CZ Yearbook 2019 /eng

84 | | 85 shooter at a distance of about 70 metres and see the reticule. I release the safety. The move- ment is smooth and feels so natural and familiar that one can’t help but be taken aback. I turn the gun slightly to the side and visually check the fire mode selector – yes, it is set to single shot fire. I put the gun back to my cheek and pull the trigger. The trigger pull weight is firm, appropriate for the intended military use. Similarly to the M16/M4, it only has one pull weight. The trigger travel is smooth, without grat- ing or jumping, nothing that would hamper effective com- bat shooting. I f ire off the f irst round. The carbine has a shorter barrel, so the pressure on the muzzle is greater, making a bit of a “rack- et”. However, I did not register any flash, despite the gloomy weather. The target rings but I can’t see the exact hit. I f ire again and hear another ring. But I still don’t knowwhere I am actually hitting. Luckily, there are some wet sand banks behind the target that show where the bullets go. So I pick a clump of grass next to the target and fire again. A small geyser of sand shoots up, exactly where I was aiming. Refined behaviour I shoot again and move onto double shots. The results are good. The new BREN 2 is very refined, holds the sightline, re- peat shots are fast, the muzzle climb is minimal. The gun feels very similar to the American army M4 carbine, though I be- lieve the CZ BREN 2 behaves slightly better after discharge. After all, the stock of the M4 houses parts of the recoil unit and there is also a buffer with the recoil spring. All that moves and hits you just under your cheekbone. Thehits arenot bad, you learn to ignore them after some time, but still, they are there. The CZ BREN 2 does not have such problems. Even the sound of the discharge is slight- ly less sharp, not so noisy. The upgrade of the flash hider has met the expectations, the new one doesn’t reverberate (like a tuning fork) and at the same time it tightens up every time at the muzzle, due to the pressure of the combustion gases. After f inishing one magazine I swap for another one and re- lease the bolt with a flick of the finger. Withmy thumb I change the fire mode selector to short burst fire. Once again, I have the feeling of déjà vu – regarding er- gonomics, the CZ BREN 2 mim- ics the controls of the M16/M4. I start with short burst fire aim- ing at the metal figures. In spite of its low weight, the carbine “holds” the hits reliably in the torsos of both the kneeling and the standing targets even at a greater distance of more than 30 metres. After getting to know the gun better and firing off short bursts, I hold the finger on the trigger for slightly longer. The carbine is still controllable, I try to fire a burst and “steer” f rom the right onto a clump of grass and gradually move further left. The wet wall of the sand bank serves as a “projec- tion screen”, it clearly shows where each projectile lands. The results are very satisfactory. In combat mode From the third or fourth maga- zine, I begin to really enjoy my- self and have the confidence to go further. I take another gun with a collimator sight and try combat fire. I shoot fromall positions, I crawl on the ground, run up the bank and down, drop down f rom running, push down as if under f ire and shoot while moving. I reload in the combat style, dropping the empty maga- zines in the sand, not careful- ly placing them in pouches. They will get collected at the end, after the mission is ac- complished. Before loading up magazines again, I just tap them against my thigh – be- tween the case and the follow- er, sand is grating. It is a brutal thing to do to a gun but the manufacturer’s representatives don’t object and besides, they do the same. The CZ BREN 2 copes with such atrocious treatment for quite a long time. Only after some time sever- al magazines start to show some failings, such as a double round (the bolt tries to push two rounds into the chamber at the same time) and when there is a stronger jolt, the rounds at the top occasional- ly jump out of the magazine. Such problems mainly occur in standard US military maga- zines made of soft aluminium. It is a known problem, many experienced shooters there- fore prefer to use more robust magazines of other brands. But this is something that doesn’t really concern to the gun itself. In these unfavourable conditions, the CZ BREN 2 per- formed excellently and I began looking forward to having a go at the advertised accuracy. At 300 metres My second testing of the BREN 2 took place during a meeting of journalist on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of CZ’s existence. This time, the Bzenec shooting range certainly lived up to its reputation – the weath- er was boiling hot and the an- noying f ine sand got literally everywhere. Onceagain, we testedbothshort carbines and long guns. While most of those present enjoyed highly dynamic shooting, I opt- ed for a model with a collimator sight and a bipod. I lay down in the sand and began harassing a target set at 300 metres – a sil- houette of a prone shooter. Despite having a cotton mat under my body, the amount of dust and sand released by the gases at the muzzle after each discharge was considera- ble. However, after a short prac- tice I managed to hit the target fairly reliably, better than I had expected to. Then I took the short carbine f itted with a collimator sight and wondered if I would at least frighten the target. An accurate shotwasabitcomplicatedas the aiming dot practically covered thewhole target. I shot fromthe prone position, without a bipod. Before emptying the magazine (30 rounds), I scored several hits. Possibly five, which means that I had managed to hit the target with every fifth or sixth hit. The others fell very close. I felt well proud so I tried shoot- ing while standing up, without support. If there had been a live enemy and not a piece of metal, I would have def initely made him seek cover. Just before the magazine emptied, I evenman- aged to hit it with two consecu- tive shots. The trusting feeling By coincidence, one of my col- leagues came to see me at that moment. Those two hits result- ed in him giving a wolf whistle and I thought that if I wanted to keep my reputation, I shouldn’t tempt fate too much. So I went and joined another group where dynamic shooting was in full swing. The shooters had split into two teams, with one loading mag- azines and one emptying them from various and at times im- possible positions, taking turns. The guns took a right battering. I cannot really imagine a real-life combat situation where a sol- dier with an assault rifle would shoot for such a long time and with such high combat ca- dence. Yet, the BREN 2 worked extremely reliably indeed. I am well aware of the fact that neither of the testing sessions described above represent a sys- tematic prolonged testing, but they prove a lot, making me feel very confident. All in all, the CZ BREN 2 series obviously shows that it definitely is the second generation of CZ assault rifles and that since the times of the f irst one, Česká zbrojovka has certainly picked the right path.