The arms factory Praga was founded as company with a wealth 900,000 Austrian Crowns on Jan. 5th, 1918. The company based on the gunmaker-shop J. Nowotny, whose history even reaches back to 1865.
In the beginning the company hired the buildings of the company Walter in Praha-Smichov, but already within the same year the company bought a area in Praha-Vrgovice and established facilities for their pistol production.
Well known designers like Vaclav, Frantisek and Emanuel Holek, Karel Krnka and Frantisek Myska were employed.
First of all the pistol Praga in caliber 7.65 mm was made, later on the pistol Praga Model 21 in caliber 6.35 mm. Besides that also bayonets for the Mannlicher M 95 rifels and 2,000 pcs. training barrels for the Schwarzlose machine gun were produced. An important development was done with the construction of a small machine gun, which was later on introduced in the Czechoslovak army on Jan. 9th, 1925 with the designation Praga Model 24. The licence for this machine gun later on was bought by the Czechoslovak arms factory Brno, which enhanced it an produced it with a designation ZB Model 26.
The existence of the arms factory Praga was short. There were problems with the sale of pistols and a shortage of other orders, so that the company had to be closed in 1926..