As much as my generation was taught that Eastern Europe was some kind of hellhole wasteland that was stuck in the '40s in terms of industrial capability, the Czechs were some damned fine engineers.
@@sethlance8009 Please, dont call Czech republic Eastern Europe. Due to obvious reasons, we are very sensitive about it and many people here takes it almost as an insult. And it is a nonse geographically aswell. Do you can Austria for example Eastern Europe ? I dont think so. Yet, our borders runs side by side and if you look at the map, and find our capital cities, you will find out, that Vienna is about 150 km more to the east, then Prague. Yes, we were part of eastern bloc, but not by choice. It is Central Europe, not eastern. And it is more tha behind how we identify ourselves, then just feelings . Even culturally, Central Europe has it's own historical specifics and strong cultural bonds. It's us, parts of Germany (Bayern, Sachsen), Austria, Slovakia, southern Poland and Hungary.
What a beautiful rifle! I actually exclaimed "wow!" during one of the panning shots. I swear, almost everyone keeps referencing the usual suspects in arms development in my usual circles; US, Germans, Russians, Swiss etc. But I have a special place in my heart for the Czechs. Without fail almost every single video pertaining to a Czech firearm has captivated me even more than usual. The ZB-26 being a gorgeous recent example. Thanks for the amazing work Ian!
I remember the deal with the CZ-75. If only... I won't lie, I'm fairly new to the Czech game, mainly due to overexposure to everything else, but the last decade or so I've been exposed to the Czechs, I feel like I'm watching lead-launching clockwork.
I'm sure there's a bit of irony in that story. What with an Italian pistol stealing a Czech pistol's limelight, and using an Italian knockoff of the aforementioned Czech pistol for competition! Cool little insight, thanks for that.
Also when you look at Czech cars from that time, Czech engineering was pretty much at level with the German's, if not superior in some regards. I say this as a German.
No, the ruination was the Soviet model of central planning meant any sort of self-driven advancement in design or manufacturing was horribly, horribly constrained, if not outright squashed. No longer "I have an idea, let's try it out and see who wants to buy it", it's submitting a request to the manufacturing bureau and waiting to see if someone in an office in town decides that your idea's worthwhile... which is hard with complex items and bureaucrats with no vision. Looking at the capability of design here, looking at the output from Tatra, Skoda, Praga, CKD, Avia, etc. pre-WWII... if the Nazi's hadn't invaded and the Soviets exerted control, could the Czechs have driven a world that actually looked like what was envisioned in science fiction of the day? At least stylistically...
Even on my phone I can see the quality of machine work. Simply elegant. Today producing it would be of astronomical cost. Thank you for such a awesome video.
That is an absolutely beautiful rifle. The amazing condition helps, but the machining and finish and styling just really make it look amazing. I wish I could see it in person!
Much like your pecker, a rifle requires proper cleaning after it gets wet. Hence the difference between one you’d own and one in a reference collection.
Legionitalia So who's volunteering to get theirs removed for said reference collection? Whose gets kept for posterity, and who keeps their for posterior?
The more I watch these vids, the more I want to dedicate my life to collecting Czech firearms! The combination of machine work/fit & finish, clever design, and beautiful engineering is seemingly unmatched by any single nation(especially one that ISN'T some 'giant superpower'). This is possibly just my preferences, but Czech firearms may just be the most seducing of them all
I think there's more to the story of the gas block retaining pin than just baking in compatibility with rifle grenades. If this is a prototype rifle to offer around the world, that pin looks like the perfect way to make the gas system suit different cartridges without changing the technical package much at all. Calibre conversions then become a matter of changing the bolt face, the barrel, the magazine assembly, and one pin. Those parts (except the pin) can be lifted from established designs and are mostly self-contained so your tailoring costs are minimised. I'd also be willing to bet the designer made a bunch of different pins to take to trials in case their ammo was slightly different to what he tested with. 3 years late, but that's my little contribution.
Cool gun. It looks like a M1 Garand built by Weatherby.I assume that hinged buttplate houses a cleaning kit. I was watching Antiques Roadshow once and a lady had a pair of binoculars that her family had lent to the military during WWII and after the war they returned them.I guess this was a common practice during WWII for certain items.Back then optics were expensive and mostly made Europe.
