Third Party Press

Vz.24 German minimalist

Bob in OHIO

Senior Member
This one only has the plug & blue bolt. Seems odd w/ no extra sn.

Question: What's the cartouche in the knob?
Question: Any articles written on decoding the alphanumeric SN on these?
 

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Great looking vz24! The lion crest rifles are hands down my favorite variation.

That cartouche might another Czech rampant lion. Is this on the 'knob' of the grip area?

If I am not mistaken, I think this is how the serial breaks down:
E3 in the acceptance indicates the rifle was accepted at Brno, E4 would be Povaska Bystrica.
E4 following the serial number indicates it is the 362nd rifle in E block of the 4th alphabetic cycle. Assuming they used all the letters in the English alphabet, the Czechs produced 260,000 rifles in each cycle (A1, B1,...,Z1,then A2,B2,etc.)
 
Very nice rifle. My Czech collection is missing a 37.

Everything Ryan posted is the same as the information I have. My 36 is T3. Pretty simple numbering system when compared to the German way.
 
This one only has the plug & blue bolt. Seems odd w/ no extra sn.

Question: What's the cartouche in the knob?
Question: Any articles written on decoding the alphanumeric SN on these?

It would be more odd with an extra serial number. The vast majority of these I've run across are like this: Blued bolt, removed wrist swivel and plugged. Some plugs are square headed like this, most are round. Invariably there are no German inspections. The wrist stamp is Czech. It's neat to find them with the Czech lion receiver indicating a rifle destined for Czech military use, not contract sale.
 
It would be more odd with an extra serial number. The vast majority of these I've run across are like this: Blued bolt, removed wrist swivel and plugged. Some plugs are square headed like this, most are round. Invariably there are no German inspections. The wrist stamp is Czech. It's neat to find them with the Czech lion receiver indicating a rifle destined for Czech military use, not contract sale.


Agreed. The modifications range from none to extensive. It seems that when mods were done the plug and the blued bolt were first on the list. Very nice rifle BIO.
 
It is a neat rifle BiO. That slant dufflecut shows someone familiar with wood joining. They were more interested in the ability to do a stronger repair at a later date than making collectors happy.
 
So when Germany annexed Cz, taking over the factories, and incorporated the the Vz.24 inventory.... some rifles were not modified at all? If that is so, just wondering what the reason was to do a minor mod versus unmodified.... Was it time or the disposition of where the Vz were going or other??

Agreed. The modifications range from none to extensive. It seems that when mods were done the plug and the blued bolt were first on the list. Very nice rifle BIO.
 
So when Germany annexed Cz, taking over the factories, and incorporated the the Vz.24 inventory.... some rifles were not modified at all? If that is so, just wondering what the reason was to do a minor mod versus unmodified.... Was it time or the disposition of where the Vz were going or other??

I think that the vast majority didn't get any modifications at all. The mods we see were done in the field as deemed necessary.
 
So when Germany annexed Cz, taking over the factories, and incorporated the the Vz.24 inventory.... some rifles were not modified at all? If that is so, just wondering what the reason was to do a minor mod versus unmodified.... Was it time or the disposition of where the Vz were going or other??

Yes, and I presume many not modified at all were captured in depots and armories and then went directly into Germany inventory and were issued for the buildup for the invasion of the Low Countries and France. The vast majority of unmodified Vz.24s we see, and you can tell because the bolts are in the white and they have the wrist swivels, are in period pics of the campaigns against perhaps Poland, and certainly France. Then, orders were issued concerning the modification of these rifles to German specifications, and they were run back through the depots/armories to have these modifications done. This is simply my deductive reasoning based upon military supply reality, armaments needs, period pics, and German regulations. The invasion of France and low countries is not going to be held up so that Vz.24 bolts can be blued and swivels removed.
 

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