Last week I picked up a nice little pistol in Germany.
It’s a Czech CZ-24 in caliber 9mm Browning short or .380ACP.
Sometimes this pistol is also referred to as Vz-24.
Vz is the Czech abbreviation for Vzor, meaning Model.
CZ is an abbreviation of Ceska Zbrojovka, meaning Czech Armory.
- Mauser 1910-1914.jpg (24.46 KiB) Viewed 12088 times
Some info on this pistol.
The CZ 24 is an improved version of the CZ 22.
The CZ 22 was based on an experimental Mauser model 1910-1914 self-loading pistol designed by Josef Nickl.
In the early 1920’s Czechoslovakia bought his patents and turned it into the CZ-22.
After a couple of years Czech arms designer Frantisek Myska redesigned the CZ-22.
He had a couple of good reasons for this.
First reason was that in 1924 Ceska Zbrojovka had taken over the manufacture of the CZ-22 from Czechoslovak Zbrojovka and they had to adapt the production of the CZ-22 to their own machines and tools.
- CZ 22.jpg (17.56 KiB) Viewed 12088 times
Second reason was that the Czech Armament Commission wanted the CZ-22 to become a safe and reliable pistol so it could serve as a military weapon.
This meant they had to add some safety features like a magazine safety.
Next to that they wanted to simplify the production to reduce the costs.
Some parts were stamped instead of milled to achieve this.
In May 1925 200 pre-production pistol were tested by the Czech Armament Commission.
The new design was approved in August 1925.
Because the pistol was manufactured in a different facility and so many parts had been altered it got a new designation.
The CZ-24 was born.
- CZ 24.jpg (30.85 KiB) Viewed 12088 times
Met vriendelijke groet,
Martin
