While guys who dig CZs these days often like to think of themselves as mysterious and edgy, back in the chilliest days of the Cold War, picking up a CZ 75 was tougher than you’d think.
A product initially of Communist-controlled and Moscow-allied Czechoslovakia, as I’ve covered dozens of times in the past, the CZ 75 first hit the market in Europe in 1975, hence the name. While nothing in the design was new – every feature had already appeared in a production gun somewhere – the combination of its internal slide rail design (similar to the SIG P210) with a 15+1 shot detachable 9mm magazine (Smith & Wesson Model 59), double-action/single-action trigger system (Walther P-38), and a linkless cam locking system (Browning Hi-Power) yielded a very sweet shooting pistol with a decent capacity that could be seen as a legitimate target or “combat” handgun, especially for its day.
A second-generation 1986-vintage CZ 75 “Pre-B” with all matching serial numbers and zero import marks. (Photo: Chris Eger)
CZ 75s were known in the U.S. – they even popped up in that 1984 classic “Red Dawn” in the hands of dastardly commie airborne forces in the opening action sequence. The thing is, as there was plenty of bad blood between the U.S. and Warsaw Pact countries in the 1970s and 80s, it was fairly hard to get a CZ 75 in the States.
This meant that most in that period came in via two narrow and now historically ironic sources: from Canada through a company called Pragotrade, and via American servicemembers/businessmen who bought them in Western Europe back when gun laws over there were a lot less draconian.
The latter is where I think this gun came from, as it doesn’t have any import marks but does have what seem to be factory-installed adjustable LPA target sights, which would make it a ringer for CZ 75s sold commercially in Britain in the mid-1980s.
For instance: Czech out this ad from Edgar Brothers, a big UK-based gun distributor that is still in business – although not in the handgun market for the past 25 years.
180202-N-ND254-0451 BANGOR, Wash. (February 2, 2018) The Gold Crew of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama (SSBN 731) returns home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor following a routine strategic deterrent patrol. Alabama is one of eight ballistic missile submarines stationed at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, providing the most survivable leg of the strategic deterrence triad for the United States. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nancy diBenedetto/Released)
Dave Chetlain over at The War Horse has this great tale from the Boomers:
“Hey, Eeyore, we need to do something big,” Jim Gover said, using my nickname since we couldn’t use our real ones in sonar for security reasons.
We were on day infinity of submarine patrol and my partner in mischief Jim Gover was about to get me in trouble again.
“We are 400 feet under the water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with 24 Trident C-4 missiles pointed at the Soviet Union,” I responded. “Isn’t that big enough?”
“No, you idiot. I’m talking about something really important—a big prank.”
80 years ago this week: A plant celebration for the 100,000th Bren gun built at the John Inglis and Co. factory, Toronto, Canada, 20 August 1943.
Photographer: Alexandra Studio. August 20, 1943. City of Toronto Archives. Series 1057, Item 2180
Another shot of the above from a different angle. Note the flags.
The light machine gun with Czech lineage (ZGB 33) had been put into service with the British and Commonwealth armies as early as 1936 and production started of the simplified Mark II (“Garage Hands”) model at Inglis in 1940.
A beautiful original Kodachrome of a 1st Canadian Division soldier with Bren gun in England, 1940. Note the “tortoise” No.3 helmet
The company delivered 143,000 .303 models to Commonwealth and European allies and another 43,000 8mm Mauser variants to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Chinese– hence the Chinese official speaking and the KMT “cog” flag (modern Taiwan flag) alongside the French and British in the above image.
With that, it only made sense that the 100,000th Bren would go to the KMT.
Original Toronto Star caption: The gun was entrusted to Maj.-Gen. S. M. Chu, military attache to the Chinese embassy in Washington. Gen. Chu. holding the gun is shown with Dr. Liu Shih Shun, the Chinese minister plenipotentiary to Canada. Both expressed their country’s thanks to Canada and the workers. The City of Toronto Archives TSPA_0110116F
At this stage of production at Inglis, the company was peaking at some 10,000 guns per month in addition to 9mm Hi-Power production. At the time, 18,000 workers were working around the clock on 5,000 machines.
