ZH-29

The ZH-29 was a semi-automatic rifle developed in Czechoslovakia during the late 1920s, and used by the Chinese National Revolutionary Army.

Overview
The ZH-29 is a gas-operated semi-automatic service rifle with a tilting-bolt locking system similar to that which would be later used in the Sturmgewehr 44; although while the bolt of the German gun tilts vertically, that of the ZH-29 does so to the left side. Externally the most distinctive feature is that the barrel is offset at a slight angle to the receiver to compensate for this. Also unusually, the rifle uses an aluminium barrel jacket.

An upgraded variant was designated as the ZH-32.

In China, Chang Tso-lin's army received 150 ZH-29 and 100 ZH-32 rifles, and the provincial troops of Guangdong also received 33 ZH-32. A derivative prototype was built in 1932 in Shenyang, China. It is unlikely that these rifles saw action during the Sino-Japanese War.

A version of the ZH-29 rifle was chambered in .276 Pedersen cartridge and was submitted to US Army trials but was unsuccessful.

During the last stages of the development in the AK-47 assault rifle, the testing grounds committee advised Mikhail Kalashnikov to redesign the trigger group of the AK-46 rifle prototype along the lines of ZH-29 rifle, which he did. The testing grounds committee also advised every competitor on how to generally improve their firearm designs.

Users

 * Republic of China (1912–1949): 210 imported in 1930-31
 * Ethiopian Empire: 100 ZH-32s
 * Empire of Japan: (Experimental prototype copy developed from captured examples from China)
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand