This Ceska Zbrojovka vz. 24 is chambered in .380 ACP, the 9mm Browning Short, serial 643xx, and all of its numbers are matching. The right side of the frame carries the Czechoslovak army acceptance mark, the letter J over a rampant lion over 27: the lion and letter are the stamp of the ZTU, the army’s technical inspectorate, and the two digits are the year the pistol was accepted into service, 1927. The grip is stamped 30P 346, a unit designation followed by the weapon’s own number within that unit, which is how Czechoslovak practice marked an issued pistol. Between the two, this is a pistol that can be placed in army hands by its own stampings rather than by a story. The bore is bright with sharp rifling and the pistol is mechanically excellent. It comes with one magazine and an original leather holster, and is offered as it is shown.
The vz. 24 was the standard pistol of the Czechoslovak Army between the wars, and it is a far more interesting thing mechanically than a .380 has any need to be. Most pistols of this size and cartridge are simple blowbacks. This one is not: it has a short recoil action with a rotating barrel that locks into the slide, a genuine locked breech in a pocket cartridge. The reason is in its parentage. The design descends from Josef Nickl’s work at Mauser, which Czechoslovakia bought the patents to in the early 1920s, and Nickl had drawn it around the 9mm Parabellum. Scaling it down to the far milder 9mm Browning Short left the locking system in place, over-built for the round it ended up firing. Frantisek Myska refined the result into the vz. 24, and Ceska Zbrojovka built something in the order of 172,000 to 180,000 of them between 1925 and 1938. It is the pistol a Czechoslovak officer carried in the years when the republic still existed.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Ceska Zbrojovka, Czechoslovakia
Model: Pistole vz. 24
Caliber: .380 ACP, 9mm Browning Short
Year of acceptance: 1927
Capacity: 8 rounds
Action: Short recoil, rotating barrel locked breech, single action
Serial: 643xx
Markings: J over rampant lion over 27 on the right frame, ZTU army acceptance; grip stamped 30P 346
Matching: All numbers matching
Bore: Bright with sharp rifling
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Included: One magazine, original leather holster
