Last Gasp of the ZB26: Czech vz 52/57 LMG

[@Ackehece]

The feed system, the reciever, and the removable barrel and safety are actually really amazing.

[@Gameprojordan]

my main gripe with it is the charging handle/pistol grip, never liked that idea, seems really awkward to cock under stress and not in a prone position

[@richardkirka5977]

The machine work is gorgeous.

[@wierdalien1]

@@Gameprojordan well yeah

[@rannyczech]

czechnology again Ian? gosh you taught me more about guns from my homeland than any other museum. Thanks Mate!

[@Lidoott]

Then you didnt visit the right museums :) JK, nothing beats Gun Jesus!

[@hartman12349]

je fakt ze vic jich je ve svete nez u nas , byl to vynikajici vyvozni artikl v ty dobe , ale VHU ma skoro vsechny varianty ve svejch sbirkach .

[@rannyczech]

@@hartman12349 vhu je super. Čekám kdy bude hotová rekonstrukce a budu ho moct znovu navštívit. Naposled jsem v něm byl před mnoha lety a to jsem se o zbraně tolik nezajimal jako teď. :)

[@hartman12349]

@@rannyczech - no tak to si asi jeste pockame pri soucasnym stavu financovani , taky si rad udelam vylet a pokocham se spekama ktery jen tak nikde neuvidim .

[@Lidoott]

@@hartman12349 Já měl tu kliku vidět vz. 26 na střelnici, a dokonce jako automat. Eargasm

[@TheDeadfast]

For those wondering what the markings stand for: D = dávka = (unlimited) burst Z = zajištěno = made safe

[@snakeplisskenrecords]

"Chceš říct, soudruhu kapitáne..?!" "No, dvě dávky" :))

[@TotalRookie_LV]

Funny, in Russian "davka" (давка) means "a crush" or "a stampede", which in a way makes sense.

[@Kumimono]

As one might say, "moar davka!" Er, dakka.

[@thesloopjohnb]

This seems to be something that would be confusing with "Zastrelit" meaning "shoot."

[@66MetalDevil6]

@@thesloopjohnb Not really "Zastřelit" means to "shoot someone/something", "Za" is just prefix, if you remove it you get "Střelit" and that means "shoot"

[@five5105]

8:53 Yo dawg, we heard you like belts, so we made a *box* for belts that goes on your belt so you can have belts for your belt.

[@tjbarke6086]

Ah, the classics never go out of style.

[@johnathanmcnabb2028]

Haha I love it

[@luisgimenez8660]

100% more belt for belt.

[@nettles89]

Came here to say this.

[@iivin4233]

Can we have an unboxing of a box belt belt box?

[@Enthymene]

This whole design is just slick as hell. When people call programmers like myself "engineers" I think of stuff like this and laugh.

[@hughquigley5337]

don't sell yourself short, dude! You guys do some pretty incredible stuff, much like how traditional engineers do they same. Only difference is that the former is not restricted by using solely physical objects/material, whereas the latter does have that limitation.

[@lostinspace013]

I admire the Czechs for their military industry. A small country and yet they created so much really good weapons. Greetings from Poland.

[@scimatarpictures]

Definitely! Same for the Belgians you could say

[@CanalTremocos]

Funny how there isn't one German neighbor without an interesting weapons industry, even the small ones.

[@lostinspace013]

@@CanalTremocos Well .... Poland has never had the opportunity to develop its war industry. It was unbelievably difficult because we are surrounded on both sides by more powerful neighbors who always wanted to destroy us. So we have waged war almost constantly, and war is not conducive to the development of the economy, no - when it is fought on your territory :(

[@OslikusPrime]

@@CanalTremocos Well, I "wonder why" but German neighbours in general, had that feeling, that they better should "sharpen their knives" :)

[@saiien2]

@@CanalTremocos Well when you border with Germany you know that they are threat to you (or at least they were) so you know that you need an adequate equipment. You are a small country which can't compete with Germany's superior numbers so you need quality at least. This is why Czechs and Belgians make such good weapons.

