doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Brno SxS - Made by Red Chzechs?

Simpsons has some Brno sidelock ejector SxSs made in Communist era Czechoslovakia.

Anybody owned one? Quality? Fit?

They aren't asking for much money for them.

Best,

Mike

Haven't seen much of them, but they appear to be typical mass-made Soviet Block guns: solid and robust, but a bit behind on looks and finish.

Hi Mike, funny you should ask. I had one about 8 years ago. Bought it and sold it. What I can tell you is the one I had was a "funeral" model, all blued (almost black) sideplates, sans any engraving. One hell for stout double, fit was okay, wood plain as all get out. The ejectors really tossed the hulls. It was choked F/F. But heavy! Mine weighed in at around 7 3/4 (12ga). Not the best handling SxS, but okay. As best I can remember the trigger pulls were not that bad, and it shot fine, didn't have any regulation problems. I was going to use it as a truck gun, but the weight was just too much, sold it at a Pawn Shop, they had no idea what it was and in fact I made $10 on it.

I'm curious about the Hungarian doubles you see form time to time.

Hope this helps.

Best!

Greg

I never owned one, but the BRNO's were retailed in Ontario in the '70s/'80s and continue to have a reputation here as "sleeper" guns in terms of quality. They were considered to be a cut above the Savage/Stevens 311's. I'd probably have a BRNO in my collection if not for the fact that every one I've seen had a cheek piece for a right-handed shooter and I'm a lefty.

I have owned BRNO's. they were clunky, STOUT, and I did like
the double-double trigger system in the O/Us

In the Brno ZH series, the front trigger fires the top only; this is unusual.
Often this is a push forward set trigger.

The rear trigger is a single, nonsellective; it is unusual to pair this with a single trigger that only fires one barrel. Rear trigger fires the bottom barrel first and then the top barrel on second pull.

Mike

I've had a couple of the Czech SxS shotguns. Nice, solid, European game guns. Here are some pictures.









Really, really simple lock works:

I have 3 of them. A straight grip ejector gun with somewhat upgraded wood and a pistol grip non ejector in 12 gauge. I also have a 16 gauge non ejector. I like them (obviously) and don't find them clunky at all and the fit/finish is not bad at all on the ones I have. Can't say about the over/unders as I never held one. You can buy the SxS's in Canada starting at $200.00 for fairly used to around $500.00 for one like new with the average condition price of around $375.00. Except for 16 gauge. They are very hard to find here and go for quite a bit more if condition is there.

I bought two of'em a number of years ago at our local gun-show. One was a ZP 47 extractor 16ga and the other a ZP 49 ejector 12ga. Both had the plain blued action and were dated 1960 and '62 respectively. Quality seemed fine to me.

The 16ga was a joy to shoot but the 12ga was heavy and I could not shoot it well at all. I missed 4 separate gobblers with it one opening weekend. Standing! It had to Go! Never could figure out where it was shooting for me but it had to be really high since one miss was at 15 feet at two longbeards with their necks crossed. Must have been high because there was nothing but forty some odd pounds of turkey below. Still haunts me.

I sold them both to another gentleman who posts here. He has posted pictures of the 16ga (ZP 47) after he re-did the stock to remove the cheek-piece and refinish the nice fiddleback figure. I think he told me he didn't much like the 12ga either.Maybe he will post the pic again...Geo

There's a 12 ga. straight gripped ejector described as VG condition currently listed at $650 in a well-known Canadian retail shop. In other words, you're bang on

Thank you all. That was very helpful.

Simpson's had a 12 gauge that they described as in almost new condition for $600. It is on hold the last I looked.

Best,

Mike