JohnLeePedimore interesting. I have a pair of Lieberman und Gortz binoculars that also did service in the same way. Particularly WW1 optics were very difficult to produce. There was an infamous deal (through swiss intermediaries) that eventualy didnt happen because it was thought too immoral...British Empire rubber supplied to Germany (who had no source due to blockade/ loss of colonial supply) for german/austrian produced sniper scopes. The British parliament deemed it morally wrong!
That rifle is in such superb and just-been-manufactured condition, that when you were taking it apart, I kept wincing and thinking "Dude, be careful. You're going to scratch it". Wow. That's beautiful.
Didn't see it, but someone may have already mentioned that running the gas through the cross pin also means if you've forgotten to secure the gas tube (left out that pin) the gas just vents out the giant cross hole instead of launching the unsecured gas tube forward. Plus it's immediately obvious that something went wrong. So possible a bit more soldier-proof than using a normal push pin that isn't in the gas path.
The proper pronunciation of his name is "Coat-ski" - wheres you pronounce it rather like Cut-ski. The "ou" sound is almost identical to how you'd simply spell the letter "O" to someone. Great work on the video, as always.
The hammer spring is quite similar in its design to that on the PTRS 14,5 mm anti-tank rifle. Has its undeniable assets. First of them all - it's compact. The whole assembly of the hammer and its spring take very little space.
I wish these had made production. I would have bought one!!! I love CZ products. I have a CZ 75 and a CZ 82, both are awesome guns. I used to own a CZ 52 but sold it when 7.62x25 got scarce.
I suspect it has been touched up. The white on the lettering makes me the most suspect because those white paints back then cracked and yellowed simply over time.
Ian, if you ever get an opportunity to see ZB-47, review it asap. It's lost even to us/me, I saw it only in one Czech museum. All info I have about it was only in it's manual, but the gun is worth czeching into, so weird, yet so beautiful.
That triggerpull close is so much better then the M1 Garand with its dumb noncense... This gun is clever in a lot of ways, but I think super difficult to produce and above all, EXPENSIVE!
Thinking about this... first, when charging from a clip you don't have to worry about being in such a position where you're going to have to keep force on the bolt handle, you could fumble one up prone and as long as the clip got into the guide you could force them down with your fingers. Second, loading cartridges singly on empty is a possibility, useful if your clips are mangled/rusty or you just have loose ammo (or, given who this was from/for, ammo in wrong clips, ammo in belts, etc.) Third, the bolt handle being on the left means a right-handed shooter is taking their left hand off the foregrip to manipulate it, so keeping manipulation to a minimum is a good thing. Charge the gun w/right hand, hand goes straight back down to grip, minimal movement. On the M1 the charging setup is well suited because the clip's an enbloc design and the handle's on the right side where you can hold it back with the same hand inserting the clip. It's just a different set of design circumstances.
Having the bolt close on a trigger pull is not great from a safety standpoint. Both designs could have benefited with the addition of a simple button for closing the bolt.
No joke, and that's why we have developed procedures for handling them that make having a fatal accident far less likely, such as keeping your finger off the trigger until you are ready to *fire* the gun. Having the trigger do double duty for other actions makes it more likely someone will unintentionally discharge the firearm.
"Czech weapon"...."Lots of nifty features" I don't think you can separate those two phrases. EDIT: Also of note, two marks of brilliance. 1 - the little neat features like the hammer recocking mechanism are designed in such a way they are easily omissible, and 2 - there's a great deal of evidence of forward thought in the design, as Ian pointed out with the gas block pin and bolt hold open system that could be adapted as an auto sear. Oh, and the mag floorplate catch that is in a reasonable place to be used as a removable magazine's catch. And that the removable muzzle brake also allows for a stronger bayonet to be mounted *and* either a simpler slip-on launchable grenade OR a similar style clip-on grenade launcher attachment. Add a single pin and ramp cut to the bolt for the firing pin, and that top track for the OOB safety function becomes the FP advancement mechanism if fired from the bolt hold-open as an open bolt automatic. TLDR, these guys were *good* at this.
