ČZ vz. 38

The vz. 38 is a Czechoslovak blowback pistol chambered for the .380 ACP cartridge, also known as the 9x17mm Browning Short. It was designed by František Myška, chief designer at Česká zbrojovka, as a cheaper and simpler replacement for the vz. 24, which had been criticised in 1936 for sensitivity to dirt, extraction problems and small parts that were easily lost when it was taken apart. Myška dropped the rotating barrel lock in favour of simple blowback and added a self-cocking, double-action-only trigger, so that pulling the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. The design was approved for service on 30 April 1938, and an order for 41,000 pistols followed in June, yet none reached the Czechoslovak Army before the German occupation of early 1939. The Germans took over the stock, called the pistol the Pistole 39(t), and issued it mostly to police and second line units. Finland also bought 1,700 from Germany in 1940, and Yugoslav Partisans used captured examples.