CUGIR is pronounced CUJIR. Romanian Navy ret. officer, here. As I commented in other videos of yours, your Romanian Military firearms presentations are awesome and no Romanians did the work you do. This was the reason I subscribed to your channel. Regarding the payment problems you mentioned, I can say that there were several scandals during the 1930s, in Romania, regarding embezzelment of the funds assigned for Romanian Military procurements, involving high ranked officials even the king Carol II Hohenzollern, an gambler and playboy who simply stole a large amount of money and wasted it in Monte Carlo casinos, and with his mistress. Another big corruption scandal was called "The Skoda Affair". One more time, congrats and best regards!
Yeah, I didn't;'t realize the correct pronunciation until after filming this one. However, I am planning a trip to Romania next spring to do a bunch of filming, and I will get it right in those. :)
You’d be surprised the weird gems that make their way around the world. I found a Romanian VZ 24 contract rifle at a local pawn shop for 300 bucks. Overall the journey of some of these guns is just as if not more interesting then the story behind the guns themselves.
@nono-jj9rr he's still factually correct, Iceland doesn't have it, as it wasn't ever fielded by the Icelandic police or coast guard. It's been bought by a private collector. How does being correct make the poster a Liberal?🤷♂️
I designed a d*mn fine weapon! 😉 Ian, you did a fine job with this video, but I'll add a few points for depth: Designations: ZB = Zbrojovka Brno, that is a factory designation vz. = vzor, which means "model" this is a Czech military designation Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Jugoslavia had a mutual defense pact, nicknamed "The Little Entant" to keep Hungary in check. As part of this pact, the three countries agreed to standardize on weapons and ammunition. That is why Czechoslovakia and Romania adopted the vz.24 in 7,92x57mm, Jugoslavia adopted the FN Model 24, also in 7,92x57mm, and all adopted the ZB-26/ZB-30/ZB-30J series of LMGs
Just a little note. The ZB 30 machine gun was produced by Zbrojovka Brno, but it was never accepted into the Czechoslovak army. However, it was exported to Iran, Turkey or Romania. And as Ian said, license were issued to othe countries to manufacture. Greetings from Czechia
The Zbrojovka Brno factory area has mostly been razed to the ground and a community campus is to be built in its place. A single factory hall and a "boiler room building" are all that's left of the original facility. There's an outdoor cinema every summer. It'll be a nice place to visit in a few years :)
@@Tallmios That's really cool-and not an uncommon scenario-thanks for the information. I'm glad the land of the former factory is being put to good use.
To be more precise, Turkey was ordering the model ZB-30Cz ('Cz' does not mean Czech in this case), which had some minor modifications and used more durable materials for the barrels.
My unit confiscated a Syrian version of a Bren the was made to fire belted ammunition. All of the markings were in Arabic and we never figured out what round it was designed to fire. It broke my heart when we were ordered to wrap all of the confiscated weapons with Detcord
Thought it was gonna be that familiar story. Military: asks for firearm for specific cartridge. Factory: Builds flawless model. Military: Buys thousands, then immediately changes cartridge specs. and begins complaining.
Amazing................... Friends of mine who visited Iceland as tourists, came for the glaciers, the whales and the hot gush springs. Not so Ian. He came for a Romanian Light Machine Gun. 😎💪🤟
@@allengordon6929 no, I was not on Patriotic Guards and even there only just a small part of them had those weapons. Other of them had older Soviet style weapons like PPsh (PPȘ Md. 1952" build also at Cugir) or RPD LMG. Others of them had AK G (Guard! which were selled in USA later) and more newer MG.
@@allengordon6929 a large proportion, but not all, were even women (a smaller proportion). It depended on the military service performed before and the job. The others were part of the reserve. In general, the guards corresponded to the place of the factories (or the companies where they were), there was the weapons store assigned to each unit. In the countryside, they were coordinated by agents from the communal militia stations, where their armory also existed. If I'm not mistaken, even in the countryside they were armed more with WW2 weapons (ZBVz 24 carbines).
