09/09/2026
Today we have a Czech made, 1940 Romanian contract VZ-24 chambered in 8mm Ma**er. She’s a little to the rough side but functions well. Call 304-834-4556 for details and availability. And now, the history.
The 1940 Romanian contract for the Czechoslovak vz. 24 r***e occurred amid severe geopolitical turmoil, following the German annexation of Czechoslovakia. Deliveries during this period shifted from royal crests to blank or year-stamped receivers as King Carol II was overthrown, and these r***es eventually armed Romanian troops on the Eastern Front.
Production and Crest Transitions in 1940
Serial Block Transition: 1940 production roughly coincided with the transition through the mid-to-late alphabetical suffix blocks (such as the "OR" through "RR" ranges featuring a "1940" stamp, moving later into blank configurations (such as the "OR" through "RR" ranges featuring a "1940" stamp, moving later into blank configurations like the "UR" block).
Loss of Royal Crests: Early contracts featured King Carol II's royal crest, but by 1940 political instability and his September 1940 abdication meant r***es from this point onward were manufactured without royal crests or left completely blank on the receiver ring.
Manufacturing Control: While managed by the Zbrojovka Brno network under German occupation oversight following the 1939 dismantling of Czechoslovakia, production still fulfilled foreign export agreements for Romania before shifting fully to German Kar98k standardizations.
Operational HistoryScale of Delivery:
By mid-1943, cumulative deliveries for the broader Romanian vz. 24 contracts reached roughly 445,640 r***es, making it the standard infantry r***e of the Romanian Army.
Combat Deployment: Romanian vz. 24s saw extensive combat during World War II after Romania entered the Axis, fighting in Bessarabia, Ukraine, and sustaining devastatingly heavy casualties during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Later Fate: Following Romania's switch to the Allied side in 1944 and subsequent post-war Soviet influence, many surviving vz. 24 r***es underwent communist refurbishment, which frequently included scrubbing or grinding remaining royal insignia, alongside eventual funneling into surplus or capture pools.