[@Scrambled_Meat]

I just left a museum in Prague with a few brens and zb26s so imagine my happy surprise to see this get uploaded 20 min later

[@TheDeadfast]

You should return them - it's not very nice to steal from a museum!

[@aaronclair4489]

I'd be ok exiting through a gift shop like that.

[@Surv1ve_Thrive]

Did you leave with all the Brens or leave a few for us?

[@kubikkuratko188]

WTF?! PUT THEM BACK!!!

[@Pcm979]

I always have time for Czech engineering! Fingers crossed for a Vz. 58 video some time.

[@RaDeus87]

IIRC it's one of his rainy-day guns, so we probably won't see a vz58 video unless shit hits the fan. It's easy for him to make a video about it since he owns one, so he's keeping it in reserve.

[@weasle2904]

@@RaDeus87 When he finally runs out of guns lmao

[@bamboozlednoodle6513]

Jesper O well, I think shit has hit the fan by now

[@globalautobahn1132]

Just came over from a link on that video that gun Jesus dropped this morning 👍👍

[@derelictandtenderfoot1516]

Wish granted buddy. Looks like shit hit the fan enough to make it

[@reddevilparatrooper]

Damn! The Czech weapons designers were really crazy genius folks. No wonder I love their guns.

[@chrismc410]

Outside Izmash now called Kalashnikov Concern, the Czechs by far made the best arms of the Soviet bloc. Crenva Zastava, the other CZ of then-Yugoslavia, now Serbia is a close second. Their AKs, Tokarevs, CZ-99 series, captured and new production Mauser K98K are great. Valmet of Finland on their heels helping to make the Israeli Galil is also good. What was East Germany's Makarov PM were/are second to none. FEG of Hungary was good too. They were good enough for Walther Gmbh to be official subcontractors, most notable product, the PPK/E and a 8mm Mauser version of the PSL still out there. The CZ-52, CZ-75 and CZ-82/83 really put them.on the map. Nothing wrong the Polish state arsenal or Norinco. They most certainly function and dead accurate but take them apart and compare to the others above and you'll see the difference workmanship wise. Any of them will arm you and protect you and yours well and sometimes cheaper than the AR series.

[@manowartank8784]

the bolt-magazine piece is the most complicated-simple-thing i've seen on this channel nothing better than functional properly machined piece of steel i love these disassembly explanations

[@morelenmir]

The 'internal receiver' assembly must have been fiendishly hard to machine and put together, but they did it with style! Absolutely beautiful! The Czechs really do make some _excellent_ guns. I don't think they get enough recognition for that from the wider public.

[@ShootAUT]

And I wondered until 10:33 why the top dust cover had to be that massive. 😁 Beautiful piece. I just love Czech guns that present lots of machined steel. It always seems like you could see how smooth they feel.

[@Beeblzaphod]

Hello from Czech Republic. I have some experience shooting this gun when I was in the army (1986 - 1994). It was very precise and easy to operate gun. I had much better score firing this gun comparing to submachine gun Vz. 58. The only problem was taking care of the front bipod. It was foldable but if you forgot to fold it up before moving or running it was easy to loose it. I just remember one commanding officer screaming to my team mate half a day....

[@STHawkST]

"vz" = "Vzor" which means "Type/Pattern". So technically it is "Type 52/57 LMG". If someone didn´t know. :)

[@KIWI_DUDE.]

Kinda sounds like the English word "version"

[@horstboellinger6880]

The Czech got darn nice ideas in this time area! It's a slick system.

[@ristoalanko9281]

The Finnish KvKK62 was originally intended for magazine and belt use, several versions were tested, but the final prototypes were belt only.

[@criffermaclennan]

What a beautiful piece of engineering

[@Doppeldropper]

Finns, I think it was Aimo Lahti, actually designed push through steel belt during WW2 in -42/-43 for the Finnish MG-42 to be used with 7,62x53R/54R ammunition.

[@hanfpeter2822]

I think it actually was his Brother,dont know the Name sadly

[@SinaelDOverom]

Those controls on the handle have really neat arrangement IMO. Non-foldable carry handle is weird.

