Unscrubbed Romanian Contract German Modified VZ-24 (!)

[pzjgr]

So this one came across my and Flynaked's radar from our favorite Pawn Shop/Honeyhole. They sent a single pic to me of it hanging on the wall....could tell it was a VZ-24...the only clue I had from the pic was seeing the replaced wrist swivel...my first though was German modified??

Clay and I conferred, and figured it was worth a look, and I eventually ended up with it after arm wrestling Clay for it....

Got it in hand, and first thing we saw was it was a Romanian contract...with an UNSCRUBBED crest. The wrist swivel was of course removed and repaired with a wood plug...rear band was untouched, no swivel there removed. The stock disc bares German marks on both sides.

Bolt has been blued, and is numbers matching. In fact entire gun is numbers matched...front band, and stock also numbered. Stock and handguard have different numbers in channels, so they came from different guns.

Barrel has an "E" mark, which according to Loewe should be a Czech steel producer mark (IIRC from his comments on the barrel on my 33/40 which has the identical mark), a German FP, and a couple of WaA's, which I can't really make out...

Stock and handguard were sanded, but Clay is of the opinion that that happened when the Germans rebuilt it, as the wood patch piece for the wrist swivel is slightly proud on both sides, and if bubba sanded it, they'd be flush and smooth.

Bubba did poly the crap out of the stock, so I am working on removing that.

I took some pics of it apart, and of the details...I will get some overall pics once the stock is done and its all back together.

Unless I am way of base, I am very happy to own this rifle. I think it is fairly unusual since it an unscrubbed Romanian German modified, AND numbers matching. I think an interesting variant to be sure....am I correct in that assumption?

 

[pzjgr]

Some more....

 

[pzjgr]

Last few for now...

 

[Hambone]

Cool Vz.24 mod. Pzjgr ! The person who sanded and polyurethaned that stock should have their a$$ whipped. Totally unnecessary idiocy. It's not too bad and may look better when you chemical strip off that stock pimp juice.

 

[rockisle1903]

Incredible find...Messed with stock or not....Great rifle...

 

[Wolfsburg]

Yes that is seriously cool, pimpshined or not. Hopefully the stock can be brought back, at least to some extent!

 

[nirvana]

Bubba seeks out the rare ones to abuse. It's a unique skill that he has. Sniper rifles, SWJXE 98ks, SS rifles, whatever. They have a sixth sense about it.

Really cool gun though. I've never seen one in that nice of shape before.

 

[pzjgr]

Well, got the shitty poly stripped off, have to do some detail cleaning, etc....

Looks about a million times better...that poly takes a yellowish tinge on, the stock definitely looks more like nice walnut now....maybe by late tomorrow, I will have it back together and will get some good overall pics outside...

Like I said, Clay is of the opinion that the sanding took place when the Germans re-worked it, as the wrist swivel plugs sit a bit proud of the stock...

I will get good closeups of all the metal to wood fit tomorrow, and we'll see what everyone thinks. There are absolutely no markings on the outside of the stock, save the serial on the butt. and a serial, 3 digit, 392 in the channel.

The receiver and bolt also retain the CM proof marks, as pictured.

Of course all the German proofs on the barrel are unseen with the stock and handguard in place.

Also, I will have to get a VZ cleaning rod for it, Liberty tree has them...unless I have one in my spares box, I will check tonight...

Anyone have an idea of original manufacture date?

 

[2nd amend law]

Bore? very nice VZ.

 

[pzjgr]

Bore? very nice VZ.

Never even looked...but I will take a look.

Bore condition never even comes into play for me...but I assume this one is nice....

 

[flynaked]

Bore is extremely nice and sharp crown hard one to let go. This opinion is hard to explain without it in hand, but the stock is not original to the rifle, different Czech S/N, and you can see it on the buttstock as well just barely in the light UNDER the new matching to the rifle S/N, clear evidence that it was sanded during the war, this is excluding all that obviously happened to the stock post war. The wrist plug is proud and sharp as Pzjgr mentioned so I don’t think AS much happened to the stock postwar as would be immediately assumed just looking at it, however shrinkage could be just as much a factor in that fact, especially given two different pieces of lumber and differing moisture content. A NICE rifle regardless and man is that action smooth, glad it ended up with Pzjgr

 

[flynaked]

Bubba seeks out the rare ones to abuse. It's a unique skill that he has. Sniper rifles, SWJXE 98ks, SS rifles, whatever. They have a sixth sense about it.