@@sageburner127 Their ”Mareșal” tank destroyer inspired Hetzer (”British historian Mark Axworthy suggests that the design for the Hetzer was likely rooted in the Romanian Mareşal tank destroyer.”)
I'm sure Holland and Holland, Purdey, etc. could have made machine guns. They would take 6 months a unit to build and cost $50k a piece. They would have fit each Private flawlessly though!
For being almost a century old that gun is in amazing shape! Looks almost brand new. And the more Czech guns I learn about the more I think they really are just about the best firearm designers.
They're still the best on the continent. They were also the first culture in europe to adopt firearms on a widespread scale, the turks being the second.
"The British liked buying guns they design themselves" Well apart from the SNYDER-Enfield, MARTINI-Henry, GATLING, GARDNER, NORDENFELT, and MAXIM guns, the LEE-Metford, LEE-Enfield, HOTCHKISS Portative, and the LEWIS gun.
Im very pleased to hear correct pronunciation of the name of Vaclav Holek. just by the way, I live in Brno and from my window I have a look on former Zbrojovka Brno factory. unfortunatly, there is nothing left from the factory. just piece of the directors building.
I'm always surprised at how many changes have been made to the ZB 26 and all have gotten it to run, even with the .303. Thanks to the folks in Iceland.
The Brits wanted to adopt a rimless rifle cartridge even before WW1. Then the war happened, so plans put on hold. Post war it was decided that all that WW1 surplus .303 made it cheaper to just stick with the rimmed round. So they kind of backed themselves into a corner in that regard. Somehow they got the .303 to feed well even in very fast firing machine guns like their aircraft mounted, open bolt version of the Browning M1919, and the Vickers K aircraft defensive gun. They did also adopt 7.92mm Mauser for their tank mounted BESA machine guns, due to a lack of time to redesign the weapon for .303. So during WW2 there were factories in the UK making what was essentially Wermacht ammo!
Thanks for the history and information Ian, I really enjoyed this during my lunchbreak. You really fleshed out the little information my grandad gave me regarding the BREN's history.
"Liked buying stuff the had designed themselves" No doubt. But they weren't shy about adopting foreign designs (nor should they have been). The Lee-Enfield, the Lewis gun, the Lanchester, the FN P-35, the Browning aircraft gun and the Oerlikon are a few examples. Even the Vickers was a modified foreign design.
It is so impressive to see how much work was done for this weapon. The work, the quality, the design....It was time when people went for quality instead of quantity.
I’ve got one that has HK stamped into the bolt (like what Ian has here 15:00) and a Yugoslavian crest on the receiver. This tells me the Germans seized control of the factory while it was still being manufactured. After the Germans completed its assembly and sent it back to the German Army for acceptance, it received the HK proof mark from Heinrich Krieghoff. No waffenamts, but there is what could be a unit marking “1.TR” on the stock. Unfortunately the barrel on mine has been destroyed, so if anyone in the US has one or can make one for sale, please let me know!
Guns destined for the SS didn't get waffenamnts, at least early on, as they were equipped outside officials channels. Hence a lot of odd, but cool, Guns like mp-35, m1932 broomhandles, zb-26 etc
1 TR Is #1 Teknici Remontni (1 Technical Repair) in Serbo-Croat, in Latin script. So a Yugo issued gun, may be recovered after WWII. The Germans ( esp. Waffen SS) used these Yugo guns on Eastern Front, as did Italian Bersaglieri Motorised units in Russia ( wartime It. and Ger. Photos) DocAV
I can't remember? Has Forgotten Weapons ever covered the "Sustained Fire Machine Gun, XII E4" a sort of "belt fed BREN" or the "TADEN" gun which was being developed alongside the EM-2, (also known as Rifle, No.9, Mk.1 or Janson rifle). Would be interesting to see the developmental progress (& dead-ends) that the project had against the ZB-26 & ZB-30 LMG.
go see LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, great movie and a great slow-motion scene of a BREN gun shooting, all hail BRNO CZ for the best LMG of WW2 and beyond!
one of those cases when the hint "everybody is using that thing, should we?" wasn't picked up and a domestic design ended up to be wonky. *cough* FAL *cough*
Iceland, like Ireland before it, is turning out to be a fantastic source of original material untouched by such mundane concerns as "expedience" in terms of their archival material.
