What do you think of CZ pistols?

Question

I am considering buying a CZ 97b and I want to know what peoples experiences have been with this or other CZ pistols. are they easy to maintain do they have feed problems are they picky about ammo that sort of thing. please no mention of the g-word as I am not interested in that brand.

Answer 1

CZ pistols are underated for the most part. They build a pretty good selection ... put together well and seem to be trouble free for the most part.

Any auto pistol may need some break in period or a little tweak to make it stone cold reliable. I wont carry a new auto untill it passes two tests...500 rounds total... and the last 50 have to be without a hickup.

Most of the problems I've ever seen in anyones auto are magazine related, a gun that dry of oil or just needs a little tweak on the feed ramp

From another era? Maybe, but the "other era" argument doesnt hold water. Just how may companies produce and sell clones of the 1911 Colt today...after about 100 years that "other era" pistol is probably more popular than ever.

CZ engineering is rooted in military spec. Pistols like that are designed to be shot by kids in the mud, under stress and without time to pull a perfect cleaning job at the kitchen table daily.

Try one...you may just like it.

--------------------------------------...

Range report as found on the web

Peter M. EickMay 8th, 2004, 12:23 PM

Today we fired from round 2424 to 3192 in the gun for 768 rounds fired. Not bad for the day but I admit I am paying the price for it now. My arm is a bit sore this morning. The rounds fired were all reloads. Most were 230 grn Rem FMJ’s with 4.9 grns of bullseye, CCI300 primers and Starline brass. This chrono’s for 796 fps with a standard deviation of 14 on a 20 shot string out of my 35P chrono. Here is a picture of the 97B in the results of the days shooting.

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/cz_bag...

The shooting results for the day are not the best out of the gun as conditions were working against the results. I did not measure the distance but I believe we were shooting at 10 yards today. My normal 15 yard range was being used by a bunch of shooters so I chose the first available reasonable target.

Here are 3 representative targets. I did not really cherry pick these out, they were just a few grabbed from the stack. Each target represents 50 rounds fired, so 5 mag changes, 10 rounds each. These were all shot relatively quickly, certainly not double taps, but not classical bullseye still shooting on the other hand.

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/cz_tar...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/cz_t1....

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/eickpm/cz_t3....

As you can see from these targets, there is a bit of dispersion. Don’t blame that on the gun. It was me and the wind. Normally this gun would shoot about half this size group or maybe even a third the size, but I have not been shooting a lot lately so it is my fault.

Status report:

Jams, failures problems? None of course. The 97b is extremely reliable. My records do not have a single jam in this gun since the first box of ammo and that one incident was due to a high primer. This is an exceptionally reliable gun. Mine does not care about FMJ’s vs. JHP’s IF you keep them less then 1.272 COL. The leade appears to be very short on the barrel and if you go too long the rounds will not feed well into the barrel and will not allow the action to close.

Accuracy? Reasonable. Nothing to write home about, but what I expected for a roughly $550 gun. It can do better, but I did not today.

Trigger pull.

Single action 4 lbs 10.2 onz.

Double action 8 lbs 3.1 onz.

Single action has a lot of take up but breaks cleanly. The double action is smooth and long and breaks very predictably.

Action:

Slide racks very smoothly. The inside rails seems to make the gun seem very slick and smooth. Even with no recoil buffer, near full power loads do not jerk the gun off target and it seems to shoot quickly well.

Overall impression

The 97b is a good reliable gun. It is nicely made, reliable, reasonably accurate. It is very easy to clean and take down. The sights are good and give a nice sharp target view. I don’t like it that much though. It tosses brass fairly randomly, is big and heavy and I just don’t have a need for a big 45 service type auto. I guess if I were to be needing a gun for use at work, this would be perfect, but as a private citizen with a ccw permit, it just doesn’t fit. It is a very good gun though and why can’t every manufacturer match the quality of the bluing and polish job CZ put on this one.