Hey not ALL, we also pulled a very interesting rifle out of another Texas closet...

 

[Pat]

I'm REALLY liking what I'm seeing so far. While finding a non-ground Romanian Vz-24 receiver is a feat in itself, finding a whole rifle that's apparently German modded is even better. The number font on the front band is noticeably different than the rest of the remaining numbers. Very cool, and congratulations!
Best,
Pat

 

[Tom H]

I like it too, great find.

 

[Hambone]

It's a very cool Vz.24 mod and an excellent find. However, I wish I had $5 for every stock like this I've examined or owned, or seen or stripped which was polyurethaned or varnished. The proper removal of the coating will reveal how much and to what extent the stock was sanded or wooled. However, I would bet a large some of money that it was been sanded and/or steel wooled prior to being coated. That's just how an idiot who would do something like this would do something like this. You guys who have ever refinished, sanded, or steel wooled antique furniture or anything else know exactly what I am talking about. There are degrees of stock cleaning which run from a chemical stripping to pimping it so hard that the contours of the stock are changed. I have even owned a K98k or two that had no real wood prep at all before the varnish was applied. Those are very much the minority. The vast majority of stock varnishing idiots aren't content to just slather on varnish.

The wrist plug "sitting proud" is the way it was done and the amount of sanding necessary to reduce that would have been ridiculously extensive, i.e., the stock's contours would have changed. A wood surface prep of fine grit sandpaper followed by some steel wool (not even fine grade) would have done little more than contour the edges on that plug, at most.

So, at the end of the day, IMHO: Pzjgr, you've got a cool rifle and probably got it at a great price. I collect these and have not seen this variant (there are plenty variants of Vz.24 mods, which is why I collect them ). Some jerk0ff decided the stock needed to be perty and cleaned it and pimped it with polyurethane or varnish, which will come off. Once that is off, you will see the extent of the sanding/steel wooling. If minimal, then so much the better. Hopefully, the idiot who did this did not sand cross grain and leave such sanding marks. I think the people who do such things should be sanded themselves in the same manner and to the same extent that they inflict upon firearms.

 

[Hambone]

Also note too that IMHO, things like bore condition and stock cleaning are relative to scarcity. What one would not want in a byf 44 may be acceptable in a depot Gew.98 to K98k conversion, etc.

I think done slowly, carefully, and properly, the removal of the varnish on the subject stock will yield very nice results and minimal cleaning.

 

[RyanE]

I concur with most everybody else. Stock does appear to have been sanded (though not severely) prior to the application of the poly. Obviously the depot sanded it well during the rework also, which is not uncommon at all.

I can't say that I've ever seen takedown discs marked that way. They are either blank or marked with a WaA or depot inspection, not a solitary eagle. Barrel markings are also a bit odd. The Eagle on top could be a poorly applied depot inspection. I can see what looks like some faint partial lettering under it, and some depots marked barrels like that. The WaA looks a bit out of place also without the short chamber markings to indicate a spare.

On any other rifle these things would add up to give me some pause, but as Craig says, we tend to be a bit more lax about what is acceptable on oddballs like this compared to a factory gun.

 

[flynaked]

Yes indeed agreed. I have seen these takedown disc proofs before, can’t remember where exactly, maybe on 33/40’s? I didn’t take a specific detail picture of the stock serial but here’s one where you can barely make out some of the previous S/N impressions in the stock, and another close up of the disc. Another thought for the comparatively light sanding postwar is the detail around the disc, typically darker around it if heavily sanded due to the difficulty in this area.

 

[pzjgr]

OK, so the poly crap stripped of very nicely with gel stripper. Once I gave it the close going over to get any that was missed, and cleaned out the crevices and stuff, and wiped it down several times with Super Resi Lab grade acetone, the wood was clean.

It looks very smooth, no noticeable sanding remnants...my guess is the previous owner may have steel wooled it, then poly'd it. Edges are slightly rounded, but not excessive IMHO....

I rubbed it down with BLO and let it soak in. I know many here don't like BLO, but I have used it forever, and in this case, I want it to darken the stock somewhat. The stock is somewhat light, some of the pics it seems to have a yellowish cast, but that is more an issue with the pic, it is not like that in hand. So there is a bit of a sheen to it, but that will disappear.

I have pictured the eagles on the stock disc...definitely plain eagles, but I do not have any doubt they are real and legit. Why they are just plain eagles, I have no idea, but I believe they are 100% legit.

Lots of pics...

 

[pzjgr]

Some more...