Romanian vz24 Sniper Rifles from World War Two

Duration: 11:37

Romanian Marshal Antonescu officially requested development of a sniper's rifle on January 22, 1942. The Romanian military at that point was using the vz24 Mauser rifle, and the Romanian optics company IOR developed a pair of optics to mount on that rifle - one 4.25x and on 6x. The design used many parts already in production at IOR, and was largely influenced by the Soviet PEM. On March 5th 1942 they were presented tot he government, which chose the lower magnification model and placed an order for 2,000 of them.

Production began in June 1942 at IOR, and the main Romanian Army arsenal build mounts and bases to fit them onto rifles. The project took a while to actually complete, as 1,810 were finished as of May 1944. Once the first order was complete, a second order for 7,000 more was placed. That second batch also used a different, stronger scope base. That second order was not finished by the end of the war, but production continued after the war, and the rifles were used as the primary Romanian Army marksman's rifle until he adoption of the PSL in the 1970s.

Thanks to Pera Baity and the ANCA for help with the data in this video!