Veronica Foster, “Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl”, was arguably the most famous Inglis war production worker.
A real assembler from the Bren line and not a model, she was photographed for a campaign spearheaded by the National Film Board and predated the American “Rosie the Riveter” campaign, going on to be a cultural icon.
Visited my old Pascagoula stomping grounds at “The Point,” which juts out into the Pascagoula River towards Singing River Island (the old NAVSTA Pascagoula) and is framed by the WWII-era Ingalls East Bank and the Cold War-era Ingalls West Bank.
A couple of new sights to see.
The first of class guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) arrived at Ingalls on Saturday to start a two-year process to install a quartet of 87-inch (diameter) hypersonic missile tubes instead of her failed 155mm gun system. Each tube will hold a trio of Army-Navy joint Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies (C-HGB), for a total of 12 missiles on the ship. These will augment the ship’s 80 MK 57 VLS modules aft, each capable of carrying everything the MK 41 VLS can except an SM-2ER.
All photos by Chris Eger, and please note as such if reused elsewhere.
Commissioned 15 October 2016, hopefully, Zumwalt will be combat-ready with her hypersonics around 2026. (Photo: Chris Eger)
Down the river from Zumwalt is her younger sister, the PCU USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), which left Bath on “sea trials” in January 2022 and is expected to enter service with her hypersonics possibly in 2024.
I always thought the Zumwalts had superb hangar facilities and they can reportedly carry two MH-60Rs and three MQ-8 Fire Scouts at the same time. (Photo: Chris Eger)
Near LBJ on the old Singing River is PCU USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29), the 13th and final Flight I San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, which is fitting out.
She has several changes from the rest of her class including an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) volume air search radar, simplified bow works, and a stern gate that is open at the top. McCool will likely be commissioned later this year or early next year, and the Marines really need her.
Near McCool is the future USCGC Calhoun (WMSL-759), the tenth Legend-class National Security cutter.
She just completed her acceptance sea trials early this month and should be leaving for commissioning soon in Charleston, her future homeport. This will leave only the USCGC Friedman (WMSL-760) under construction and a planned 12th NSC still uncertain.
When it comes to Burkes, the Navy’s first Flight III of the class, future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), is on hand and looking great, with the Navy already in possession of the greyhound and expected to leave in October for her commissioning. To the rear of Lucas, with her glad rags flying, is the newly christened PCU USS Ted Stevens (DDG-128), the 78th Burke, which just took to the water last week and only picked up her name the Saturday before this snap was shot.
If you look at DDG-125’s bridge, force protection is already active and ready to go with some M240s on the wings, as it should be.
I recently visited Arizona-based Patriot Ordnance Factory, founded by the indomitable Frank DeSomma, and found the company thriving and growing in new directions.
DeSomma, an aerospace engineer remembered today simply as “Mr. Patriot,” sought to solve problems he saw with the AR-15’s gas impingement system and blazed fresh territory in piston guns before his untimely passing in 2020.
Still family-owned and located in a new 27,0000-square-foot facility in Phoenix, POF is still innovating. (Photo: Chris Eger)
New for this year is the Tombstone, a lever-action rifle that uses a Magpul SGA 870 nylon stock and the 20-round mag from the company’s Phoenix 9mm.
The Tombstone is lovingly crafted in-house from aerospace-grade aluminum and is a thoroughly modern lever-action rifle, keeping weight under 6 pounds.
80 years ago today. Official caption: “Aviation Free Gunnery Unit, Barber’s Point, Hawaii. Shown: Bore Sighting Stand, August 18, 1943.”
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-87883.
The machine gun on the stand seems to be an ANM2, a 30-06 chambered version of the M1919 Browning machine gun meant for aircraft use and with a wicked rate of fire that could touch 1,500 rpms.
Twin .30-cal ANM2s were mounted in the rear seats of Dauntless and Helldiver dive bombers, Avenger torpedo bombers, and in the blisters of the PBY-5 Catalina.