I enjoy every single one of your videos Ian, but especially the Czech ones. Might have something to do with my nationality. And with your attempts to pronounce Czech words correctly... Just FYI, Germans did not occupy us in 1938 (even though you are technically right and I am sure you know the difference between annexation in 1938 and invasion in 1939). Nevertheless, excellent video, keep them coming.
The gas port / pin at 15:00, maybe they had plans for different pins with different hole sizes, in order to finely tune the pressure ? Or for use with different ammos ?
Olivier C my first thought when I saw that was that that little pin would essentially be welded in place by hot carbon if you had to is that rifle at a sustained high volume of fire. Just like you can almost weld a gas regulator on a 240.
Could be why it's attached with a "handle" capable of twisting it... and completely through the gas block in such a way you could set the rifle on a special punch block and knock the crap out of it without worrying about damaging anything else.
I wish rifles were made like this today. Something to be proud of rather than a crap gun to throw in the back of the truck because it's easy to replace.
WOW! The fit and finish on that rifle is WOW!!!
You can hear the little "pop" at 9:26 when Ian pulls the pin out. Now that's some tight tolerances!
The Rogue Wolf 👍
As much as my generation was taught that Eastern Europe was some kind of hellhole wasteland that was stuck in the '40s in terms of industrial capability, the Czechs were some damned fine engineers.
@@sailingmaster the Czechs were the best of the East European nation as far as firearm inovation
@@sethlance8009 Please, dont call Czech republic Eastern Europe. Due to obvious reasons, we are very sensitive about it and many people here takes it almost as an insult. And it is a nonse geographically aswell. Do you can Austria for example Eastern Europe ? I dont think so. Yet, our borders runs side by side and if you look at the map, and find our capital cities, you will find out, that Vienna is about 150 km more to the east, then Prague. Yes, we were part of eastern bloc, but not by choice. It is Central Europe, not eastern. And it is more tha behind how we identify ourselves, then just feelings . Even culturally, Central Europe has it's own historical specifics and strong cultural bonds. It's us, parts of Germany (Bayern, Sachsen), Austria, Slovakia, southern Poland and Hungary.
What a beautiful rifle! I actually exclaimed "wow!" during one of the panning shots. I swear, almost everyone keeps referencing the usual suspects in arms development in my usual circles; US, Germans, Russians, Swiss etc. But I have a special place in my heart for the Czechs. Without fail almost every single video pertaining to a Czech firearm has captivated me even more than usual. The ZB-26 being a gorgeous recent example. Thanks for the amazing work Ian!
That is a handsome rifle. Never seen an aesthetically pleasing Russian firearm though!
The cz75 is so much a better pistol than the Beretta.
I remember the deal with the CZ-75. If only... I won't lie, I'm fairly new to the Czech game, mainly due to overexposure to everything else, but the last decade or so I've been exposed to the Czechs, I feel like I'm watching lead-launching clockwork.
I'm sure there's a bit of irony in that story. What with an Italian pistol stealing a Czech pistol's limelight, and using an Italian knockoff of the aforementioned Czech pistol for competition! Cool little insight, thanks for that.
This rifle will take forever to manufacture
Randy Magnum personally the SKS and RPD look really good
Although i love Soviet aesthetics so I might be biased
I'm a simple man, I see Czech forgotten weapon, I like the video.
Kllrt i like video*
the Czechs make some really beautiful guns
Just remember, "ou" in Czech is pronounced like "oh".
The audio is perfect in this video too.
Aaayyyyy Kllrt
gorgeous czechnology!
S3r1ous lol
This weapon looks gorgeous...
Also when you look at Czech cars from that time, Czech engineering was pretty much at level with the German's, if not superior in some regards. I say this as a German.
Thank You in the name of my ancestors. It's a nice thing to read.:-)
Dare to say that Czech engineering was the best in the world in the time between the two great wars... Too bad soviets had to ruin everything...
No, the ruination was the Soviet model of central planning meant any sort of self-driven advancement in design or manufacturing was horribly, horribly constrained, if not outright squashed. No longer "I have an idea, let's try it out and see who wants to buy it", it's submitting a request to the manufacturing bureau and waiting to see if someone in an office in town decides that your idea's worthwhile... which is hard with complex items and bureaucrats with no vision.
