Czech Vzor 24 Rifle

CZ’s Krátká Puška vzor 24 was one of the most widely used post-1918 versions of the Model 98 Mauser. Note the straight bolt handle, full-length wooden handguard and sling swivels on the bottom and side of the stock.

Shown are the thumb-clearance cutout for charger loading, the bolt release catch assembly, and the vertically oriented wing-type safety located at the bolt’s rear.

The vzor 24 uses a 98-type Mauser action. Note the long, non-rotating extractor on the bolt and the charger guides machined into the receiver bridge.

The Krátká Puška vzor 24’s magazine, a charger-loaded design that holds five rounds, is flush-mounted.

The inverted-V blade front sight was protected by a set of guards. These could be easily removed if the soldier so wished.

This rifle’s markings indicate it was made in 1937. Five rounds of Hornady 8x57mm Vintage Match 196-grain FMJ were loaded into the charger for testing.

The Czechs and Slovaks of Central Europe have a long and proud military tradition that stretches back to the religious wars of the 15th century, when the Bohemian Hussites had become renowned as the finest infantry in Europe. Under the leadership of Jan Ziska, the Hussites’ tactics—which included the widespread use of firearms—enabled them to take on and defeat the mounted cavalry of Germany and Austria and laid the foundations of Czech nationalism.

By the 19th century the Czechs and Slovaks formed one of the best educated, most forward looking—and nationalistic—minorities within the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian empire of the Hapsburgs. With the outbreak of World War I, latent anti-Hapsburg feelings intensified to the point that entire Czech and Slovak units deserted the Austro-Hungarian army and surrendered to the Russians. Many of them enlisted in the Allied-sponsored Czechoslovak Legion and fought against the Germans and Austrians on the Russian front.

During the chaos of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and against unbelievable odds and hardships, the Czech Legion fought their way east almost 5,000 miles along the Trans-Siberian railroad to Vladivostok, where they were transported by the Allies back to Europe. After the war and for the first time since the late Middle Ages, an independent Czech nation was reestablished…

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