Puska vz. 24

About the Puska vz. 24

The Puska vz. 24 is a Czechoslovak bolt-action service rifle produced at Zbrojovka Brno from 1924 to 1942. Developed from the German Mauser Gewehr 98 line and the earlier vz. 98/22, it uses a controlled-round-feed Mauser action with a 5-round internal box magazine fed by stripper clips. Shorter than the Gewehr 98, it was one of the most widely exported Mauser-pattern rifles of the interwar period, chambered primarily in 7.92x57mm Mauser but also offered in 7x57mm Mauser and 7.65x53mm Argentine for export customers.

Czechoslovakia exported the vz. 24 so aggressively in the interwar years that captured and purchased examples turned up on nearly every front of the Second World War - including in the hands of the very Germans whose Mauser design it was based on, who rebadged it the Gewehr 24(t).

Puska vz. 24 specifications

When Germany occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939 it pressed the rifle into service as the Gewehr 24(t) and continued production until 1942, when the Brno factories were converted to manufacture the Karabiner 98k. The design directly informed the postwar Yugoslav Zastava M24 series.