The CZ247 was developed for Czechoslovakia’s post-war submachine gun trials, where it was pitted against the ZB47. It was a simple blowback 9x19mm SMG with a number of interesting elements, most notably the ability to fire with the magazine either vertical or horizontal. In theory, this made the gun more compact for use in a jungle sort of environment (vertical) or to allow a shooter to get much lower to the ground when shooting prone (horizontal). In practice, it really isn’t very important, and requires a bit of extra complexity in the gun’s design. The CZ247 also has a neat safety mechanism for preventing unintended firing and a stripper clip guide built into the stock (both of which would be incorporated in the vz.48 SMG that was eventually adopted).
When the CZ247 failed to win the military trials, CZ got government permission to sell it on the export market. A contract for 10,000 guns was quickly obtained from Egypt, but before the guns could be shipped the export permission was cancelled by the government. Czechoslovakia opted to support Israel in its declaration of independence in 1948, and the government decided to not send weapons to Egypt which might be used against Israel. This left the guns sitting in CZ warehouses, and the basically all stayed there for a few decades. Eventually most were sold to Nigeria in 1967 and Ethiopian in 1977 – and as a result they show up occasionally in African and Middle Eastern conflict zones to this day.
Thanks to CZ for giving me the opportunity to take this example out to film and also to shoot for you!
vz.38 SMG Video: https://youtu.be/I6khco1-AjM
ZB47 Video: https://youtu.be/TYVSe6s8kGE
I would like to see a video of the handy stripper clip device in the stock. In fact, it would be an interesting video if you showed a variety of devices(M3 stock etc). Keep up the great work
Regarding CZ 347 magazine https://modernfirearms.net/en/submachine-guns/czech-republic-submachine-guns/cz-247-eng/ shows fire-arm complete with magazine (2nd image from top). It is banana magazine, which shape-wise looks similar to PPS. It also known that earlier sub-machine gun developed at Strakonice dubbed R https://www.vhu.cz/exhibit/cs-pokusny-samopal-r-cz-146/ was compliant with 35-round PPS magazine, so they certainly have access to magazine-well technology for this particular magazine. Therefore I deem probable than they decided to use said magazine.
Regarding charger-to-magazine gadget, similar can be found at pre-war S1-100 sub-machine gun, although in different place, see 4th image from top https://modernfirearms.net/en/submachine-guns/austria-submachine-guns/steyr-solothurn-mp-34-eng/
Inclusion of such device in CZ 247 raise question if it was mandated by MNO or added at own initiative of designer?
Does front mount point for sling rotate together with magazine well or does it stay? If 1st how does affect comfort of using sling in each magazine position?
This is not a CZ 247 submachine gun, but a CZ 47 developmental submachine gun.
When you thought you’ve seen it all !!
Ok, with suomi style of bolt face this is not impossible
“(…)seen it all(…)”
I counter that with https://www.kalashnikov.ru/neslozhivshijsya-tandem-pistolety-pulemyoty-zubkova/
Sweet Jesus, this is the most insane thing I’ve seen in, at least, a half a decade !
Excellent find.
Russia/ex USSR is a treasure trove for obscure gun designs
I feel that Ian is one of the very few people in the world to give an educated analysis on the handling of side mounted vs bottom mounted magazines. And it would be very interesting to hear how these two designs compare. I feel that a side mounted magazine has substantial advantages when shooting from trenches, or from a prone position?
You have to hand it to Czechoslovakian firearm designers: They definitely thought outside the box on magazine placement!
We’ve got top-feeding LMGs and prototype assault rifle designs–vz26 & ZB530 rifle prototype.
You’ve got bone stock bottom-mounted magazines, detachable, and fed via chargers/stripper-clips.
You’ve got a box magazine inside the weapon grip on SMGs, made famous by the Uzi MP2.
You’ve got a box magazine inlet into the underside of the weird and wonderful ZB47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYVSe6s8kGE
You have a 50-rd. captive belt inside a box on the URZ prototype universal small-arms system: heavy rifle, automatic rifle, LMG, mounted MG, and probably far from ideal in any of those roles, but still:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cImUtPiT3k
And you have the CZ247, which can be either a wood-stocked conventional SMG, or have the magazine load from the side like the Sten, MP28, and so on. Pretty nifty, and with a modern robust optic on the non-rotating portion of the receiver, it could even work today, I’d wager.
In addition to the Biafra War/ Nigerian Civil War mentioned by Ian, some quantity of these made their way to Bolivia in South America too.
“(…)like the Sten, MP28, and so on(…)”
Now, this looks like something useful to movie-makers. Also with literally ten thousands in storage, it is easier to provide it to user, which might be not master in fire-arm handling or accept applying visual alterations, than rare (=precious) MP28. Yet https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/CZ_247_submachine_gun lists only 2 films, where it was detected.
Interestingly in latter, named Buldoci a třešně https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Bulldogs_and_Cherries#Submachine_Guns it does have different furniture that presented here and ZB-47 was also used as prop.
“(…)box magazine inside the weapon grip on SMGs, made famous by the Uzi MP2.(…)”
This is not lateral thinking. Anybody who was aware that automatic pistol with magazine in grip exist, could conclude that this can be done also in sub-machine gun without superheavy thinking. Thus designs like (MCEM-2, Rukavishnikov 1942, Uzi) could be developed independently.
Ah, yes. As far back as WWI there were prototypes of Steyr-Hahn selbstladepistolen with 16-rd. magazines loaded with 2x 8 rd. chargers/ stripper-clips. The magazine was certainly in the pistol grip. This is true that the Rukavishnikov 1942 design–truly an extraordinary prototype in a number of ways–was quite early. Also, there was a pre-war Japanese SMG prototype, the so-called Nambu Type 1 in 8x22mm. Only postwar, with the Minebea PM-9 did the self-defense forces adopt a weapon with the magazine in the pistol-grip, albeit in very limited numbers.
There was the Armaguerra [“what’s in a name, eh?”] OG-42, which also had the magazine in the pistol grip.
Supposedly, some Uzis were used by the Israelis in 1956 already, and not just hand-me-down Stens or clones manufactured in one or another kibbutz metal shop. I’m not sure if there were that many images of them until the 1967 war. The Bundeswehr adopted the MP-2 in 1959. The Holecek samopal 23 and 25–particularly the latter– were all over the Cuban revolutionary state’s consolidation of power, the so-called “limpieza” of the counterrevolutionaries in the Escambray mountains, and in particular, the heavily propagandized and photographed Playa Girón/ Bay of Pigs campaign in April 1961. So I think the samopal sa 23/25 and the Uzi are when the magazine-in-the-pistol-grip-for-SMGs really gained widespread notoriety. Admittedly, the placement in so many self-loading pistols, and the conversion of such pistols into sort of mini-machine-pistols by various U.S. prohibition-era gangsters is also an “outlier” in popularizing the concept.