[@TheArchaos]

@ian miller I don't see a reason why a folding handle wouldn't work.

[@SangTheCryptek]

@@TheArchaos Could've been seen as "one more thing to break". If the handle doesn't need to fold out of the way, why not make it fixed and thus more sturdy?

[@TheArchaos]

@@SangTheCryptek With the sheer amount of mechanical complexity, I don't see a reason why a folding side would change much.

[@chrisebz6473]

Probably as simple as someone on the design team thinking a folding/rotating handle for the barrel wasn't necessary and that just welding it to the jacket would suffice.

[@Wetcorps]

Well the sights have to be offset anyway so why bother :)

[@Hegataro]

As a czechman, I always make time to watch one of your videos about our guns, Ian

[@Atzy]

The second position on the lid of the belt box is not really to seal it. When you fill a box you leave the "first" link and round sticking out of the gap and shut the lid over it so it's held in place. That way when loading you only need to grab the exposed link, pop the lid open to the first position and load, instead of opening the lid fully and fishing around to find the end of the belt

[@FayazAhmad-yl6spFZ]

Genius design,by a small nation but advance in science and technology.

[@TheArklyte]

The "intermediate" 7.62x45mm round has same velocity, bullet weight and muzzle energy as "rifle" 6.5x50mm Arisaka. Which just helps to complicate the "first ever assault rifle" debate as Fedorov used the latter.

[@steelyemry9612]

What an absolutely beautiful piece of history and art! love it!

[@pedrotheswift5937]

Someone loves that gun,, its in great condition...

[@PMGF]

I get a little excited when I see a beautifully engineered piece of machine work, that disassembly was so nice to watch.

[@randywatson8347]

After watching the videos, I started to love the toploading design. I really like the simplicity and functional design, simply genious. The solid chunks of parts is damn sexy.

[@ЛедовскихЕвгений-э6п]

Czechoslovakian weapon means quality! And mechanical beauty! Thanks to Ian! Really rare, really cool!

[@Tunkkis]

I was waiting for you to mention the KvKK, and you didn't disappoint. Very interesting video once again.

[@mtodd4723]

The Czechs do weapons well . Thanks for posting this video , Great job !

[@martinokenka9063]

Hi, Ian. Let me just note that the milled internal receiver is non-functionally recoiling against buffer in the stamped outer receiver (similarily -of course - to the Bren) and smoothing the shooting a bit. That is the main reason for this two-part receiver conception. This non-functional recoiling is a fascinating aspect of Václav Holek designs, BUT the vz. 52/57 actually is work of Jaroslav Myslík, who adopted the vz. 52 to 7,62*39 after Holeks death in 1954. The machineguns vz. 52/57 did not see much use similarily to the rifles. Just after the asault rifle vz. 58 replaced the rifle vz. 52/57 (in 1959), universal machinegun vz. 59 replaced the light machineguns vz. 52/57 (in 1963). Great as always, thanks!

[@ajr5086]

This is like the missing link for the ZB 26 family and the UK VZ 59. It has all the features of the 59, but still is very much in the 26 style. (gun) EVOLUTION CONFIRMED!!

[@starlingcz]

This is mixed feautures and design of ZB-26 (ZB-30J) and ZB-53.

[@brunoratto253]

Aww! It's like a baby Bren! XP Just kidding, it looks awesome. Wish you could take it to the range to see it in action.

[@chrismc410]

They helped develop the Bren in the first place

[@Delistd]

Another fascinating Czech machine that spits metal. The Czechs are fantastic engineers.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Very cool

[@Getpojke]

The Czechoslovakians make some beautiful guns and this is a beauty. Even for folks who don't like guns (weird folk) they've got to admire how that beauty in the video is but together; from an aesthetic and engineering point of view. I was lucky enough to have a go on the British BREN before we got rid of it, and what a joy it was to shoot. It was like poetry in cyclic motion. Just ran like a sewing machine. Thanks for the great video Ian, hope you get a chance to have a little range time with it, and of course I'm sure we'd all love to see a video of that.

