A good number of European journalists met in Cekia on 7-8-9 September, as a guest of the CZ to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the company founded in Uherský Brod in 1936. The recommended arrival was at Vienna and Vienna airports. here the very kind Hana Smilkovà, media liason manager of the company, accompanied the team of visitors, who came from different parts of Europe, to a bus made available by the House, to reach the Grand Hotel in the city of Uherské Hradištê. These not extensive cities are beautiful, but in which we can read a past made up of various components where the important buildings still built at the time of the Empire stand out: a beauty that still lasts thanks to commendable maintenance of more recent times. The setting of the visit was, as always, of full satisfaction with the right cadences, without hassles, always enjoying every moment to savor what was proposed. After the early evening in peace, we leave for the full day of Thursday divided into two groups that will alternate between morning and afternoon in the prepared activities: the visit to the production departments and, to follow, the illustration of the products.
On the second day, limited to the very early hours of the afternoon to reach the Vienna airport again in Friday traffic, we dedicate ourselves to field tests: transferred to the Bzenec shooting facility, set in an extensive pine forest that surrounds the wide spaces where the firing lines are obtained, you try a bit of everything, with everyone's preferences starting from .22 LR caliber rifles rather than .22 WMR, both with sliding rotating bolt and semi-automatic configuration, then moving on to the new ones varmint versions of the Mod. 557 chambered in the ubiquitous .308 Win. However, a large number of those present were dedicated to defense and military weapons so the numerous variants of the CZ pistol, with the competition ones in the front row, then the two automatic weapons with the Skorpion EVO submachine gun in 9 × 19 Para, not to mention of the BREN 805 in .223 NATO have monopolized the attention: someone conquered the weapon to be tested with a considerable number of magazines ready in the pockets and the impressions were more than positive for everyone. The combination of design, materials and execution carried out by CZ, together with still inviting prices, easily and fatally decree the success of this reality, a success that sees only one immediate commitment: the expansion of production to follow up on demand in consistent times. .
CZ - The history and motivations of the factory.
The story that unfolded in these lands after a rather long and relatively quiet period under the Hapsburg Empire takes different forms as soon as the end of the I GM collapses the so-called Central Empires including that of the double-headed eagle, that of more vast extension and including lands and people of different origins who suddenly find themselves in control of their own situation. The territories of Moravia and Wallachia return to being a sovereign state in the form of a republic and immediately feel the urgent need to start a production of weapons for their own army to face any expansionist aims of the Hungarian neighbors: the former imperial arsenals such as that of Brno are a first important pawn, but the time is ripe for something new and updated with respect to the technologies developed in the meantime. Thus the construction of the Uerský Brod plant started from scratch in 1936, about 1950 km from Brno, and as an offshoot of the other famous factory located in Strakonice. A brief overview of the dates and products shows the well-known political steps that took place at the conclusion of GM II and the company's independence until 1992 with the transition to a joint stock company in 75: in this long period, products such as the legendary CZ pistol stand out. 600, the ZKK 58 hunting carbine, the vz. 61, the automatic pistol vz. 9001 Skorpion that lead the factory to excel in the world and to be one of the most successful national companies for the volume of product and the consequent export figure. Together the company becomes a strategic component for the nation's military and security forces. The operational scope covers a wide range of products: civilians with hunting and sport shooting sectors, still civilian for the police forces, and then military with specific address to special forces and the various branches of the army. The production capacity with high technology and precision of execution is made available to the automotive and aerospace industry, a difficult sector in which CZ obtains relevant certificates of merit together with the ISO 2008 certification to which NATO is added in 1997. Since 2014, CZ opens the branch in the United States of America, shortly after taking over the prestigious Dan Wesson brand while still in Czechia the company incorporates the Zbrojovka Brno sro brand, direct successor of the famous Brno weapons production, focused on rifled rifles, but in particular on swing-action shotguns with both smooth and mixed barrels for sporting and hunting purposes. In 2006, a new production and assembly plant called CZ-Slovensko was launched. The company management (CEO) has been entrusted since XNUMX to Eng. Lubomír Kovarík (MBA).
CZ currently employs over 1.800 people and in the last few years has radically modernized its facilities to produce more and better by expanding the offer in civil and military sectors with, for example, the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 A1 submachine gun, the assault rifle BREN 805, the P-07 and P-09 pistols, the small-caliber CZ 455 modular rimfire rifle, the very recent Mod. 557 centerfire rifle, the Brno Combo mixed smooth / rifled rifle and many other examples. In 2015 the company produced and sold 250.000 weapons and over 80% of this entity is exported through its agencies present in more than 100 countries around the world. The turnover figure for the year 2015 equal to 3.41 billion CZK (Ceka Crown) represents the current peak reached by the House. Little to add except that the State is very present to favor the company as much as possible even with considerable support in negotiations abroad.