NEW CZ P-07 Duty Pistol

[TRD]

While I have never fired a CZ pistol myself, I saw an advertisement for this in a gun magazine (yeah yeah I know :D :rolleyes: - I just thumbed through it!). I have heard that CZ pistols are quality firearms to be found at quite reasonable prices.

http://www.cz-usa.com/product_detail.php?id=104

It looks like a skinny version of a P229 and it's a sharp looking pistol for sure.

Anybody care to chime in about CZ pistols?

[rubberneck]

The CZ 75 and 85 are excellent weapons and represent great value at their price point. The SP-01 and the P-01 are also excellent guns but more expensive. I am not that familiar with their plastic guns. There is a thread someone on this board about this gun if you want to search for it.

[Marcus L.]

My experience with them has been mixed. I've owned a 75b, 75bd, P-01, SP-01, and 97b. Without a doubt, I was most pleased with the classic 75b.

CZs are very ergonomic and tend to point well. They have good accuracy with the circular locking lugs and the Sig P210 frame wrap-around slide design. The downsides to them are rough finishes and relatively poor quality controls. The trigger design is also a weak point. The trigger bar absorbs a higher level of torque than many other designs out there leading to a more forceful trigger return. In the light pistols such as the P-01 and Compact, high power loads can sometimes give you the common trigger slap where the trigger literally smacks against your trigger finger sometimes painfully. The heavier slide models like the 97b and 75b don't seem to be effected by this. The compact models are also more prone to breaking trigger return springs due to the design, and because of the lighter slide mass the return velocity tends to break a lot of slide stops. Other complaints of mine is that the extractor is flimsy and you'll break the extractor should you close the slide onto a manually inserted cartridge. CZ has also ticked me off with their lack of quality controls on the 97b which has never been a reliable platform in the 12 years it has been on the market.

That being said, it looks like CZ might be taking the right direction with the P-07. They have dropped the circular locking lugs in favor of the large square locking lug which tends to be more reliable in dirty environments. They have also opted for a stronger extractor design. The only thing I may not like about the P-07 is the byproduct of all pistols with a frame wrap-around slide design......and that is that there is very little gripping surface to cycle the action and a compact pistol(just like the P-01) will have a relatively strong recoil spring. With cold, dry hands.....or with sweaty hands getting that slide racked under stress can take a bit of fumbling to get a sure hold on it. I also hope that they have altered the trigger mechanism to make it take less of a beating during recoil.

All in all, CZs are good pistols and represent a good alternative to other top pistols on the market. Personally, I have moved away from them for a wide variety of reasons.

[variablebinary]

I got to shoot the P-07 today.

It looks much better in person than it does in pics. The grip is nice, but not as svelt as the P01 and SP01. The low bore makes the 9mm feel like a .22 so quick shots were very easy. The recoil control is better than Glock, which is saying a lot. I only shot at 15 yards so so, so head shots were shot head shots and torso shots were torso shots.

The control layout is good. And best of all, its freaking dirt cheap at $449 without night sights, but with an USP-ish feel in terms of build quaity. The machine work on the slide is the best I have ever seen from CZ

Now there is one downside. The trigger reset is horrid. It's looooong. Longer than non-SRT SIG's, being a little too close to the P250, which is strange because this is not the case with the P01 and SP01

All in all, the value is great, and it has the tools to be a solid purchase.