[@albundy2696]

Goat Boy Bren is not Britisch, the Briten and Australiens have make it in Lizenz..

[@Getpojke]

@@albundy2696 British adaptation of a Czech light machine gun. Its name originated as an acronym from Brno, where the Czech gun was made, and Enfield; in the outer borough of London, England,, where the British adaptation was made. John Inglis and Company, Canada: A contract was signed with the British and Canadian governments in March 1938 to supply 5,000 BREN machine guns to Great Britain and 7,000 BREN machine guns to Canada. Both countries shared the capital costs of bringing in this new production facility. Production started in 1940, and by 1943 Inglis was producing 60% of the world output of BREN machine guns. Lithgow Small Arms Factory, in Australia was responsible for supplying the Australian army. But certainly most of the design work was by the Czechoslovak Brno arms factory and I admire greatly the work they did.

[@spacemanmoe5622]

Intricate mechanical work of art! Thank you Ian.

[@matejmatej3554]

You give us the best presentation of a gun when ever i have a question seconds later you provide the answer 😉😁 HOW DO YOU DO IT ??? Much love and respect form sLOVEnia stay awesome and thanks for your hard work

[@PorkusMaximii]

Very slick design. The machining is done quite well.

[@alimanski7941]

Can easily see the Negev's feed system lineage in this LMG, as you mentioned in the Negev video.

[@Teguvas]

That has some really great pieces of engineering incorperated in it

[@bfrazer4126]

What's amazing to me is someone designed that whole bolt/receiver assembly without a CAD program to see a 3D model before machining the parts... really cool.

[@ronaldjohnson1474]

Remember, this is a collection of previous ideas augmented by new ones. Still, I think the designers had many sleepless nights.

[@thelastjohnwayne]

Just when I thought I had seen every thing in firearms designs Ian shows me something else.

[@TitanV]

1:10 ...Gun Jesus in not impressed with 7.62x45... Anyway, this weapon is truly impressive. It seems to be over engineered, when in fact, it is so well thought through in every single aspect and detail that it's simply astonishing.

[@TJWDawg]

I loves me some Czechnology.

[@alphazombieelite]

"Both confusingly named the VZ52" *Laughs in M1*

[@stuka97]

Along with a bunch of other machine gun parts I got years ago ,was a complete bolt for A Vz52/57 took me awhile to identify what it was.

[@ozdavemcgee2079]

I had a VZ 52 and VZ 52/57 back in late 80s. I shot them and a SKS on a coastal rifle range. 7.62 x 39 could get knocked off target in high winds at 200m. So did the 7.62 x 45. That being said, there was a fair bit of ammo back then, and it was better in higher winds. I always thought it would have been a better choice if we really had to hhave 7.62. More than AK less than HK and FN, it would have been a pleasant calibre to use full auto

[@jimvandemoter6961]

Ian, another great video. I really like how you explain the workings of these guns. You make it easy to understand.

[@baronobeefdipyes5181]

Kinda awesome to see that while watching this you can tell that the VZ59 took some inspiration from this gun beyond the pistol grip charging handle. The lever for charging looks almost exactly the same, the bolt carriers look very similar, the tripod mounts look similar, and the way the barrel is removed is pretty similar as well.

[@McDylanNuggets]

You said I haven't shot this YET. then mentioned 1000+ rpm. Soooo I'm excited for tomorrow's shooting video!

[@Jesses001]

That safety latch not letting you insert a magazine when the barrel is not locked also ensures that the barrel can not walk out of lock when a magazine is inserted. Shooting from a magazine with the cover open as it must be could cause the barrel to be knocked out of lock during firing.

[@iLLeag7e]

I think I like seeing LMG's get fully disassembled more than any other firearm. It's always cool to see the precise engineering that goes into crafting all those little critical bits & watching how it all fits together like a puzzle. The parts are always chunks of metal, not sheet metal but tooled steel. I love this channel. Thanks Ian!

[@cptreech]

What a beautifully machined piece of kit.