--------------------------------------...

Answer 2

I own/have owned several CZ pistols...a  CZ 75b, CZ 50, a CZ27, a CZ52, and a CZ82 (one of my two carry guns, the other being a S&W 36.) They're all, in my opinion, top notch, and like the other fellow said, highly under-rated. Get one, you'll like it.

Answer 3

I own a Czech Model -1975, aka CZ-75. It is one of the most accurate combat semi-autos that I have ever tested, along with the Heckler & Koch P9S and the SIG P210. It is great for quick draw, since it is well-balanced and points well from the hip, plus it has the smoothest double-action trigger I have ever seen. In double-acrtion quick draw, it is peerless, and in single-action quick draw, only my customized Browning GP-35 with an extended safety and smoothed trigger beats it slightly. It is reliable for me. That is surprising, since its feed ramp is much like that of my Browning that needed work to function with hollowpoints. There are a few loads it does not like, so I just use cartridges that have proven to be reliable in feeding in it.

Answer 4

I don't have much experience with them but I did target shoot a cz75 one time for my concealed carry class and I shot dead center bullseyes every shot.  I loved the feel of the gun, especially the grip shape, size and configuration.  Felt very good in the hand.  I have a CZ on my future gun "wish list."

Answer 5

The CZ75 is pretty good but they really are a creature from another era, The CZ97B is pretty big for 10 rounds, but if you just want to shoot then I guess they are good. I don't have much experience though.

Answer 6

I havent owned one, but my cousin did own a cz75. That was a very sweet little shooter, it was accurate and dependable. However he had some trouble with one of the pins wanting to work loose, cant remember which one. It wasnt a major deal and had to do with the fact that he was shooting thousands of rounds a month at the time. I wouldnt be afraid of em at all. I was gonna buy one but they started getting popular and I didnt want to spend the money. lol

The cz75, is based on one of those "other era" designs that like the 1911 John Browning hit a home run with, the browning hipower.

Answer 7

CZ firearms (not just their pistol) are probably one of the better values out there, and the CZ97 is no exception.

If you have small (or average) size hand, I would strongly suggest you go down to your local range/store to try one first, as the 97 is known for it's large grip.

As far as 45 acp is concerned, the 97 handles it well. The steel frame and lower barrel axis (as compared to a 1911 for example) helping.

Answer 8

I was given a CZ52 and discovered that it was a sleeper.  Chambered for a 762x25 shell, 9mm necked down to 25 cal basically; was originally a submachine gun round; PPsH41 or something.  It steps out at about 1800 fps and smokes a hole through just about anything in front of it.  The pistol has a delayed rollerblock action like the German MG42 which is the basis for most successful present day machine guns.  Anyway, I bought a half dozen of the CZ's for purse and glove box items for my six darling she-demon daughters; in case their sawed off shotguns were not readilly available.  Ammo is very available and affordable; and the pistols are virtually indestructable.  They are not a shiny showpiece item; just totally functional and reliable; like an old chevy or ford pickup that always starts and goes anywhere.  

Answer 9

CZ75s are great, reliable guns. The CZ97 is just an upscaled version of it.CZ75 is one of the most cloned firearms in the world. Switzerland (Sphinx), Israel (Baby Eagle), Italy (Tanfoglio/EAA Witness) and Turkey (Armalite AR-24)  all offer their own versions of it because Czechoslovakian products was not protected by international patents while it was behind the iron curtain.

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg124-e.ht...

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg51-e.htm

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg97-e.htm

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg72-e.htm

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg44-e.htm

CZ97b is about the length and weight of a Government model 1911 but with a wider grip because of the double stack magazine.

Take down is easy. Drop mag, make sure safety is off,check chamber for loaded round. Put hammer on half c**k, pull slide back until notches line up, tap slide stop from right with magazine base, pull slide off frame, remove recoil rod and spring, remove barrel.