Well, this is my first post and it is done more out of necessity than anything else. I bought a (E4) Povazska Bystrica Vz-24 from a local gun shop. The gun is nothing special. It has pitted rifling, missing cleaning rod, but it has the lion crest and it is my first Mauser. I got to cleaning the rifle to get rid of the decades old grease, dust and gunk and got stuck on the floorplate. I kept pressing the catch and pushing on the plate but it will not budge. The darn thing holds as if it was soldered. It looks as if someone prior to me beat on it with the butt of a screwdriver or something similar. I read that some of the post-war Vz-24s were made without the detachable floorplate but mine, according to the markings, indicates that it was accepted by the Czechoslovak military in 1937. Besides, I suppose that if the floorplate wasn't detachable then it wouldn't have the little hole to depress the catch. Well, anyways... I am stuck and any advice will be forthcoming. Please be descriptive and detailed. I don't have much experience. Thanks guys.