CZ or CZ

I have noticed over the years on different gun forums, that anytime CZ is mentioned the name Ceska Zbrojovka is the only gun talked about. Why is it that the other CZ, Crvena Zastava, is overlooked? Both companies build excellent firearms, and the latter even has a line of rifles that rival even Barret. Let's be fair and give everybody equal time.

Zastava Arms doesn't market themselves under the CZ name. Nor should they; the company dropped the Crvena part of their name a long time ago, when the Communist era ended. But they didn't use CZ as a trademark even then. To refer to Zastava as CZ is incorrect both historically and today.

Edit: they did market one pistol with a CZ prefix, the CZ 99/CZ 999. As far as I can tell, that pistol is a knockoff of the SIG P226 with a name that's copied from the Czech company. Not one of Kragujevac's finer moments.

What about the CZ99, CZ999 Scorpion? Yeah, sure, they changed them to the EZ line of pistols, but there are still plenty of the original guns around to talk about.

Any gun assembled or made in the Czech Republic can use "CZ" in their product name. It simply means "from Czech-(slovakia/Republic.)"

Some CZs are made in other countries and have nothing in common with the CZ heritage or design -- the CZ99 for example is based on a SIG design. Some of the guns using the CZ brand name were simply assembled in the Czech Republic. (Some CZs marketed in the US by Tatco were basically guns built from Tanfoglio parts assembled in the Czech Republic.)

Most of them are fine weapons, but are no longer imported, and getting support might be a problem.

Zbrojovka translation is 'armory'.

I learned on a hunting trip two weeks ago that there is also a CZ brand of motorcycles that was made in the 70's. I was with a fellow hunter that has 2, still races them, and swears by them. I guess it goes to prove the CZ name can be applied to a lot of stuff.

At least SOME CZ motorcyles were arguably "CZs" -- as the Czech (Communist) government, prior to the fall of the Communist Bloc, closed down one of the gun-making factories and converted it to make light equipment, motorcycles and other smaller devices.

Zastava also named their rimfire rifles CZ, at some point in the recent past. They might still carry that model number prefix in some overseas markets.

http://www.ssaa.org.au/stories/rifles-zastava-cz99-precision-22-bolt-action.html

http://www.zastava-arms.rs/cms/assets/files/pdf/uputstva_LSO/MKP_Manual_ENG.pdf

I like CZ rifles and I like Zastava rifles. But the CZ rifles are a lot more refined. At least that has been my experience.

Any gun assembled or made in the Czech Republic can use "CZ" in their product name. It simply means "from Czech-(slovakia/Republic.)"

Um. No.

The phrase "from the Czech Republic" is "z České Republiky". Besides, the CZ manufacturer existed some 73 years before the Czech Republic came into existance after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the independent Czech and Slovak Republics in 1992.

Česká Zbrojovka = CZ = "Czech Armory". This is the overall Czech armaments conglomorate, which was an extension of the Česká Zbrojovka Strakonice plant formed in 1919 after Czechoslovakia became independent from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Česká zbrojovka a.s. Uherský Brod (ČZUB) = the CZ division that produced small arms. Formed in 1936. Marketed as CZ. Uherský Brod is a nice town, with CZUB's offices, and also home to a neat local brewery (Janáček ... which is also imported in the U.S., but unfortunately I haven't seen their Comenius brew here .. 6% alcohol, which caught me by ... um .. offguard last time I was there :o:D).

CZUB was privatized in 1992, and incorporated as Ceska zbrojovka a.s. And still marketed as CZ.

So, just for acronym fun, CZ arms that were adopted by the Czech military were referred to as a "model of ..." or vzor (abbreviated as "Vz") So the CZ Model of 1952 pistol was the CZ vz. 52, and the CZ model 1950 pistol was the CZ vz. 50.

However, the CZ-75 was not adopted by the military, so it never carried that vz. designation. Just plain old CZ-75. Police units, yes, but not the military.

p.s. ... as for the Zastava Arms, the plant was renamed "Red Flag" (Crvena Zastava) in 1945, but generally just referred to as Zastava. In 1990, the Serb government exited the business (about a year after the plant got nailed with several guided missiles), which then renamed itself "Flag Multipurpose Products" (Zastava Namenski Proizvodi d.p.). Of the groups entire product line from 1945 through present (pistols, rifles, machine guns, etc.), only two broke with the conventional Zastava naming scheme - the CZ 99 and CZ 999 Scorpion. These were the exceptions, not the rule.

