Our Own Way: Vz 61

It’s been a while, but I’m back with my series on Czech guns. This week, we are covering one of the most famous:

The Vz 61

What makes this gun interesting is that it is one of the few genuine purpose-built machine pistols. Many machine pistols throughout the world began life as semi-autos and were later changed to be automatic (example: Beretta 93R) or were scaled down machine guns (micro Uzi). The Vz 61, known more commonly as the Skorpion, stands out not because of its mechanics, but because of its compact and functional design.

Purpose and Design Philosophy

This gun was made to arms soldiers in tight spaces. For armored vehicle crews, paratroopers, and covert operations, large power in a small package is well received. To accomplish this aim, a few novel solutions were implemented.

1: Like the CZ 25 and Uzi, this gun uses a telescoping bolt that envelops the barrel inside the receiver. This reduces overall length as seen in the below diagram. Blue is the barrel and green is the bolt.

2: This has a folding metal stock whereas other machine pistols opt for a hybrid holster/stock that attaches like the Schnellfeuer’s (below). This is a bulky and fragile attachment and having a over-folding stock that clips into the front sight wings provided a better option.

Vs

3: This uses the 32 ACP cartridge (known as 7.65mm Browning in Europe). This is a small, self defense cartridge and not commonly seen in military weapons post 1920. It however provides some meaningful benefits. It is compact and decently well suited for the machine pistol concept because of its low chamber pressure. It is also semi rimmed which means that the magazine needs to curve which decreases the overall magazine length.

4: The rate reduction device is a completely unique solution to what would otherwise be an unmanageable fire rate. This is accomplished with a small latch that catches the bolt after ever shot. The latch is hooked to a counter-weighted rod inside the grip which releases the bolt after its travel cycle. This redistributes weight counter to the recoil and cuts the rate of fire from ~1000 rounds per minute for ~850. This makes the automatic fire more gentle on the shooter and it is easier to keep the gun on target during prolonged fire.
For more information on the mechanics, check out the video Ian from Forgotten Weapons did:

Military History

This gun was adopted by many warsaw states and was used by the KGB where the Stechkin proved too large for the job. This was also adopted by a few middle eastern and north african states. Though retired in the Czech Republic, it still sees use in Pakistan, North Korea, Georgia, and Indonesia. Around 200,000 were produced in its lifetime.

Criminal History

The story of this gun is far from untainted. The concealable machine gun platform is the friend of the terrorist worldwide. These organizations range from the IRA, INLA in Ireland, the Red Brigade (an Italian Marxist group), and the Gang de Roubaix in the 90’s. In 2017, around 50 illegally reactivated Skorpions from the Serbian commercial market were allegedly recovered by Swedish police.

Thank you for your time and I hope you learned something new about the Skorpion machine pistol.

all photos used from wikimedia under CC-BY license

--@roofcore