"Military And Military Sub-Plane" by Hai Dongqing
Speaking of Israel's UZI submachine gun (UZI), in the circle of military fans, it can be said that no one knows everyone, even those who do not pay attention to the military, they will also learn the name of the gun through many gun battle games. As one of the two most classic, famous and widely used submachine guns during the Cold War (the other is the MP5), the total production of the Uzi submachine gun since its birth in 1950 has exceeded 10 million, produced or used in more than 100 countries around the world, and until the 21st century in 2010, the improved UZI Pro was still introduced, which shows how classic it is.
▲ Although the Uzi submachine gun is famous, its birth is not glorious and it is suspected of plagiarism.
However, what many people don't know is that this classic Uzi submachine gun is not original to Israel, but "plagiarized", and its plagiarism object, or its father, comes from a small but very good gun-making small Eastern European country, which is Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia is a small emerging country born after the end of World War I due to the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although the area is not large, but it is the chosen son, fortunately inherited most of the core industrial areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later the world-famous Škoda, CKD (masterpiece 38t tank and Hunter Tank Destroyer), Brno (representative ZB-26 light machine gun) and other factories are the valuable wealth inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Czechoslovakia.
With these high-quality arsenals inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia was just born and became famous in the international military trade market, and successively launched a variety of famous firearms, artillery and tanks, of which the ZB-26 light machine gun crossed the ocean to China, became the main weapon of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also became the memory of a generation of Chinese people. However, in contrast to China's indomitable resistance, Czechoslovakia did not even have time to catch up with World War II, it was betrayed by Britain and France in the Munich Agreement, annexed by Germany and humiliated, and in World War II, it became a German accomplice and produced a large number of weapons for Germany, but on the other hand, Czechoslovakia's military industry also survived without interruption.
▲ The Czech Republic has left the deepest impression on China than the ZB-26 "Czech" light machine gun, the hero of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After World War II, Czechoslovakia was liberated, because in World War II saw the power of the emerging weapon of the submachine gun, so the Czechoslovak military proposed to develop a domestic submachine gun, requiring it to meet the needs of front-line infantry, but also as a self-defense weapon for tanks, artillery, radar and other services, which means that this submachine gun must meet both short and portable and fire range is not inferior to the traditional submachine gun. In order to meet this requirement, Václav Hollek, a firearm designer at the Brno State Arsenal in Czechoslovakia, boldly innovated and adopted a very avant-garde design, that is, an envelope bolt, which hollowed out the middle of the front half of the bolt, and when shooting, the front half of the bolt would wrap the barrel, so that the length of the whole gun could be greatly shortened without changing the length of the bolt and the movement of the bolt.
With this innovative design, Brno Arsenal's prototype gun, the CZ-447, was taken in by the Czechoslovak military and, after a series of refinements, was designated sa VZ-23 (fixed stock type) and SA VZ-25 submachine gun (folding stock type) in 1950, often referred to as the SA-23/25.
▲Comparison of the Uzi submachine gun using an envelope bolt and the MP40 submachine gun of the traditional structure.
The SA-23/25 submachine gun fires 9X19mm Parabellum pistol cartridges with a total weight of 3.087 kg and 3.27 kg respectively, a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute, supplied with a 24- or 40-round magazine, and a barrel length of 284mm, which is longer than the WWII submachine gun (PPSH41 barrel length 269mm, MP40 barrel length 251mm, PPS43 barrel length 254mm), but its full gun length is controlled at 445mm (stock folding)/ 686mm (stock unfolded or fixed stock), compared to the MP40 full length 630mm/833mm, PPS43 total length 616mm/819mm, M3 submachine gun total length 579/760mm (but the barrel length is only 203mm), the short and compact advantages of the envelope bolt are fully utilized by the Brno Arsenal.
However, at the same time as the birth of the SA-23/25, Czechoslovakia joined the Warsaw Pact camp of the Soviet Union, and as a result, the SA-23/25, which had just been produced, was withdrawn from the army and transferred to the militia, and at the request of the military, the Brno Arsenal had to develop a caliber change to the Soviet model of the 7.62X25mm Tokarev pistol cartridge, and in 1951 the new gun of the 7.62mm caliber was named SA-24/26, which also corresponded to the fixed stock and the folding stock, respectively.
▲ SA-25 using a folding stock.
As early as the gun was still in the CZ-447 prototype gun stage, the newly established Israel has been in contact with the Czech Republic, put forward the willingness to buy the CZ-447 submachine gun, there is no reason to make money, the Brno Arsenal sent the prototype gun to Israel, tested by Israel, Israel is extremely satisfied with the performance of the gun, but unfortunately, this gun is politically incorrect, because during this period the Czech Republic joined the Warsaw Pact camp, coupled with the Israel Defense Forces driven by national pride, He put forward the hope of equipping a domestic submachine gun, so the Israelites waved a pen and copied! The Israeli officer Uzi Gail developed the famous Uzi submachine gun on the basis of the Czech submachine gun, and Czechoslovakia was naturally very dissatisfied with this behavior, but in the face of the two camps of opposing major power politics, what can a small country do about the anger of patent rights?
▲ Sa-23 using a fixed stock.
To be fair, in terms of performance alone, the SA-23/25 is actually even better than the Uzi submachine gun, the standard Uzi submachine gun weighs 3.5 kg (folding stock type) or 3.7 kg (fixed stock type), the total length is 470 mm (stock folded) / 640 mm (stock unfolded or fixed stock), the barrel length is 260 mm, it can be seen through comparison that the SA-25 is shorter than the length of the stock after the stock is longer than the Uzi, The expansion of the butt is longer than the Uzi, which shows that the SA-25's folding stock is longer and better to use, in fact, the strange two-stage folding stock of the Uzi submachine gun has been criticized for being easy to clip to the flesh or beard on the face, in addition, the SA-25 is also lighter than the Uzi, and in all respects, the SA-25 submachine gun is better than the Uzi submachine gun.
▲ The strange two-stage folding stock of the Uzi submachine gun has been criticized for its easy face pinch.
Unfortunately, the Warsaw Pact camp no longer needs submachine guns, and the assault rifle that fires 7.62X39mm intermediate power bullets completely replaces the PPSH41, PPS43, SA-23/24/25/26 and other submachine guns, and the SA23 series submachine guns are also replaced by the VZ58 assault rifle after a few years of service, so the origin is unknown. The Uzi submachine gun is the opposite, because at that time the West was taken into the pit by the United States, a large number of FAL, G3 and other rifles that fired 7.62X51mm full-power bullets, Israel is no exception, so it is still necessary to use the submachine gun as a close combat weapon for infantry squads, the Uzi submachine gun is equipped with a large number of equipment, and then its short and lean advantages are excavated by western countries, and it began to be equipped in a large number of Western countries, becoming a generation of famous guns.