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Vz 24 List of Prefixes

12K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Cincylance 
#1 ·
Is there a thread on here that has all of the prefixes? I tried searching but had no luck. Mine is "YR". I know it's a rework but really never researched this particular rifle. If there is a thread, I would appreciate the direction as I couldn't find anything.
 
#7 ·
DIdn't even cross my mind that I have the fifth edition sitting on my bookshelf. It says in here on page 122
"Romanian Vz24's were were manufactured in blocks of 25,000 rifles. Each block was identified by a serial number consisting of an alpha numeric phrase made up of a two letter prefix followed by up to five numerals (1-25000). In the two letter prefix, the first letter was constant for 25,000 rifles while the second letter is always an "r". Blocks "AR" through "YR" Have been reported with blocks Ir, JR, KR, LR, MR,NR, QR,VR, and ZR as yet unreported."

So based on that I'm guessing mine was made in the mid to late 40's and is one of the "last" (23xxx) Romanian contract rifles produced if "ZR" hasn't been reported. Also, if that many rifles are unreported, there may be a heck of a lot more still yet to be found somewhere. Just me being optimistic :) Also, they don't know the end year in the book it just says 1938-194? so anybody have an idea of the last production year of these puppies so I can narrow in on the year mine was made?
 
#5 ·
HA..Runner is correct the "R" in the prefix denotes Romanian contract..the "Y" is the batch..and so it would read batch Y, rifle # 1234 Romanian contract

I believe X is the last known or as far as they went
 
#6 ·
The Romanian contract went from AR through YR prefixes. In addition, there were a lot of unused VZ24 rifles with Czech. army acceptance marks that were sold to Romania. Export prefixes were P, C, and E plus a run of no prefix numbers. P prefix were the most common - a lot went to China and some went to Japan. Most large export contracts had their own set of consecutive serial numbers beginning with 1 (or 0) with no prefix or suffix.

Regards,
Bill
 
#8 ·
Hi Hashash,
No VZ24's were made after the 1941-42 time frame. (The exact date has not been documented.) The war ended in 1945, so none were made in the mid to late 1940's. The missing serial blocks have still not been seen so it is safe to assume that those letter prefixes were not used.
Regards,
John
 
#11 ·
Always a fun thing to figure out a little bit of a weapon's history. Thanks for the info and reminding me that I have an amazing reference book sitting right by me lol. Hopefully this can answer future questions too. Now I want another Vz24.....grrr.
 
#12 ·
It seems that most, if not all, of the AR-YR Romanian contract rifles were made in 1940.

A. I have a BR bayonet in a CR scabbard, both dated Slovak 1940. There are far too many Slovak marked bayonets mixed in with Romanian contract bayonets for them to have been Romanian bayonets taken for Slovak use. They have to have first been Slovak accepted in 1940 and later taken for use with Romanian contract rifles - and serial matched with those rifles.

B. King Michael replaced King Carol on September 6, 1940. The King Michael crest replaced the King Carol crest on the rifles late in the AR-YR series. My King Michael crest VZ24 is a TR block. The crests would not have changed before King Michael took over.

Facts A and B bracket the Romanian contract within 1940 or nearly so. A small number may have overlapped into 1939 and/or 1941.

Regards,
Bill
 
#13 ·
It's 1940...that's when they stopped making the Romanian contract rifles...(Mine is an XR, from about the same time, but a few months earlier.)

VERY high quality rifles...even those I have had that look like they went through hell were good shooters and smooth as glass.

mark
 
#14 ·
After the end of "1940" dated Vz.24 production, 25,000 rifle blocks in the undated SR, TR, UR, XR and YR serial number ranges with the King Carol "CC"crest and the King Micheal "M" crest were made. Less than 5,000 "1940" date crest rifles were made in the front end of RR block. It is highly likely that Vz.24 production extended into 1941 with Romanian markings, with 125,000 to 140,000 rifles manufactured after dating ended. As a German-marked variation of course, it extended into 1942 as the G24t.
Regards,
John
 
#17 ·
After the end of "1940" dated Vz.24 production, 25,000 rifle blocks in the undated SR, TR, UR, XR and YR serial number ranges with the King Carol "CC"crest and the King Micheal "M" crest were made. Less than 5,000 "1940" date crest rifles were made in the front end of RR block. It is highly likely that Vz.24 production extended into 1941 with Romanian markings, with 125,000 to 140,000 rifles manufactured after dating ended. As a German-marked variation of course, it extended into 1942 as the G24t.
Regards,
John
John,
Do you have any information showing which blocks were made in 1940 and which were made in 1941? I have not seen any dated Romanian VZ24 rifles. 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1940 year crested receivers were used in a random manner but those years only show when the receivers were made, not when the rifles were assembled.

I suspect all or almost all of the Romanian contract rifles were made in 1940 but all I know for certain is that my Michael crested TR13263 VZ24 could not have been made before September 1940, since King Michael replaced King Carol on September 6, 1940. TR10144 is reported with a Carol crest.

If the BR through TR rifles (my BR block bayonet is dated 1940) were made in January through September and all letter blocks were used, that would be 475,000 rifles or 52,777 rifles made each month for 9 months. If the IR, JR, KR, LR, MR,NR, and QR blocks were not made, that would be 33,333 per month.

If the UR through XR rifles were made in October through December and all letter blocks were used, that would be 100,000 rifles or 33,333 rifles made each month for 3 months. If the VR block was not made, that would be 25,000 per month.

It does seem that the Romanian contract could have been completed by or very shortly after the end of 1940.

Regards,
Bill
 
#15 ·
I used to have an AR block with the "1939" crest. I see from the link above that 1939 crests were in both AR and BR blocks. Any idea how many of those were made?
 
#16 ·
Your receiver was made in 1939 but the rifle may have been assembled in early 1940, no way to know for sure. We know that VZ24 rifle s/n BR22741 had a 1940 marked bayonet with the same serial number. Later in 1940 a few receivers with year crests 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1940 were used in Romaninan VZ24 manufacture in a random fashion. You can get an idea of the frequency at:
http://rml1708.com/MyCzechWebpage/rumdata.htm

Regards,
Bill
 
#18 ·
Thanks, Bill, that's where I was looking. I just noted John knew about how many "1940" marked rifles there were. But I see the 1939s were interspersed with King Carol crests, so there may be no way to know how many of them there were. Mine was AR24xx, and I use the xx only because I can't remember what I saw in the records just a while ago. So it was fairly early in the Romanian orders. Pity, it seems you can't add to the list in the link. Old geocities address.

John
 
#21 ·
after reading this page, again, i have a question that has not been discussed. i wonder who paid for this large amount of rifles, that were manufactured and delivered, in a relatively short period of time. the Czech facility would have required payment, i'm sure. i don't know about this, but i'm heavily inclined to surmise that the Romanian gov't would not have been able to raise that kind of monetary capital, in a short time period. sooo, an open minded deduction leans to the Germans paying for these guns to supply their Romanian allies. does anyone know, for sure?
 
#22 ·
The story I heard was that the Germans traded VZ24 rifles to Romania for POL (fuel, primarily).
 
#24 ·
That would be Romania after the government went communist. It did not fit the new pattern to have royal crests on rifles. They also removed some of the Czech lion crests, but not all.

Welcome to the Mauser party!
 
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