The rear ANM2 mount on the famed SBD dive bomber, seen here on a preserved aircraft at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona (Photo: Chris Eger)
The ANM2 was also used in side blister mounts on the big PBY Catalina flying boat, here seen in a period Kodachrome image. (Photo: U.S. Navy/National Archives)
Interestingly, Savage made thousands of ANM2s during the war, taking a break from their regular commercial rifle production.
They were also pressed into service by Marines on the ground. One notable image from the attack on Pearl Harbor shows Marines on Ford Island using an ANM2, likely borrowed from a Navy PBY, set up to take shots at incoming Japanese planes.
(Photo: U.S. Navy/National Archives)
Other images show Marines on Okinawa with a full twin mount, likely plucked right from a wrecked Helldiver or SBD, used for defense in a ground attack role.
It seems to be placed on the tripod for a Browning M1917 water-cooled machine gun. Note the high anti-aircraft sights. (Photo: U.S. Navy/National Archives)
The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) was decommissioned in Mayport on Monday. Built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, Sioux City was the first ship named for the Iowa city and commissioned 17 November 2018, at the Naval Academy. In all, she was only in service for 4 years, 8 months, and 28 days, most of which was assigned to the Florida-based Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.
MARTINIQUE, FRANCE (June 23, 2021) The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) conducts a bilateral maritime exercise with the French Navy Floréal-class frigate FS Germinal (F735) following a port visit to Martinique, France, June 23, 2021. Sioux City is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marianne Guemo)
As the Navy just plain doesn’t want these ships anymore, and the Freedom-variant has an albatross of an engineering suite that seems almost totally doomed to fail at some point, she is now headed to the inactive fleet.
However, you can’t say that she didn’t have an active career during her short time in commission. Via the Navy:
Sioux City completed four successful deployments in December 2020, July 2021, December 2021, and October 2022. The ship deployed to U.S. Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Fleet, integrated with a carrier strike group, performed exercises with partner navies, and conducted joint maneuvers with other U.S. Navy warships. While deployed in 2022, Sioux City provided a maritime security presence enabling the free flow of commerce in key corridors of trade. Sioux City was also the first LCS to operate in U.S. Fifth and Sixth fleets across the Atlantic where they participated in counter-drug trafficking operations with the U.S. Coast Guard to seize over 10,000 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $500 million.
The fine citizens of Sioux City deserved better.
Old Burkes get extended
The news comes in tandem that a four-pack of early Flight I (no hanger, SLQ-32, two CIWS, Harpoon) Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers will be given further work to remain in service, stretching their service life beyond 35 years.
180720-N-OY799-0326 PHILIPPINE SEA (July 20, 2018) The guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) steams alongside the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), during a transit of the Philippine Sea. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kenneth Abbate/Released)
USS Ramage (DDG 61), homeported in Norfolk, VA, and USS Benfold (DDG 65), based in Yokosuka, Japan, have been extended by five years to FY 2035 and FY 2036, respectively.
USS Mitscher (DDG 57), also homeported in Norfolk, and USS Milius (DDG 69), homeported out of Yokosuka, have been extended by four years to FY 2034 and FY 2035, respectively.
This hits the feels personally as I was a “constructor plankowner” on all four of these tin cans I worked on each extensively while I was at Ingalls and even made it out on Ramage’s pre-commissioning tiger cruise.
Some of my personal snaps from the Ramage’s May 1995 tiger cruise
Each of these ships has received Aegis Baseline 9 upgrades through the DDG Modernization program. The program provided a comprehensive mid-life modernization to these destroyers, ensuring they have the right systems to remain capable and reliable to the end of their service life. Based on analysis by the Navy’s technical community, these extensions were feasible because each ship properly adhered to lifecycle maintenance plans and were well maintained in good material condition by their crews.
Ted Stevens hits the water.
Ingalls in Pascagoula this week announced the successful translation and launch of the Navy’s third Flight III Burke, the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128). She is set for her official christening this weekend.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division successfully launched the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Ted Stevens (DDG 128). The ship will be christened Saturday, 19 August 2023 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. HII photo
HII photo
Ted Stevens is the 76th Arleigh Burke-class ship, and its name honors former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who served as a pilot in World War II and later as a U.S. senator representing Alaska. At the time he left office in 2009, he was the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator in history.