[@wernesgruder1]

Biafra purchased some of these for use in the Nigerian Civil War of 1968. Czechoslovakia was one of the few countries who would sell to Biafra

[@c.j.1089]

This is mechanical engineer porn. This design is extremely impressive. The simplicity, multi-function design is something engineers aspire to achieve. My guess is this was designed by several talented engineers over a long development period.

[@samuelbean9928]

You gotta hand it to the Czechs,they can damn sure build a fine weapon,and some good milsurp clothing

[@matthayward7889]

I’ve been mildly obsessed about the vz52 ever since I read about it, years ago. A genuine treat to see it here on FW! Thanks Ian 👍

[@86abaile]

I like it. I like all the clever little design features on it.

[@java9090]

All I see is long hours of machining time. Gotta give it to the Czechs they know their way around a tool shop.

[@Sseltraeh89]

some of the machining on early 20th century military guns from Brno is ridiculous. This is mostly just design which sacrifices manufacturing cost for quality, but the ZB53/TK vz. 37's infantry barrel (the one with cooling ribs, unlike the smooth heavy one found on vehicle/fortification version or british BESA guns), that's just ridiculous level of machining porn.

[@junkersintutus4282]

Yeah, not anywhere as efficient as stampings but some pretty impressive design and machining.

[@junkersintutus4282]

I mean there obviously are some stamped parts, but there's a lot of fine machining.

[@deadflowers7017]

Yes, there's enough metal in this LMG for 20 glocks.

[@Hesric]

Gotta be honest this may be one of the cleanest disassemblies I have ever seen.

[@stalhandske9649]

I never knew KvKK was based on this Czech piece. It has somewhat ill reputation among Finnish reservists due to certain reliability issues and is often compared with disfavour to PKM (which FDF also employs.) An unfair comparison perhaps. The original it is copied of, however, seems like a very neat and functioning gun!

[@alexsis1778]

Feel like worst case scenario, that barrel would make a great baton!

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Ian .

[@alwaystinkering7710]

That's a really nice design. They were obsessive about keep dirt out. It's so simple to operate and take down but looks like it was a lot of work to machine.

[@Pyrochemik007]

Czech engineering focuses on effectivity. No unnecessary trinkets, no decorations.

[@DennyAJD]

Finaly! Thank you Ian 😃

[@RicTic66]

Superb Czech engineering, no wonder the BREN remained in service with the British Army for so long. When put up against the BAR it's no contest.

[@chrismc410]

Until FN finally made one with a detachable barrel for the BAR. Germany won the GPMG race with MG-42, still in use today as the MG-3 in 7.62 NATO.

[@ninaakari5181]

That disassembly reminds me on how kvkk disassembles

[@williamdong4589]

Thanks for the Czech engineering, ZB26 was the most popular machine gun in China in WWII.

[@yaboosnubs]

Czech magic

[@kenhelmers2603]

Pretty darn slick. Thanks Ian!

[@veineephoon1510]

A few VZ52 made it into Australia . Mines still 7.62x45 cal . Ammo is very hard to find . I imported 1000 rounds from the USA a few years ago.

[@XanderTuron]

Man, I can't wait to Czech out this fine piece of Czechnology!

[@asmodeus0454]

The 7.62mm Vz-52 and Vz-52/57 light machine-guns had a high cyclic rate of fire, 900 r.p.m. with box magazine and 1100 r.p.m. with non-disintegrating link belt, and they lay down a very high volume of fire.

[@Swindle1984]

North Korea is still issuing the Type 73 machine gun in 7.62x54r, which is another derivative for the ZB26/Bren design, able to switch between using PKM belts or proprietary 30-round magazines. And as the name implies, it was developed and adopted in the early 70's, so the Vz 52/57 isn't the last gasp of the ZB26 design.

[@Enthymene]

8:25 "So, it's hard to do a push-through belt with a rimmed cartridge, although the Czechs did pull that off..." I think you mean they pushed it through ^o^

[@nelson1tom]

Is it just me or do the Czech’s seem to design features for much stronger fingers?

[@Pyrochemik007]

Do not tell your girlfriend.