Looking at the capability of design here, looking at the output from Tatra, Skoda, Praga, CKD, Avia, etc. pre-WWII... if the Nazi's hadn't invaded and the Soviets exerted control, could the Czechs have driven a world that actually looked like what was envisioned in science fiction of the day? At least stylistically...
Czech please!
So, it's Capitalism's fault?
"you can re-cock the hammer by pulling on the trigger guard"
Did not expect that one.
I've never owned a gun, but damn this gun is really well made and funished, almost an artifact.
That is just a gorgeous rifle, I only hope that it shot as good as it looks , WOW
Even on my phone I can see the quality of machine work. Simply elegant. Today producing it would be of astronomical cost. Thank you for such a awesome video.
Seems like Forgotten Weapons has finally covered all the Czech 20s and 30s semi-auto rifles. Nice Job!
All the ones we know about for now, anyway.
It's damn gorgeous. I want one.
Very cool thing to czech out, indeed
propyne haha, beat me to it ;)
The fire rate is a bit slovak
You can SEE the quality of the build of this rifle. Even on video.
Amazing craftsmanship
I’m so amazed at how different countries had different machining styles , once you look at a firearm you can say that’s definitely Czech in design
functional art, and it's absolutely beautiful!
The Machining of the weapon look as if it was made in the early 2000's. Smooth and presise! Incredible.
I've seen machining done yesterday that wasn't as smooth
I never thought much about Czech guns but seeing all theses guns through the ages definitely has gotten me interested.
Clever engineering and excellent machining, I love the fit and finish on this rifle.
What a beautiful piece of complicated machining.
That is gorgeously machined and finished.
Thank you Forgotten Weapons this is an excellent video to end the year.
That rifle has a very visually appealing design...clean lines
Ian you are the best greetings from Slovenia keep up the great work
That is an absolutely beautiful rifle. The amazing condition helps, but the machining and finish and styling just really make it look amazing. I wish I could see it in person!
The Czechs never fail to impress me with the old and modern guns they have made
Oh the sphincter clenching task of pulling the trigger to drop the bolt. The finish on that rifle is fantastic.
God, I love Czech firearms. They're so beautifully complicated.
This is is from the 1930's and is in great condition and the howa 1500 I bought last year already looks like shit.
My friend buy a Steyr rifle, you will get some fine Austrian craftsmanship.
I didn't know that Howa's never looked like sheeee-yit
Much like your pecker, a rifle requires proper cleaning after it gets wet. Hence the difference between one you’d own and one in a reference collection.
It's a low budget gun, you get what you paid for
Legionitalia So who's volunteering to get theirs removed for said reference collection?
Whose gets kept for posterity, and who keeps their for posterior?
Thanks Ian, very interesting internals on this rifle.
really beautifully engineered and machined rifle
What a great looking rifle! some quality work done on this.
Czech quality in this rifle from the video rivals that of even Germany at the time. Impressive.
I should really be asleep right now... But it's another gun I haven't heard of.
I think you might be watching the wrong channel if you need sleep.
The more I watch these vids, the more I want to dedicate my life to collecting Czech firearms! The combination of machine work/fit & finish, clever design, and beautiful engineering is seemingly unmatched by any single nation(especially one that ISN'T some 'giant superpower').
This is possibly just my preferences, but Czech firearms may just be the most seducing of them all
My God the fit and finish on this rifle is astounding. You can see how shockingly well made this is. WOW.
Magnificent riffle, such build quality
a beautiful work of machining! so we'll made. if firearms today were built like that I would actually buy them just to take them apart.
It looks like the German Gew 41! Great video as usual. Happy New Year! The Czechs make some good weapons.
I think there's more to the story of the gas block retaining pin than just baking in compatibility with rifle grenades.
If this is a prototype rifle to offer around the world, that pin looks like the perfect way to make the gas system suit different cartridges without changing the technical package much at all. Calibre conversions then become a matter of changing the bolt face, the barrel, the magazine assembly, and one pin. Those parts (except the pin) can be lifted from established designs and are mostly self-contained so your tailoring costs are minimised.
