Czech vz61 Skorpion: History and Mechanics
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
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The Czech vz.61 Skorpion is a rather unusual sort of firearm; a machine pistol designed from scratch instead of being converted from an existing handgun design, and chambered for the seemingly out of place .32ACP (7.65mm Browning) cartridge. It is a weapon which seems awkwardly small as a shoulder-fired submachine gun, and yet equally awkwardly large as a handgun. So what is it?
Well, it is a pretty classic example of a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW). It was originally designed for vehicle and artillery crews, for troops who needed more than a simple handgun, but could not practically tote around a full size rifle. The vz.61 is small enough to be worn in a belt holster, keeping it readily at hand but as unobtrusive as possible. With the stock extended, it is capable of much better accuracy than a handgun, and the combination of fully automatic fire with the light .32 caliber cartridge makes for a high volume of quite controllable fire.
The Skorpion is also a remarkably sophisticated mechanical design, with a very compact hammer fired mechanism and a rate reduced to keep the 20 round magazines from being expended too quickly.
Thanks to Marstar for letting me examine and shoot their Skorpion!
Русская версия: • Skorpion Vz. 61 - Забы...
Literally the only gun channel I watch... makes me feel like I'm watching a PBS antiques roadshow on guns... I love it
All the best channels on youtube have a PBS vibe to them. I've worked overnight shifts before where the only thing keeping me sane was PBS doing a 3 hour marathon documentary on the Roosevelt family or something. Far as I'm concerned PBS is the only TV channel (well, in my case I get like 5 different PBS channels) worth watching anymore.
My whole life, I honestly thought this “pistol” was a plain blowback, open bolt design. Amazing Czechnology.
it really is slavic practicality meets german engineering
Chefs kiss on that pun. *mwah*
Some of the Czech police departments still use these guns. You can see patrols with old Scorpions around holidays guarding crowded places.
It ain't broke aftwr all
And in Slovakia too, its very good gun
Its not exactly intimidating so it wont disturb peace, its light and small so really comfortable to bring around while walking. Its not a very powerful round, so no need to worry about overpenetration. Perfect.
Then you remember its a machine pistol, so accuracy is not the best and got lots of spread.
@@whoami1449
True ...
... but then there is this ...
I got into a cordial, and polite, disagreement, with a person, whom knew their weapons, and whom asked me what my perfect carbine, in a home defense situation ...
Unfortunately, I've forgotten which video, or the person, and, even on the Galaxy Note 20 --- my only working piece of technology --- the TH-cam app is not really adept, at all, at finding previous comments I've made.
Which is annoying because, after a great deal of 'compare/contrast', I've settled on this.
Reason being is two fold. My apartment (bedsit to my fellow Brits) is not that much bigger in overall footprint, than a two-car garage, three at a pinch, or two, plus a couple of motorcycles. I'm guessing, maybe, 30-40yrds between the front door, to the rear one, on the 4th (3rd, if you consider Street level as Ground Floor/0), give or take a few feet. So firing distance between myself, and any intruder(s) would be in the order of ~10 - 20ft, depending on where I am, in relation to said intruder(s) ...
But, given how thin the walls/floor/ceiling is likely to be, over-penitration is my second most concern, preceeded by having a round, whose size lends to dumping as much energy into the target, from that at the muzzle, and inclusive of muzzle velocity.
Legend has it that Mafia hitmen use .22LR hand guns, or variants with slightly longer casing/bullet dimensions, with a suppressor, not only because that 'tiny' round does dump almost all its muzzle energy at the point of impact, but also, because it is a subsonic round, the addition of a suppressor does produce, allegedly, a report no lounder that the classic, and (in)famous, subtle 'thud/thunk', as movie scences depicting a pistol with a suppressor being used, is so often portrayed. Yes, it does mean getting within only a few feet, but, again allegedly, such as in 'Casino', as long as there are no witnesses (or witnesses that prefer not to have seen anything ...), then the hit is near silent as is possible with any firearm ...
Oh, and a question if I may: as movie 'hits' are portrayed as having spent casings been left behind, would seasoned hit men worry about policing those up, or are casings almost next to impossible to trace back to a gun, and thus person, presuming that said gun wasn't dumped afterwards ...?
