Hey Boris, Nice man Have you been able to lock down when exactly the germans took over the factory? I've been searching myself and can't quite lock it down.
Found a '41 made 1 last week with the original spelling of OPOČNO. and still has the original " Rampant Lion stamp" but near has I can tell was still made during occupation. The folded over mag is an occupation trait as well.
These are cool lil pieces of history arnt they? Was reading where they were on an approved list of pistols German officers could privately purchase and carry. Mine came with a lil black holster I'd like you to have a look at since you've been searching. ( oh.. forgot to add....Capture papers as well
Glad you found 1 A lil unknown piece of history that is very fascinating IMO...and like GM would say...."Yeah get it....It's a CZ aint it?" ( Yeah a lil enabling going on in our neck of the woods)
As part of Bohemia and part of the Sudeten region, Opocno could've been taken by the Germans as early as October 1938 during the annexation of the Sudetenland. Not sure though if Opocno was part of the annexation.
I don't think the transition from OPOCNO too OPOTSCHNO on the slide roll stamp is an accurate guage of when the Germans took control of Dusek's operation.
The "N-Lion" stamp likely remained throughout because of it's connection to Bohemia -- traditionally an ethnically German populated region of Czechoslovakia. Still don't know what the "N" or sideways "Z" represents, though.
From what I've been able to discover online, the DUO is essentially an exact copy (or nearly exact copy) of the 6.35mm MARS pistol-- which was a direct copy of another pistol called the 6.35mm SLAVIA pistol.
If youGoogle images of all three pistols ( 6.35 DUO, MARS, SLAVIA), you'll see what looks like three of the exact same gun. Just with different names on the grips. Now that's some real cut-throat disregard for proprietary fairplay-- same as today in many ways.
Technically speaking, I don't think the DUO is officially a CZ gun. It's just a Dusek.-- the surname of the guy who made them. But the Post War version, known as the CZ model 'Z', is emblazoned with the CZ name and emblem on the slide and grips. From what I can tell the Dusek DUO and the CZ Model "Z" are the same gun just with different names. Just another copy, of a copy of a copy.