Weapons and firms. At one time, the Soviet tanker V. P. Chibisov in his book of memoirs "English tanks at the Cool Log" (Novosibirsk, 1996) highly appreciated the English machine gun "Bren", and even spoke of it as a "gentleman machine gun" … However, not only him. In India, he was in the service even at the beginning of the 21st century, and everywhere he showed himself in the best possible way. But this is, in fact, a Czech development, only in a certain way adapted to the technology of British production and wartime. On the same North Korean and Chinese battle canvases, ZB-26 machine guns are now and then found. And it is not surprising, because they were supplied to 24 countries of the world and also not by chance. And its very name "Bren" ("Brno-Enfield") only emphasizes what was the first and what was the second. So the Czech weapons school has a long tradition and supplies very advanced models of small arms to the modern arms market.
Even in Soviet times, Czechoslovakia was the only country in the Warsaw Pact that was allowed to have its own model of an assault rifle, rather than a universal Kalashnikov assault rifle. And since the quality standards for all of his armies were the same, this can only mean one thing: the Czech analogue was practically not inferior to our machine gun, and if in some way it was inferior, it was very insignificant.
One of the last such samples, which the Czech army itself received in 2011, was a new automatic rifle, which received the indicative name CZ 805 Bren A1 / A2, chambered for caliber 5, 56 × 45 mm. The weapon is produced in two main modifications A1 and A2. The first is a rifle, the second is a carbine, that is, the same weapon, but with a shorter barrel, for soldiers participating in special operations and paratroopers.
By and large, the CZ BREN is a whole family of infantry small arms, consisting of such models as the CZ 805 BREN, CZ 807 and CZ BREN 2, which were developed and released by the company Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod (Česká Zbrojovka Uherski Brod). The first samples for replacement in the Czech army Sa vz. 58 were introduced back in 2006, and later the CZ 805 BREN was adopted. Today this system is used by both the Czech military and the Indonesian special forces and even … the Mexican police. In 2014, the now Slovak army replaced its old vz. 58 on CZ 805 BREN. The CZ BREN 2 modification went to the Czech army in November 2016, and in 2017 68 BREN 2 rifles chambered for 7, 62 × 39 mm were received by the French GIGN, maybe in the future the order will be increased, since most of the Heckler & Koch HK416 arsenal is planned to replace it with CZ BREN 2 in 7, 62 × 39 mm version. They were also received by the Egyptian Airborne Forces and the Republican Guard, respectively, in 2017 and 2018.
The rifle uses light alloys, steel and plastic. The design is modular, the most modern. It has a gas (short-stroke piston) gas automatics with a rotating breech and a forged chrome-plated barrel, which is produced by the Ceska Zbrojovka enterprise by the cold forging method. The modular design is very popular today, and above all because it allows users to easily change the caliber of weapons and use intermediate cartridges of 5, 56x45 mm, and 7, 62x39 mm by quickly changing the barrel along with gas pipes, a bolt, a magazine receiver and the magazine itself. The gas regulator allows precise adjustment. The trigger consists of a separate removable unit, the main components of which are a trigger with an interrupter and a four-position fire mode switch. The stock, unlike the popular M16 rifle, can be folded by turning to the right and at the same time it is telescopically adjustable.
The weapon is equipped with a Picattini rail that runs along the entire receiver. But the edge of the upper bar also has a lower one and two on both side surfaces, which allows you to install a variety of accessories on the rifle, including optical sighting devices (collimator-type sights, sniper and thermal imaging sights), measuring, marking and lighting equipment. Since the plates are metal that meet the NATO MIL STD 1913 standard, the lower one also provides the ability to install an under-barrel grenade launcher. A flame arrester, a practice shooting tip and a silencer can be mounted on the muzzle of the barrel as standard.
The service life of the barrel is designed for 20,000 shots, the technical service life of the rifle as a whole is at least 20 years. The bounce rate is 0.2%, excluding ammunition failures. The weapon meets the requirements for reliable operation in difficult conditions (dust, dirt, high and low temperatures) according to NATO requirements. The surfaces of this type of weapon provide minimal reflectivity of light sources and are resistant to abrasion, corrosion, fresh and salt water, corrosive substances and products resulting from shooting, and the use of preservatives approved for use in the Czech Armed Forces. The rifle has no sharp edges and corners (they are all smoothed out), as well as protrusions, except for the Picattini strips. An additional handle can be attached under the barrel, which does not affect the balance of the weapon. The bolt handle can be installed both on the right and on the left, which increases the convenience of handling the weapon. True, there is only one hole for ejection of liners and is located on the right.
Basic disassembly and assembly of the rifle for routine maintenance can be done without any tools. Maintenance supplies including: brass brush, oiler, allen wrench, shooting practice tip and cable cleaning rod are included in the textile bag.
Due to the fact that the magazines for the rifle are made of transparent plastic, it is easy for the shooter to control the ammunition consumption. Moreover, the set of the rifle includes special plastic clips for connecting magazines in a package, which is a modern trend of additional equipment for stores to the "shooter". The kit for the rifle includes eight 30-round magazines, that is, wearable ammunition is 240 rounds.
The effective range of the CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifle is 500 m. The CZ 805 BREN A2 carbine differs from it only in a shorter barrel, a range of 400 m and less weight.