@@nigelft.22lr is not subsonic.
This is actually an extremely well thought out little gun, thanks for bringing us this!
This machine pistol is so good that most games give up and let it be an smg
In Ghost Recon Wildlands it's one of 2 compact machine guns you can carry as a sidearm, the other one being a MAC 11.
In GTA5 its called Mini SMG :)
well, he did say that it is thecnicaly not rapid fire pistol but very small smg
Klobb
Worst weapon in Goldeneye 007 though
It was also used for paratroopers, because lightweight ammo so they could carry more rounds. Silencer was also often used. Police and army police also carried vz61, and so did some personel protection units and prezidential guard. Later was replaced with MP5s, but some modernized versions were tried, even in 9mm, which are a bit rare now.
Another excellent video about firearm, I am proud that Czechoslovakian designers did a lot of really interestingly designed constructions! Greeting from Czech rep.
That rate reducer is really cool. I might get one of these in the future. Thanks for covering this and greetings from the Czech Republic!
Fraje CZ Is your's full auto?
No, I meant getting a Vz. 61 in general, not the rate reducer itself. The gun would have to be semi-auto only in the Czech Republic, so no use for the rate reducer there of course, but that doesn't matter. Still better than it being deactivated.
_Okay,_ thanks for clarifying. I was wondering, too. ^_^;
So what are gun laws like in the Czech Republic?
AJ Tomecek Vast majority of legal gun owners in the Czech Republic agree on that our gun laws are very good. Even better than in the US, actually. We take it as a good thing that not everyone can own a gun. Its about as difficult as getting a driver's license, so if you're not an idiot, you can get a gun.The EU Comission is about to change many things for the worse, sadly... I can elaborate more if you want. Feel free to ask more specific questions. ;)
Something about this gun is just incredibly cool.
Having one of these with a modern optic would make for one of the funnest range guns possible.
A Stechkin would be awesome to see on this channel
Jonathan Borley yes
It is just a huge PM, it's not that interesting.
4:14 he’s smooth as hell with the stock unfold
That rate reducer is a very intricate design on a firearm that already has a lot of moving pieces. It’s so amazing to see something like that was designed a very long time ago! I wonder if they were to manufacture a new version of this if they would not need the right reducer? And I’m not talking about the new Evo I’m just talking about remaking a version of this gun.
I have two of these SBRd and I've had the privilege of shooting one in "20" (Full Auto) a couple times and wow what fun they are!
FZ rc Watching the cases fly out the top is just way too cool, especially in slow motion. ☺️ Love my Skorpion, even though it's without a stock.
Little Jenny it truly is hard to beat in terms of just pure joy for a range toy. Typically I shoot my outdoors but I've brought them to an indoor range once or twice and taken a few cases to the head being they come flying out the top so fast and bounce off the ceiling haha.
You can even see the gun nudge upwards as the rate reducer weight comes back up and smacks the release.
ooh, neat! *watches again*
I guess this would also reduce the uptravel effect or recoil to increase accuracy
That was a pretty sick shoulder stock flip
I see a Czech Gun, I click the video
Love the mechanical elements in this pistol. Very cool
Always a bit confusing when "Machine Pistol" and "Sub Machine Gun" are two different things in english :/
DesRoin It's not that complicated, it comes all down to size. Micro-Uzi machine pistol - full size Uzi sub machine gun.
Also, machine pistols are usually pistols first that are made automatic. Examples a G18 is a fully auto G17 essentially.
Yeah but in german pretty much any automatic firing pistol caliber weapon is considered a "Maschinenpistole" literally translated "machine pistol" ;)
DesRoin Same in polish, propably because we adapted this word from German
DesRoin There isn't a a rule or true definition of either. But it mostly seems to be based on the country of origin. Though generally in the US we call "machine pistols" something, as he mentioned, a weapon that started as a handgun. Like the Beretta 92 and 93, or Glock 17 and 18.
that move where he slapped the barrel to flip the stock out was great, thats a fantastic design
All time favorite machine pistol of all time. When I was a wee lad, I had the opportunity to buy one that was converted to semi automatic. I wanted it but couldn't afford it. Well, that and I was 16. The guy at the gun club monthly swap meet only wanted $160, but I couldn't convince my Pops. I miss those days.
