[ Czech Sa vz. 26 ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning into another video episode on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian, today I am taking a look at an Sa 26 Czech submachine gun.
These are an interesting design from a historical perspective,
they were the basis for a number of much more recognisable designs that would come later.
And they have a lot of neat little quirks to them, mechanical features, that are very clever.
So from that perspective I really like the gun, it's pretty cool.
On the other hand, from a shooting perspective I found it frankly uncomfortable and not that great.
I don't like the grip, I don't like the stock, I don't like the sights.
It's just kind of "ehh" as a submachine gun.
Didn't make it onto my list of guns that I would really love to have.
But it's still kind of cool for having all these little mechanical bits to it
which we'll ... talk about in a minute.
Now to start off with, I want to address a couple of technical nomenclature issues.
There are four versions of this gun, the Sa 23, 24, 25 and 26.
The 23 and 25 came first - those names were given to them later, they're not chronological.
The 23 and 25 were developed in 1948 and they were in 9mm Parabellum.
Czechoslovakia used that cartridge at that time, and that's the gun they developed.
You can tell the 9mm guns because they actually have a magazine well
that is perpendicular to the tube and the barrel.
This gun is angled forward, we'll get to that one in just a moment.
In 9mm these use 24 and 40 round magazines.
And 9mm is a fine submachine gun cartridge.
The gun weighs 6.8 pounds, it's a little heavier
than you would expect for something as compact as it is.
And it has a surprisingly long barrel, about 11.25 inches on the barrel.
Now ... a couple of years after the first couple of versions of this gun
the Soviet Bloc picked up more influence in Czechoslovakia, and they were convinced to
... redesign the guns to use the 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge.
That came in '51 or '52, those two models were the Models 24 and 26.
So 23 and 25 are 9, 24 and 26 are Tokarev.
You can tell the Tokarev guns because the magazine well is angled slightly forward.
And then the 23 and 24 had fixed wooden buttstocks,
which frankly would be a really good option on this gun.
The 25 and 26 had these metal folding stocks. So that's what all the nomenclature means.
And by the way, the Tokarev guns use 32 round magazines.
So 24 and 40 [rounds] in 9, 32 in 7.62.
So moving on to some of the cool features, I think I should probably bring the camera back here.
We'll take a look at the neat stuff, and how also you disassemble the gun.
Alright, why don't we start with the stock?
When the stock is folded like this, you actually can use
the ... shoulder support portion, as a vertical front grip to the gun.
I will tell you, it feels very strange shooting done like this
with your fingers all of about an inch from the muzzle.
Not confidence inspiring.
It's safe, but man, it makes you feel kind of awkward.
Now in order to unfold the stock, you have to do a couple of different things.
First we have to push the button here,
and disconnect the buttstock from this little tab that locks it in place.
Then we can fold the stock open.
Now to close it you actually pull the stock backwards, it's spring loaded.
Once you pull it back, then you can fold the stock over.
Then you again push the button, tilt it forward
until it is locked on that little tab, and then you're back in business.
So a little bit clumsy, but something you get used to pretty quickly.
Alright, here is one of the really cool nifty little clever features of the gun.
This is on the right side of the front grip.
We have this contoured section, and what this is designed for
is you put a stripper clip of cartridges here, facing bullets up.
And then you put your magazine right there,
and you simply ram the magazine down the length of the stripper clip,
and [load] all of the cartridges on it.
It's got a little guide right here
that matches this rib on the back of the magazine, and also the stripper clip itself.
So ... there are two levels here, the stripper clip sits up top,
the magazine rides in the very bottom.
And that gives you a quick and easy way to reload magazines, pretty cool.
Now, the next interesting little feature that I noticed,
the safety on this gun is extremely simple.
It is just this little pivoting tab.
And on this side
you can see it has a little more metal.
And when I push it that way, that bit of metal sits right behind the trigger
and prevents me from pushing the trigger back.
When I have it on fire there's nothing in the way, and the trigger can go all the way back.
That safety is actually copied directly from the German VG-1 last-ditch bolt-action rifle.
It's a very simple sort of safety to make, cheap, easy, why not?
Another kind of clever element to the design, it has a very long bolt
(which we'll get to in a moment when we disassemble it),
and the ejection port is only in the middle section of the bolt.
So when you're firing you've got a fired round that is extracting, extracting,
ejects here while you have the ejection port visible.
... Let's say you release the trigger at that point.
When the gun is cocked and ready to fire, there's no open ejection port.
Which means the gun is, not impervious, but it's a lot cleaner.
You don't have to worry about dirt getting into the gun when it's cocked and ready to fire,
which you do in many sub gun designs.
So there is an ejection port only in the very middle of the bolt.
Whether it's forward and empty, or back and cocked, the receiver is sealed up and clean.
The sights on this gun are terrible.
We have this four position rotating notch
marked 100, 200, 300 and 400 metres, that is frankly a joke.