I'd also be willing to bet the designer made a bunch of different pins to take to trials in case their ammo was slightly different to what he tested with.
3 years late, but that's my little contribution.
The metal work is outstanding.
Nice looking gun. The sound the gas release flap made was funny lol.
Cool gun. It looks like a M1 Garand built by Weatherby.I assume that hinged buttplate houses a cleaning kit.
I was watching Antiques Roadshow once and a lady had a pair of binoculars that her family had lent to the military during WWII and after the war they returned them.I guess this was a common practice during WWII for certain items.Back then optics were expensive and mostly made Europe.
JohnLeePedimore interesting. I have a pair of Lieberman und Gortz binoculars that also did service in the same way. Particularly WW1 optics were very difficult to produce. There was an infamous deal (through swiss intermediaries) that eventualy didnt happen because it was thought too immoral...British Empire rubber supplied to Germany (who had no source due to blockade/ loss of colonial supply) for german/austrian produced sniper scopes. The British parliament deemed it morally wrong!
That is very beautifully machined.
Amazing piece of technique!
Thank you for another year of nice films and this was also a very nice one with the parts comparing to the Garand , a unique piece this rifle
Wow, the finish on this gun is beautiful.
What a beautiful made and preserved gun! The owners took good care of it!
This is the earliest I have ever been on a FW vid!
I am always impressed by 80 year old rifles in such fantastic condition.
Beautiful machining!
The Czechs sure make some fine looking rifles.
That rifle is in such superb and just-been-manufactured condition, that when you were taking it apart, I kept wincing and thinking "Dude, be careful. You're going to scratch it". Wow. That's beautiful.
Beautiful rifle
That's a fine looking rifle.
beautiful gun
Didn't see it, but someone may have already mentioned that running the gas through the cross pin also means if you've forgotten to secure the gas tube (left out that pin) the gas just vents out the giant cross hole instead of launching the unsecured gas tube forward. Plus it's immediately obvious that something went wrong. So possible a bit more soldier-proof than using a normal push pin that isn't in the gas path.
"finest ever Tapco muzzle brake"
Such good condition
This is some fine manufacturing.
Keep up the good work and wishing you a very happy new year too.
IT just looks right.
this is a beautiful rifle
Wow, that is really cool.
Wow, never this early!! Thanks for another awesome video.
That is definitely the best hammer spring on the channel.
Man that is really nicely done,.. but I would like to have seen them keep the magazine design from the ZH29 or ZB26
The proper pronunciation of his name is "Coat-ski" - wheres you pronounce it rather like Cut-ski. The "ou" sound is almost identical to how you'd simply spell the letter "O" to someone. Great work on the video, as always.
probably one of the best looking rifles you have ever had on here as far as physical condition goes.
A reassembly video of this rifle would be highly pornographic... and greatly appreciated.
Man that's a good looking rifle!
The hammer spring is quite similar in its design to that on the PTRS 14,5 mm anti-tank rifle. Has its undeniable assets. First of them all - it's compact. The whole assembly of the hammer and its spring take very little space.
ČZ Vz. 24 (9mm Browning) would be nice . Btw i am from Czech Rep. I love your videos
the Czech really love their Domestic Arsenal
I wish these had made production. I would have bought one!!! I love CZ products. I have a CZ 75 and a CZ 82, both are awesome guns. I used to own a CZ 52 but sold it when 7.62x25 got scarce.
Incredibly rich history in just one rifle.
BEAUTIFUL
This looks like a really interesting rifle. Shame there aren't more examples available out in the wild!
Good Lord, thats a beautiful rifle, thru-&-thru !
That's one good looking firearm.
This looks like it's been fired twice, if at all.
I suspect it has been touched up. The white on the lettering makes me the most suspect because those white paints back then cracked and yellowed simply over time.
not to mention the wood finish looks brand new.
In terms of complicated Czech tech, this is actually pretty tame. I like it
Also, the story behind this example is outstanding
.....and the award for the most handsome rifle ever goes to....
Ian, if you ever get an opportunity to see ZB-47, review it asap. It's lost even to us/me, I saw it only in one Czech museum.
