The Czech Army no longer using the Vz. 58

The Czech Army has used the venerable Vz. 58 since 1958, it has been used by other countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa as well, but it looks like the Vz. 58 will be retired very soon. The Czech news site, Ceskenoviny.cz, reported that the Czech military will be spending quite a bit of money to update their armed forces by 2013. A possible replacement may be the CZ S805 rifle that was developed along with the Czech army. The Vz. 58 is a great rifle, while it looks very similar to the AK-47 on the outside, on the inside it closer resembles the German stg-44, the world’s first assault rifle. Hopefully with the retirement of the Vz. 58 in Czechoslovakia it means affordable Vz. 58’s for enthusiasts here in the US and elsewhere.

The new arms will replace machine guns 58 based on the Soviet-made Kalashnikovs AK 47, Pravo writes.
“It was originally said that only special units will get offensive handguns. The whole military could be rearmed for two billion crowns,” Seda told Pravo.

It writes that the military also plans to spend 3.49 billion crowns on the purchase of light armoured vehicles. Next year 418 million crowns are to be spent on the purchase and a greater part in 2013 and 2014.

[Source: thefirearmblog.com]