There's two classes of personal defense weapon: One that's more than a pistol but less than an SMG, and one that's more than an SMG but less than an assault rifle.
Got the chance to shoot one of these on a trip to Prague. Great experience.
The slow-mo was great in showing just how the rate reducer functions. Bolt goes back, pauses for a moment, then comes forward. Lets see, 32 ammo at .40 cents a round, 20 round mag is 8 bucks, at 800 RPM fires off in about 1.5 seconds. As they say in the Mastercard commercials. "Priceless"
We still use those smgs. It is very handy and you would be surprised how accurate it is with that shor barrel. It was ahead of its time. One of the very first PDW weapons. Quite usefull even today and its good enough to shot a prisoner from your tower post. Czech police still carries them arround. Not many people know that we sent a lot of those guns to Israel along with the CZ vz. 23/25 and they had build the legendary UZI based on these.
What an awesome design.
Interesting. Also, it even seems, when you look at the slow motion, the rate reducer introduces also some vertical forces that reduces the climbing of the weapon.
Imagine to have a virtual class and all that beautiful stuff hanging on the background your your camera. Amazing view
Hey Ian. Don't forget the Polish PM-63 RAK! They are probably the best of the early PDW's
It was also popular choice for bodyguards. Quite a lot of firepower that was easily concealed under a jacket.
Ah yes, the good old klobb from goldeneye!
OBVIOUSLY the very best Zombie Apocalypse weapon ever (in single fire). I have to change my whole load out and ammo bag now. I'm going to need that VZ 27 pistol in .32 as well...
is this not the basis for the "Klobb" in N64's Goldeneye?
Indeed it is. And the Dostovei was basef of the TT33 Tokarev
Yep every gun in that game has odd name " k7 Soviet " and "AR33" just to name a few.
I just love The VZ CZ 61 Scorpion... I would love to have this example in the collection....
4:15
He wants to say a pretty bad ass weapon so bad, but he stops himself lol.
CZ Vzor 61 was ahead of its time , even the UZI was inspired by this design . Czechoslovakia was really good at making weapons.
Desert eagle was also just sized up CZ pistol .
Having a nostalgia for COD 4 now.
Daniel Chew the last great COD gane
Far Cry 3. And GTA Vice City
Project Reality also has it as the medic gun for its insurgent faction.
kindermafia has arrived
yep, still the klob for me too! and I hated it in the game but still cool as hell
The falling brass wouldn't be a problem if the shooter was wearing a tanker's headcover. Popping out of a hatch to lay down covering fire for escaping crew mates you don't necessarily want to pelt them with side ejecting brass, or have them bounce back into you off a tank hull. Me thinks that the top ejection of the brass was a well thought out design feature.
If you have not done so before (and please kindly point me to the video that covers it - if you have already done one in the past), could you please go over and explain types of guns / classifications? Machine gun, light machine gun, submachine gun, pistol, machine pistol, submachine pistol (is that a thing?), rifle, shotgun, carbine, and so on. Where do AR-15, M-16, Uzi, AK47, MP5, 9mm Glock (!), Barret 50 cal, and so on fall on the spectrum of classifications? Love your channel. Great content. Thank you for awesome videos and valuable information.
You can also see the tail of the gun bump up when that weight hits. Neat
Czechnology at its finest.
I see your Stechkin and raise you a Skorpion....Czechmate
Adding to the bucket list
wow that is a awesome little gun.
I'd always figured that was just a simple, even crude, machine pistol that was effective but nothing special but that rate reducer is really cool and clever.
I have a fair bit more respect for the design of the Scorpion now.
I shot one of these on full auto, recoil isnt bad, muzzle rise is manageable, just watch out for the rain of brass and keep your fingers out of the way of the bolt handles
Dude that was awesome slo mo!
In South Africa in the 80's, we were taught to recognise the Skorpion because it was used by the ANC. Nothing like recognition posters in kindergarten to show kids how to identify terrorist guns, grenades and limpet mines. Throw in the standard fire drills, bomb threat drills and firearm attack drills and you've got a well-rounded education by the age of 7.
Love this Ian! I would have never thought that simple looking gun was so sophisticated. I love your videos. Can you do the m2 deuce someday?