All info I have about it was only in it's manual, but the gun is worth czeching into, so weird, yet so beautiful.
That triggerpull close is so much better then the M1 Garand with its dumb noncense...
This gun is clever in a lot of ways, but I think super difficult to produce and above all, EXPENSIVE!
Thinking about this... first, when charging from a clip you don't have to worry about being in such a position where you're going to have to keep force on the bolt handle, you could fumble one up prone and as long as the clip got into the guide you could force them down with your fingers. Second, loading cartridges singly on empty is a possibility, useful if your clips are mangled/rusty or you just have loose ammo (or, given who this was from/for, ammo in wrong clips, ammo in belts, etc.) Third, the bolt handle being on the left means a right-handed shooter is taking their left hand off the foregrip to manipulate it, so keeping manipulation to a minimum is a good thing. Charge the gun w/right hand, hand goes straight back down to grip, minimal movement.
On the M1 the charging setup is well suited because the clip's an enbloc design and the handle's on the right side where you can hold it back with the same hand inserting the clip.
It's just a different set of design circumstances.
Having the bolt close on a trigger pull is not great from a safety standpoint. Both designs could have benefited with the addition of a simple button for closing the bolt.
Is gun
Is not safe
No joke, and that's why we have developed procedures for handling them that make having a fatal accident far less likely, such as keeping your finger off the trigger until you are ready to *fire* the gun. Having the trigger do double duty for other actions makes it more likely someone will unintentionally discharge the firearm.
You never said what cartridge it was chambered in.
Most are in 7.92x57mm. 6.5×52mm Mannlicher-Carcano for the Pepperonis probably.
nbenicewicz He replied to a comment below; it's chambered for the 8mm Mauser.
Outstanding!
A lot of wows in the comments, I said the same thing after the disassembly before I even read the comments....It artwork....
What's it chambered in?
8mm Mauser
Thank you.
I think is in 6.5x52.
Amazing
"Czech weapon"...."Lots of nifty features"
I don't think you can separate those two phrases.
EDIT: Also of note, two marks of brilliance. 1 - the little neat features like the hammer recocking mechanism are designed in such a way they are easily omissible, and 2 - there's a great deal of evidence of forward thought in the design, as Ian pointed out with the gas block pin and bolt hold open system that could be adapted as an auto sear. Oh, and the mag floorplate catch that is in a reasonable place to be used as a removable magazine's catch. And that the removable muzzle brake also allows for a stronger bayonet to be mounted *and* either a simpler slip-on launchable grenade OR a similar style clip-on grenade launcher attachment.
Add a single pin and ramp cut to the bolt for the firing pin, and that top track for the OOB safety function becomes the FP advancement mechanism if fired from the bolt hold-open as an open bolt automatic. TLDR, these guys were *good* at this.
Good guy uncle sam Giving GI his prototype rifle souvenir back
Koutský its not pronounced "kuht-ski", it's more like "coat-skee"
not mean to nitpick, love the videos
That gas pin could have been designed to easily swap out the gas port size. Different ammunition might call for a large or smaller port.
I enjoy every single one of your videos Ian, but especially the Czech ones. Might have something to do with my nationality. And with your attempts to pronounce Czech words correctly... Just FYI, Germans did not occupy us in 1938 (even though you are technically right and I am sure you know the difference between annexation in 1938 and invasion in 1939). Nevertheless, excellent video, keep them coming.
Looks like if an SKS and a M14 had a baby. Really nice rifle.
It was love at first sight!
The gas port / pin at 15:00, maybe they had plans for different pins with different hole sizes, in order to finely tune the pressure ?
Or for use with different ammos ?
Olivier C my first thought when I saw that was that that little pin would essentially be welded in place by hot carbon if you had to is that rifle at a sustained high volume of fire. Just like you can almost weld a gas regulator on a 240.
Could be why it's attached with a "handle" capable of twisting it... and completely through the gas block in such a way you could set the rifle on a special punch block and knock the crap out of it without worrying about damaging anything else.
That is a fair point. That being said, I'd be afraid to take a punch anywhere near that beautiful rifle.
I wish rifles were made like this today. Something to be proud of rather than a crap gun to throw in the back of the truck because it's easy to replace.