The vz.54 confuses me

[Riflechair]

Czechoslovakia - Odstrelovaci pujka vz.54​

As Czechoslovakia tended to do during their Warsaw Pact days, the Czechs went their own way with a lot of their weapons. One of these was the vz.54 sniper rifle; as long as they accepted the 7.62mm Nagant cartridge, the Russians allowed them to design this weapon. The Czechs took a Mosin Nagant action, and integrated several mauser adaptations. The production quality was very good, and the rifle was built to close tolerances.

I am confused. Why did they decide to go this route? Why not utilize post war BRNO mauser tooling already prominent and available? BRNO mausers (both pre and post war) are considered by many to be amongst the BEST of any mauser in it's day and I agree.

It feels like a political decision to provide amnesty from the Soviets in the mid-50's. There was mounting pressure by post war Soviets on Czechoslovakia.

I don't think I've heard anybody have this conversation before. I do not understand why the vz.54 was adopted considering the retooling requirements to integrate a new post war design. I realize they had lots of actions to play with. Regardless why not just stick with the mauser?

Some historical background (post vz.54)

The Soviet general dissatisfaction within the Czechoslovakian military became increasingly evident. In 1966 Czechoslovakia, following the lead of Romania, rejected the Soviet Union's call for more military integration within the Warsaw Pact and sought greater input in planning and strategy for the Warsaw Pact's non-Soviet members.

On August 20, 1968, Warsaw Pact forces--including troops from Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union--invaded Czechoslovakia. Approximately 500,000 troops, mostly from the Soviet Union, poured across the borders in a blitzkrieg-like advance.

Czechoslovak joy was tempered by the knowledge that a sizable army of occupation would remain after the bulk of the invading force had departed. The Bulgarian, East German, Hungarian, and Polish troops were ordered to leave the country, but Soviet units were to remain in what was referred to as "temporary stationing." In the agreement, Czechoslovakia retained responsibility for defense of its western borders, but Soviet troops were to be garrisoned in the interior of the country. As events transpired, however, the major Soviet headquarters and four of its five ground divisions were deployed in the Czech Socialist Republic, where they remained in mid-1987.

So why did the Czech's build the vz.54 sniper rifle 14 years before the Soviet's invaded?

 

[tiriaq]

I don't know why they used a MN action. From the way these are built, it is almost as if the Czechs said, "Well, we would rather use one of our Mausers, but if we can't do that, at least we will do the Mosin Nagant properly." I saw these in the warehouse when Pragotrade brought them in. They are fine rifles.

 

[Lee Enfield]

It's kind of difficult to convert the '98 Mauser to 7.62x54R.

I don't think 8mm Mauser fit the Warsaw Pact cartridge commonality requirement.

I doubt that the Chech's manufactured the M91 action, I suspect that the VZ54/57s were stripped and remanufactured M91/30s.


I believe that the reason the Chechs did it was for the same reason that they built the VZ52 & VZ58 rifles & pistols rather than the SKS, Tokarev and AK47s.

They had a better idea and ran with it.

 

[Riflechair]

Well I suppose they read their cards right. The Czech's were not dummies. They were the distant combloc relative - never really truly accepting communism yet existing under it's ugly umbrella.

In order to maintain a semblance of control over it's weapin arsenals' they adopted the calibres of the USSR but never really became dependant on Soviet arsenals to provide armaments for their armed forces.

They were playing the game as it were. Its funny they have adopted the CZ-700 now as their main sniping weapon. Back to the mauser action.