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Staring down the barrel

Hassling by Interior Ministry forces ČZUB into manufacturing a world-class pistol

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 27th, 2007 issue

ČZUB's pistols now arm police forces in Egypt, Mexico and Vietnam.
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A large capacity double-column magazine. Comfortable grip in both hands. Good results from instinctive shooting.
These are the foremost qualities of the ČZ 75 D Compact, a handgun that currently arms a majority of the national police force. Forged in the south Moravian factories of gun maker Česká Zbrojovka a.s. Uherský Brod (ČZUB), the pistol is hailed by the international arms industry as one of the best police handguns in the world.
COURTESY PHOTO
Lubomír Kolařík, ČZUB's general manager, accepts the IDET gold medal for the ČZ 75 D Compact gun.
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ČZUB's production history highlights

1936–39 Model LK 30
aircraft machine gun
1939–45 MG 17 aircraft machine gun; components for the K 35 anti-aircraft cannon
1945–49 Air rifle model 47; .22-caliber rifle
1950–88 SA 58 assault rifle
1958–88 Model 61 submachine gun (aka "the Scorpion")
1975–88 ČZ 75 pistols; ČZ 585 over/under shotgun

Since the 2003 bankruptcy of the Moravian armament company Zbrojovka Brno, ČZUB has become the last Mohican of a once-legendary arms industry. After years of coping with financial losses and struggling to heal its wounded reputation, the manufacturer is reclaiming its place as a player in the global firearms market.
“In the past few years, the company’s profit was in the red,” said ČZUB general manager Lubomír Kolařík. “My goal this year is to bring profit back into the black.”
To do this, Kolařík plans to expand further onto world markets. The company already conducts a significant portion of its business in the United States, where its subsidiaries, CZ-U.S. and Dan Wesson, are responsible for approximately 3 percent of U.S. rifle and shotgun production. Kolařík also plans to expand exports to Russia, where ČZUB weapons account for half of the country’s long-arms imports.
Last year, ČZUB also bought out part of its sister company.
“We recently took over production activities for Zbrojovka Brno and saved another famous tradition,” Kolařík said.
Today, the market analyst Czech Top 100 lists ČZUB among the most admirable companies for 2006. It was the first time ČZUB ranked in the poll since the list’s launch in 1995, and the company’s repaired reputation is hard-earned.
In 2001, the Interior Ministry granted ČZUB a prestigious 650 million Kč ($30.4 million) contract for the production of 46,000 police guns as part of its effort to upgrade the weapons of regional police. The Police Presidium had been asking the ministry for new arms since 1999, concerned that 95 percent of police were still equipped with the ČZ 82, an outdated model whose technical flaws raised serious safety concerns.
“It is well-known that our pistols are technically and morally outdated,” wrote then police president Jiří Kolář in a 2001 open letter to his subordinates.
The ČZ 82 pistols lacked a safety to prevent the accidental triggering of a loaded chamber, and, in previous years, the Police Presidium registered five injuries and one fatality as a result of this deficiency.
“I had to prohibit police officers from carrying weapons with loaded chambers, which is less than optimal in their line of work,” Kolář said.
Prompted by the presidium’s repeated requests, the Interior Ministry announced a public tender for the production of a new police gun in 1999. But none of the participating manufacturers was able to meet the ministry's standards.
Two years later, ČZUB introduced the ČZ 75, a new line of pistols whose capacities were closer to meeting the ministry’s requirements. But even this model did not put to rest the Police Presidium’s safety concerns.
“The weapon represents a new quality level, but it still hasn’t met all of our requirements,” Kolář said.
In the end, the growing dearth of efficient pistols compelled the ministry to grant the commission to ČZUB in 2001. The transaction was criticized by industry experts, who urged the ministry to instead issue another public tender. Their fears were justified when the Defense Standardization Authority found that the first 3,000-piece batch of pistols delivered to the ministry by ČZUB contained material imperfections. The company responded by replacing the shipment and extending the ministry’s warranty.
Additional flaws were found in the pistols’ lighting mechanisms, triggers and handgrips. The resulting series of complaints and exchanges caused extensive delays. In the end, the ministry fined ČZUB 11 million Kč.
Despite these complications, ČZUB reaped a number of benefits from its contract. The improvements the ministry forced ČZUB to make to the ČZ 75 prototype have pushed the firm to create a world-class police pistol that now equips armed forces in Egypt, Vietnam and Mexico. Last year, the gun also won a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Defense and Security Technologies (IDET).
“The [Interior Ministry’s] commission allowed us to perfect a high-quality service weapon that beats out an overwhelming majority of competing products,” Kolařík said. “As a result, the police are now armed with a dependable pistol, and that’s a good reference for us.”
Kalashnikov-free
ČZUB’s resurgence is helping to restore the good name of Czech weaponry, the roots of which date to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The industry flourished until 1989 and the end of the Cold War arms race. Paralyzed by decreased demand and struggling with privatization, the industry crumbled.
“Out of the line of famous homegrown weapon companies, ČZUB is probably the only company that won the fight with the insensitive political interferences that hit the industry after 1989,” Kolařík said.
The company was founded in 1936, following the Defense Ministry’s pre-World War II directive to move all armament manufacturing away from the country’s periphery. During the Cold War, the company manufactured such iconic weapons as “the Scorpion” — a 7.65-mm submachine gun — and the SA 58, an automatic assault rifle that Kolařík said was not exported for political reasons: The Soviets didn’t want a competitor for the AK-47.
“Thanks to the SA 58, Czechoslovakia had the only Eastern bloc army not equipped with Soviet Kalashnikovs,” Kolařík said.
Despite their access to more modern weapons, Czech troops deployed on dangerous missions in Iraq or Afghanistan still prefer the SA 58.
“We are currently developing a new assault rifle as a replacement for the SA 58, along with a successor for the legendary Scorpion,” Kolařík said.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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