Non-striker fired
Polymer
DA/SA
Night sight up grade needed
Ease of use
Ease of maintenance (Not needing a gunsmith to fix it is important to me)
Parts availability
SD/HD, classes, general shooting/range time.
I’m not a CZ guy but if any of you have experience with them I’d like to hear your advice.
I prefer full size to medium sized guns. I carry a Glock 17 religiously. I really like the length of grip on the P30 as it fits my hand well.
I’m not above having an all metal gun either but would like to stick to polymer.
Yes, the P-07 / current model P-07 Duty. It’s the best fit for your list.
I have a P-07, I like it, I like CZs, but any particular reason you asked only about CZ?
Anyway… the P-07 is a good carry size that’s small enough to be practical and large enough to be easy to shoot. Mine is in .40 and has very mild recoil for a .40. There are interchangeable backstraps, but the procedure to change them requires a bit of skill and the manual actually says it requires a gunsmith, although it doesn’t. Trigger pull is excellent both DA and SA. The racking effort is a little high with a stiff spring, but this is common with compact size handguns, especially in larger calibers. (I don’t know whether CZ uses the same spring weight in .40 that they would in 9mm. Some companies do, others may adjust spring weight for the caliber.)
If you wanted full size, the P-09 is a similar but larger and larger-capacity gun. The CZ SP-01 Phantom has also been reintroduced and is basically a polymer frame full size CZ-75 with the somewhat modified frame shape.
I’m a Glock guy through and through. But I’m pretty much going to making a hard right in my life and divesting myself of them. I like them. They’re simple. But the new glocks still have some issues that I won’t be paying for. I was one of the shooters on the MHS test and I’ll say I wasn’t impressed with glocks offerings.
I’ve been tracking several different makers that I have never used. CZ is one of them. From the things I’ve read, they are pretty much coming out strong in the “everything I’m looking for department”.
I love HK. I love the P30. I do not like the changeable grip panels nor do I like the shitty triggers they have. It also pains me to know the right slide release lever rattles (small potatoes but I’m not paying that much for a gun with that feature). Never cared for the LEM triggers either.
No if we’re talking USP compact…yeah there’s another gun I love and have a few years experience with.
Speaking of P-07’s… I have two NIB for sale in the Equipment Exchange. I want to keep them buy I better stay with the M9 platform until my mil career is over and not confuse my muscle memory on them.
OK, sounds like you must know your stuff. CZ makes excellent quality guns that I believe compare well with Austrian and German products. Not necessarily better, but in the same range. I base this on the three CZs I own plus others I’ve used, vs. numbers of Glock and Sig pistols I own, and a Steyr I used to own. (I have little HK experience.)
The CZ-75 and its close derivatives use 1911 style internal locking lugs, but a Browning HP style cam surface (like 99% of modern handguns). This setup works very well. The P-07 and P-09 use Sig style ejection port locking (like most modern handguns other than the CZ-75 and 1911).
All CZ pistols I know of have the slide riding inside the frame rails, which results in a narrower slide. Supposedly this contributes to precision and reduced recoil, but I don’t have an explanation for how, or know for certain that it really does.
All the DA/SA CZ pistols have a relatively simple field strip procedure that requires aligning two marks (frame to slide) then pushing out the slide stop with any blunt tool. It’s not as graceful as the levers that are common on Sig pistols (and widely copied) but it works fine.
The original CZ-75 and non-Omega versions of it have a relatively complicated DA/SA trigger mechanism. It works great, but is complicated. Somewhere around 2005 or so CZ came out with a redesigned trigger mechanism for its DA/SA pistols called the Omega trigger. This is the standard and only trigger in the P-07 and P-09, and I believe also in the P-01 and SP-01 models. The steel frame CZ-75 is still available with the original trigger mechanism, or alternately as the CZ-75 Omega with the new mechanism. The Omega system is supposed to have fewer parts, lower manufacturing cost and easier disassembly/reassembly, but can’t have the exact same trigger work done as on the original mechanism. I suspect the original trigger has a slightly better feel but I don’t have enough of a sample size to actually say.
