Fox .32: Police Prototype of CZ’s First Pistol

Alois Tomiška, best know for the Little Tom pistol, was one of the original founders of the South Bohemia Armory, which became CZ of Strakonice. The first pistol produced by the company was his “Fox” design a .25 ACP pocket gun. As originally designed, it used a folding trigger without a trigger guard, and had a unique sheet metal frame. The frame was made from a single piece of steel, bend in a U-shape completely wrapping around the otherwise traditional style of slide. This allowed the pistol to be made without the difficult machining process of milling out a magazine well.

About 1500 Fox pistols of the first model were made, and the factory hoped to expand its market to police use. To that end, they made a prototype scaled up to the .32 ACP cartridge, which was the typical police caliber at the time. That is the pistol we are looking at today. It failed to generate interest, and no further production took place. It was tested by the factory in August 1921, and the project was scrapped in December of 1922.

Thanks to the Czech Military History Institute (VHU) for graciously giving me access to this one-of-a-kind prototype to film for you! If you have the opportunity, don’t miss seeing their museums in Prague:
https://www.vhu.cz/en/english-summary/