Awesome dishing! ... had no idea all that stuff was in the pistol grip! :)
I come back to this video a lot, and the thought just occurred to me... why didn't CZ use a grip magazine?
They developed the SA-23 series of SMGs, the first major design to use a grip magazine (and notably also the first to use a telescoped bolt, an innovation that the Skorpion does use). Was it because they planned to use a rate reducing mechanism from the start, and knew that the grip was the only reasonable place to house it? Is there some obscure prototype that does use a grip magazine and failed in some way? Lots of questions potentially arise from that conspicuous absence.
It also was prodiced in 9x19 Luger version. It is still used by few Czech army paratrooper and special groups, then it is used by Prague castle honor guard (they also have non-functional chrome plated vz.52 rifles). Czech police uses Scorpions too, mainly prison transport guys do use these when they transfer prisoners to court and back. You can fire Scorpion with stock folded using front par as grip for your thumb.
Why .32ACP?
From what I know the Europeans consider .32ACP an adequate handgun round because the FMJ bullet is sufficient to penetrate and exit a human body.
It's a beautiful weapon indeed, we still own a brand new one until this day which never been fired
A bit of Skorpion history: Idi Amin Dada carried one of these in the leather belt holster all the time. Also, back around 1971 or '72 the North Vietnamese sent a commando team of 5 or 6 into Thailand to blow up B-52's at our Heavy Bomber base there. They were detected by air force guard dogs and were all killed by US Air police security guards. All the commandos scored were one or two air police dogs killed, and one large electric generator blown up. The enemy commandos were armed with Czech Skorpions. No US planes were destroyed.
good, i h ope they fed the living dogs the dead Congs, but cooked up on the BBQ first.
Without the stock and magazine, it looks like an old power drill from a distance.
This would be an amazing home defense weapon.
Almost too fun to be a home defense gun. Might get all hyped up and end up spraying the mail man lol
@@trevordavis8210 Yeah, well, teach the nosy neerdowell to not trespass and deliver the mail!!!
In akimbo
Yeah, I use my select-fire Yugo Skorp as my home defence gun. Love that gun, even if I’m a bit too tall for it.
It seems like Home Defense weapons seem to be drifting towards semi-auto versions of PDW concepts anyway these days.
Lotta Pistol Caliber Carbines that are roughly this thing's length shooting 9mm with the idea that it's probably the easiest effective weapon for an inexperienced shooter to use with the low recoil and three points of contact. With some minimal accessories (simple light and maybe a reliable basic reflector sight) you've got an affordable package that most people physically able to hold it and see clearly can use effectively
Thank you for sharing this very informative video! More power to you guys. 😊
There's just something about this firearm that makes me drool.... I would love to have this gun in my collection.
I didn't hear if Ian informed the people that the officer's versions are lacking the rate reducer parts...
Wow so many parts, it's like a big pocket watch inside.
Question, why the complicated rate reducer, why not just a different rate spring?
Thanks for a fascinating video. I had wondered why the bolt "hesitated" each time (saw the other vid before this one).
I will always remember this gun as the Klobb
Beautiful gun
I really won't to get into collecting old guns just cause the history behind them
Even though I’m not a fan of this particular smg it still is a nice smg all things considered.
this rate reducer is a genius idea !
Had no idea these were so engineered, way cool
The aesthetics of the skorpion always reminded me of a miniature AK-47. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any original, fully transferable VZ61s in the US so I have to be content with my AKS-74U.
Simple weapon, does exactly what it was designed for, is reliable due to good quality materials and great manufacturing quality, and its also idiotproof.
CZ makes the best pistols, hands down.
The most pity "part" of vz. 61 is that many people call it "UZI" (every full-auto pistols), while vz. 61 is way better than any of those.
This is true for real life but in Goldeneye N64 the Uzi was far better than the Klobb.
The.Chec Scorpion I recall was accurate and came with a very efficient silencer. It may have been issued to the military, but it was mostly used by the paramilitary and secret police. I came acros it in the 1070s and the Stechin in Central America. It was better than the MAC M11.
