I spent several days filming some fantastic Czech small arms with the VHU – the Czech Military History Institute. The Army Museum Žižkov is a part of the Institute, and they have a 3-story museum full of cool exhibits open to the public in Prague.If you have a chance to visit, it’s definitely worth the time! You can find all of their details (including their aviation and armor museums) here:
Prototype
PDW on Steroids: the vz68 and the Skorpion 9×19
The original Scorpion was adopted in .32 ACP caliber as the vz.61 by the Czechoslovakian military – but development of the Scorpion did not end there. Prototypes were also developed in .380, 9×18 Makarov, and […]
Prototype
Skorpion 9×19 at the Range
https://www.instagram.com/czguns/ https://www.facebook.com/CZfirearms Yesterday we looked at the development of the Skorpion PDW/SMG in 9x19mm Parabellum both in the 1960s and then when it was revisited in the 1990s at CZ. Today I have the chance […]
Prototype
Ladislav Findorak’s Prototype Lever-Delayed PDW
This really neat compact PDW prototype was developed by Ladislav Findorak in the 1990s for a Czech military program, although nothing was adopted as a result. The lever-delayed system allows it to have a much […]
Dior you see anyone without children? Apparently that would indicate a collapse of western civilization….
I noticed a Winchester 1895 in one of the displays and you never even mentioned it
There are also gazillions other – and MUCH more interesting guns, that were ommitted as well. Go there and see them all for yourself. And DO NOT run, like Ian did. I took seven hours to see all of the display and still got rushed off by the ladies who were already closing the museum 🙂
Prague museum was always one of the better such institutions in Europe, and only gained with the refurbishment. The only pinch of salt is the overabundance of TV displays, reflecting all over the cabinet windows. Plus it is really DARK in there. I can understand UV protection of the 15th Century flag or an ornamentally painted shield, but dark treatment to the display of the 1950s experimental guns is a waste of fine exhibit – and these 1950s models are simply KNOCKOUT! But you can’t see them anyway…
Boy oh boy… I just gotta get over to Praha someday… I figure I’ll elbow my way in past the German tourists to the “U Kalicka” and vibe with Jaroslav Hasek and the Good Soldier Svejk, hit the castle and the bridges, and then spend two weeks or so drinking excellent and reasonably priced beer and visiting a gallery or two at a time of this here museum! Gobsmacked just by the SMGs in the teaser!
…and you know what? In 1938/1939 our (= Czechoslovak + Polish) armed forces taken together would match the Wehrmacht. What’s more, they were complementary – the Czechs had industry, tanks & artillery, the Poles had hell a lot of well-trained infantry and cavalry. As for reluctant Slovaks and even more reluctant Sudeten Germans, we would had sort them out. Well; none of us had decent aviation, but let’s forget about it for the sake of the Dream Story.
However, both our countries were at that time run by idiots who were unwilling and – probably – uncapable of going out of their respective narrow-minded nationalistic boxes, constructed in the wake of the WW1.
And then, what happened – happened. A few years later – much too late – there was even a federation project. Personally, as a Czechofile, I would not mind it.
Will we repeat the same errors again? Hopefully, not.
Your error was not supporting the Rich against the Reds
“(…)the Rich(…)”
Who is said entity?
It remind me of the weapon gallery of “Le grand Curtius” museum in Liege Belgium, near Herstal.
I live near there and they have cool stuffs you’d love 🙂
https://www.grandcurtius.be/en/museums-collections/weapons