The history of the development of a new model of an assault rifle goes back to 1977, when the Research and Development Center of the Brnonensky Machine-Building Plant adopted a program to create a new rifle called Lada S. In 1984, requirements were approved for it, including the need to use reduced cartridge 5, 45 × 39 mm, and the presence of three barrels of different lengths: a barrel length of 382 mm, 185 mm and a barrel of 577 mm, which turned the rifle into a light machine gun. The similarities to the AK-74 were obvious, with the exception of a number of differences in design, scopes, and fuse. At the end of 1985, the new machine went for testing, after which in November 1989 its mass production was to begin. But then the Velvet Revolution began and everyone was not up to new machines. The country itself was divided on January 1, 1993 into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, thus ending the 74-year history of Czechoslovakia. Well, the company Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod, which developed its project, was privatized, and again took up other business.
But at the end of the 1990s, the Lada project was resumed, since the Czech Republic became a full member of NATO and it wanted to have its own weapons under NATO cartridges. The rifle was "converted" for standard NATO ammunition 5.56 × 45 mm. Then Lada was offered for export under the name CZ 2000. The project itself received the designation "805". Two types of assault rifles were developed: model "A" for intermediate cartridges, including NATO 5, 56 × 45 mm, 7, 62 × 39 mm and 6, 8 mm Remington SPC; and Model B chambered for 7, 62 × 51 mm NATO and even.300 Winchester Magnum.
They all had three barrels of different lengths to use the new weapon as an assault rifle, a melee carbine and a sniper rifle. All of them were actively promoted at international exhibitions, but the Czech army only in November 2009 finally decided to announce a tender for a new automatic rifle. 27 looks were presented for it, but in the end only two remained: CZ 805 and FN SCAR-L. The CZ 805 won because it was a domestic development, and the results of the tender were announced on February 1, 2010. FN Herstal did not dispute this decision, and CZ 805 finally entered the army on March 18, 2010. The order consisted of 6,687 CZ 805 BREN A1 assault rifles; then 1250 CZ 805 BREN A2 carbines; and, finally, 397 CZ 805 G1 grenade launchers for a 40x46 mm grenade. Moreover, they could be produced both in the under-barrel version, for mounting on a rifle, and as an individual infantryman's weapon with a butt. All rifles were equipped with Meopta ZD-Dot red dot scopes. For the special forces, 1386 improved sets were also ordered, consisting of a 3x Meopta DV-Mag3 sight, a NV-3Mag 3x night sight and a DBAL-A2 laser designator.
In May 2010, the army asked for design changes before the rifle could be put into service. It was necessary to change the butt, pistol grip, and on the bolt the number of locking protrusions was reduced from seven to six. The first delivery of the CZ 805 took place on July 19, 2011 in the amount of 505 rifles and 20 grenade launchers. The order should have been completed in full in 2013.
In October 2015, the company announced that it was ready to provide the army with a lighter model of its CZ 805 BREN rifle called the CZ BREN 2 (unofficial name CZ 806 BREN 2), which has improved ergonomics and a number of design changes that increase operational characteristics. … In particular, the weight was reduced by 0.5 kg, and a number of other changes were made. In January 2016, the Czech army confirmed that the contract with CZUB for BREN 2 was signed at a price of 2600 CZK for a rifle and 800 CZK for an underbarrel grenade launcher.
The new rifle has a magazine receiver, which is a block that can be easily replaced with blocks for NATO STANAG magazines or a magazine from the HK G36 5, 56 × 45 mm rifle. It became possible to install NATO-100 Beta C-Mag 100-cartridge magazines on it.
Today this Czech rifle exists in the following designs:
The CZ 805 BREN A1 is the standard configuration of an assault rifle chambered for NATO 5, 56 × 45 mm with a barrel length of 360 mm.
The CZ 805 BREN A2 is a 5.56x45mm NATO rifle configuration with a 277mm barrel.
The CZ 805 BREN S1 is a semi-automatic version of the A1 model designed for the civilian market.
The CZ BREN 2 is an assault rifle inspired by the experience of Special Forces soldiers who require a highly functional weapon.
CZ BREN 2 is a modular multi-caliber rifle, caliber 5, 56 × 45 mm and caliber 7, 62 × 39 mm. The CZ BREN 2 BR uses NATO ammo 7, 62x51. The caliber of the CZ BREN 2 can be quickly changed by changing the barrel and inserting a compatible 5, 56x45 mm magazine insert. Barrel lengths range from 207 mm, 280 mm and up to 357 mm. The firing mode selector is completely ambivalent, as are the other controls for this rifle. It has a simplified trigger system with three positions: "safe", "semi-automatic" and "fully automatic". The “2-shot cutoff” firing mode, which was on the CZ 805 BREN, has been canceled.
The CZ 807 is a modular assault rifle chambered for 7, 62 × 39 mm, which can be easily re-mounted to 5, 56 × 45 mm by changing the barrel and corresponding combat modules.
CZ BREN 2 The intervention groups of the French National Gendarmerie, abbreviated as GIGN (French: Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), an elite anti-terrorist unit of the French Gendarmerie. Caliber 7, 62x39 mm.
