[Michael Zeleny]

Is this Swiss CZ-75 knockoff still in production? Any owner reports?
http://www.waffen.ch/images/ASAI/OnePro45.JPG ASAI (http://www.asai-ag.ch/)

[Walt Sherrill]

I'm pretty sure its out of production, and the only source for parts is Magnum Research.

I bought an ASAI One Pro .45 late last year and its simply astounding. Good basic CZ-Clone design with the lightest, smoothest double-action trigger I've ever felt in a handgun. (Almost too light, in fact -- have been thinking about finding a heavier hammer/main spring.) Wonderfully smooth, and the SA trigger is crisp and light. Real easy to go BOOM-BOOM after a DA first shot, if you're not careful. Decocker version. (No cocked and locked, the only shortcoming of the gun, from my perspective.)

Mine is superbly accurate. The gun is heavy, albeit compact, so recoil is very muted. Uses the standard 10-round .45 Mec-Gar mags that are standard in the CZ-97B and the EAA Witness Large-frame .45s.

Nice gun.

[Michael Zeleny]

Thanks for your testimony. I am conflicted. The CZ-75 design and .45 ACP chambering leave me cold, and I loathe cast frames. On the other hand, I never met a Swiss firearm I didn't like, and this one appears to be a bargain. The factory web site shows an interesting compact 9mm pistol in the 1906 Savage, 1911 Steyr-Hahn, 1934 Sistema Obregon, and 1952 MAB rotating barrel delayed blowback lineage. I am hoping that they are still in business.

[Walt Sherrill]

I like the CZ-75 design. I find guns based on this designto be among the most ergonomic available -- almost perfect "pointability." But you must have long fingers, a large hand, or simply disregard the long double-action pull the design requires. (From cocked and locked, however, that is not a problem.)

Somehow, ASAI improved the basic CZ/clone design substantially in the ASAI One Pro .45 such that the pull, while it may be long, doesn't require much effort.

I'm not a big fan of .45s, either, but I've got a few.

On the other hand, I find the rotating barrel design a turnoff. I know, conceptually, it should be a good approach, but have yet to see one that worked as well as the more conventional Browning-based design.

I'd love to have a 9mm or .40 conversion kit for my ASAI .45 (and its possible that Bar-sto could do it -- but I suspect I wouldn't want to pay what it might cost.

[Michael Zeleny]

I like the CZ-75 design.You like its teeming multitude of internal geewgaws complemented by a self-destructing slide stop pin?On the other hand, I find the rotating barrel design a turnoff. I know, conceptually, it should be a good approach, but have yet to see one that worked as well as the more conventional Browning-based design.The MAB P-15 improves on the Browning-based GP35 in every aspect of performance.

[Walt Sherrill]

The self-destructing slide-stop pin is not innate to the design, but a relatively recent change made to accomodate a firing pin block -- and probably driven by US import requirements, too.

I have a wonderful CZ-75 (a pre-"B" model) that doesn't have the slide-stop pin, and its great. The newest CZ have a "doubled" slide stop pin and it, apparently, no longer self-destructs.

The Witness, Baby Eagle, Spinx, and ASAI designs don't incorporate that "tedious" design feature, but still allow for a firing pin block. They are all built on the same basic CZ model. I would have preferred the more conventional firing pin stop (plate) of the older CZs, but they didn't ask me.

The Browning design is elegantly simple, to be sure, but its also ONLY single-action, which clearly allows for a simpler design. A Browning that accomodated DA would be a bit more complex.

(Sorry, but I'm unfamiliar with any and all MAB designs, but I haven't noticed a lot in the trade press, gun shows, etc. It must be an acquired taste.)

I find that the Browning HP and the CZ are about equal in terms of pointability when in my hands -- and far better, for me, than the other guns I've shot, in that regard. Most people say the same, once they've tried them.

What OTHER CZ geegaws bother you?

[rbernie]

I have a wonderful CZ-75 (a pre-"B" model) that doesn't have the slide-stop pin, and its great. The newest CZ have a "doubled" slide stop pin and it, apparently, no longer self-destructs. Are you talking about the firing pin retaining pin?

[Jim Watson]

Geez, I didn't know the ASAI was a CZ variant. The decocking system is way different and I have not seen a CZ with its like in triggers.
The few I have seen were heavy, apparently well made, all sharp corners, with amazingly soft DA triggers and scary light SA.

[Walt Sherrill]

Are you talking about the firing pin retention pin?Yes. Sorry. Brain FAR#. Firing pin retention roll pin. My fingers move faster than my brain. I need to TYPE S_L_O_W_E_R and hope I can keep up.

With regard to Jim Watson's observation:

As far as I know, its a CZ clone (in the loosest sense of the word). Various Magnum Research and Tanfoglio guns have their safeties and decockers in strange places. The Jericho, the Samson, and a couple of others are still basically CZ designs with unual placements of controls.

[Walt Sherrill]

I just check the Fjestad Blue Book. They say the gun wasn't imported after 2000, and that there were VERY FEW 9mm models made, and none imported to the US. (Also a few .40s for use in Europe only.)

The company is still in business, but they are not making these guns, it would appear.

Better look for a .45 if you want an ASAI One Pro. (Mine was ANIB.)

[Michael Zeleny]

As with the M1911, only much more so, the CZ-75 enjoys a reputation of breaking its slide stop, stressed in the recoil cycle. In its role model, the SIG P210, slide stop pins are machined from bar stock and hardened. I've never heard of one failing. Maybe ASAI followed the Swiss tradition in this regard.

But now that you mention rolled pins, I find them a major turnoff.

As regards the alleged need for complex lockwork, I agree with Jeff Cooper characterizing double action in an auto pistol as an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem.

I will extol my MAB P-15 elsewhere.