We have this massive front post.
You're not making precision shots with this thing,
especially with the folding stock, it's just kind of terrible.
So, why don't we move on to disassembly?
It's a very simple gun to disassemble.
We're going to start by pushing the button here, and rotating this just like 30 degrees.
There's an interrupted thread on the back of the receiver tube.
The receiver cap comes off.
Now we have a plug in the back, that is the bolt and the spring assembly.
Now you'll notice the bolt handle disappears,
it is actually spring loaded, retracts into the bolt.
And the bolt on this gun is a bit unusual.
The bolt face is all the way back here,
and the rest of the bolt telescopes forward over the barrel.
So when you're in firing position,
the full forward travel of the bolt is right here.
And then the bolt reciprocates this far.
It has a lot of mass, and ... the CZ 23-26, the whole series here,
these were the first submachine guns in major mass production
to employ this sort of telescoping bolt concept.
And the idea is on something like say a Sten or an MP40,
you need this much mass to work as an open-bolt blowback gun.
You'd have the breech face at the front, and then you'd have all this mass behind the breech face.
Which meant you needed a lot of receiver back here
to give you space for all that mass to go backwards.
What the Czechs realised is that you could actually utilise this area
around the outside of the barrel up front,
put all of your mass up here, and have a much shorter receiver.
So that was very clever, this was the direct inspiration for the Israeli Uzi,
which of course really made that a standard concept in submachine guns.
Now we have our recoil spring here on the side.
Can pull that out, but there's no real need to.
The other clever thing that the bolt does is we have two slots in it here.
And in order to remove the barrel
we have a barrel nut right here.
Now this thing is too tight for me to unscrew by hand,
so what you do is use the bolt right there.
The bolt locks onto those two lugs.
And I can break it free using the bolt as a wrench or a screwdriver.
So there's our retaining nut for the barrel.
This is our sling swivel, and this little knob is to hold the stock in the folded position.
And then the barrel comes out.
So really quite a remarkably long barrel.
When this is actually in the gun ...
that is the setup.
Now this particular gun is a post sample.
The receiver was not particularly well made.
The way this is supposed to work is that the charging handle
catches on a little ramp in the receiver right here, and automatically pops up into place.
However, on this particular gun the ramp is not well cut,
and I kind of have to give it a little bit of a helping hand with a punch.
So that is how that's supposed to work.
Then pull the trigger to allow the bolt forward,
line up the recoil spring.
Now everything is in place and I can put my cap on the back.
You will notice that the recoil spring is captive,
and so it doesn't try to launch itself out of the gun when you take the rear cap off.
That goes on, rotates I think it's like 30 degrees, snaps in place.
And the gun is all ready to use again.
So, like I said, a lot of clever mechanical features.
Unfortunately they're all kind of on the periphery: easy disassembly is cool,
the loading is cool, some of these little features are cool.
But ... all put together, they don't really make it
all that pleasant or effective of a submachine gun, in my opinion.
Alright, enough disassembly, why don't we go out on the range and put a few rounds through this?
I should point out this has a double-stack double-feed magazine,
which means they're fairly easy to load.
It makes it a little bit more complex of a gun to design,
because it has to be able to pick up cartridges from either side of the magazine.
But well worth it, and most sub gun designers ... take that option.
Now this has a progressive trigger in it,
which is an interesting option that's been adopted by a minority of full-auto designers.
The idea is if you pull the trigger a short distance back it fires a single shot,
if you pull the trigger all the way back it fires a burst.
It's a really controllable gun.
It's heavier than you would expect, and that makes frankly for very easy controllability
with a little pistol calibre cartridge like we have here.
The lack of a separate fire control switch is also a nice feature,
you don't have an extra control to deal with trying to remember which way is semi, which way is full.
It's just pull the trigger. If you need to shoot a little, pull the trigger a little.
If you need to shoot a lot, pull the trigger a lot.
The magazine release is conveniently located on the back of the grip.
There we go.
Open-bolt, it's ... mechanically a very simple gun.
This really is a very easy gun to control.
Alright, ... so I always feel stupid even demonstrating shooting like this.
I have the stock folded forward.
Because the butt plate, or what passes for a butt plate on this gun,
folds down like this, it's usable as a vertical front grip.
Now in theory you can shoot it kind of with the back end of the tube tucked into your chest.
You could shoot it out like this.
I don't think there's any real good solution, so I'm just going to go with this one.
I'll tell you what, it's kind of a weird sensation to have your hand
an inch away from the muzzle like that.
It's a good thing this isn't a KSG, or I'd be really worried.
Well, thanks for watching guys, I hope you enjoyed the video.
I hope you learned something about a ... gun that has more history
and more interesting stuff to it than you might have realised.
Of course if you did, make sure to subscribe, tell your friends,
and tune back into Forgotten Weapons for more interesting submachine guns.
Thanks for watching.