the jacket threaded onto the body. When inserted into the machine gun, pushing the bottom in thus shortened its length, allowing it to be inserted into the stock bed. Filling the double-rowed magazine was not very comfortable, as the bottom moved when resting it on a solid base. Although there is information in the available literature about the higher magazine capacity of the H/47 submachine gun, it was actually lower and did not reach the claimed 50 rounds.

The second sample did not have a manual safety either, and its trigger mechanism allowed only continuous firing. If it had worked, of course. Even the tests of the second sample did not lead to the expected result and it was clear that this was not the way to go. The final straw in the case of the unsuccessful Holecek project was the announcement by the Czech Armaments Factory at the VTU meeting on 18 July 1947 that both prototypes had been withdrawn due to problems with achieving function. The factory had originally entered the H/47 submachine gun in infantry and parachute versions in the army competition, and the MNO issued order No. 98 211 of 7 December 1946 for two H/47 submachine guns and one "R" submachine gun, apparently also retrospectively, for a total of 200,000 CZK.

The second manufactured sample of the ČZ 246 submachine gun was acquired by the museum in 1995 by transfer from Prototypy, a. s., Brno.

Calibre: 9 mm Parabellum

Overall length: 722 mm

Barrel length: 354 mm

Number of grooves in the barrel, direction: 6, right

Intentional length: - missing sight

Magazine capacity: 43 rounds

Weight of weapon with empty magazine: 3400 g