Notes: The CZ-2000 is a Czech assault designed to replace older Czech and Slovakian assault rifles in the wake of those two countries joining NATO and needing an assault rifle that matched the standard NATO assault rifle cartridge (5.56mm NATO). Attention was also paid to export sales, and versions of the CZ-2000 were also developed to fire the 5.45mm Kalashnikov cartridge. Though it appears to be just another cousin of the AK, the CZ-2000 is internally more similar to the VZ-58 and FNC than the AK. The 5.45mm Kalashnikov version did not prove to be popular, and no CZ-2000s were built in that caliber after 1999 except for special orders. Both versions of the rifle can use the 75-round drums used by the CZ-2000 squad automatic weapon (see Czech automatic rifles), and the 5.56mm NATO version can use M-16 magazines. The 5.45mm Kalashnikov version may use AK-74 magazines. The bipod from the CZ-2000 SAW may also be attached to the CZ-2000 rifle, and the CZ-2000 also readily accepts a variety of optical sights and laser sights. The CZ-2000 Short Assault Rifle is basically the same idea as the M-4 Carbine or AKS-74U, being a short-barreled model of the basic CZ-2000. While it appears almost certain that the CZ-2000 will eventually replace the VZ-58 as the Czech Republic’s standard assault rifle, the production of the CZ-2000 family has been snail-slow due to the economic problems that have beset most of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Twilight 2000 Notes: Czechoslovakian special forces operating deep behind NATO lines began using the CZ-2000 so that they could utilize captured enemy ammunition, and regular Czech forces began using the 5.45mm Kalashnikov version in limited numbers in 1997 to supplement their AK-74 rifles. Neither version is very common, but the 5.45mm Kalashnikov model was made in larger numbers.

Merc 2000 Notes: Without the Czech and Slovakian introduction into NATO, and the worsening economic climate, the impetus for the design of this weapon was greatly reduced. Any CZ-2000s found in action are rare indeed, and probably means your enemy’s sponsor has some money and an eye for novelties; beware of what he might also have issued his troops!

Notes: The VZ-52 managed to get developed in that short time between the end of World War 2 and the beginning of Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. The operation is adapted from the Nazi MKb42(W), and the trigger owes much to the M-1 Garand rifle. The bolt locking system seems to be one that works only on this rifle; other attempts to use the same system have been unsatisfactory. The magazine can be clip-loaded. The VZ-52 was not made in large numbers, but many that were built were later converted to fire the standard Soviet 7.62mm Kalashnikov cartridge, and these were called the VZ-52/57. Both versions have a permanently-attached side-folding sword bayonet.

Notes: Though externally, the VZ-58 appears to be just another AK-47/AKM clone, the VZ-58 is internally a very different weapon from the AK. Though it too is gas-operated, the operating system is very different, and apart from the magazines, almost no VZ-58 parts are interchangeable with AK parts. In addition, the VZ-58 is a more robust design than the AK-47, and at the time of its introduction, was about 10 years ahead of its AK-47 counterpart. (Unfortunately, it is also much more mechanically complex than the AK.) The earliest production examples of the VZ-58 used wooden stocks, pistol grips, and fore-ends, but these were quickly switched to stocks, pistol grips, and fore-ends made using a hard plastic shell filled with wood fiber, which lightened the VZ-58 considerably. There were three standard military versions of the VZ-58: the VZ-58P, with a fixed stock, the VZ-58V, with a folding tubular steel stock (with an ergonomic buttplate), and the VZ-58Pi, equipped with a long dovetail bracket on the left side of the receiver to allow the use of any Russian, Chinese, or former Warsaw Pact-type night vision scope. The VZ-58Pi is also equipped with a light bipod and a large conical flash suppressor (so that the shooter and his night vision scope are not blinded by the muzzle flash).

The VZ-58 was the standard Czech and Slovakian assault rifle for nearly a half a century, but was in 2000 starting to be replaced by the CZ-2000. (The replacement of the VZ-58 has been agonizingly slow however, and most Czech and Slovakian troops still use the VZ-58 as of 2006.) It is no longer being manufactured by Ceska Zbrojovka, but limited production is still being done by Caliber Prague. These newer versions of the VZ-58 generally are updated with synthetic furniture, sight mounts for use with equipment from all over the world, mounts under the fore-end for laser aiming modules or tactical lights, or even MIL-STD-1913 rails. In addition, several companies in Europe and the US are building or selling semiautomatic versions of the VZ-58. The VZ-58 can be found in nearly every corner of the globe, from Vietnam to Cuba, in addition to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.