CZ Model 25
Encyclopedia
The CZ Model 25 was perhaps the best known of a series of Czechoslovak
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 designed submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...

s introduced in 1948. There were four generally very similar submachine guns in this series: the Sa 23, Sa 24, Sa 25, and Sa 26. The primary designer was Jaroslav Holeček (1923–1927), chief engineer of the Česká zbrojovka Strakonice
Ceská Zbrojovka Strakonice
Česká zbrojovka is a Czech firearms manufacturer also known for making ČZ motorcycles. ČZ was established as a branch of the Škoda Works Armament in Strakonice, Czechoslovakia in September 1919.-History:...

 arms factory.

The Sa 23 series utilize a straightforward blowback
Blowback (arms)
Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gases created by the ignition of the propellant charge....

 action, with no locked breech, and fire from the open bolt position. They also use a progressive trigger
Progressive trigger
A progressive trigger is a trigger that allows different firing rates based on how far it is depressed. For example, when pulled lightly, the weapon will fire a single shot. When depressed further, the weapon fires at a fully automatic rate....

 for selecting between semi-automatic fire and fully automatic fire. Lightly pulling on the trigger will fire a single shot. Pulling the trigger farther to the rear in a continuous motion will fire fully automatically, until the trigger is released or the magazine is empty.

The Sa 23 series were the first production-model submachine guns with a telescoping bolt
Telescoping bolt
A weapon with a telescoping bolt is one with a bolt which telescopes over, that is, wraps around and past, the breech end of the barrel...

, in which the forwards part of the moving bolt extends forwards past the back end of the barrel, wrapping around that barrel. This feature reduces the required length of the submachine gun significantly and allows for better balance and handling. Handling was further improved by using a single vertical handgrip housing the ammunition magazine and trigger mechanism, roughly centered along the gun's length. The gun's receiver was machined from a single circular steel tube.

The design of the Sa 23 series submachine guns is most notable in the West for having heavily inspired the slightly later Uzi submachine gun
Uzi submachine gun
The Uzi is a family of Israeli open bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns. Smaller variants are considered to be machine pistols. The Uzi was one of the first weapons to use a telescoping bolt design which allows for the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.The first Uzi...

 (Hogg 1979:157).

Variations

  • The Sa 23 (vz. 48a) was the first variant, using a fixed wood stock and firing standard 9 mm Luger Parabellum
    9 mm Luger Parabellum
    The 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge was designed by Georg Luger and introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken for their Luger semi-automatic pistol...

     (aka 9 mm or 9x19) ammunition. Has a straight vertical pistol grip and ammunition magazine. Magazines were issued with 24 and 40 round capacity.
  • The Sa 25 (vz. 48b) was the second and perhaps best known variant, using a folding metal stock, still firing 9x19 ammunition. Other than the folding stock, is identical to the Sa 23 and uses the same 24 and 40 round magazines.

The Sa 24 and Sa 26 were introduced after Czechoslovakia joined the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...

, and were redesigned to fire 7.62x25 mm
7.62 x 25 mm TT
The 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge is a bottle-necked pistol cartridge widely used in former Soviet and Soviet satellite states, China and Pakistan among other countries...

 standard Soviet type pistol ammunition.
  • The Sa 24 (vz. 48a/52) corresponds to the Sa.23, using a fixed wood stock and firing 7.62x25 ammunition. Can be visually distinguished from Sa.23 as it has a slightly forwards-slanted pistol grip and ammunition magazine, though the main receiver and other components are otherwise visibly identical. It was issued with 32-round magazines.
  • The Sa 26 (vz. 48b/52) corresponds to the Sa.25, with a folding metal stock but otherwise identical to the Sa.24, using the same 32-round magazines.

Recent history

After the Sa 25 was declared obsolete in 1968, many of the 9 mm weapons were sold around the world. The surplus weapons were exported to other communist countries including North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

. A somewhat-modified copy of the 9x19 model was produced in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...

 in the early 1970s as the LDP
Kommando LDP
The Kommando LDP , also known as the Lacoste LDP is a submachine gun of Rhodesian origin manufactured by Kommando Arms and Lacoste Engineering during the Rhodesian Bush War as a 'Land Defence Pistol' for white Rhodesian farmers...

. Manufacture was later transferred to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 where it was briefly marketed as the Sanna 77
Sanna 77
The Sanna-77 is the end of a line of submachine guns which can trace their existence and lineage to the days of Rhodesia and their Unilateral Declaration of Independence in the early 1960s.-History:...

in semi-automatic fire only.

Many parts kits were imported into the U.S. in the early 2000's with the receivers demilled incorrectly (they had been saw cut instead of torch cut). This prompted ATF to send a letter in 2007 to distributors asking for the receiver pieces back which was then forwarded to many of the final purchasers. The letter only asked for the receiver pieces back, but as these had key parts welded onto them (such as the magazine well) it is likely some receiver pieces were returned with vital portions of the firearm still attached. Parts kits available on the secondary market have since risen in value and many of the ones that are available are incomplete.

External links

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