The phrase "from the Czech Republic" is "z České Republiky". Besides, the CZ manufacturer existed some 73 years before the Czech Republic came into existance after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the independent Czech and Slovak Republics in 1992.

I think you read my original comments a bit too literally... (I wasn't trying to offer a literal translation, but what it meant in practical terms.) But, I'll stand corrected on my claim that CZ could be used by any firm selling guns from Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic. I can't find information that disputes your response or supports mine.

That claim, however, was based on another source and some reasoning that may be incorrect. My references indicated that Ceska Zbrojovka meant "Czech weapons factory," and was meaningful when used with the location. Ceska Zbrokjovka a.s. Uhersky Brod (more commonly presented as CZUB a.s.) is translated as "Czech weapons factory in Brno," with "a.s." meaning joint stock company. Uhersky Brod is the town when the factory is located. If that is correct, I suppose a new Czech weapons factory be called something like CZPR (for Prague) for example, as opposed to CZUB. They might choose to call their weapons CZs, too. Or not. (Tatco, the US importer of guns made in the Czech Republic, using Tanfoglio parts and some locally-made parts, certainly did that. Of course, they may have bought rights to the name from the CZ conglomerate.)

I had not read that police units in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic had used the CZ-75 until the PCR was developed, which was much later. Prior to that, they used CZ-83s. CZs were used fairly widely in Africa and the Middle East; the Israelis had a large inventory, as did the South African State Police -- and guns from those inventories have been appearing in the MILSURP market here in the US over the past couple of years. Century Arms still had small number of the Israeli guns available recently. I'm sure many police departments around the world used CZ-75s.

As I understand it, the CZ-75 really was conceived as a non-military weapon, primarily for civilian sales in the West. (The Eastern Bloc military didn't use 9mm rounds, except perhaps in some elite units, so trying to get a weapon designed around the 9x19 round into military service in the Eastern Block would have been almost impossible.)

CZ employees (from the Czech Republic) cited on the CZ Forum, said the CZ-75 was designed to use the Sellier & Bellott 124 gr. 9x19 round.

Unhappily for the Czech gun maker of the then new CZ-75, in the 70's and 80's, the Western nations had a pretty strong economic embargo in place for products made in the Eastern Bloc, lead by the U.S. That made sales in the West very difficult. Germany and Canada were about the only places someone could buy CZs, back then. Many U.S. G.I.s brought them home from Germany, often customized by a firm called Frankonia. Here in the U.S., it was almost impossible to get a CZ or a Cuban cigar. The embargo of Cuba is still in place.


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At least SOME CZ motorcyles were arguably "CZs" -- as the Czech (Communist) government, prior to the fall of the Communist Bloc, closed down one of the gun-making factories and converted it to make light equipment, motorcycles and other smaller devices.

ČZ Strakonice, "the original CZ" - CZ-UB was founded as subsidiary of it, because Strakonice are rather close to German border. Now it makes car parts and AR-15 clones (e.g. 6.5x55 and 7.5mm ones) under name LUVO

What Wojownik and Bohemus said.
To bring in more confusion: look up ZVI (Micro Desert Eagle), Alfa-Proj (revolvers), Zbrojovka Brno - now a daughter company of the CZ (BREN machineguns might ring a bell), Zbrojovka Holice (K1 sporting rifles in 7.62x39 cal.) or DRULOV.
Best,
Shoot66

What Wojownik and Bohemus said.
To bring in more confusion: look up ZVI (Micro Desert Eagle), Alfa-Proj (revolvers), Zbrojovka Brno - now a daughter company of the CZ (BREN machineguns might ring a bell), Zbrojovka Holice (K1 sporting rifles in 7.62x39 cal.) or DRULOV.
Best,
Shoot66

To make the list complete:
V-AR (http://www.v-ar.cz/en/about-us.html) and ProArms (http://www.proarms.cz/PAR_Mk1.php) (used to cooperate)
Czech Small Arms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkPPGKqebJE)
Great Guns (http://www.greatgun.eu/index.php?/vyroba_zbrani)
Highland Arms (http://www.puskar.cz/prestashop/) (.22 vz.58 adapter, .50 rifle)