Ingalls has delivered 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy including the first Flight III, USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), in June of this year. In addition, Ingalls Shipbuilding has four Flight IIIs currently under construction and was awarded an additional six destroyers earlier this month. Ted Stevens will be christened Saturday, Aug. 19, while Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131), and Sam Nunn (DDG 133) are also under construction at Ingalls.
The integrally suppressed HK MP5 SD– the full-time suppressed variant of the MP5 submachine gun that even made full-house spicy ammo quiet– was probably the coolest SMG of the 1980s and 1990s. The thing is it isn’t small due to the large size of its efficient can.
The shortest MP5SD, fitted with the A3 stock, is 26.4 inches long with the stock retracted, growing to 32 when it is fully extended.
However, there is now something kinda cooler out there.
Based on the submission to the Army’s Sub Compact Weapon trials, B&T is releasing a small run of very cool little room brooms.
The company said the release of 160 integrally suppressed APC9K SD2 models complete with its scalable suppressor system comes to satisfy “continual requests by those familiar with the project.”
The gun was originally submitted as part of B&T’s swing at the Army’s SCW contract in 2018. Guns proposed for the program had to be “highly concealable” and “capable of engaging threat personnel with a high volume of lethal and accurate fires at close range with minimal collateral damage.”
The military originally courted a baker’s dozen gun makers to submit designs, including Angstadt, Colt, CMMG, CZ, Heckler & Koch, Lewis Machine & Tool, Noveske, PTR, SIG Sauer, Quarter Circle, and Zenith Firearms — the literal A-to-Z in compact gun makers. Ultimately, B&T beat out the field of big names for the tender.
Spc. Michael Richardson, an Army Intelligence Analyst with the 733rd Military Police Battalion (CID), fires the APC9K submachine gun at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. (Photo/Caption: U.S. Army)
However, those who want something much more compact than the HK MP5SD (but, alas, not select fire due to the Hughes Amendment – thanks, Ronald Reagan!) can now grab an APC9K SD2 of their own, although it is a two-stamp gun (suppressor and SBR).
The SD2 is an integrally suppressed variant of the APC9K that features a scalable suppressor system and M-LOK compatible SD handguard. In its shortest configuration, the APC9K SD2 features a 3-inch ported barrel combined with an advanced over-the-barrel suppressor that is fully contained within the handguard.
In this configuration, the platform measures only 15 inches overall. Weight is 5.9 pounds, and the platform is modular, able to use standard B&T, Glock, and SIG P320 magazines via a swappable non-serialized lower receiver replacement. (Photo: B&T)
In a move to outfit assorted crew-served weapons, the British armed forces will be using a variety of SIG Sauer full-size red dots and magnifiers.
The Support Weapons Systems Sighting Program aims to provide better sights to a wide range of platforms in British service such as the SA80 A2 Light Support Weapon in 5.56 NATO and the L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun– a version of the famed FN MAG 58/M240– in 7.62 NATO.
Equipping these will be the SIG Sauer Electro-Optics Romeo 8T red dot and the company’s Juliet 3 and Juliet 4 magnifiers.
How about these eye-catchers. Also, that’s a tough curve to keep a formation like that, with the Rhino holding back toward stall speed while the Texan is pushing those RPMs to lead.
Official caption: A T-6A Texan II assigned to the “Wildcats” of Training Squadron (VT) 10, a T-45C Goshawk assigned to the “Sabrehawks” of Training Squadron 86, and a F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (NFDS) the “Blue Angels” fly alongside Pensacola Beach, July 26, 2023.
(U.S. Navy photo by LT Antonio “Gemma” Moré)
“VT-10 and VT-86 are two of the Navy’s premier Naval Flight Officer (NFO) training squadrons assigned to the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). In addition, CNATRA oversees the operations of the Blue Angels.
CNATRA’s mission is to train, mentor and deliver the highest quality Naval Aviators who prevail in crisis, competition, and conflict.”