[@jerryjohnsonii4181]

Love me some Czech VZ Firearms

[@Landsharkitis]

I watch all your ads fully we love forgotten weapons

[@tafino]

The Bren is one of my all time wants, until learning of its Czech cousins !!!

[@chrishill3785]

But the bren is Czech anyway

[@thetrippedup9322]

Bren is the combined efforts of British and Czech gun smiths, so they're step brothers?

[@hanadrncova5712]

@@thetrippedup9322 Not really.. Bren is VZ 26 but in british lisence.. Vz 26 is father of Bren and Japanese Types

[@billsmith5166]

Thanks Ian, really interesting weapon.

[@edwalmsley1401]

I cant imagine the amount of machine hours that went into that removable breach assembly,a development to far I think

[@cracklingvoice]

It is a system that could, in theory, make caliber swaps very simple. Pull the 'inner receiver' out, drop in a different type, add a barrel of the correct size, and the rest just goes on. Hell, the changing handle for the barrel is the magazine cover for the 'inner receiver', so they would be shipped as a matched set anyway.

[@duncanmcgee13]

That insternal assembly is an absolute unit

[@ladam836]

The machining of that bolt assembly group is just.. Wow

[@jasonalmendra3823]

The Czechs make great guns & great uhh...visual arts.

[@1683clifton]

look at all those cuts,even if the thing was the jammaster 5000 id love to be an apprentice in that shop!

[@cosmicatrophy4648]

10:38 How did Ian know I was there?!

[@robbusheay4258]

love my VZ 58.........beautiful weapon

[@brucerobert227]

@4:50 I wonder how many troops released the pistol grip for charging when trying to release the safety?

[@DrataTheDrifter]

Negligent discharges happened sometimes with this pistol grip/charging handle thing (my state donated experience is with Uk vz. 59, which has the same weird grip/handle/release/safety thing)

[@Apfsds120]

When stationary , you can have handle in front position: grab the gun pull back handle, shoot. The same with UGL vz. 59. And you cannot mistake handle release with safety anyway. Totally different feeling on thumb.

[@Zbyhonj]

My dad told me a story about a People's Militias officer who was trialed for shooting and heavily wounding someone during drills, because he messed up the manual of arms while reloadind this gun. (From what I've heard, militia drills used to be a complete joke and that guy was apparently drunk out of his mind)

[@likydsplit8483]

Somewhere in file cabinet is the original schematic - with a hand written note from a Czech machinist that reads; “Are you freak’n kidding me?”

[@ph5832]

Thanks Ian .. always enjoy over a cup of coffee

[@codyweaver706]

The magazine feeding downward in a gravity-assisted direction should help it feed faster, which should make it more accommodating to the higher cyclic rate of firing without a belt in place.

[@kineticdeath]

for such an old gun that one looks really really great condition wise. But i am no where near the expertise level of Ian!

[@sumvs5992]

Finally! The true origin of "I like the look of the starting weapon, so I'll upgrade it all the way"

[@starlingcz]

Magazine is from LMG vz. 52 (7.62x45), For vz. 52/57 was not created magazine for 7.62x39 and was used only belt. There are some vz. 52 magazines for blank ammo which have dents for shorter blank 7.62x45 and many people thinks it's 7.62x39 magazine, but they have feed problems. Adoption for 7.62x39 was just for short period of time due to new UK vz. 59 and Ministry of defence chose to just adapt belt. Machine guns should be sold to other countries and so Foreign trade company (PZO) was commissioned to develop new 7.62c39 magazines, but it was canceled and sold only with new belts.

[@oldhoonta]

I hope you'll get your hands on Beretta 93R someday.

[@PosranaRegistrace]

Two of them... ;)

[@savinsebastian2025]

MASTERPIECE.

[@Agent00abe]

This was a quite interesting gun to have a look at.

[@hughquigley5337]

Ok so y'know how people in movies and stuff rack the slide of their shotgun to look tough or whatever? Imagine doing that, but with the grip of your machine gun. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

[@combatmaiden]

The countries behind the iron curtain were not soviet influenced, they were soviet controlled.