CZ-75 magazines are compatible with all “B” model CZ-75s and CZ-made derivatives, but their newer models generally use proprietary mags that are not compatible with CZ-75 mags, and seem to cost around $45 much like HK and late model Sig mags. I don’t know of any common issues with CZ mags, and I don’t know if they are made in-house or by someone like Mec-Gar. For the CZ-75 you can buy Mec-Gar mags for $20-25 a piece.
I’ll second the P-07 Duty, stock it is one of my favorite handguns. A new batch of FDE versions with night sights must have just got imported because some places have them available all of a sudden.
Also, don’t forget the CZ-75 D-PCR, it holds 14 rounds and has an aluminum frame, a real honey to shoot too.
I had heard of and read about P-07s, mostly from Mike Pannone and the internet, but I didn’t really know much about CZs. Initially I was set on the PX4 Compact but I kept going back to the CZ which is ultimately what I ended up with. The P-07 was a handgun epiphany for me, the DA/SA trigger was not the problem I’d heard of or imagined since I began my firearm journey in the mid 90’s and I’ve been able to squeeze much better accuracy out of it than any Glock or HK LEM trigger system I had carried previously.
The controls are perhaps a little clunky and the aftermarket certainly isn’t anything like Glock. I had my gunsmith open up the rear sight window a little and cut serrations on the rear to get rid of the dots and I installed a fiber optic front. I had the right side decocker ground to a mini dome which makes it much easier to manipulate the decocker on the left as a right-handed shooter. Talon grips and an XC1 in a JM custom holster round out the package.
Your first two lines mandate the P07. The P09 can be carried, but is really not intended for carry - its a duty gun.
For carry and no light, the PCR is a better choice - period. It is smaller and slimmer. The P07 has a VERY chunky frame/slide profile up front. The PCR feels much slimmer and maintains the superior grip feel of the 75 Series line. The P07 changes that and frankly feels too skinny. You can swap the grips on a PCR and get the feel you want. (Unless you NEED a light - that is for the P01).
I think CZ would be better off with a compact Phantom - and keep the 75 grip, mags. Just my preference.
If you don’t need it to be a CZ made by CZ, there is the Sphinx SDP Compact, although the frame is a kind of weird polymer/aluminum hybrid and it relies on a rubber grip rather than an aggressive frame texture to anchor your hand.
If you don’t need it to be a CZ at all, there is the H&K P2000 - which even has the Glock universal rail.
If you’d prefer something with a better trigger than you get in an H&K, there is the Beretta Px4 Storm Compact (which can be had in a ‘G’ model) and the Ernie Langdon Px4 Compact Carry available from ROBAR (link).
And if you don’t need it to be polymer-framed, there are the steel- and aluminum-framed P-01 and 75 Compact models from CZ.
First I am a huge CZ fan. I currently own a Shadow Custom, P01, P09, and a Scorpion. I sold the P07.
I had a built P07 with the CGW goodies and it shot well BUT I wanted a P01. So I sold it and bought a P01 and again put all the CGW part into it.
I mostly made the change because I shoot a Shadow in every shooting sport I go to so the P01 is the same gun only smaller basically. I like carrying what I shoot the most of. The P01 shoots well and the recoil is softer than the P07 BUT it is a heavier gun.
I carry the P01 if I’m wearing a light jacket or a button up shirt. I use the shield in all other situations because it’s stupid easy to carry. I am a bigger guy and have a belly but with that being said I carry the shield appendix. I cannot carry the P01 appendix yet. I still need to loose a little weight or find the right holster.
If carrying the gun is any sort of priority then P01, PCR, or P07 are the only choices. The P09 is too damn large IMO.
I’ve been carrying a 75D PCR since I bought it new in 2000. It is one of the best all around 9MM on the market. According to CZ-USA, the PCR weighs 27.5 OZ, and the P-07 27.7 OZ. Therefore, they are about the same size, and weight. I have several other CZ pistols, and they’ve all been great.
I love Hi Powers as it was my duty gun for most of my career. We then switched to Glocks, which is a great pistol. But the Glocks never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, it was like the tools in my tool box.
