Forgive my ignorance, but when were these on the market? This one has no bolt, but it appears to be a factory sporterized rifle.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti....aspx?Item=424281320

This is just a SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) but I'd bet it was between 1950 AND 1960.

Americans were really mad for sporters in those days only 5 or more years after the war (WWII), when they couldn't buy nearly enough rifles without having special friends in the business, and the choices other than Savage, Remington, and Winchester wre very limited.

It was much like the ammo/component situation right now, except much, much worse. We had a couple of million recently returned and discharged soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, all of whom seemed to want their recreation in the form of shooting and hunting, but couldn't find a rifle to buy other than a 30-30 for less than maybe $100 (when the average tradesman made $40 per week, gross).

So a number of would-be niche-fillers such as Sears, Montgomery Wards, Western Auto, etc. ,brought in actions from Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and elsewhere, had them barreled and stocked here (often by H&R) and sold them under their own names. Others brought in barreled actions and just had them stocked here. A very few (such as Stoeger) brought in whole rifles.

That looks exactly like pretty much all of them, as far stock style, barrel taper, etc..

They were all excellent hunting rifles, BTW.

No, its a whole lot later than 1950s or 1960s. The Czech Republic tag on the barrel evidences that. The Czech Republic is what separated from Slovakia when, after the collapse of the USSR, the Warsaw Pact Soviet states became "free".

If made in 1950s or 1960s it would say Czechoslovakia not Czech Republic. It's 1990s or later. I recall these things coming into the UK then. I think, and will happily be put right, that's it is what was left when BRNO was re-born as CZ and CZ-USA and it didn't last long, this BRNO, as wasn't popular.

Others will know better of exact story but is very much 1990s or early 2000s. Spares are an issue and I would caution against assuming that a VZ24 bolt would work.

It was always a true spotter and somewhat crude I think. There was a UK importer BRNO-UK. Now I think they only make captive bolt humane animal killers.

Google BRNO Humane Killer and you might progress from there. Or www.brnoguns.co.uk I hope it helps.

Sorry, with my fading vision I did not see such a tag on the barrel. I did see what even when very magnified on my computer screen appears to a blank hang-tag attached to the rigger guard. Hang-tags such as that are pretty common in everey gun shop in the U.S., so as it appears blank to me, it could be from anywhere.

Matter of fact, all I got was a picture of the whole gun from one side, and the contour looks right for the early ones as well.

I should have written stamped on the barrel.

Good info, I was really thrown by the fact it looked like a newer production rifle, but on a military action and bottom metal. I wish someone would make an aesthetically pleasing Mauser and at reasonable price again. Much like the Mark X's that had Manchester, England stamped on the side. They sure had a nice fit and finish. They didn't have all of the crappy markings the today's Zastava Mausers have.

This is a "new" Brno ie a Brno proper not a CZ.
They built these after the Brno plant stopped making sporting rifles or rather after sporting rifle producing ceased at the Brno plant and guns made only at CZ.
They were basically sporterized VZ 24's
This one seems to have had a aftermarket coating treatment.

It has 01 stamped right on the receiver, just behind the lion. These were made in 2000 and 2001 and were imported by European American Armory in Florida.

At that time, Brno was making commercial rifles on large ring VZ24 surplus actions. The nice ones were polished and blued, with both full and half stocked versions. They were available in Europe thru Frankonia and other outlets.

The actions that were too crappy were parkerized, given sightless .30-06 or .270 barrels, stuffed into plastic stocks and shipped to Florida.

"new" Brno in 7x57

That's cool. I wish I could find one of the "pretty" ones. I ended up buying the gun in the auction. I have a plethora of Mauser bolts laying around here and there. I only wanted the action, it's a pluse I won't have to pay someone to grind the hump and drill/tap it. I had been thinking about a budget built 375 or 400 Whelen to use as a knock around gun someday. Either way, I don't have much in the action, so I could probably sell it with the bolt and get my money out of it if I ever change my mind. When it shows up, I'll try to post some initial thoughts.

Here is one of the actions with the barrel removed.

Kurt, is that your action? It looks good. How's the fit and function?

I had several of them years. It was a good solid action, but you could see pits in the receiver below the wood line.

Keep in mind that these were actions that weren't nice enough to use for the polished blue rifles.