Sokac

Description

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the impending civil wars within its former satellite states, Croatia urgently needed to arm its military, which up until this time had been under the control of the SFR (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

Out of this necessity, came the crudely produced Zagi M-91 and this, the Šokac. Internally the Šokac was an exact copy of the Soviet WW2 PPSh-41, a weapon which itself was also hurriedly produced out of necessity.

Initially the early Šokac’s were fitted with an under-folding metallic stock, similar to that of the AKMS, however the stock could not be brought into action without first removing the magazine. As a result this was replaced with a side folding stock directly copied from the Czech SA vz. 25.

This weapon was manufactured at speed by a number of Croatian factories, who each had to make a their own modifications due to the limited materials available to them. As a result models have appeared with varying barrel lengths, with/without flash suppressors and hosting different pistol grip designs.

It is unknown if these weapons were ever widely exported, although their outdated/crude design makes this highly unlikely. They were however used by an array of regular and irregular forces during the many internal conflicts that flared up in the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001.