[Weegas]

Recently purchased this rifle at auction. Unlike the majority of Chinese Vz. 24s, it's not 1937 dated and looks to be all-matching. The abnormally low serial number (265, no prefix) makes me wonder when these were actually contracted. I don't think it's one of those Chinese reproductions of the Vz. 24, since the markings look genuine.

 

[geladen]

That looks like a very early Chinese contract VZ24. That style crest was not used on rifles for the Czechoslovak Army rifles after 1933. There is a possibility that it could have been made later for China.

The fact that it has a s/n on the trigger guard suggests that it may have been made not later than about 1925. Do any of the other small parts (other than receiver, bolt, and barrel) have a s/n?

 

[Weegas]

None of the other parts seem to be serialized. There are 'B' markings on parts of the bolt.

 

[geladen]

It may not be possible to date it other than "early Chinese contract". The s/n on the trigger guard might have been required by the contract. The number font on your receiver and trigger guard seem to be the same. Your marked bolt parts could be Chinese. I have a 1925 X-prefix VZ24 rifle with numbered small parts - mismatched, but numbered with four digits on both the floorplate and trigger guard (Germans marked only two digits on the floorplate).

 

[Weegas]

Very interesting. Are there any other documented 3-digit contracts? Ball mentions that Vz. 24s were bought by "North and South Chinese Governments." If I had to go off of that, I'd assume that this might have been a small contract placed by the Beiyang government around the time of the Northern Expedition.

 

[K.H.]

Very interesting rifle! The Chinese on the stock indicates that this was at some point designated as a drill/practice rifle, though the exact when and where that happened is anyone's guess.

The characters appear to be 操練 (caolian) in case anyone was interested or wanted to look into it themselves. They're a bit difficult to read though.

 

[geladen]

VZ24 rifles were bought by multiple Chinese 'governments'. Each provincial governor ran his own show, like US states.

Most VZ24 rifles were P series, although I did see one no-prefix series with about a five-digit s/n and 1937 crest. Any series that started with s/n 1 would have gone through the three-digit numbers; it would not necessarily be a very small contract. Your receiver does not look like it ever had any other s/n or acceptance marking.

The stock marking would be from the militia period after the army got better guns. Your early crest indicates an early contract.

 

[Weegas]

Here are some photos of the bolt. The extractor seems to be serialized, and might be the single non-matching part of the gun.


For the sake of research, I decided to open up Anthony Chan's Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920 - 1928 to the section on Czechoslovakian trading. Multiple shipments are mentioned, but one stuck out to me.

On 14 October 1925 a consignment of 81,000 rifles and 40 million rounds of ammunition arrived in Yingkou from the State Brno Arms Factory with the Czech Ministry of National Defense conducting the negotiations. The National Defense Minister and Dr. Beneš publicly sanctioned this consignment. - Chan, Pg. 85

The recipient of this order was Zhang Zuolin, leader of the Fengtian Clique. The official nature of this transaction, along with the explicit mention of Brno gives me the impression that this shipment included brand new rifles. The serialized trigger guard being a feature circa 1925 could place this specific Vz. 24 in that shipment.

The other Czechoslovak shipments mentioned include 40,000 rifles sent in early 1928, and 15,000 sent "later" to Zhang Zhongchang and Sun Chuanfang, the warlords who succeeded Zhang Zuolin after his assassination. Though the book makes no explicit mention of Brno's involvement in these orders.

 

[geladen]

That bolt is not made by ZB, yet the odd s/n matches the receiver s/n font. I now suspect that this rifle was assembled in China from mostly ZB spare parts which were included in the 1925 order.

 

[AndyB]

Bill is right, could be early delivery to China, i would say post 1928 prior 1932.I would say the bolt when Z in circle marked could be ZB, anyway strange serialing, possible asked by china or added later.