 | |
| Company type | Joint stock company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Firearms |
| Predecessor | Česká zbrojovka Strakonice |
| Founded | 1919; 106 years ago (1919)(Jihočeská zbrojovka) 1936; 89 years ago (1936)(Uherský Brod factory) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | |
| Revenue | 4,996,687,000 Czech koruna (2017)  |
| 773,098,000 Czech koruna (2017) | |
| 675,162,000 Czech koruna (2017) | |
| Total assets | 4,777,464,000 Czech koruna (2017) |
| Owner | Colt CZ Group |
Number of employees | 1,800 |
| Parent | Colt CZ Group |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | czub.cz |
Česká zbrojovka a.s. (CZ,lit. 'Czech armoury'), is aCzecharmament manufacturer that is based inUherský Brod. The company is known for producing service, hunting and sportingfirearms. It is owned by the Czechholding companyColt CZ Group SE, which also owns other brands with related production programs.
CZ currently has around 1,800 employees. It is one of the highest volume exporters in the Czech Republic, sending its products to more than 100 countries. The company is among the top tensmall arms manufacturers in the world and five that manufacturesautomatic firearms.[1] In 2021, CZ acquired theColt's Manufacturing Company;[2] the following year, the parent company changed its name to Colt CZ Group.[3]
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Jihočeská zbrojovka was founded inStrakonice in 1919. Today's Česká zbrojovka a.s. was built as part of a large-scale transfer of strategically important production capacities of the former Czechoslovakia as far as possible from the western borders threatened byNazi Germany. In Uherský Brod in the south-east of Moravia, a brand-new arms factory was established in 1936, which was one of the most modern and most efficient factories at the time. In the first years of its existence, it was successfully engaged primarily in the highly demanding production of aircraft machine guns.
AfterWorld War II, the joint-stock company Česká zbrojovka was nationalized and its branch factory in Uherský Brod, which became independent in 1950, gradually became the main Czechoslovak manufacturer of small firearms. Its most famous products from the immediate post-war period were theSa vz. 23submachine guns, chambered in the common9×19mm Parabellum cartridge (Later the7.62×25mm Tokarev in vz. 24/26 after Czechoslovakia joined theWarsaw Pact). The Sa vz. 23 were the first production-model submachine guns with atelescoping bolt, which the bolt wraps around the barrel, which made the vz. 26 shorter and more compact than the other submachine guns at the time. By 1953, 545,000 were produced in Uherský Brod, 345,000 of which were of the7.62 mm Tokarev variants.
Thevz. 58assault rifle chambered in the7.62×39 mm cartridge, was a Czechoslovak alternative to theSoviet'sAK-47 with an original design. This firearm was produced in Uherský Brod for the national armed forces as well as for export until 1984 and the total production volume reached about 920,000 units.
In 1961Sa vz. 61 Škorpionmachine pistol was introduced to fill the gap between submachine guns and semi-automatic pistols. More than 200,000 of these machine pistols in the standard.32 ACP cartridge were produced in Uherský Brod until 2000, and small batches of these machine pistols in the.380 ACP version were produced in the 1990s.
TheCZ 75semi-automatic pistol, revolutionary in a number of aspects, was the work of the well-known designer František Koucký, who worked on its development based on an assignment of today's Česká zbrojovka a.s since 1969. This firearm with perfect ergonomics and unique double-action trigger mechanism co-defined the category ofWonder Nines, i.e. large capacity SA/DA pistols chambered in9×19mm Parabellum and has long been one of the most popular of them.
In 1992 Česká zbrojovka was privatized and transformed it into a joint-stock company, which concentrates its activities in its main plant in Uherský Brod on the development and production of high-quality firearms, while utilizing its remaining capacity for the production of high-precision components for the automotive and aerospace industry. The position of Česká zbrojovka, a.s. on the world's firearms market has significantly strengthened by the establishment of the subsidiary distribution and service company CZ-USA in 1997. This subsidiary started its activities in California, but in 1998 it relocated to Kansas City, Kansas, where it still operates. Within the creation of the international holding Česká zbrojovka Group (now Colt CZ Group), CZ-USA became an independent business entity.
In order to preserve the famous tradition of firearms production in Brno, Česká zbrojovka a.s began preparing to take over the firearms division ofZbrojovka Brno, a.s. The newly created company, originally named BRNO RIFLES, started its activities at the turn of 2006 and its domain was the production and development of break action firearms. In 2008 it became a subsidiary company of Česká zbrojovka a.s. In 2010 the company was renamed to Zbrojovka BRNO, s.r.o. In 2005 CZ became the owner ofDan Wesson Firearms through its subsidiaryCZ-USA.
In 2011 the company began production of the new generation ofCZ 805 BREN A1/A2 assault rifles,CZ SCORPION EVO 3 A1 submachine guns and CZ 805 BREN G1 grenade launchers for theArmed Forces of the Czech Republic. Česká zbrojovka a.s significantly penetrated foreign markets by opening a separate space for the assembly and repairs of CZ pistols at the FAME army plant in Lima, Peru. The Czech company participated in the project by supplying modern equipment and tools and training of technical personnel. This enabled the Peruvian company to assemble CZ guns, provide service and sell them on the Peruvian market and then throughout Latin America. It was the first case of technological transfer of Česká zbrojovka a.s to this promising region.
Since 2018, Česká zbrojovka a.s has been part of the international holdingČeská zbrojovka Group SE that, in addition to the parent plant in Uherský Brod, gradually incorporates other companies with related production and development programmes. In cooperation with CZ-USA, the production of the first CZ firearms was launched inKansas City, Kansas, US. These include selected models of the CZ P-10 series of pistols. In 2021 CZ boughtColt's Manufacturing Company and theirColt Canada subsidiary.
Over the years Česká zbrojovka has developed several revolutionary or highly influential designs in various fields ofsmall arms, most notably:
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The ZKR-551 was manufactured by Zbrojovka Brno. From 1957 until 1971, about 2500 of these guns were made, chambered in 7.62 Nagant, .22 LR, .32 S&W Long (a popular UIT/ISSF competition chambering) and by far the most used in competition, .38 Special. A further run of 300 pieces was made during Zbrojovka Brno's second incorporation in the 1990's-2006. They were a success in the UIT competitive setting, helping Czechoslovakian shooters win and place well.
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