Introduction

The Skorpion is an early Cold War era sub machine gun of Czechoslovak origin. The Skorpion was designed to provide Czechoslovak army non-combat personnel with more firepower than a pistol, but without bothering them with a heavier weapon. The development took place in the 1950's. Production started in 1959 for security forces while the army adopted it after trails in 1961. The Skorpion is often called Vz 61, which is the short notation of the official Czechoslovak military designation "Samopal vzor 1961".

Design

The Skorpion was designed to be no more cumbersome than a pistol. The layout is similar to the ancient Mauser C.96 Broomhandle pistol, which was also produced in automatic versions. The magazine is inserted just in front of the trigger guard and the weapon does not extend beyond the pistol grip. The wire stock folds over the weapon, with the shoulder pad covering the barrel giving the Skorpion distinct looks. The Skorpion is a blowback operated weapon and is fitted with a rate reducer mechanism in the pistol grip to lower the rate of fire to a controllable level. The original version of the Skorpion fires the 7.65x17mm round. For export sales the weapon was produced in 9x17mm, 9x18mm and 9x19mm as well.

Firepower

The Skorpion is a very effective machine pistol, but performs poorly compared to some of the much larger sub machine guns. It is easy to operate and reliable. When the stock is folded the Skorpion isn't that much larger as a pistol. It allows effective use beyond the range pistols can be effectively used. The Skorpion fires the 7.65x17mm round from 10 or 20 round magazines. It is a select fire weapon with a cyclic rate of fire of 840 rpm. The 7.65mm rounds are not very powerful, but this is compensated by the volume of fire. The effective range is about 50 meters.

Users

Besides being used by Czechoslovak forces the Skorpion was exported to various nations. Due to its size and silent operation with silencer the Skorpion was also favored by some special forces units. The Skorpion has been replaced by newer designs by many users, but it still remains in use all over the world.

The first generation of Skorpion can be identified by their wooden pistol grips. The Vz 61 was produced in large numbers. Variants in .380 ACP, 9mm Makarov and 9mm Parabellum were developed for export sales, but saw hardly any production.

The introduction of the 9x18mm Makarov round in the Czechoslovak military resulted in the adoption of the 9x18mm variant of the Skorpion. This event allowed for some modifications as well. The most visible difference is the polymer pistol grip.