03 Czechoslovak Selfloading Rifle ZH 29 Model Calibre 7,92 mm Mauser

Fotogalerie

After two years of working in Ceska zbrojovka in Strakonice, the youngest of the three brothers, Emanuel Holek (1899–1982), followed his eldest brother Vaclav to Ceskoslovenska zbrojovka in Brno. From 1927, he continued the development of a self-loading rifle, culminating in the model known as the ZH 29 (Zbrojovka, Holek, year of creation 1929). The original design was characterised by a sloping barrel due to the horizontal locking of the breech.

With the rifle, Emanuel Holek took part in the testing of self-loading rifles for the United States Army in Aberdeen, USA. Although the tests in the United States did not produce a clear winner, they did help the reputation of the Czechoslovak arms design.

The Ministry of National Defence tested the ZH 29 rifles in 1932, and between 1935 and 1937, but without considering introducing them into the armaments. The arms factory had better luck with their export: 435 units were delivered to China between 1930 and 1933, the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior bought 50 rifles in June 1931 and the factory sold 100 ZH 32 rifles to Abyssinia in 1935.