ČZ vz. 27

27, an abbreviation of the Czech "vzor 27", or "Model 27". Pistols either captured or produced during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia were designated as the Pistole 27(t).

• Name — vz. 27 (CZ-27) • Origin — Czechoslovakia • Type — Semi-automatic pistol • Is Ranged — yes • Service — 1927−1960s • Used By — See users • Wars — World War II • Designer — František Myška • Manufacturer — * Česká zbrojovka • Böhmische Waffenfabrik (under German occupation) • Česká Zbrojovka Národni Podnik (Communist era) • Production Date — 1927−1951 • Number — 500,000+ • Weight — (empty) • Cartridge —.32 ACP • Action — Simple blowback • Velocity — 280 m/s • Feed — 9-round box magazine

During the early 1920s, Czechoslovakia adopted the Pistole vz. 22 chambered for the.380 ACP cartridge to replace the large variety of handguns inherited following the country independence from Austria-Hungary in 1918. While it was an adequate design, it used a locking system which serves no purpose on pistols chambered for low-power rounds such as the.380 ACP. The reason it was there was that the pistol was originally designed to fire 9×19mm Parabellum rounds, but after trials the Czechoslovak Army decided to adopt a pistol chambered for a smaller cartridge. It was easier to just change the chambering than redesign the pistol into a blowback. After being slightly modified into the Pistole vz. 24, it was completely redesigned into a simple blowback pistol as the Pistole vz. 27.

The pistol was issued to police and security guards under the designation vz. 27 (CZ 27 was the designation for pistols commercially sold). More than a half a million pistols were produced from 1927 to 1951. During World War II, the Česká Zbrojovka factory operated under the name Böhmische Waffenfabrik AG in Prag (Bohemian Weapon Factory Ltd. in Prague). Captured and German-made pistols were used by Heer under the designation Pistole 27(t). Following the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the company name was changed to Česká Zbrojovka Národni Podnik (Bohemian Arms Factory People's Enterprise). The vz. 27 remained in Czechoslovak service until the early 1960s, when it was replaced by the vz. 50 pistol. Several vz. 27s were exported to Vietnam and other countries. During the post-war period, West German intelligence made use of WWII-era silenced vz. 27s. In 1969, during the last stages of the North Yemen Civil War, Czechoslovakia offered to supply the Yemen Arab Republic with uniforms and obsolete small arms including vz. 27 pistols, but no deal materialized.

• Illustration — A vz. 27 fitted with a silencer • Czechoslovakia • Nazi Germany − Captured pistols designated as the Pistole 27(t) • West Germany − Used by spies • Egypt • Ba'athist Iraq − 254 pistols, from the stocks of the Czechoslovak People's Army • Saudi Arabia − 5,054 pistols, from the stocks of the Czechoslovak People's Army • Vietnam • South Yemen − 2,100 pistols, from the stocks of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Interior

• North Yemen