The Call Of Duty staple gun. Needed like two full clips Akimbo style to get anything done.
so amazing that SMG are usually called Maschinenpistole in german...which directly translates to machine pistol
It's classified as a restricted rifle in Canada which means if you lengthen the barrel enough it will be legally considered a non-restricted rifle despite being a pistol. As a Canadian with only a PAL (I can only get non-restricted guns) I want to get a VZ 61 with a comically long barrel but I'd need to commission someone with an RPAL to get it.
Way way way more complex than I ever thought.
4:12 Ok. That was pretty slick.
Dirty, yes, but dirty-Oily. Lots better than clean-rusty. I did not know that the "telescoping bolt" was a Czech innovation. My RPB Ingram's have such a bolt. Thanks!
More complex than i thought
That feel when playing Goldeneye with your friend and he uses the Klobb
The Lord's blessings are many as of late....
This was my go to gat in The Suffering
It's also popular with body guards.
I want one so bad
Czechoslovakian! Not Czech! There was no Czech military in 1961!
Please do Samopal vz.58
A tuned mass damper used to control rate of fire. Cool!
One of the coolest sounding and looking guns, thank you communist Eastern Europe
This was the only gun my friend used in SAS 3
Ah the Klobb, always more effective when dual wielded
More effective, but still not very effective lol.
The gun was developer by CZ weapon factory, same like mk.58. But it was made for czechoslovak armed forces, until 1993 Czech and Slovak republic were one country. Small arms and whelled vehicles have been made in Czech part of the country, heavy weapons like tanks have been made in Slovak part of the country. Try mk.58 in our languade samopal vzor 58, it is better then ak-47. Dunno why it was called submachingun when it was assault rifle, but anyway it is great gun.
From what I've heard it was translate mistake from russian Avtomat.
VZ.58 is a nice gun, but there is one problem with it. People unfamiliar with it can assemble it incorrectly after field-stripping and cause an explosion in the breech when next trying to fire.
But I agree, CZ made some great guns over the years. You won't find me arguing with that statement. What is happening at their Brno factory presently - is it still in operation? (Reason I ask is that there was talk about moving production to the USA - I hope that didn't happen!)
@@baronsamedi6144 CZ Brno is history man, i was raving in the factory on party years ago. the site is leveled now and new offices/apartment-flat blocks are being erected. what nowadays brands itself as CZ is different city, different company, different employees, but apparently the craft is transferable as i hear CZ maintains decent rep.
I actually bought one of those big holsters years ago at a gun show, having no idea what it was for, but thinking it might fit an old WW2 German flare pistol I had. Mystery solved.
Holy shit that's the Klobb! The wire stock is folded up giving it that goofy look i seem to remember
By the way(just a remark),if the Czechs had made it a bit longer(in a ordinary SMG configuration) and had chambered it with 9mm Para, the MP5 would've come second best right away.
The Czech Republic and Embassy Security Team and version of the Secret Service once relied heavily on it but am unsure if they still do. I also remember hearing the East German Army had some as did or does the DPRK (North Korea).
The first time I saw a Skorpion was in Red Dawn (1984).
Few gun designers of the world by my eyes
Americans : OK, so we need a gun. We need it to look cool and be an instant classic
Germans : Alright, let's make guns. Let's put some of those interesting and unorthodox ideas to use
Belgians : Ok, so Yankees asked us to make guns for 'em, let's make something that lasts for a few decades and is reliable
Israeli : Hold my beer!
Russians : We need a gun, that can withstand being submerged for 30 years in a swamp and still fire after being hastingly cleaned up
Chinese : We need guns. Comrade Wenqing, we are sure your bureau can accomodate our nation in that respect!!!
Czechs : One tank driver and few special servicemen asked us to make a small automatic pistol....let's just make the damn thing, so we can go back to the pub...
VZ.58 and 61 are my all time favorite set of weapons, may be the chez heritage speaking tho
I used to wonder why the magazine was not in the grip. Now I don't.
I always thought this gun looked cheap and...crappy. I was wrong. Its ingenious.
I’m sold.
I've been on a bit of a submachine gun kick. It is interesting however that this is in fact a machine pistol, seeing as it has a stock. That makes it much more practical in my mind than a G18 or others. I always thought that the best role for a machine pistol was as a standard sidearm for a rifleman or sniper. This is probably either cost-prohibitive or perhaps just too heavy, though.