doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Brno SXS

Have a fellow that has an older (60's--70's) Brno SXS in 16 gauge that I am interested in. It has 27.5" barrels choked modified and improved, double triggers and extractors. It is a small frame, very nice handling gun. I understand that these guns have chopper lump barrels, hidden third fastener and are true sidelocks. The gun in question is in excellent + condition. Anyone have any experience with these guns and what is a reasonable price nowadays for these Brno's?

Aren't these the same as CZ shotguns today?

I have sold some of these in the past, a decent gun, ok quality. I have not been inside the CZ guns to compare


John Boyd
Quality Arms

They had coil springs, instead of flat. I remember checking one out and it seemed to be a decent workman-like gun for the money.
Plain with blued receiver. fit me and handled well.

I was smitten by the H&H and other English guns next to it in the safe or would have bought it.

I've had a couple of them. They're not the same as the current CZ offerings. The non-ejector model is the ZP-47 and the ejector version is the ZP49. Both are true back action sidelocks with hidden third fastner. The springs are coil rather than flat, but that's not always a bad thing.

Lots of'em are here as GI bringbacks from cold war stations in Europe, and folks like Sarco in NJ and Kebco have imported many more. I had a 16ga that was just as you described and a 12ga ejector, and liked them very much. I sold both mine to another poster here a year or so ago for $400 each. Hope that helps...Geo

Yes, they are not at all like the new CZ's from Turkey. To me they look to be of decent quality and it sure seemed to fit and handle nice. I was thinking it would be in the $500.00 range. Thanks for the info.

They are very common here in southern Ontario in 12 gauge but much harder to find in 16. I used two 12 gauge ZP-49's to build a double rifle in calibre .450 #2 Nitro Express with a second set of barrels in the original 12 bore, fitted to the same frame. This rifle has fired between one and two thousand .450 #2's and is still tight and on the face. I am currently building another double rifle, in calibre 9.3x74R on a BRNO 16 bore ZP-47. The materials used in these BRNO guns is of top quality and they are well-hardened, so much so that I've had to use diamond-coated files on the guns to remove pits and to re-contour some areas. Also, as info, these guns were made in several different grades, with the highest grades being extremely nice. I see them selling, in the standard grades, for between $300 and $550.

Can anyone say if these Brno guns are soft soldered or brazed with tougher stuff? Thanks

I used to have a ZP-149 which had some stamped engraving on the sideplate. The locks are based on a traditional sidelock except it used a coil mainspring, and there was no intercepting sear.

The following is from file I kept on these guns. I'm not sure who the author is. Maybe it's someone on this board:


CZ is actually short for "Ceska Zbrojovka" a.s. Uhersky Brod, (CZUB) of the Czech Republic.

Ceska Zbrojovka is pronounced "Chess-ka So-Brrav-Ka" the "R's" should be rolled.

CZ manufactures the CZ-75B semi auto pistol which is used by more police and military than any other pistol in the world. It's their biggest mover because of the quality and reliability. They manufacture Over and Under shotguns also; however, they also import other models under contract with Huglu of Turkey.

I did a bit of digging and I also found this brief history.

Cesk� Zbrojovka a.s., Uhersk� Brod, (CZUB), is a firearms manufacturer established in 1936 in the small Moravian town in the Czech Republic. After World War II all the firearms manufacturers were managed by a single central agency which required that "Any firearm exported will bare the BRNO markings", this is why there are a great deal of CZ Uhersky Brod firearms with BRNO markings.
Throughout the Cold War CZ manufactured a wide variety of military small arms including the CZ 52 pistol, the CZ 58 assault rifle, the vz. 61 �korpion, various .22 caliber training and target rifles and of course the CZ 75 family of pistols.
In 1991 the Czech weapons factories were "de-centralized" and began business as free market companies. CZUB was the first to move into the free world economy, establishing a small arms presence across the globe and dominating the market in over 60 countries.
In 1991 CZUB established a permanent presence in the United States with the founding of CZ-USA. CZUB and CZ-USA continue to expand and dominate the small arms market world wide, with military, police, defensive, sporting and recreational firearms of unparalleled design and quality.
The CZ factory employs some 2000+ highly trained engineers, craftsmen and business personnel, making it one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the world.

Barrels are forged chopper lumps with third upper bite (Purdey design) made of Poldi electro steel, silver brazed with solid concave rib 28.3� (720mm) in length choked modified and improved. Actual stamping on the bottom of barrels reads: 17.6 diameter on left and 17.8 on right, then both barrels have 18.35 diameter throats, obviously in millimeters. Czech required proof mark is stamped �95, which means gun was made in 1995. Production ceased in 1998. Chambers are 2. �� and fitted with selective ejectors (fired shell eject, unfired extract). Ejectors are operated by Anson & Deeley type splinter forend latch. Action is of true sidelock with etched game scenes finished in silver, complimented with cocking indicators and automatic safety on upper tang. Double triggers, oval cheekpiece, LOP 14.1/4�, Turkish walnut, recoil pad. In fact this model was the only gun, that Brno factory never made any profit on. Its production was staggeringly expensive and required a small group of craftsmen to hand fit all those machined pieces together. Interestingly, Brno Arms was the largest small arms production in the world in early 60s, having about 10000 employees. Yet, only a few hundred of SxS were produced yearly. They are history now, Brno production buildings are empty and turned into warehouses. For those who wonder what designation Brno ZP149 means, it goes like this: Brno � city and manufacturer place in Czech republic, Z � zbrojovka (weaponry/ armament), P � Pavlicek (name of designer), 149 � first introduced in 1949.

Interesting history--thanks!