I always like being thanked for tuning in to forgotten weapons because if I wasn't thanked for my presence I would probably become irate in the comments section.
@@MarvinCZ Approximately 25% more lead per bullet across hundreds of millions of rounds, though. You'd think that'd add up. Especially at the rate machine guns like MG42s burned through them.
hey Ian, excellent video, just a small observation: these LMGs were not actually taken out of service after the WP integration, they were indeed gradually relegated to non-front line and popular militia type of units (Patriotic Guards), but they were actually standard issue for such forces well into the 80s and the 90s. "If it works, dont fix" kind of thing. I even remember seeing themin the hands of people during the '89 Revolution, and seeing them up close, as a kid it struck me that they seemed so much bigger and meaner and .... more gunny than the AKMs and whatnot :) Also, can you perhaps please shed some light on how/why would it contain an HK bolt? Is it contemporaneous with the weapon, or is it a later addition? Thanks,
Edit: I just realized you're probably talking about Romania. I'm talking about the use of ZB vz. 26 in Czechoslovakia in my reply. They were also used by the regular army in border fortifications for a very long time because those were built with these guns in mind. The forts received new anti-tank guns but the machine guns remained mostly the same.
@originalyankee9326 Also, can you perhaps please shed some light on how/why would it contain an HK bolt? Is it contemporaneous with the weapon, or is it a later addition? Connected HK, circled HK, and separate H K variant markings are commonly found on interwar Czech-manufacture weapons, often on bolts and magazines. I've heard the marking be attributed to being proofed/assembled by Heinrich Krieghoff, however the markings are found on weapons whose manufacture is not associated with and did not involve Krieghoff, so I'm unconvinced of that connection. In any case, it is an 'original to gun' marking, and (probably) not a replacement part, though if it is, it would still be contemporaneous. It has no relation to Heckler and Koch.
I bet they laughed so hard when they realized nobody was hurt during the test shooting, I can just imagine the armor went out and picked up the barrel checked the bore for blockage and re-installed it and continued testing!
As a Bren user, I nodded in approval at the addition of the recess for the barrel release catch, as I've certainly managed to bump it a few times just enough to unlock it. I've always noticed so never had the experience of launching the barrel, but it and the stop for the action seem like handy little additions that were omitted on the Bren. Also the lock for the bipod legs seems like it would be very handy in certain circumstances, as I think anyone who's carried a Bren or L4 in the field has at some point caught a bipod foot on something and unintentionally deployed the bipod.
that would be the ZB30j, which is a modification of the ZB30. All the major parts are NOT interchangeable between the ZB26/ZB30/ZB30J/Bren Family, even though they all look the same. Just about everything was tweaked between versions.
One thing I've never understood about early support rifles is; how come the charging handles on many of them have such long tails? Like I get having it long enough to act as a dust cover for the handle slot, but some of them seem excessively long
I was looking out of those windows, thinking, 'it looks even more miserable there than it does where I live,' and the Ian said he was in Iceland. I feel vindicated
ian, in romanian, the vowel group "gi" is pronounced phonetically as "dzhi" in english, not how you would typically pronounce it (in english) not to be a grammar nazi but i think you like pronouncing stuff right, therefore, the correction. it should be pronounced "cudzhir", not "cugheer" to sum the comment up. ty for showing more romanian guns ❤❤❤
US self loading M1 Garand rifle rate of fire could compensate for a lack of true squad LMG. Other nations were equipped with bolt action rifles, so a true LMG was needed to give automatic firepower boost.
@Forgotten Weapons Just Curious if there will ever be a video on the Howa Type 64? It looks like a vz. 58 and a FAL had a baby and I wanna know what makes it tick
so Japan is SUPER ANAL about letting its small arms leave the country and they are also not too keen on foreigners. checking their gear out, so its SUPER HARD to get your hands on post ww2 Japanese small arms.. AFAIK hes never done a post ww2 Japanese small arm
