What You Didn't Know About CZ
The Czech Armoury was established on 27 June 1936 in the small Moravian town of Uhersky Brod in the central part of Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. It was established as a part of the Česká zbrojovka Strakonice armament firm. The decision to establish the company’s branch in Uhersky Brod (ČZUB) was made because of the rising power of German Nazi expansionism, especially after the Third Reich unopposed remilitarization of the Rhineland, with the aim of moving the production of firearms further from German border. The factory was built quite quickly, just within 16 weeks after the initial decision. During the Nazi occupation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, now the Czech republic, all the factories, including ČZUB, produced various firearms for the Nazi Germany. What does the ČZUB mean? The abbreviation ČZUB could be divided into the two parts, ČZ means: the Czech armoury and UB represents Uhersky Brod, the town where the armoury is located. After the Second World War the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak state established a common state called Czechoslovakia, where the communist party won the first election and under the political pressure all the firearms manufacturers were nationalized. Privately held companies were replaced by the central state company, which was controlled by the Communist party. All the products had to be marked with BRNO markings and therefore many ČZUB firearms bear BRNO markings. During the Cold War ČZUB produced a wide variety of military arms including the assault rifle similar to famous AK-47, marked Vz. 58, submachine gun marked Skorpion Vz. 61, various .22 caliber training and target rifles and probably the most successful, CZ 75 platform, the flagship of the wide variety of CZ pistols. In this period most of the production was sold to the Soviet Union and other communist countries. In 1991 the Czech firearms companies were decentralized thanks to the changing of the system in the country, what was the beginning of the new era of firearms production in the Czech republic. In 1992, Česká zbrojovka, Uherský Brod became privately held, moving into the free world market and establishing a presence in almost 100 countries worldwide. In 1997 a permanent presence of the Czech Armoury in the United States was established as a CZ-USA. ČZUB and CZ-USA continue to expand the small arms market worldwide, with police, military, defensive, sporting and recreational firearms.
You may have heard about the CZ-75, Skorpion or Vz. 58, however that’s not all what ČZUB or CZ can offer to the customers. Firearms of the Czech military are prefixed “Vz” what is the abbreviation for the Czech word “Vzor” what means model. This is equivalent to the U.S. military’s markings with the prefix “M” for the official firearms; for instance, the Beretta 92FS serves as the M9 pistol.
By the early 1980s, the official sidearm of the Czech military was the Vz. 52 what was a rifle chambered in 7.62x25mm Tokarev. The Soviet Union urged really strong its Warsaw Pact allies to adopt the Soviet Makarov PM what was a standard Soviet Makarov pistol. CZ wasn’t satisfied with the design of the 8 round of Makarov PM and began creating their own 12 round pistol, using the 9x18mm Makarov. The pistol would receive the military designation of Vz. 82 and the civilian label of CZ-83.
Augustin Necas, firearms designer who developed both guns simultaneously, resulting in nearly all identical parts. This pistol, CZ 82 was chambered in 9x18mm Makarov for military use while the CZ-83 was chambered in .32 ACP (aka 7.65x17mm, .32 Auto or 7.65 Browning) and .380 ACP (aka 9x17mm, 9mm Browning, or .380 Auto) for civilian use.
About the year 1990 CZ ceased production of a distinct Vz. 82 pistol and began producing the CZ-83 in 9mm Makarov along with its civilian chamberings. The Army of the Czech republic still utilizes the Vz. 82/CZ-83 9x18mm Makarov in these days.
Unfortunately, production of the CZ-83 ceased in January 2013 when CZ began focusing on compacts and subcompacts that use the CZ-75 design. The .380 ACP version of CZ-83 is available on the used market and relatively easy to find. However, lot of owners are not willing to part with their .32s, and may be difficult to locate.
Nowadays The ČZUB factory employs more than 1800 engineers, craftsmen and business personnel, what making from this company one of the largest firearms producers in the world. The production of the CZ is over 260.000 per year, but the production still increases. The company would like to increase the production in over 500.000 manufactured firearms per year.
Future of the armoury seems to be really optimistic, with larger production and more satisfied customers.
