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| Country |
Czechoslovakia |
| Type |
Rifle |
| Manufacturer |
Brno |
| Introduction |
1924 |
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The vz. 24 rifle is a rifle designed and produced in Czechoslovakia from 1924 to 1942. It was developed from the Mauser Gewehr 98 line, though is not a clone of any specific Mauser model. The Wehrmacht had 11 divisions equipped with the rifle at the start of war, though vast majority of its life as a military service rifles was during peacetime with the Czechoslovak Army. Production continued for the German Army, which designated it Gewehr 24(t). About 762,000 rifles of this pattern were produced in Czechoslovakia for the Czechoslovak army and some other 330,050 for the German armed forces.
The vz. 24 rifle was designed in Czechoslovakia shortly after World War I. \"Vz.\" is an abbreviation for vzor, which translates to model, \"24\" represents the year of the design, 1924. This rifle replaced the 98/22 Mauser that was in production before it. The vz. 24 was produced in Brno and Považská Bystrica (from 1938-1942).
The vz. 24 rifle was widely used the world over. Japan, Romania, Iran, Guatemala, China etc. Many of the contract rifles made for South American countries were chambered in 7 mm Mauser.
The rifle found its way into Iran very quickly where it became known as the \'Berno\', following the name of the city of Brno, Czechoslovakia, where the rifles were originally manufactured. In the late 1940s Iran\'s Taslihat-e Artesh (Arms Factories of the Army), popularly known as Mosalsal-sazi (the machine-gun factory), in Tehran started production of these Brno rifles. The required machinery and manufacturing knowledge was provided to Iran through the industrial firm Škoda, which had a long history of cooperation with Iran. Iran produced two models: the vz. 24 as \"Berno\" and a short version known as \"Berno kootah\" (short Brno) under a licence from CZ. The Iranian Brno rifles saw action in a number of places from tribal uprisings in Kurdistan to the coup removing Mohammad Mossadegh from power. During the 1979 revolution, the gun re-appeared in the hands of the revolutionaries and tribesmen, who had never abandoned their Brnos.
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