From the January 2000 issue, pages 13 - 16.

BY MARION MERICLE

This article is in response to Bob Jensen's article in the Sept. '98 MRJ, pages 201-205, and the many recent imported Rumanian rifles that have came through my shop and collection. The main part of this article will be about serial numbers and what we can learn about them. I went back through my curio and relic books from 7-28-96, when I got my first Rumanian VZ24, to now, 7-99, over 900 entries. Go to the serial number chart for, some observations about the chart. There is a big gap between "HR" to "OR" six letters with no "PR," "QR," "VR," "WR," or "ZR." Of all the "AR" to "YR" rifles no letter has a higher number than 24646 ("AR") (low numbers) ("XR111" and "ER422") Maybe each letter went only to 25000. The 1938 went from D1466 to D6708 and E21390 to E34873, strange?. If you see (SN) by a serial number this was a sniper rifle with a turned down bolt and stock cutout like a 98K for bolt clearance. The two sniper rifles (SR) are in the high number range "UR3728" and "XR1638" (war time address) ("W"). If (nothing) is by the serial number I only had the serial number out of my C.R. book, nothing else. The list covers 50 I have had in the past three years. If you see a (C) by the serial number, this means a full or partially ground Carol II crest that I saw on the rifle. This crest can be seen in "Handbook of Military Marks 1866-1950" on page 42, Rumania illustration #3. 1 will call this reference (H) later in this article. A lot of them are ground all the way off, so you can't tell what was on them originally. I also sold many of them before I decided to write this and don't remember. Rifles #GR23768 and #TRIO144 have the full Carol II crest on them. Rifle #GR28768 has the pre-war address on it. ((P) by the serial number in the list.) (H), page 13, illustration #3, and rifle #TRIO144 has the war time occupation address on it. ((W) by the serial number in the list.) (H), page 13, illustration #13. These two (C) rifles' serial numbers are a very long way apart, 12 letters? In short a (P) by any rifle in the list means I noted the side logo (pre-war address) and a (W) by any rifle in the list means war-time occupation address. I have never seen a rifle marked with the Michael I crest, either partially ground or complete. (H), page 41, Rumania illustration #2.

If you look at the 1938 dated rifles in the chart you will see all eight of them have "D" or "E" letter prefixes, not "R." In Bob Jensen's article he said: "It appears that the first contract was placed in 1938, as examples with the letter R in the serial number prefix with a receiver date of 1938 are known." I am going to go out on a limb again and say maybe when Rumania ordered the first VZ24's, rifles already in stock with 1937 dates were sent out first. Later, when Brno had time, a crown Carol II crest and the "R" prefix were sent to Rumania. Bob did not make a definitive statement anyway and if he had a 1938 rifle he would have sent a picture with his article. I am not trying to criticize anybody but want to get to the bottom of this matter.

The five 1939 VZ24's in the chart are all in the BR3471 to BR6512 narrow range at the first of the contract. I listed three AR serial numbers in the chart. I also got with the other Rumania rifles a 1937 VZ24, serial # 19484, no letter, and no "E" Czech acceptance stamp. I have seen these before and Rumania could have got them later i n the war or post war.

The two 1940 VZ.24's in the chart are a long way apart again, OR22768 to RR4058, strange? The two 1940 rifles are on opposite sides of the (OR) to (RR) gap; maybe (PR) and (QR) were not used. All the dated rifles have the pre-war address. Rumania had the third largest axis army so in addition to the Rumanian rifles imported from Rumania came in many Czechoslovakian VZ24's, probably sent to Rumania after the Germans got through using them in 1939-1940 or acquired from the Russians postwar. In the 100 or so VZ24's I got were about 20 unground Czech. lion crest rifles and about 30 ground lion crest VZ24's from, Rumania. I also got many 98K's, about 30 that have the WaA's and eagle firing proofs erased. I guess the communist Rumanians did not like anything Nazi, Royal Rumanian, or Czech Republic on their rifles. I heard that the recent Century import Russian 91 and 91-30 rifles, without the Finnish (SA), came from Rumania also. Rumanian made M-44 Mosin Nagants and SKS's have also come in from Century recently.

If you see an (S) by a serial number in the chart, this is a stock serial number on a VZ24 stock. Also if you see a (B) by a serial number in the chart, this is a VZ24 bolt serial number I saw. The last pre-war address (P) serial number was OR18567 and the first war time address (W) serial number was RR22845. All the bolts are mismatched with a few stock and receiver numbers matching. All the serial numbers in the chart had to be very clear; if any doubts, I did not include them in the chart.

These import Rumanian VZ24 serial numbers may open up more questions than they answer. The serial numbers are really mixed up. (All the serial numbers look original, not re- numbered.) It is up to all of us to sort this out. As usual if any members have any questions or comments at all, let us know. Thanks.

SERIAL NUMBER CHART OF THE CRESTED, DATED, AND GROUND RUMANIAN VZ24's

AR - 23277(B), 23616(C)(P), 24646 (C)(P)

BR - 13447(C)(P), 18019(S)(P)

CR - 10172, 22740(C)(P), 23366(P)

DR - 9288(B), 18109, 20436

ER - 422(C)(P), 494(B), 6392(B) 15875(C)(P) 16933

FR - 3809(B), 22322(C)(P), 23808(C)(P)

GR - 2014(B), 13107, 14133(B), 22369(P)(C), 23768(P), 23944

HR - 1632(C)(P), 6662(S), 8691(B), 17123, 20307(P)

OR - 4207, 18567(C)(P)

RR - 7795(B), 9515(C), 16911(C)(W), 22845

SR - 5779(S), 10912, 12555(B)

TR - 4401(W), 8717(B), 10144(W), 13560(W), 19830(B)

UR - 3728(W)(SR), 4207(W), 13761(S), 13976(S), 18976

XR - 111, 1638(W)(SR), 3449, 13114(S), 23585(B)

YR - 5256(B), 12320(S), 13107(S), 21958(W)

1938 - D1466, D2183, D5174, D6526, D6708, E21390(S), E23473, E26911, E34873

1939 - BR3471, BR4755, BR4970, BR5934, BR6512

1940 - OR22768, RR4058